65% by the pound.

Or lettuce by the head

Kitty litter works great, I use it in my overflow cooler.

Personally, I don't see a difference in performance with kl vs hf beads.

If I were to start over, I would probably just use kl knowing now that there is very little difference in performance.

I bought bulk beads. Then tied them up in wife's old nylons and some fine mesh bags that I'd had laying around. I do have one cooler with a layer of naked beads in a shallow plastic bowl...I need to bag those up before I spill them...but, they work just fine that way, too.

What kitty litter do you buy and where? I remember someone telling me about this a long time ago but could never find any that didn't have the scented/colored beads mixed in. I think the old stuff I have laying around somewhere is actually kitty litter...but it is orange now...so probably not good to use. haha

What did Carl suggest?

Heh heh...

Sorry, didn't even see that comment. I will send him a message.

How much money do you have invested in your cigar inventory?

If the answer is less than $100, go kitty litter by all means... no reason to spend big protecting something you spent very little on to begin with....

I would say the value of my stash is probably over $1,000. Is kitty litter not a good idea since the investment is higher?

+1

What is the best place to get the Heartfelt beads?

Google Heartfelt beads and go the their site.

Buy twice as many as you think you'll need because once you go to a coolerdor you'll never go back. 🌫

Oh good Lord!!! 🤦 This topic is discussed over, and over, and over... and over again with every new batch of noobs!!! Learn how to use the damn Search feature!

IMHO
NO! NO! NO! Just say NO to KL!
Kitty litter is made for cats to defecate on and absorb resulting odors. It is NOT the same as quality humidity beads like Heartfelt.

ME <--- 🐴 ---> dstieger

My head is spinning from reading all the threads on the KL vs HF. Wowzers, maybe just stick to the HF to save myself from any issues.

my .02.
i started with drymistat tubes, working for that 70/70 target. i got maybe 8 or 10 tubes since i had multiple humidors going because i thought 40 count meant 40 count, and when you go a little overboard with auctions and weekly shipping, you just get another humidor. also it was super easy to get packages that included humidors. that changed when i got a small fridge that i was gonna make into a wineador. for that i used the old jars/tubes, and added KL since it was a much large volume to humidify. it wasnt thermo electeric, and my room got super hot in the summer, so that caused me to experiment/play around/constantly monitor it for the whole summer and just became a serious PITA. it got easier in fall, but i had to again monitor it a sh*t load, so again, PITA.
during this time i started to read the forums more, started trying (and really liking) the smokes that cost more then i what i looked at. so instead of searching for 1$ bid stuff, my auction habits changed, and the humidor investment increased. having more investment in the stogies made me more irritated with temp swings, humidity swings, and sub par smokes when i got around to it. so for peace of mind, a thermo winedor project became a birthday gift to myself. solved my temp issues and after drawers got seasoned, it would be around 70% with a baking sheet of KL at the bottom, another nylon/aquarium media bag in a top drawer and a tube or 2 per drawer. probably over kill, but checking them has been a habit ever since i moved on up from the cigar storage bags i started with. not a bad set up, but i would notice some cigars would not like it around 70 (which could climb up to 72 at times). for those cigars, they are in a diffrent tray, with a 65% boveda packet on top (been in there for about 7 months now, with no sign of shrinkage or need to be replaced. this became my super cheap insurance policy to try and keep the rh more consistent. and it has worked this has keep the top end of the wineador RH around 65-66, and the bottom around 67-68. if i doubt the hygros, i swap them out with one another and they do register the change. i understand that i probably have some overkill steps, but i use all the extra jars and tube and have to infrequently add DW to them until the winter, and i did not find a purpose in throwing out perfectly good stuff.
so the KL works, and as long as you follow the instructions on it around many pages here, it will keep you near 70RH (i think i used this, but it was long since tossed "exqusicat fragrance free) . BUT if thats not what you want, then your quite hard pressed to drop it lower. i had played with ways that got me somewhere i am happy, and dont mind the upkeep. when space will get tight, heartfelt 65% will be my way to go, and if some cigars are a little wet in that range, then i will segregate them with a 62 or 58 boveda around them.
if i were to start all over, then i wouldn't waste time with KL. for the amount of surface area i needed to get what i wanted, i used a good deal of space, and had a lot more guess and check work. not epic, but not always possible. if you want an easy, smart and safe bet, heartfelt is the way go man. and thats coming from someone who has not used it yet.

HCM Beads are FAR superior to Heartfelt or anything else available. No fuss no muss with these.

I prefer the canisters. I had Heartfelt before and I gave them away after getting the HCM beads.

http://hcmbeads.com/products.aspx#Top 

Meh, don't listen to the snobs.

Kitty litter works great, my overflow sits at 62% to 66% and I have to spray them every couple of months.

HF Beads work great, sits at 62% to 66% and I have to spray them every couple months.

Boveda packs work great...

HCM seems insanely expensive..you get half as many beads for essentially the same price as HF...

I received my first order of HCM beads recently. I haven't had them long enough to form an opinion based on experience. But, I do acknowledge that many many people who's opinions I value are HCM customers.

There's a fascinating discussion on beads on a different forum that I can't link here. However, if you google "HCM beads pigfish" it's one of the first few links.

The real takeaway for me is that the cigar humidification market just isn't a big enough slice of the dessicant world to support a product designed from the ground up for keeping your cigars at the correct rh. So, there's LOTS different ways to get to a bead that might do the trick....lots of ways to do it...lots of different products. Lots of differing opinions on which products are best for you. I like HF beads. But I still have some old gel jars I won here many, many years ago and am using in a cooler. And, I don't normally admit this, but in the deadest driest weeks of winter, I even use green foam with distilled water in one of my best humidors. No PG. No KL. But nothing so very wrong with either.

This thread was a dstieger clinic on how to properly use the search function.

Well done, sir... well done.