Hi all!  Been lurking in the shadows of this forum for a while, gearing up for my first big purchase.  I started smoking a few months back, have been working out tastes and styles, etc, and have been living the water-pillowed "Zippidor" lifestyle...up until now.  Finally pulled the trigger and ordered a 100-ct humi (I know, everyone says to go bigger, but I figure I'll add one in addition someday).  Just about to start seasoning, and had a quick question:

I have my humi, distilled water, a new sponge, a digital hygrometer, and a Heartfelt 2oz 65% tube of beads (skipping the cheap humidifier that came w/the humi), all laid out and ready to go.  What I want to know is when to add the beads?  My plan is to wipe down the cedar w/distilled water, place the slightly damp sponge on plastic on the bottom, set my hygrometer inside, and let it sit overnight (then assume I'll take out the sponge and close her up for one more day after that), and hopefully be in the promised land.  So...do I put the Heartfelt beads in right away, or will that work counterproductively against the natural absorption of the cedar in the first few days?

Thanks in advance for any advice you may have, happy smoking!

- Dan

Well Dan, first off welcome. I'm new here myself and posted here a week ago about pretty much the same topic. I bought my first Humi a couple weeks ago and did the very thing you speak of. Wiped it down, sponge in bottom over night..yada yada yada. I'm still having issues getting my humidity up and I purchased 70% humidity beads. Most people will tell you to just put the dish of water into the Humi and let it sit until you get the desired humidity and not to wipe down the interior. I wish now that I had done it that way to begin with but hey...chalk it up to learning. Hope this helps ~Brad

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Live Life and Taste Death.

I'm gonna agree with Oke here. First DO NOT wipe your humi down. I can show you the splitting it caused in my first humi.
Second definetly use the bowl of distilled water method, don't put a sponge in your humi, ever.
Third do you have a digital hygrometer? If not buy one before you do anything else, analogs are just for show. They aren't accurate and are hard to read.
Finally, I'd throw the beads in there as soon as you start seasoning and let them soak up the water from the bowl naturally as your humi seasons. Once the humi reaches your desired RH(somewhere between 65 and 72) the beads should be charged enough to maintain that RH but not overcharged.

Brad there is no harm in opening up your humi for a few days letting it air out and reseasoning again.

Why didn't I think of that....Thanks Maduro.

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Live Life and Taste Death.

Thats what I'm here for




....well that and the smart@ss comments.

madurofan:

Thats what I'm here for




....well that and the smart@ss comments.

And on that we can all agree >>>

Thanks guys, glad I checked in for a few expert opinions before jumping in.  Wonder why every "source" online seems to recommend the wipe-down method...propagating the lie, it would seem.  Maduro - yep, it's a digital hygro...I've got it doing the salt test right now, and the humi is beginning to season w/the dish of dist water and the heartfelt beads.  Plan to throw the hygro into the humi tomorrow after it's been tested for accuracy.  Anything I'm missing?  I'll do my best to stay patient, but yeah - sure do want to fast forward a week and be done with the Zippidor.

 

Many thanks guys!

I don't know that the wipe-down method is wrong, it definetly speeds up the process. But is quick necessarily a good thing? Also there are some risks, the splitting I experienced, that go with the wipe-down method that aren't there with the bowl method. Far from an expert just read a lot and have a few years of experience now. Hopefully kuzi will throw his opinion in about the beads, he's more of an expert on those.

madurofan:

I don't know that the wipe-down method is wrong, it definetly speeds up the process. But is quick necessarily a good thing? Also there are some risks, the splitting I experienced, that go with the wipe-down method that aren't there with the bowl method. Far from an expert just read a lot and have a few years of experience now. Hopefully kuzi will throw his opinion in about the beads, he's more of an expert on those.

Just last week I read about the wipe down method again.. Some cigar people do just that. I did do that on my first few humidors just to get the cigars out of Ziplock bags and into a real home.. No cracking of the humidor or damage to the cigars, so it just worked out for me. I now have the patience to season the humidor.

Honestly, I think the manufacturers promote the wipe-down method because people usually want to get in the new humi as quickly as possible. I used a very slow version of the wipe-down method, and everything came together nicely. If I had to do it again, however, I wouldn't take the risks and I'd use the dish method. I'd honestly also keep the beads out to allow the humidity to over above 65% for a while, and then put half-charged beads in the humi. Although the method Maddy suggested is perfectly fine.

As a side note, I've noticed that the beads are a lot faster / more effective at releasing humidity rather than absorbing it. My beads recently needed charged, and I tried to just fill the humidifier disc with distilled water and throw it in humi and let the beads soak up the extra humidity. This doesn't really work. The humidity kept spiking to 72% (I have 65% beads), and was slow to come back down. Easier to just charge the beads directly, and I was back at 65% by the next time I checked.

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phobicsquirrel:

ummm milk it..

Yea I've noticed that issue with the beads as well duty. My 70% beads are sporadic.

Dutyje - thanks for the reply.  Curious your reasoning for recommending the humidity get up high at first (leaving the beads out initially), is it to give a good saturation to the cedar for a while before regulating the RH?  Also, how do I half-charge the beads?  Not even sure how to charge them. :)  All their site says is "charge them with distilled water".  Do you soak the whole tube in dist water, or is there an opening for pouring water in?  Probably all moot questions, as from context it sounds like they will charge themselves through the humidity in the air in the humidor.  Thanks for your patience with a newb like myself.

 

- Dan

I'm having the same problem with the beads not absorbing humidity. My smaller humi and my tupperdor both remain at about 73% RH -- which is ambient RH -- despite having several ounces of dry 65% beads in them.

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Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

Dan - Even if the air in the humidor is pinned at 75-80% rH for a few days, the wood will still take some time to equalize at that humidity. Once the humidor is activated and in use, you'll be opening it and there will be some air exchange. In another thread, kuzi pointed out that having a good stock of cigars will reduce the air that is exchanged as well as provide an additional mechanism (the humidifed cigars) to speed up the equalization of the air in the humi. Likewise, if the cedar has been well-activated, it will also behave in the same manner as the cigars, and release some of its humidity to speed the achievement of equilibrium. The beads, of course, don't seek to simply achieve equilibrium, but to bring the equilibrium up to a set number.

Basically, all I'm saying is that if the wood has been well-activated, it will aid the process of achieving and maintaining proper rH. Maybe I'll work with some beads in The Lab one of these days to see why they don't seem to charge themselves very well with the ambient humidity.

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phobicsquirrel:

ummm milk it..

Makes sense dutyje, thanks for the input!