Humidor at 60% in March in Boston
I bought this humidor back in... June of 2014. I seasoned it with Boveda seasoning packets for two weeks, then loaded up my cigars. I used 69% Bovedas, 6 in all, for the 150 ct humidor. My rh read between 64-67% all summer, and most of the fall. So now I've been weathering the winter here in Boston, and I switched to 72% Boveda because the humidity dipped below 60 in January. For a month or so, maybe longer, the rh was at 63% with the 72% Boveda. In the last month it has remained steady at 60%, sometimes 61%. I try to only open it once or twice a day. Sometimes less. Some of the cigars I've smoked seem a bit dry. They seem to smoke faster and I deal with the occasional cracked wrapper. I'm nervous at this point, though we are leaning toward warmer weather and things should improve naturally.
Is it just the Winter causing this? The hygrometer was calibrated, the humidor was seasoned, and the humidor is pretty full at this point. I'm using 10 Boveda packets, 72%. I thought maybe it was the seal so have been planning on buying a new humidor, but I just did the flashlight test and the room was pitch black. Couldn't see any light coming from the humidor with the flashlight in there.
I guess I just want to know if this is just because rh is hard to deal with in Winter, that this is common, or if I'm doing something wrong?
I'm fairly new to cigars, only been a bit over a year that I've started to really collect and regularly smoke cigars. I'm getting a better sense of likes and dislikes in terms of cigars, and it has been a really enjoyable thing to try different brands/blends. Now I just worry about keeping them in prime condition.
Any advice from more experienced BOTL's is very much appreciated.
Comments
Even though the humidor has a finish on the outside it is only slowing down the effect of RH equilibrium, not cancelling it. You should put all your cigars into a ziploc bag, don't open it and re-season your humidor. RH will be on the rise soon enough but you may want to consider going to a cooler by next winter.