Greetings once again folks

Just got my first real humidor (my other was a travel humi), and am a little unsure about a couple of things. Figured who better to ask than die hards.

First, breaking the humi in...I haven't seen much on this, but what I've done is whip the interior down with a lint free cloth and some distilled water. I then placed a small plate inside the humi, and placed the damp cloth on the plate and closed it up. I assume that I'll just keep checking on it until it dries out? Any suggestions on breaking in would be greatly appreciated. I'm paranoid that I'm going to put my smokes in there and pull 'em out as match sticks. A little damp I think I can deal with, but my CAO's turning into fire wood my scare me.

second...is it necessary to use humidifying solution, the propylene dooda ma-hicky stuff? (check my spelling on that 😉 ) or can I just go with plain ol' distilled water?

thanks in advance

UTZ,Remove the damp cloth after 12hrs. Check your hygrometer to see that it's between 65% and 75%. Use Propylene glycol distilled water mix 50/50 mix in your humidifier. Keep Humidor away from heat sources and away from direct light. If you have any other questions,just ask. X

You should be able to find a lot of info on this by typing the words CIGAR CARE or HUMIDOR SEASONING into a search engine.

Basically what I do is the following:

Many humidor makers strongly advise against wetting the unfinished cedar with distilled water on a damp sponge. I have not found a problem doing it if you are careful not to SOAK the wood. Just a single wipe of all surfaces with a damp (not a soaking wet) sponge to get the process going. I then put the 50/50 charged humidifier that came with the box and a damp sponge soaked in distilled water sitting on plastic inside the humidor for 24-48 hours. Test the humidity with a calibrated hygrometer at 24 hours and either determine the box is ready or needs more seasoning time.

The reason to use the PG 50/50 to charge your humidifier is that PG has properties that allow it to regulate RH to some degree that helps keep your humidity at around the preferred 70% (Although I prefer smokes kept at about 67-68%). Once you have charged the new humidifier with the 50/50, you can use distilled water from that point on to rehumidify when needed. In about six month to a year, you may need to resoak the humidifier in 50/50 to recharge the PG

Hope that helps.

P.S. Buy a NEW sponge for this purpose and make sure that it doesn't have any soap or scent added to it. A sponge works better than cloth because it holds more water and can give the dry wood all the moisture it can handle faster.

"When a humi comes along, you must whip it."

"Before a gar sits out too long, you must whip it!"

Utz email me and i will send you an article about humidifying that will give you all your answer. [email protected]

without the propolyne glycol, you have a wet sponge. the pg stabilizes the humidity at 70% give or take a little

throw away the little piece of junk humidifier that comes with the box and make your own for a buck or two, one that will hold enough pg and water to last more than 2 days.

Thanks for the input everyone. delarob, is that the national

humidor anthem? 😛 kinda catchy

Rick, the e-mail is on the way.

Are we not men?

On the subject of wetting the cedar lining, I've done it that way on two of mine, but on another I used a method suggested to me by someone I've come to regard as a bit of a humidor wizard ... he said wetting the interior was a mistake and that the best way to season thw wood was to place a good sized open container of distilled water inside the 'dor, close the lid and leave it for several days ... test it after that with a hygrometer to learn when it had reached 70% ... and voila!, ready to go.

It does take a couple of days longer to do it that way, but the unit I seasoned that way is my best 'dor ... coincidence? maybe, but maybe not, I dunno ... all I can say is that based on that experience, I'd not wipe the wood with water again.

GG...there is a new product out there that says that it keeps the RH at 65% or 70%, your choice.

I have just started trying this stuff so can't really say how good it works

69

...fill the humi with about a dozen 'gars, put it in a ziploc freezer bag and send it to me...i'll get it seasoned for ya...

all seriousness aside; i've also heard horror stories about inferior humis splitting or the lids won't open after putting in a container of water for too long...i'd say follow the great links you've been given and you and humi can whip it together!

We are Devo!

D-E-V-O

On my newest humidor I decided not to wipe, just to do the recommended bowl of water with the humidifier filled. Took almost a week to stabilize. If I get another I'll to the wipe down again.

"GG...there is a new product out there that says that it keeps the RH at 65% or 70%, your choice."

Thanks FUBAR! My dors have seemed to stabalize in or around the 67% range with the run of the mill 50/50, so for now, I am going to stick with the status quo. I will keep that in mind for the future though.

I seasoned my first humidor with the bowl of water technique and it took that one a long time to behave itself. The ones that I wiped down first were able to be brought into serivce faster and I have not noticed any difference in personality (stability).