I was wondering if anyone has any ideas for me. I am new to the cigar world and I recently purchased the Vertical Display Humidor a couple months ago and can not get it to maintain humidity above 60%. I am using the rectangle humidifer it came with and the Humi-care gel, have a digital Csonka hygrometer that always reads at 70 degrees and goes from 58 to 60 percent humidity. I have performed the salt test on the analog hygrometer but it never seems to change. I am not sure if it is okay to do the same test on the digital hygrometer. Any suggestions or ideas would be great.

Thanks

Welcome, from my little experience and being new myself I can say yes you can salt test a digital hygro. Did you properly season your humidifier? If you search the forums you'll find tons of info on how to do this. I'm sure the FOG's will be chiming in shortly......

Humidors with glass have move places to leak humidity than a regular solid wood humidor. Many would say use humi beads which I hear good things about but can be pricey. You can do a salt test on most Digital hygrometers unless it says not to. Get an oust fan to circulate the humidity better and that may raise the humidity level. That has worked for me besides increasing your humidity devices, the number of cigars you have in the humidor can affect the level as well. Best of luck july11

Salt test away with a digital. Just don't let it get any water on it. Use a ziplock, shot glass with salt moistened to wet sand levels. Put a business card in the middle to keep the bag "open" in the middle. Check it tomorrow.

Good luck!

M

If its holding solid at 58-60% you may be ok. The 70% is actually high for many sticks. If/when you do any trades here, just make sure to let the receiving party know that you maintain yours at a lower level. A sudden rise in rh can cause the wrapper to split.

As stated by some of my colleagues, the glass humidors do tend to leak, now analog hygrometers are sometimes tricky to salt test, but I hear you have a digital which will make it a little easier. As far as setting up the box, a nice trick is to take window sealer like a nice caulk but it has to be clear, and seal the box edge, then once the sealer has cured, just take a sponge (new of course) and moisten the cedar with it (use distilled water only) and repeat every so often to season the box for a few days, do not put cigars in the box during this process and if the % dips when you put sticks in, don't worry that's normal, the box should regulate itself after a while. 60% humidity is perfect for 99% of cigars, and yes the taste changes with humidity level. Make sure that it stay constant and that there's no sudden shift in %, it'll cause physical damage to your cigars as well as make them bitter. Well, good luck and let us know if you need help and tell us how it comes out.

get beads. 65% or even the 70% ones...since you have leaks. There is no overdoing the amount of beads in a humi.....so buy a pound. You will never worry about humidity again.... unless you live in a very hot or cold climate.

Thanks for the help everyone. I will post an update on how things go in a few days or so.