Cigar smokers. need help

Willow

I noticed this morning a bit of mold on my sponge. Iwent out and bought the 50/50 activator solution. Should I be adding this to the sponge or in a seperate dish in the humidor? should my cigars be removed during this period ?

Thanks

billbillw

Instead of using a sponge, you could get some of the modern gel/crystal humidifers. Drymistat tubes work great and you don't use the PG soln., just tap or distilled water.

But if you want to stay on the cheap, at least go to a florist and get some of the green foam they use to hold flowers and water. That is basically the same thing that is inside the humistats. With the green foam, you soak it with the PG (50/50) solution to start. Once you saturate with the PG, you only add distilled water to maintain the humidity. DON'T add more PG or you will ruin it. What happens is the water evaporates, but the PG remains. If you keep adding PG, the ratio will get higher, like 70/30 and it won't keep humidity.

You definetly don't want to get mold in your humidor, it will ruin your smokes.

You should take some time and read up over at the Cigar Aficianado forum. There are many useful tips there. Also, www.jrcigar.com and www.famous-smoke.com both have good articles on how to store cigars correctly. Storage is very important, especially if you ever get to the point where you are buying boxes of cigars and have 30+ cigars to manage.

Willow

I am using the spong that came with the humidor it's incased in a brass gilled circle. It's the one made for my humidor. I do know after using thew solution once I must use water and not the solution all the time.

Thanks for the links...banned from them @ work :mad:

Pauly

How ironic i read this thread and then was browsing an open directory came across this pic... No means to derail..

Willow

GRANDMA !!:D

I can't wait to get home and use my mix. I knew I should have picked it up a while back but never got around to it. If I'm not wrong I believe I am to use it every 4 mths or so. I have a small humidor can hold about 30 sticks.

billbillw

If you had the humistat soaked with just water, the humidity was probably too high, hence the mold. The 50/50 PG is what regulates it at 70% RH.

Willow

My stat was calibrated @ 91 being 100% so I keep that in mind

Tide

Originally posted by billbillw
If you had the humistat soaked with just water, the humidity was probably too high, hence the mold. The 50/50 PG is what regulates it at 70% RH.

I agree with bill. Rinse the humidifier foam with water (no soap), sling it dry, soak it with the 50/50, and put it back in the holder.

The hardest part is keeping the humidor closed enough for it to stabilize the relative humidity.

I keep three humidors to store cigars at about 65 to 70 percent RH. I keep one humidor to smoke out of at about 65 percent. I use jars of the gel bill mentioned, which I add distilled water to about once a month.

billbillw

Originally posted by Tide
I agree with bill. Rinse the humidifier foam with water (no soap), sling it dry, soak it with the 50/50, and put it back in the holder.

The hardest part is keeping the humidor closed enough for it to stabilize the relative humidity.

I keep three humidors to store cigars at about 65 to 70 percent RH. I keep one humidor to smoke out of at about 65 percent. I use jars of the gel bill mentioned, which I add distilled water to about once a month.

Heck, down there in Boca, you probably have a problem keeping them from getting too moist!! What's your average RH down there? 85%? <jk>

That's a great idea to have different levels of storage. I don't have that many to keep right now. Just one humidor with about 85 stogies and one large humistat. I use a digital hygrometer and its pretty accurate, according to the salt test +/- 1%. I have no problem keeping 67-73% RH during most of the year. Winter is hard to keep above 67% though.

billbillw

Originally posted by Willow
My stat was calibrated @ 91 being 100% so I keep that in mind

Willow,
Not quite sure what you mean by that. You should calibrate to 75% with saturated salt. Take a capful of salt and add just enough water to make the pile moist and slurry like. Then put the hygrometer and the cap of salt in a small ziplock bag for an hour. If you can adjust the dial, set it so that it reads 75%. If you can't adjust, just keep the amound of offset in your mind. Also realize that the cheapy dial hygrometers are not very accurate and they take forever to equalize. You are better off trusting your PG solution or drymistat gel crystals. They will regulate it as long as you have a good seal and don't open it too often.

Ron-P

I don't use a sponge or any of those fancy store bought humidifiers.

I use 2 small Tupperware containers with pop-top style lids. The lids have a 1/2" opening in them. Fill with distilled water and you’re done. No mold, last for weeks at a time before refilling, much more inexpensive then the fancy store bought deals and it keeps my sticks at a nice 66%.

I did a one time add a third and it bumped the humidity up to 74% which was a bit too much for my liking so the 2 work perfectly for my 200 count humidor.

billbillw

Originally posted by Ron-P
I use 2 small Tupperware containers with pop-top style lids. The lids have a 1/2" opening in them. Fill with distilled water and you’re done. No mold, last for weeks at a time before refilling, much more inexpensive then the fancy store bought deals and it keeps my sticks at a nice 66%.

I did a one time add a third and it bumped the humidity up to 74% which was a bit too much for my liking so the 2 work perfectly for my 200 count humidor.

The problem with using straight water is that the humidity will fluctuate much more as the temperature changes. It can be significant. Seems like two tupperware container would take up quite a bit of space too.

Willow

Originally posted by billbillw
Willow,
Not quite sure what you mean by that. You should calibrate to 75% with saturated salt. Take a capful of salt and add just enough water to make the pile moist and slurry like. Then put the hygrometer and the cap of salt in a small ziplock bag for an hour. If you can adjust the dial, set it so that it reads 75%. If you can't adjust, just keep the amound of offset in your mind. Also realize that the cheapy dial hygrometers are not very accurate and they take forever to equalize. You are better off trusting your PG solution or drymistat gel crystals. They will regulate it as long as you have a good seal and don't open it too often.

When I calibrated my hygrometer it read 91 which in fact is to be 100% humidity. So I keep that in mind. I am 9degrees off.so 72 would be 63% but I think my HG is calibrating more as it has held at 72% the last couple weeks.
I soaked the sponge with the 50/50. I know I should let it absorbe but I love the smell and take a wiff every couple days.

billbillw

Originally posted by Willow
When I calibrated my hygrometer it read 91 which in fact is to be 100% humidity. So I keep that in mind. I am 9degrees off.so 72 would be 63% but I think my HG is calibrating more as it has held at 72% the last couple weeks.
I soaked the sponge with the 50/50. I know I should let it absorbe but I love the smell and take a wiff every couple days.

Measuring devices are more accurate in the middle of their operating range. I don't think any hygrometer is accurate at the upper end of its range. (at 100%)

You really should try to calibrate it to 75% using the salt. You will probably find that its no where near 9% off.

Willow

I'll give'er a try this weekend and see what I come up with. Thanks

Ron-P

The problem with using straight water is that the humidity will fluctuate much more as the temperature changes. It can be significant. Seems like two tupperware container would take up quite a bit of space too.

I can tell you the humidity does not fluctuate but more then 1% either direction. I have always used straight water in tupperware and never had a problem with humidity fluctuation. I also keep my humidor directly on the floor on a side of the house that gets no sun so the indoor temp remains fairly consistant.

The containers are only 2"x3" and about 1" high, very small. They do take up a bit more space then a store bought device but it's not much more. Also, I don't stock 200 sticks, more like 60 or so at a time so I've got plenty of room.