Bought a new air cc-280e. Update.

[cgraunke]

If you wiped the wood instead of letting it slowly absorb through the air, you likely have too much moisture there as well. There are a couple people that keep telling others to do that, and it may have worked for them, but it's just asking for trouble with mold, splintering, warping, cracking etc.
You might want to get your smokes out of there in to a Tupperware until you get things stabilized. Never good to rush things as that leads to problems.

 

[StogieNinja]

Spanish cedar humidors have to be perfect in order to seal properly, but drawers in a Wineador don't need that kind of perfection so a little warping won't even be noticeable.

Wiping down the wood with a damp cloth works great for seasoning. The key is to let the wood absorb the moisture and settle first. I've had to wipe down several times and s had very thirsty wood. Again, what mattes is not over-saturating, and letting the wood settle before trying to put your cigars in.

My process is to wipe down the wood and let it absorb the moisture. I do that a few times. Then I leave it alone for a few days with several dishes of water until the rh is a stable 70+ for at least 48hrs.

Then I put completely dry KL in throughout. This almost always brings the rh to right about 65. After that I add several Bovedas and I'm done. The Bovedas help keep the rh where it should be and helps train the KL to stay there too.

 

[Ctsvnino]

Spanish cedar humidors have to be perfect in order to seal properly, but drawers in a Wineador don't need that kind of perfection so a little warping won't even be noticeable.

Wiping down the wood with a damp cloth works great for seasoning. The key is to let the wood absorb the moisture and settle first. I've had to wipe down several times and s had very thirsty wood. Again, what mattes is not over-saturating, and letting the wood settle before trying to put your cigars in.

My process is to wipe down the wood and let it absorb the moisture. I do that a few times. Then I leave it alone for a few days with several dishes of water until the rh is a stable 70+ for at least 48hrs.

Then I put completely dry KL in throughout. This almost always brings the rh to right about 65. After that I add several Bovedas and I'm done. The Bovedas help keep the rh where it should be and helps train the KL to stay there too.

Right now lower is at 64% so I'm gonna give it a spray top reading 70% I will add more dry kl. I'm going to take the cigars out for now till things are set.

 

[AlohaStyle]

64% is fine, I would not spray as you were just figuring out things because you had too much moisture. Do yourself a favor and stop watching it every other minute.

Patience is important when getting a new humidor, people tend to overreact and make changes all the time. Adding new boxes/cigars will make the humidor go through adjustments, just be patient. 64% is actually a good Rh IMO. But if you want a higher Rh, I would wait a few days at least before doing anything. If it's still lower than what you want, then slightly spray the beads. Do not over-do it.

 

[GreekElite]

Spanish cedar humidors have to be perfect in order to seal properly, but drawers in a Wineador don't need that kind of perfection so a little warping won't even be noticeable.

Wiping down the wood with a damp cloth works great for seasoning. The key is to let the wood absorb the moisture and settle first. I've had to wipe down several times and s had very thirsty wood. Again, what mattes is not over-saturating, and letting the wood settle before trying to put your cigars in.

My process is to wipe down the wood and let it absorb the moisture. I do that a few times. Then I leave it alone for a few days with several dishes of water until the rh is a stable 70+ for at least 48hrs.

Then I put completely dry KL in throughout. This almost always brings the rh to right about 65. After that I add several Bovedas and I'm done. The Bovedas help keep the rh where it should be and helps train the KL to stay there too.

was a good read for me too as my drawers are getting here thursday. i already have a few boxes in there, plus loose ones in a desktop and some zip bags. i'll putt all them in a cooler until i wipe down the wood a few times and season it with DW in a bowl.

i assume when you wiped the drawers, you then put them in the wineador (vs leaving out in the environment)? mine's in a basement, just dont know if i'll be fighting too high of RH for a little after

 

[cgraunke]

I'm sorry Derek, but I'll just offer this up one more time:
Moisture that comes in contact with wood causes wood to swell, which in turn can cause the wood to splinter. The splintering might be small enough for you to not notice at first, but could potentially damage that prized cigar while you're in there rearranging your stash. (It has happened, and will continue to happen)
Humidity levels or temperatures can cause swelling and splintering if they change suddenly. Perhaps the easiest comparison to understand is that of your cigar itself. If you want to revive a drying cigar, you never just throw it in a 70% RH humidor, right? And what happens when you light up that stick on an overly dry day? (search for exploding wrappers, you'll see)
You should always gradually increase or decrease temperatures and humidity levels. And this is only talking about splintering. What do you wipe that water on with? Know that you're leaving little bits of sponge on everything you wipe down. You might not notice it, but it's there. You used a rag? Well just how clean was it? Then, don't forget, putting straight water on wood in a sealed environment is asking for mold. Just because one person can walk blindfolded through traffic without getting hit didn't mean you can to. Eventually someone is bound to get hit.
Be patient. Take your time. Put a few dishes of distilled water in there. Let the environment settle by naturally absorbing moisture through water vapor. You need to let it sit for a few days anyway to stabilize. Why push your luck?
Or, wipe it down. Your choice.
I'm just trying to watch out for best interests.

 

[marshall9779]

If you have a basement, measure the rh. Mine was at 64 so I just left my trays out for a week then threw them in my tupperdore. Rh went right to 65.

 

[GreekElite]

I'm sorry Derek, but I'll just offer this up one more time:
Moisture that comes in contact with wood causes wood to swell, which in turn can cause the wood to splinter. The splintering might be small enough for you to not notice at first, but could potentially damage that prized cigar while you're in there rearranging your stash. (It has happened, and will continue to happen)
Humidity levels or temperatures can cause swelling and splintering if they change suddenly. Perhaps the easiest comparison to understand is that of your cigar itself. If you want to revive a drying cigar, you never just throw it in a 70% RH humidor, right? And what happens when you light up that stick on an overly dry day? (search for exploding wrappers, you'll see)
You should always gradually increase or decrease temperatures and humidity levels. And this is only talking about splintering. What do you wipe that water on with? Know that you're leaving little bits of sponge on everything you wipe down. You might not notice it, but it's there. You used a rag? Well just how clean was it? Then, don't forget, putting straight water on wood in a sealed environment is asking for mold. Just because one person can walk blindfolded through traffic without getting hit didn't mean you can to. Eventually someone is bound to get hit.
Be patient. Take your time. Put a few dishes of distilled water in there. Let the environment settle by naturally absorbing moisture through water vapor. You need to let it sit for a few days anyway to stabilize. Why push your luck?
Or, wipe it down. Your choice.
I'm just trying to watch out for best interests.

not sure if directed at me, but valid point. going to have to give them a wipe (dry) to get any dust or anything off anyways right, i usually use a sturdy paper towel

If you have a basement, measure the rh. Mine was at 64 so I just left my trays out for a week then threw them in my tupperdore. Rh went right to 65.

rh was a little lower than 65%, maybe 60% which isn't too bad (and there's a humidifier down there).. will consider this as well


thanks for the suggestions!

 

[cgraunke]

Oh, no, just for general BOTL consumption. Many people don't ever think about the fact that the wood we use for storage is an organic product like the cigars we smoke and should be treated with a similar amount of respect if you want it to last and perform.
Depending on where you ordered drawers from, you might also want to hit them with a fine grit sandpaper, as many out there do not come with the cleanest workmanship. (see @Smoqman's link for side-by-side comparisons of what I'm talking about)
Also, the canned air/office dusters are your friend and will do a much better (& quicker) job of ridding your drawers of any residual sawdust.

Now, that basement, that sounds like the makings of a future walk-in!

 

[CWS]

Just set them out in the basement for a while. I tend to agree with the "don't wipe it down" advice. My first humidor warped when I did this. Even gradual humidification is the key. Shoot I have a buddy whose basement is 67%. He just leaves the boxes lying around. That was until it went up with out him knowing. Now he is a little more careful.

 

[GreekElite]

not to hijack the thread, but better than cluttering with another.. thanks for all the advice thus far, just one last piec: as for environment, my basement is 70*/60%, house is 75/50 (54% upstairs), garage is 78/63, sunroom is 78/66 (at night, days have been very humid here)... i assume basement would still be best?

edit- found decent sized tupper/storage, not the best seal but whatever. sponge w/ DW in there with 2 of the 4 trays for a day or two and will be better off, i'll add those to the wineador then put the other 2 in

 

[Ctsvnino]

So couple days passed bottom sitting perfect at 64% n top where I'm having trouble stays at 67-68%

 

[cgraunke]

So couple days passed bottom sitting perfect at 64% n top where I'm having trouble stays at 67-68%

I recently posted pictures of fans that I use that fit perfect behind Forrest's drawers. I'll see if I can find a link...

 

[cgraunke]

So couple days passed bottom sitting perfect at 64% n top where I'm having trouble stays at 67-68%

I recently posted pictures of fans that I use that fit perfect behind Forrest's drawers. I'll see if I can find a link...

Here, check these out:
http://www.botl.org/community/forums/showthread.php?p=1463491
Bought them on Amazon and could probably find you the product page if you're interested.

 

[Jesse]

So couple days passed bottom sitting perfect at 64% n top where I'm having trouble stays at 67-68%

I wish I could get mine even close to those numbers, stupid hot house.

 

[CWS]

You are over thinking this. It is never going to be absolutely perfect top and bottom. There will always be a variance. Those are good numbers. Close the humidor and step away.

 

[Ctsvnino]

You are over thinking this. It is never going to be absolutely perfect top and bottom. There will always be a variance. Those are good numbers. Close the humidor and step away.

:thumbsup::thumbsup: that's what I'm going to do!!

 

[Ctsvnino]

So I had humidor been great with levels. But they jumped numbers in my opinion are good just want your outtake. Top is 65/71 and bottom 65/66. I keep it at 65degress for the fridge. I have kitty litter on bottom middle and top. The wineador is getting full. Once a week I run a fan lowers humidty down or I leave door open for a few min. Should I fix anything?

 

[Ctsvnino]

 

[Cigarth Vader]

Cts I have the same humi and setup as you. Got it last week, set it up with two 84% boveda seasoning packs and two small dishes of DW with paper towels in them to improve the surface area for evaporation. Slowly watched it rise from 40% last week when I started to a solid 70% over the last two days. I'm giving it til Tuesday, and then as long as everything looks good and is still stable at 70% I'll throw in my 65% HF beads, give it one more day to verify then I'll add the sticks out of my tupperdor.

As folks have said, just be patient Padawan, and you shall reap the benefits of perfect humidification

Hope this helps! Cheers!