How many times can water pillows be reused?

You know, the ones that come with cigar orders. Do they go bad or anything? Some of mine are getting to be over a year old. I mostly use them in my smaller humidors or zip lock bags.

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jgibv

Chemnitz:
You know, the ones that come with cigar orders. Do they go bad or anything? Some of mine are getting to be over a year old. I mostly use them in my smaller humidors or zip lock bags.

I use them in boxes in my humi.
I've had some for over a year, probably close to 2 years that I'm still using....I tend to refill them every 6-8ish weeks, depending on the season.
IDK if there's a definitive "advertised" timeline for these like there is with Boveda ..... if so I haven't seen it.

But my rule of thumb that has worked fine so far is that the pillows are still good unless:
1) I notice any colored spots on the water pillow, 2) they start to feel "slimy" when refilling them, or 3) the water pools on top of the pillow and isn't absorbed when refilling.
If any of these 3 things happen I'll pitch them.

Bob Luken

Chemnitz

Ha!

Bobbo2009

jgibv:
But my rule of thumb that has worked fine so far is that the pillows are still good unless:
1) I notice any colored spots on the water pillow, 2) they start to feel "slimy" when refilling them, or 3) the water pools on top of the pillow and isn't absorbed when refilling.
If any of these 3 things happen I'll pitch them.

Basically what he says.^^^^. I've had water pillows for at least four years that I still use and I have ended up with some that are useless after recharging one time. My only suggestion would be to keep an eye on them and recharge them often. If you store your extras in a container, be sure to check them every couple of weeks to keep them charged up and ready for use.

Gray4lines

They can last a pretty long time. I usually throw em in my cooler and pull one out when mailing a box. Seems like once they dry out completely, they can be hard to recharge (if they're old). The crystals dry and clump up and don't take in water as easily. Until then, they work like champs, sometimes for years.

Chemnitz

Thanks for all your responses. Looks like I can keep refilling them. Maybe we should rename them energizer bunny pillows - they keep going and going and going:)

YankeeMan

Like everyone says, keep on top of them and they will last a long time. I neglected a couple and they got some hard spots in them. I could never get them to hydrate properly after that and had to toss them.