After reading this thread I made a little petsmart run. I want to upgrade the humidication in my humidor so I got a jug of the exquisicat crystals and I picked up a couple filter medium bags for fish tanks to put the KL in. I put roughly a pound between 3 of the bags, gave each a couple squirts of distilled water and put them in an empty box with a hydrometer. I was trying to get the Rh to stabilize at 65ish before I put them into my humidor but can't get it to climb. Is that the idea and I should just toss them in the humidor or should I keep adding water until I get the RH where I want it?
I've been seasoning for 3 days now. The top of the humi is 72rh and the bottom is 62rh. they have been sitting at about that for 24 hours. Should I move the water and sponge to the bottom to make sure it has been well saturated? If not then im ready for the KL right?
moved the sponge and dish down to the bottom. bottom reads 64rh top reads 65rh. not climbing any higher but evening out. my worry is if I add dry KL, the rh will drop. I guess it would be worth a try or maybe just wait a couple more days. she is pretty big.
moved the KL in last night, no time to spray in the morning. Came home late tonight to 58rh up top and 60rh bottom. Sprayed the KL 4 times and closed with sponge still in. She currently sitting at 61 bottom and 60 top(about 3 hours later). Also double checked the seal last night and shes good. I had forgot to check before seasoning.
I'm really looking for 65rh, all my cigars are sitting at 65rh in the other humis and shouldnt lower rh much if at all, and I was just reading the 40+ cigars I ordered and have sitting in bags from cc and the sister might actually raise the humidity a touch.
day 5 and sponge is out. still holding at 60/61 for now. maybe a respray tonight. also worried I dont have enough KL so i'll stop and grab some some time this week. growing so very impatient. I need to see these beauties resting peacefully in their new home.
If you are only using what I sent you, you definately need more. However, you might've needed 2-3 sponges in there if it is large. Either way, as long as it is holding 60-61 consistently, that is not a bad thing and you can bring it up. I like 62 personally, so when I see mine hit 60-61, I don't do a thing until 59.
I added a bit more KL and some more empty cigar boxes to my humidor in the main part. It seems to be resting around 64%, I would like it a few more higher before I go and put my sticks in it. The holes I added seemed to help out a great deal. The top part that is seperate from the bottom, that one can't keep a consistent RH. It's been at 62% or 68% or 65%....keeps fluxng. I'm using KL in that area as well, maybe I have to see if I have any seal problems....
I have now ~4.5lbs (~2.25lbs each shelf, bottom and top) in the main cabinet, and about 1/2lbs in the separate top humidor part. Not concerned about the main cabinet, but the top I have the bowl pretty much filled up to the brim and it has trouble regulating a decent RH. I'll have to see what it sits at and might have to take a trip to home depot for some weather stripping.
Holy crap...that might be too much, that's alot dude.... More then I have in my wineador... That could be why. Cut it down to 1lb and see what happens.
That looks good man, you might need a little more up top, but the top portion is very thin it looks like. You can do the dollar bill test as well for the seal.
If you are only using what I sent you, you definately need more. However, you might've needed 2-3 sponges in there if it is large. Either way, as long as it is holding 60-61 consistently, that is not a bad thing and you can bring it up. I like 62 personally, so when I see mine hit 60-61, I don't do a thing until 59.
If you are only using what I sent you, you definately need more. However, you might've needed 2-3 sponges in there if it is large. Either way, as long as it is holding 60-61 consistently, that is not a bad thing and you can bring it up. I like 62 personally, so when I see mine hit 60-61, I don't do a thing until 59.
I prefer my smokes around 65rh.
Should be easy to raise it to that level slowly spraying the KL. This humi I jsut seasoned was dropping, sprayed it, and it went up to 65 and held
So is it the thin top part that is not holding consistent rh??
The shallow top part with the small glass cup of KL is sitting around 60% now. The bottom cabinet part is sitting around 62%. I already had to weather strip the cabinet part to get it to keep a consistent RH, so I think I have to do the same for the top. This "humidor" right out of the box seems to be a horrible investment if you aren't willing to go the extra steps and fix the gaps. My meters are working, I re-calibrated them and also used other ones I have, all of them say pretty much the same thing. I'm going to go out and get more distilled water, weather stripping and charge this humidor in a big seasoning. Going to leave the cigar boxes inside and season them as well. I'm running out of options here lol.
Also check internal rh of the boxes, that will tell you when they are ready. Sounds like you have a seal issue. There is no reason it should not be ready. The one
I just seasoned has 1lb of KL and is rock solid
Ok, so I got back from Home Depot and just finished up this next little project on my humidor. As I stated I was only getting humidity in the 60%-62% range with a heavy amount of KL. Now I added some weather stripping to the mix. I know some people don't like to use it(looks fugly sometimes) but oh well lets try it and see. I'll check the humidity tomorrow around noon to see if it changed. I will say that as soon as I closed both the lid and door, and cleaned up my mess the humidity was rising right away. I really want to get this thing to work!:
wonder if the 47 is cause he had the door open for a long time weather stripping it.
Yeah, didn't think about that. That's also why i recommended checking rh in the boxes. That's more important really, as that where they will be stored.
So there isn't a Petsmart any where close to me and i have not found the exquisicat crystal KL that most everyone is using, but i did find this at Kroger
It looks very similar to the Exqusicat, just wanted to hear your guys' thoughts.
Bro, if it is only 47rh in there, you need to put multiple sponges in there IMO. That's extremely dry
Yea it was 47% because the doors were open while weather stripping. I checked everything and now I'm sitting at 63% in the cabinet part and 58% on the top part....I'll let it sit a little longer, but I'm slowly losing faith in this kitty litter product. O.o Should I take the Kitty Litter out and put the water w/ the sponges in there again and start back from scratch?
Bro, if it is only 47rh in there, you need to put multiple sponges in there IMO. That's extremely dry
Yea it was 47% because the doors were open while weather stripping. I checked everything and now I'm sitting at 63% in the cabinet part and 58% on the top part....I'll let it sit a little longer, but I'm slowly losing faith in this kitty litter product. O.o Should I take the Kitty Litter out and put the water w/ the sponges in there again and start back from scratch?
yeah, that's what I would do. What kind did you get??? I'd be really surprised honestly. There are thousands of guys that use it and have reported no issues.
I've been seasoning for 3 days now. The top of the humi is 72rh and the bottom is 62rh. they have been sitting at about that for 24 hours. Should I move the water and sponge to the bottom to make sure it has been well saturated? If not then im ready for the KL right?
moved the sponge and dish down to the bottom. bottom reads 64rh top reads 65rh. not climbing any higher but evening out. my worry is if I add dry KL, the rh will drop. I guess it would be worth a try or maybe just wait a couple more days. she is pretty big.
moved the KL in last night, no time to spray in the morning. Came home late tonight to 58rh up top and 60rh bottom. Sprayed the KL 4 times and closed with sponge still in. She currently sitting at 61 bottom and 60 top(about 3 hours later). Also double checked the seal last night and shes good. I had forgot to check before seasoning.
I'm really looking for 65rh, all my cigars are sitting at 65rh in the other humis and shouldnt lower rh much if at all, and I was just reading the 40+ cigars I ordered and have sitting in bags from cc and the sister might actually raise the humidity a touch.
day 5 and sponge is out. still holding at 60/61 for now. maybe a respray tonight. also worried I dont have enough KL so i'll stop and grab some some time this week. growing so very impatient. I need to see these beauties resting peacefully in their new home.
day 7 and cigars are in. Stable at 64 both top and bottom. So far so good.
Nice drew! The extra rh helped I bet from the gel. When I sent you that, I figured it was for a smaller humi, along with the other beads. Keep us updated
Nice drew! The extra rh helped I bet from the gel. When I sent you that, I figured it was for a smaller humi, along with the other beads. Keep us updated
will do. Headed to the pet store this weekend to pick up more KL. I'll probably move the gel back into the smaller humi.
So there isn't a Petsmart any where close to me and i have not found the exquisicat crystal KL that most everyone is using, but i did find this at Kroger
It looks very similar to the Exqusicat, just wanted to hear your guys' thoughts.
I dont use Exquisicat either. As long as its 100% silica and odor free you should be fine.
Nice drew! The extra rh helped I bet from the gel. When I sent you that, I figured it was for a smaller humi, along with the other beads. Keep us updated
will do. Headed to the pet store this weekend to pick up more KL. I'll probably move the gel back into the smaller humi.
sick with a cold this weekend so I didnt make it to the pet store. Both top and bottom holding strong at 64rh. Happy with the process and results.
You’ve really got to quit posting stuff like this. I read your original post and got to looking at my humidor just a little too critically. I have a 400 count box with one 11” x 18” x 2.5” tray on top and a lot of cigar boxes stacked in a jumbled mess below that so, after reading your do-it yourself instructions for recharging, I decided to do that and to make myself a better organized box. Besides, it was about time to re-charge the box anyway.
So, I mosey on down to the woodworking store – the one with more tools than it should be legal to have in one place, - and I spend too much time there looking at the tools and the hardwoods – and end up spending waaaaaaaaaay more than I had planned ‘cause they had so much good stuff that I know I’ll put to good use someday. Anyway, I got some very nice 4” x ¼” stock of Spanish Cedar and spent the whole weekend making precision cuts and dado joints and miter joints and a new tray and several built – in compartments for my humidor and my wife isn’t speaking to me ‘cause we were supposed to go do something else that she wanted to do.
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You’ve really got to quit posting stuff like this. I read your original post and got to looking at my humidor just a little too critically. I have a 400 count box with one 11” x 18” x 2.5” tray on top and a lot of cigar boxes stacked in a jumbled mess below that so, after reading your do-it yourself instructions for recharging, I decided to do that and to make myself a better organized box. Besides, it was about time to re-charge the box anyway.
So, I mosey on down to the woodworking store – the one with more tools than it should be legal to have in one place, - and I spend too much time there looking at the tools and the hardwoods – and end up spending waaaaaaaaaay more than I had planned ‘cause they had so much good stuff that I know I’ll put to good use someday. Anyway, I got some very nice 4” x ¼” stock of Spanish Cedar and spent the whole weekend making precision cuts and dado joints and miter joints and a new tray and several built – in compartments for my humidor and my wife isn’t speaking to me ‘cause we were supposed to go do something else that she wanted to do.
And it’s all your fault, you know.