Ammonia / Sour Taste Coming from Cigars

[cgraunke]

Personally, I went this route:
http://www.ambientweather.com/amws07x6.html
Each of those sensors are about the size of two Robusto lying side by side, and each wineador has one in the top drawer and one in the bottom drawer, then the base station is mounted where I get ready every morning. I can watch it cycle through all the sensors without opening any humis or pushing any buttons

 

[cgraunke]

Someone else would have to chime in on the value end of the spectrum. I was more looking for exactly this feature set.

 

[Jfire]

If your digital hygro is reading 65-66 it's not the hygro, humidor, or Winodor.... You probably have young cigars still off gassing ammonia. Some of pepins stuff does it for a year or more, regularly....
Place a couple bowls of activated carbon In the winodor. It helps.

 

[nickaragua]

If your digital hygro is reading 65-66 it's not the hygro, humidor, or Winodor.... You probably have young cigars still off gassing ammonia. Some of pepins stuff does it for a year or more, regularly....
Place a couple bowls of activated carbon In the winodor. It helps.

I do have a couple of MF sticks from last Christmas in my wineador...but the thing is, I'm not picking up any ammonia in my wineador. Wouldn't hurt to have some activated carbon though...good idea.

Personally, I went this route:
http://www.ambientweather.com/amws07x6.html
Each of those sensors are about the size of two Robusto lying side by side, and each wineador has one in the top drawer and one in the bottom drawer, then the base station is mounted where I get ready every morning. I can watch it cycle through all the sensors without opening any humis or pushing any buttons

This is perfect! I wonder if I could get one with 3 remotes instead of 6

 

[cgraunke]

Personally, I went this route:
http://www.ambientweather.com/amws07x6.html
Each of those sensors are about the size of two Robusto lying side by side, and each wineador has one in the top drawer and one in the bottom drawer, then the base station is mounted where I get ready every morning. I can watch it cycle through all the sensors without opening any humis or pushing any buttons

This is perfect! I wonder if I could get one with 3 remotes instead of 6

Yup, just replace the x6 in the address with x3 (and you can always add more at a later time, the base unit will communicate with up to 8 )

There are also three different base units available that show different amounts of information.

Spend a little time on their website to see what the different options are, and also check out their Amazon store (as the stock and prices/shipping differs between the two)
There really is more in depth knowledge on these and other brands/models from earlier threads as well, you just have to do a search on "Ambient Weather". (it will be worth your time to see what's out there)

 

[cgraunke]

Nevermind...
Here's the specific one I was looking for: Best Cheap Hygrometer
Post 18 has links to all three different base stations, each with three sensors.
Post 24 has the size comparison pictures for the sensors.

(there are many other threads with great information though, too)

Best of luck!

 

[nickaragua]

Nevermind...
Here's the specific one I was looking for: Best Cheap Hygrometer
Post 18 has links to all three different base stations, each with three sensors.
Post 24 has the size comparison pictures for the sensors.

(there are many other threads with great information though, too)

Best of luck!

You're a beast! Thanks, I'll look into this some more.

 

[nickaragua]

Been a while but I'm back with updates. Transferred all my cigars into my desktop humidor and a tupperware (deodorized) with 65 boveda's. My hygrometer was reading 65 spot on in both units so left them as is. I then moved the same hygrometer back into my wineador (2 shelves with a couple cigars) and took out all the KL but the RH is still reading 68-69. I have no idea wtf to do with this wineador anymore. I'm about ready to give up on it...

 

[apnutter]

What is the rh of the room where the wineador is stored? Maybe leave it open and turned off if the room rh is lower than 65%. Sounds like the drawers are over humidified.

Have you tried drying the litter out a little? I put mine in a tupperware container and microwaved it for about 1:30 in 30 second intervals mixing it in between cycles. The drier litter should equalize things to a lower rh. If you do this let the litter cool before using.

Honestly, 68% isn't anything to fret over. My tupperdore was at 68% before my wineadore only because that's what the litter was out of the bag and I didn't feel like dickin with it and my sticks smoked fine.

I apologize if I repeated anything previously posted.

 

[nickaragua]

What is the rh of the room where the wineador is stored? Maybe leave it open and turned off if the room rh is lower than 65%. Sounds like the drawers are over humidified.

Have you tried drying the litter out a little? I put mine in a tupperware container and microwaved it for about 1:30 in 30 second intervals mixing it in between cycles. The drier litter should equalize things to a lower rh. If you do this let the litter cool before using.

Honestly, 68% isn't anything to fret over. My tupperdore was at 68% before my wineadore only because that's what the litter was out of the bag and I didn't feel like dickin with it and my sticks smoked fine.

I apologize if I repeated anything previously posted.

No apologies necessary, any input helps here. To answer your question, I have no clue as to what the relative humidity is in my room but I'm sure it's well over 65%. I've tried turning off the fridge for a couple of days and the temp (obviously) and the RH shot up so I just turned it back on, set the temp down to 65 and put a brand new 65RH Boveda in there and now the RH is reading in the high 50's. I'm liking where this is going so I'll monitor the RH inside the empty wineador and see how this progresses.

Thanks for all the help fellas.

 

[nickaragua]

Update: Put everything back with a fresh Boveda and have been monitoring the RH daily for a couple of weeks now. RH is now reading a solid 65 so guess everything is OK now, real test will be when I light one up I guess.

Thanks to everyone that helped out!

 

[Sirspanksalot]

Glad everything seems to be in order!

 

[nickaragua]

Now I have another issue but this time with my 5 ct herfador. I received it about a month or so ago and have been trying to get rid of the plastic smell using different methods. I've tried putting BP in a shallow dish and closing it for a week or so but that proved to be useless. I then took out the foam pads and left them in a sterile odor-free Tupperware with another bowl of BP and leaving the herfador open to air out but that didn't work either.

From what I've read online, it doesn't seem like others' herfador smell this strongly of plastic/chemicals. I wonder if this has anything to do with it shipping straight from Famous Smoke's new shipment of herfadors...In any case, can anyone provide any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Cigary43]

Cigars dont get each other sick, they get sick because they're continuing to ferment. Doesn't really matter how many you have at a given point unless they're all sick or something. The KL is nice in that it helps absorb the ammonia out gassing.

Only way to know is to smoke another one. Like I said, my rule of thumb is to smoke within the first month, or wait until after month six. Generally that'll prevent you hitting a sick one.

Ninja is giving some great advice here and it's true. Some want to say that some cigars do not go through 'sick periods'.....they do. It is part of the fermentation process and according to one source...."The extent of the fermentation process is solely based on the cigar maker's preference for each particular type of leaf. From start to finish, this process could take as little as a month, or last up to 3 years, sometimes longer! There is no set rule. But, rest assured, most of today's top manufacturers properly ferment their tobacco leaves to ensure an optimum cigar experience." Experience also teaches us about those cigars we regularly smoke and in some cases with cigars they go through a second 'sick period' but it's not nearly as nasty as the first where you get that really bad acrid ammonia taste.

 

[nickaragua]

Cigars dont get each other sick, they get sick because they're continuing to ferment. Doesn't really matter how many you have at a given point unless they're all sick or something. The KL is nice in that it helps absorb the ammonia out gassing.

Only way to know is to smoke another one. Like I said, my rule of thumb is to smoke within the first month, or wait until after month six. Generally that'll prevent you hitting a sick one.

Ninja is giving some great advice here and it's true. Some want to say that some cigars do not go through 'sick periods'.....they do. It is part of the fermentation process and according to one source...."The extent of the fermentation process is solely based on the cigar maker's preference for each particular type of leaf. From start to finish, this process could take as little as a month, or last up to 3 years, sometimes longer! There is no set rule. But, rest assured, most of today's top manufacturers properly ferment their tobacco leaves to ensure an optimum cigar experience." Experience also teaches us about those cigars we regularly smoke and in some cases with cigars they go through a second 'sick period' but it's not nearly as nasty as the first where you get that really bad acrid ammonia taste.

I agree nothing but good info around here.