[Chris796]

Got a new desktop humidor (50-60ct) and went trough the seasoning process with the shot glass and misting with distilled water for 4 days until the hygrometer (Xikar digital) read a steady 70-72%. Took the shot glass out and out about 12 cigars in it with the new Xikar element and I checked it yesterday and it was at 48%. I went ahead and put a shot glass of distille water in there and then checked it again just now (about 10hrs later) and it's still only at 54%.

Any idea what I can do to bring the humidity up? The Xikar element I'm using us for a 100ct box so it's plenty big enough. I'm hoping by the time I get home from work this evening it'll have gone up some more. The if are have dried out pretty signifgnatly already and I was hoping to have a few of them this weekend.

 

[anonymoose]

Does the humidor have a little glass window? Also if your cigars were dry, they could be affecting it too.

 

[TheEngineer]

so you are just using a shot glass with distilled water in it for humidity? have you tried using a humidity pack/gels?

 

[Chris796]

so you are just using a shot glass with distilled water in it for humidity? have you tried using a humidity pack/gels?

No I have the Xikar gel crystals in there, it the larger size good enough for around 100 cigars. I use it in my other humidor and it works perfectly.

Does the humidor have a little glass window? Also if your cigars were dry, they could be affecting it too.

Nope no glass. I thought maybe it wasn't dealing all the way but it definetly looks and feels like it is. The cigars came right out of my other humidor which stays at a constant 71-2%. They were only out long enough to take from one humidor to the other.


I read elsewhere that maybe the cigars have been absorbing the moisture instead of the cedar and to take them out and leave the shot glass and gel crystals in there for another week. But my cigars are definetly drying out so I doubt they are absorbing any of the moisture.

I'm going to do the salt test with the hygrometer just to make sure it's workin properly, it's brand new and self calibrating so I'm assuming it's just fine.

 

[Chris796]

It finally stabilized around 71%, finallyyyyyyyyyy.

 

[anonymoose]

Did you just leave the shot glass of distilled water and the gel pack in? For the past month I've been having trouble keeping my humidity up as well. At first I just attributed it to the humidor being a little colder than normal, but I refilled my humidifier, which usually gets it into the low 60s even when it's colder, but it stayed around 55%... I am thinking about pulling the cigars now and trying to season the humidor again. Just been too lazy lately to deal with it.

 

[Chris796]

I went and got a small spray bottle from wal-mart and misted some distilled water onto the inside of the box twice a day for two days, since then it's been perfect.

 

[vtiracing08]

I use the cigar caddy gel things, they work awesome

 

[anonymoose]

I'm going to try keeping my humidifier completely saturated for a couple weeks and see if it helps. I left the humidor open for a bit today (it's 74 degrees and 50% humidity) to get the temperature back up while I added some PG to the humidifier (gel) and now it's at 70 degrees and 62%, so if it creeps up to 65%, I'll be satisfied. My next humidor is going to be big enough for an electric humidifier.

 

[Stance]

I've been told by the owner of our cigar lounge that your humidor needs to be mostly full in order for cigars to stay at the right humidity. Seems counterintuitive but that's what I'm told.

 

[anonymoose]

Mine is fairly full. I've always thought it was probably too full and wasn't getting proper air circulation because of that. Hopefully now that it's warming up, it'll start to keep a higher humidity.