Cigar Oasis 101
Ok, I've had a Cigar Oasis for quite some time now and have learned a lot about it. I'm going to give everyone a 101 on it.
1.Never, ever, ever trust the hygrometer that is built into it. Everyone I've talked who has one is off at least 2% and there isn't a way that I've seen to calibrate it.
2.You don't need to buy the replacement water cartridges, just make sure you refill with distilled water. If the internal sponge starts to come apart, remove it and clean the cartridge out and fill the cartridge with beads(haven't had to do this myself yet but have heard this from a few guys).
3.The Cigar Oasis is an active humidification system, unlike the sponge, crystals, gels, or beads which are all passive systems. An active system pushes the humidity(water) out to the items(in this case cigars or cedar) where a passive system relies on the item which is less humid to draw humidity from them. The problem with a passive system is that you can not over-fill or under-fill your humidor it most remain at about 2/3 full. Adjustments can be made to compensate for an under or over full humidor with a passive system but I won't go into that here. If your humidor is over-full the passive system can not distribute enough humidification. If it is under-full your cigars will soak up too much water. With a Cigar Oasis whether your humidor has one cigar or is crammed to the point it barely closes it will put out the exact humidity needed. A humidor with the Cigar Oasis also recovers exponentially faster after being opened.
4. Issues with the Cigar Oasis.
a.It will NOT soak up any excess humidity caused by external sources, like beads will. For example if you live in a naturally humid region in the summer the cigar oasis will not do anything when mother nature makes the humidity in your humidor spike unlike the beads. For this reason I now have dry beads in my humidor and when they get completey soaked I will dry them out and put them back in.
b.The second issue is price($85-115). Don't skimp and get the personal if you can avoid it the XL Plus is only 10-15 dollars more and will work in a much bigger humidor just as well as it will in a 50 ct.
c.The only way to tell when it is out of water is to listen for the fan running non-stop. When you press the button that normally displays the RH it will display "H2O" but it only does so when you press the button there is no alarm or flashing or anything.
If anyone has anything to add to this or if you have any questions please feel free to add to this.
1.Never, ever, ever trust the hygrometer that is built into it. Everyone I've talked who has one is off at least 2% and there isn't a way that I've seen to calibrate it.
2.You don't need to buy the replacement water cartridges, just make sure you refill with distilled water. If the internal sponge starts to come apart, remove it and clean the cartridge out and fill the cartridge with beads(haven't had to do this myself yet but have heard this from a few guys).
3.The Cigar Oasis is an active humidification system, unlike the sponge, crystals, gels, or beads which are all passive systems. An active system pushes the humidity(water) out to the items(in this case cigars or cedar) where a passive system relies on the item which is less humid to draw humidity from them. The problem with a passive system is that you can not over-fill or under-fill your humidor it most remain at about 2/3 full. Adjustments can be made to compensate for an under or over full humidor with a passive system but I won't go into that here. If your humidor is over-full the passive system can not distribute enough humidification. If it is under-full your cigars will soak up too much water. With a Cigar Oasis whether your humidor has one cigar or is crammed to the point it barely closes it will put out the exact humidity needed. A humidor with the Cigar Oasis also recovers exponentially faster after being opened.
4. Issues with the Cigar Oasis.
a.It will NOT soak up any excess humidity caused by external sources, like beads will. For example if you live in a naturally humid region in the summer the cigar oasis will not do anything when mother nature makes the humidity in your humidor spike unlike the beads. For this reason I now have dry beads in my humidor and when they get completey soaked I will dry them out and put them back in.
b.The second issue is price($85-115). Don't skimp and get the personal if you can avoid it the XL Plus is only 10-15 dollars more and will work in a much bigger humidor just as well as it will in a 50 ct.
c.The only way to tell when it is out of water is to listen for the fan running non-stop. When you press the button that normally displays the RH it will display "H2O" but it only does so when you press the button there is no alarm or flashing or anything.
If anyone has anything to add to this or if you have any questions please feel free to add to this.
Comments
I've only had mine a few days, and the only thing I can think to add is that the Oasis is noisier than one might expect, given the tiny fan. It's not obtrusive or anything, but if you're in the same room with your humidor when the Oasis kicks on, you will know it's running.
The thing that has me puzzled right now is why the Oasis still kicks on periodically, even though it's reading 77-79% RH. I know it won't reduce the RH in my humi like beads would, but why would it kick on when its own hygro says the RH is already way high? I mean, even if that hygro is wrong, it's still the one that controls the Oasis.
If it was reading way low -- like 60% -- all the time and kicking on, that would make sense. I'd suspect my old humidor was leaky. But reading way high and still kicking on? I don't get that.
most of my "project time" is spent on building my guitar right now. it could be a while. im very early in that project. ... I have a block of wood and some wire right now...
Apologies for using this kind of language, but: icky-poo.
And ditto what maddy said about the humidor, kuzi. I'd love to see some pics when you get around to building it. I love anything made of great wood (we're talking plants here, people). Several years ago I got way into acoustic guitars; my interest was partly musical, but partly I was just fascinated by them as well-crafted wooden objects.
My appreciation for good woodcraft, btw, is another thing that drew me to pipes.
Maybe the problem is as simple as I had the humi too wet before I put the Oasis in it, and it just can't adjust. I'm going to try leaving it open for a while again tonight, then close it up before bed and see what it says tomorrow.
Everybody cross your fingers and remember me to the deity of your choice.
I don't believe there's been a surface found, yet, on the planet that bacteria of one kind or another can't grow on. Especially one that has any moisture on it. (I used to teach microbiology.) Silicon very probably is a more inhospitable environment than most, but I'd be very surprised if it's true that "nothing can grow on it."
Second, it sounds like you guys are describing two different things. With the foam, apparently it comes treated with something that both prevents fungal growth on the sponge itself, and is evaporated along with the water to prevent fungi elsewhere in the humidor. With the beads, OTOH, it's just the material they're made of that's inhospitable to fungi (& bacteria, apparently); since that obviously doesn't evaporate, presumably it wouldn't do anything to prevent growth elsewhere in the humi.