Beads or Gel...
e6specialk
Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 216
in Cigar 101
Want to get a census of which form of humidification everyone prefers. I currently use Gel and my 100 ct humi has been staying at about 74% RH. I'm thinking of ordering some beads and giving them a shot and hopefully getting my RH down a little bit.
Comments
Rob
Done
+100
I had trouble getting my humi down below 75%. Switched to the 69% Boveda packs and it maintains 67% no problem. I'll never look back.
Went with the Heartfelt bead tubes - maybe a bit pricey - but worth EVERY penny spent.
I got the 4oz tube for my 150ct smoking humi. That's a slight overkill, but I'm always in that humi, looking at my sticks, deciding what to smoke, adding sticks to that humi......it gets opened a lot. Thus having the extra bead capacity of the 4oz tube gets things back to 65/66rh real fast.
I have the 2oz tube for my 100ct aging humi - it too has been rock solid at 65/66.
I got the 1oz tube for my 20ct travel humi - perfect as well.
The smartest money I've spent on supporting the hobby thus far.
Oh, and spend the $1.49 for that little syringe - well worth it.
Many of the characteristics that folks describe as "aging" are really two things. First is that the cigars have been fully and evenly humidified (which can take up to 3 weeks in some instances, especially with the cello on) this serves to smooth out the rough corners. The second is slowly drying out a cigar and evaporating the oils, thus changing the profile enough to be noticeable (milder). True aging takes at min 3-5 years and that is at optimal conditions. At 73-75RH the cigars will loose oily very slowly and that is pretty much all that plume/bloom is, oxidized oil on the surface of the cigar. If it is slowly dried out you can forget about plume/bloom.
I became concerned about beads after I experienced some naked cigars that just seemed to go bland on me. I also read a report from a silica bead maker that said beads were not ideal for long-term storage of cigars. I think that that yellow stuff that ends up in the beads over time is cigar oil (hydrocarbons) being absorbed by the beads. If you're not doing any long-term aging beads will work well. I'd keep the cellos on as extra protection. If your storing for long term then electric or PG/DW is the way to go IMO and from my experience.
the longer it ages, the more oils break down. sometimes this ends up good... sometimes not so much.