this discussion has gone one long enough, it will go on forever.
i would like to discuss the storage of our little obsessions.
cigars contain moisture. moisture seeks it's own level, on this planet it is called "sea level." given
that the moisture in a box of cigars tends to seek it's own level, down to sea level unless you live in death valley, below sea level, in which case moisture will rise to sea level, storing cigars in a box laying on the bottom of the box as most people store boxes of cigars, means the cigars at the bottom of the box will eventually have absored all the moisture or part way through eventually, the top part of the cigar will be drier then the bottom, causing the effect called canoing.
that being the case, it seems more sensible to store cigars on their heads.
propylene glycol forms a thin layer on the surface of the humidifier, which absorbs humidity at humidity levels of over 70% and which emits humidity at humidity levels below 70%.
Any solution with a fixed composition has a fixed vapor pressure at a given temperature and total pressure. If the solution has only one volatile component (water), then the vapor pressure is caused by that component only (i.e., you won't find PG in the vapor phase). By coincidence, the vapor pressure over
a mixture of PG and water is about 70%.
To put it more simply, PG is a hydroscopic substance - It absorbs moisture from the environment (like a salt
shaker does in humid weather). The distilled water evaporates until the ambient humidity approaches 70%. At that point the PG won't allow any more moisture in the air. Conversely, if there is too much moisture in the air, the PG solution absorbs the excess, bringing
the system down to 70% as well.
there are a number of authorities claiming that relative humidity should move in an inverse direction from temperature: i.e. if you're maintaining a 70% RH humidor at 70 degrees, and the temperature falls to 65 degrees, the humidity should be raised to 75% RH to compensate. In fact, the humidity should stay constant regardless of temperature.
This is primarily because the tobacco within a cigar needs just enough moisture to keep it elastic,
but not so much as to create expansion. This level is always around 70% independent of temperature. Why? Because we're not talking about how much moisture is physically in the tobacco (to keep the absolute moisture the same if temperature dropped, you would have to raise the humidity). What we are talking about is the sweet spot between tobacco leaves getting too
brittle (68% RH or lower) and tobacco leaves beginning to swell (73% or higher). This sweet spot is always around 70% RH.
given all that information, why is it necessary to constantly check the humidity expecting some dramatic change in humidity from day to day, or in some cases, what appears to be twice a day or every hour on the hour. isn't it sufficient to put your finger on the green oaises that is in your homemade humidifier every so often to see if it is damp.
i know this belongs on the cigar board, but my friends and enemies are all on the misc board, and i didn't want to upset an entire new group of people.
