Newbie you guys know we ask alll the Q's!

cooch36

I season my Humi (50) and salt tested my hygrometer calibrated and rechecked all was good. Owned since x-mas. after a week hygrometer jumped to eighty and over a couple of days came back down. I've been recieving a weekly shipment of smokes and putting them in. They became hard and if i squeeze the make cracking sounds. the wrappers seem a little flaked on some. when i smoke the soften up after a 1/2" of smoking. bought new digital hygrometer Don salvatore and gettting 58% now cigars feel very dry compared to last week. but original hygrometer said 70% in same humi! old hygro seemed steady at 70% with little fluctuation. Am i killing my orphans? Just filled humidifier was very dry, new digital said 58% when it would normaly only take a little bit of fluid, it took a tone this time. I fill every couple of days. any suggestions would be great. bought new crystal humid for a coolidor to store overflow. Does Hard = over humi

Krieg

First- throw away analog hydrometer

Second- Get some beads, foam won't do you justice

third- be prepared to be constantly refilling your humidifyer, winter months are very dry (I have about a pound of beads in mine, and I usually have to refill every week) 58% is little low, you could also add a shot glass of distilled water to help till you get some beads.

kuzi16

Krieg:

First- throw away analog hydrometer

Second- Get some beads, foam won't do you justice

third- be prepared to be constantly refilling your humidifyer, winter months are very dry (I have about a pound of beads in mine, and I usually have to refill every week) 58% is little low, you could also add a shot glass of distilled water to help till you get some beads.

good advice here.

the beads are great. i wouldnt panic about 58% but i wouldnt be happy with it either.

bigharpoon

Usually hard equals under-humidified. Over humidified cigars are spongy and soft. Sounds like your RH is low. Something is definitely going on with one hygro reading 70 and one reading 58. My guess is that the salt test had an error in it and the hygro was not set correctly. This led you to believe that your humidor was seasoned fully when it really wasn't and now the dry wood is sucking moisture out of your cigars.

I'd put all your cigars into ziploc bags with the humi pillows, re-do the salt test, re-season the humi and start over.

cooch36

Good suggestion I will do just that. My new digital does not have a calibration should i trust it?

laker1963

cooch36:

Good suggestion I will do just that. My new digital does not have a calibration should i trust it?

After doing the salt test properly (do NOT add too much water to the salt, it should be a very thick paste , with no standing water) and for a long enough period of time (24hrs) check your Hygrometer and note what it reads. You can then use a permanent marker to write on the hygro itself somewhere how many points you are over or under from the 75% RH the hygro should read. Then from then on, you just add or subtract the amount you wrote on the hygrometer to or from the reading of your hygrometer, to know the actual RH of your humi.
Hope that helps, good luck.

The Cank

I personally hate the salt test ... Did I add enough water to the salt... did I add too much... I would use the Boveda calibration kit.... no worries with that !!

ThinBluLine06

I have 2 digital Hygros, did salt test on each....were readin in the upper 50's..... I bought the Boveda calibration kit....spot on....one Hygro read 76% and the other was at 75%......In my expierence, the salt to distilled H2O has to be dang near perfect in order for it to work...not a fan..... When in doubt, get the Boveda calibration kit....approx 4.95 from numerous sites.....worked perfect for me... P.S. im a newby too, most of my luck has been trial and error with most of my help from the experts here on the Ccom fourms!

ironhorse

bigharpoon:

Usually hard equals under-humidified.

funny, when I am hard I think it's over-humidified. Badum-ching......

The Cank

ironhorse:

bigharpoon:

Usually hard equals under-humidified.

funny, when I am hard I think it's over-humidified. Badum-ching......

Wa ha ha ha ha ha ha

cooch36

thats funny right there! Thanks everyone I've done the salt test several times and not accurate at all will buy a kit. I am pretty anal and still cannot get a consistant reading! No Anal Jokes pls!

Russ55

cooch36:

Thanks everyone I've done the salt test several times and not accurate at all will buy a kit.

Those kits are great. That's what I ended up doing when I was first getting into cigars. I just couldn't get the salt thing to work. Afterwards I kicked myself for not buying the kit sooner.

gmill880

While your ordering a Boveda Calibration Kit go ahead and do yourself a huge favor...buy the Boveda Packs for humidification. They come in several different RH'S I use the 69's . I'm at a constant 66-69 winter or summer ...a tad bit more expensive in the long run than beads but no hassel at all , drop in and forget for about 8-10 weeks and then repeat. No worrying about overcharged-undercharged beads etc etc . The MOST hassel free way to go by far !!!

madurofan

Gotta agree with Gene here, they are by far the most consistent things I have used. But in a large humi they get rather expensive.