Justin4927
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 10:33:35 AM
I am admittedly a newbie to cigar storage. I am trying to do everything right and I am still having some problems. I purchased a 50ct whitetail glasstop humidor on here. Very cheap, but I usually only need to store 20 cigars at the most. I seasoned it with some cuban crafters glycol solution. I bought some boveda packs as well and popped a 80% one in there for a week. This was in mid-December and I live in Iowa. My apartment gets to 63 degrees at night and up to 68 during the day. In the summer it will always be above 70 degrees, but the winter months will be a challenge. I had a 5 pack sampler initially where the cigars came out great. Then the humidity levels dropped toward 60. I used a damp rag and wiped the interior with distilled water and even put a shot glass in there, all with no cigars in the humidor (The shot glass level never changed). I was able to raise the levels to just about 66-67 while empty, which is acceptable to me. I then put in a 20ct of cigars along with a boveda 72 degree pack and two small humicare packs. the levels dropped to 60 for a week now and all the cigars are completely dried out. Currently I have 5 cigars in a cigar traveling case with a humicare pack. the other 15 are in a sealed ziplock bag with a boveda pack and a humicare pack. The ziplock is inside the humidor, but the level is 58-60 at this time.

I don't know what to do and I want to try to salvage my remaining cigars. Any advice would be great.

Is my humidor crap or is it user error?

Also, I tend to panic if the level gets below 65. Should I act immediately when this happens or just be patient because there will be variability?

Maybe I should store my humidor above the humidifier that I run occasionally throughout the day instead of in another room?

Stinkdyr
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 10:40:13 AM
I have met a couple of hot chix from Iowa. Nice folks.

Just keep lots of moist beads and rags in your humi to keep the rh% up. It is a battle with those wooden boxes in the winter.

FATASH
Thursday, February 24, 2011 12:52:30 AM
Rags?
donutboy2000
Thursday, February 24, 2011 1:00:06 AM
Buy a better humi.
elk hunter
Thursday, February 24, 2011 1:41:51 AM
I don't think I would panic... I actually prefer my humidor to be between 60-65% and the closer to 60% as possible... Have you calibrated your hygrometer?

july11
Thursday, February 24, 2011 1:48:29 AM
Justin where in Iowa do you live? Alot will say you need to get beads which are a great thing but pricey. I use gel crystals with an oust fan and it works great. If you are in the Newbie program I want to be your vet!!! july11
rah0785
Thursday, February 24, 2011 2:50:41 AM
Sounds like that humidor, which is a nice looking piece, is not tight enough around the glass or edge. I bought 4 air tight plastic storage bins (each about 18 by 10 about 6 inches deep) and they work great ( only have had to use one on a reg basis). Try that and use the distilled water in round humidifier and you should have no problem. I always keep mine in the wrapper except for the 15/20 I put in the Liv Room in my 20 Cap, Graycliff Hum and my 50 Cap cedar, which which are both great little box's when it comes to preserving cigars. CBid has a dozen or so of those mini 20 Cap, Cigar brand humidors that are all well made and look and work great. I thought people snatched them up so I bid on 4 different brands at $10, $10, $10, and $13 (they all sell for $30 at C.I.) and got socked and won them all. They seem to be available for the taking and they serve their purpose and look a lot better then plastic tubs. Good luck 👍
Stinkdyr
Thursday, February 24, 2011 9:25:15 AM

Rags?

FATASH wrote:

moist rags in shot glasses.....if necessary, to help boost up the humidity in winter.

or kitty litter.....whatever works.

\:d/

kcrazeynate
Friday, February 25, 2011 11:36:09 AM
kitty litter? wont that make them taste like $hit?? how dose that work?
t33bone
Friday, February 25, 2011 1:26:40 PM

I don't think I would panic... I actually prefer my humidor to be between 60-65% and the closer to 60% as possible... Have you calibrated your hygrometer?

elk hunter wrote:

Calibrate and 60%rh will not dry your cigars out in a week.

daveincincy
Friday, February 25, 2011 1:46:21 PM
Get a jar of the gel, probably the 4oz. size, and use that. I don't think those Boveda packs, or humi-packs in general, hold enough moisture to actually maintain a humidor for any length of time, especially a 50ct humidor. At least with the jars of gel you put a decent amount of water (preferably distilled) in them to be able to leave it for a while without drying out too quick. I would think if you put a 4oz jar of gel in that humidor it should be enough, as long as you don't let the jar dry up, even if your hygrometer doesn't seem to be reading properly....I don't even use hygrometers anymore after the batteries died. I just make sure my humidifiers stay moist.

By the way, when those humi-packs/bovedas dry up, put them in a sealed container with a shot glass (or similar) and they will "recharge."

kitty litter? wont that make them taste like $hit?? how dose that work?

kcrazeynate wrote:

Not sure if you can get the proper kitty litter anymore, but Pet Smart had their own brand of kitty litter that could be used in humidors (some might dispute this, however). I think they stopped making it. 🤔 They were clear pellets with no scent. IF you attempt to do this, make sure the beads are clear/transparent, unscented, and with none of those colored beads in them (usually blue). I bought a big jug a few years back. It was like 2 or 5lbs (2 gallon container?) for probably less than $20...considerably less than the more expensive beads (not gel) for humidor use. I use the jars of gel in my humidors (20 - 100 count), and the kitty litter in my rubbermaid tubs. 🇨🇮

tonyt722
Friday, February 25, 2011 1:54:14 PM

kitty litter? wont that make them taste like $hit?? how dose that work?

kcrazeynate wrote:

Only if the litter is a temptation for you to drop a deuce in your humi.

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