Desktop Humidors & Humidity Control Issues

[jasonatjl]

So, just thought I might share a little with my desktop humidor issues.

I own 3 “Whitetail II” 100 count desktop humidors that were purchased in the earlier days of my smoking. They’re nothing incredible, but they have a glass top and always seemed to be alright prior to coming to Cali and the drier climate.

Been fighting with them lately, they’ve been floating around 62 RH.

Tried re-seasoning once and tossing in a couple small bowls with sponges and DW, it helped and got them around 64-65 RH, but then it slowly crept down after a few weeks. At the time I was using 2 Bovedas in each (65 RH) and they were drying up pretty quickly.

Well, yesterday I bought a piece of “storage Tupperware” with a gasket seal around the top. I was able to empty all 3 humidors into it and get the lid on with a couple bowls / sponges.

I took the humidors apart, cleaned them, and sprayed them with DW, and then towel dried them. I ran a new bead of silicone around the glass tops and tossed in about 6 oz. of 70 RH beads in each, in a small mesh bag made for aquarium substrate, and placed a digital hygrometer in them to monitor.

The intention is to get them around 68-69 RH, and get the sticks up around around the same, and then put them all back in see if it holds.

Figure it’ll take a couple weeks to level out, but not a big deal - will keep everyone posted on how it works out.

 

[SurfnSafari]

Might trying putting a plastic vessel (plastic Tupperware type container) ( or a cut down water bottle) with Distilled H20, in the Humidor for 14 days. Do not play peek a boo, just wait or go on vacation. After 12 days the Cedar should absorbed the moisture of of the container.

Then pop some Boveda's, and an RH measuring device in, and remove the plastic container. Check in 48 hours to see how the RH Meter Reads.

Glass Tops are notorious for leaking air. Good luck.

 

[Mossome]

It is likely that there isn’t a good seal between the lid and the body of the humidor. There never is. Consequently, you’ll be constantly leaking humidity out of them. Any re-seasoning will be only a temporary solution to a chronic problem. You can either try to overwhelm the leaks by throwing in a lot of bovedas and recharging them as they dry out, or abandon them for a better option such as the container you are sealing the humidors in, or just accept this as your new normal. I’d go with the second one.

 

[SurfnSafari]

Option II is some B & M's as a courtesy will season your Humidor by allowing you to put your open Humidor in their Walk-In for a week or two. Honestly like I said some B & M do this for their customers. If you have a B & M with a big walkin ask, they only thing there can say is yes, or no.

Just another idea.

 

[jasonatjl]

Might trying putting a plastic vessel (plastic Tupperware type container) ( or a cut down water bottle) with Distilled H20, in the Humidor for 14 days. Do not play peek a boo, just wait or go on vacation. After 12 days the Cedar should absorbed the moisture of of the container.

Then pop some Boveda's, and an RH measuring device in, and remove the plastic container. Check in 48 hours to see how the RH Meter Reads.

Glass Tops are notorious for leaking air. Good luck.

Glass tops are notorious for leaking, hence the reseal of the glass top itself. Only good thing about them is, I’ll be able to see the RH on the hygrometers and not have to open them up (had no intention of doing so anyhow).

I personally don’t care for Bovedas. They’re good for my smaller containers (tupperdore CCs, travel humidor, etc.) but the recharge process is too slow for me.

I figure the beads which are 2 way and designed for humidification should help to stabilize the current RH (they’re currently sitting around 80 RH after the cleaning / DW), and once it can hold stable around 70 (that second week, I expect), I’ll be able to put sticks in (which currently are around 65 RH in the new tupperdore).

If it doesn’t go as planned, then sponges with a bowl and DW will be next.

It is likely that there isn’t a good seal between the lid and the body of the humidor. There never is. Consequently, you’ll be constantly leaking humidity out of them. Any re-seasoning will be only a temporary solution to a chronic problem. You can either try to overwhelm the leaks by throwing in a lot of bovedas and recharging them as they dry out, or abandon them for a better option such as the container you are sealing the humidors in, or just accept this as your new normal. I’d go with the second one.

My thoughts exactly, to an extent. The next possibility will be to add a “gasket” of sorts to the seal between the lid and the body.

I’ve done the dollar bill check and 2 of the humidors seem to have a fair seal, all things considered, but the 3rd is a bit sloppy for my taste. I thought about using a thin strip of black Gorilla tape on both sides of the “lip” of the humidor where the lid makes contact with the body, and that might help to create a better seal all the way around.

Hoping it doesn’t come to that and the new silicone on the glass top portion will resolve it.

 

[Bondo 440]

You have a decent hygrometer? Can you you trust your values? The Ave Marias you bombed me with were were good to go right out of the box.

 

[jasonatjl]

You have a decent hygrometer? Can you you trust your values? The Ave Marias you bombed me with were were good to go right out of the box.

Those were in an overflow with “water pillows” and a good seal, so I imagine they were right around 65-67’ish RH.

I’ve got 4 digital hygrometers that tell both RH and temperature, I’ve calibrated them previously to ensure they read with an appropriate level of error (+/-2 RH) so I expect they’re good to go. Currently using one in each of the desktops, along with 70 RH beads, so just a matter of time, letting them settle, etc.

 

[SurfnSafari]

I have no problems in the summer time recharging my Boveda, as I put them in a Glass Canister, with a Cut Down Plastic Water Bottle with DW in my Garage. Garage is like always 100 Degrees plus in summer, and it take 7 - 10 day to do a summer recharge.

In the Winter the Glass Canister is I n the Kitchen of the house that is in the 70's degree range, the recharge time is about 2 - 3 weeks.

Friend just soaks them in a Container of DW, and he says that works fast. I am afraid direct contact with DW will break down the other part paper of the Boveda, so I do not do the direct soaking.

 

[VeLoRoK]

Glass tops are notorious for leaking, hence the reseal of the glass top itself. Only good thing about them is, I’ll be able to see the RH on the hygrometers and not have to open them up (had no intention of doing so anyhow).

I personally don’t care for Bovedas. They’re good for my smaller containers (tupperdore CCs, travel humidor, etc.) but the recharge process is too slow for me.

I figure the beads which are 2 way and designed for humidification should help to stabilize the current RH (they’re currently sitting around 80 RH after the cleaning / DW), and once it can hold stable around 70 (that second week, I expect), I’ll be able to put sticks in (which currently are around 65 RH in the new tupperdore).

If it doesn’t go as planned, then sponges with a bowl and DW will be next.



My thoughts exactly, to an extent. The next possibility will be to add a “gasket” of sorts to the seal between the lid and the body.

I’ve done the dollar bill check and 2 of the humidors seem to have a fair seal, all things considered, but the 3rd is a bit sloppy for my taste. I thought about using a thin strip of black Gorilla tape on both sides of the “lip” of the humidor where the lid makes contact with the body, and that might help to create a better seal all the way around.

Hoping it doesn’t come to that and the new silicone on the glass top portion will resolve it.

It might not be an issue of a seal not sealing, but the humidor being made from something other than solid wood. You'd have zero issues with boveda in a tupperdore.

 

[jasonatjl]

I have no problems in the summer time recharging my Boveda, as I put them in a Glass Canister, with a Cut Down Plastic Water Bottle with DW in my Garage. Garage is like always 100 Degrees plus in summer, and it take 7 - 10 day to do a summer recharge.

In the Winter the Glass Canister is I n the Kitchen of the house that is in the 70's degree range, the recharge time is about 2 - 3 weeks.

Friend just soaks them in a Container of DW, and he says that works fast. I am afraid direct contact with DW will break down the other part paper of the Boveda, so I do not do the direct soaking.

2-3 weeks is too long for my patience. It’s usually 65-70 in my place most of the winter and slightly warmer in the summer, but trying to rehydrate 6x 65g / 65 RH Bovedas at one time just takes too long in my opinion.

I might try the direct method, putting them in Tupperware and spraying DW directly on them. Figure it’s worth a shot.

With beads, I literally spray them when the RH drops more than 2-3, and it brings it right back up in less than 24 hours.

 

[jasonatjl]

It might not be an issue of a seal not sealing, but the humidor being made from something other than solid wood. You'd have zero issues with boveda in a tupperdore.

I’m sure considering it’s a cheap desktop humidor it’s not all cedar, probably just cedar veneer on the inside with some other wood making up the rest.

Even so, it shouldn’t lose humidity like it does short of a seal having a leak, IMO, but we’ll see.

I use 62 RH Bovedas in my smaller tupperdores and they work fine, but again, a little different on the seal vs. a desktop wood humidor.

Bovedas work great in smaller settings for me, but after I made the switch to beads, I wouldn’t even consider using anything else.

 

[Bondo 440]

Those were in an overflow with “water pillows” and a good seal, so I imagine they were right around 65-67’ish RH.
I’ve got 4 digital hygrometers that tell both RH and temperature, I’ve calibrated them previously to ensure they read with an appropriate level of error (+/-2 RH) so I expect they’re good to go. Currently using one in each of the desktops, along with 70 RH beads, so just a matter of time, letting them settle, etc.

K . Just checking. Helped a guy one time where his issue was actually his hygrometer....
I first started with an "overseas / free with cigar purchase" humidor and I guess I just got lucky. Never let me down. But I pitched the $2 Hygro and Glycol bar pretty quickly.
I finally gave it away when I upgraded to a yard sale Hayer 18x "tall" wineador. Uses 2 (@ 4oz ) HCM beads containers and a small beanbag of Silica KL

 

[jasonatjl]

K . Just checking. Helped a guy one time where his issue was actually his hygrometer....
I first started with an "overseas / free with cigar purchase" humidor and I guess I just got lucky. Never let me down. But I pitched the $2 Hygro and Glycol bar pretty quickly.
I finally gave it away when I upgraded to a yard sale Hayer 18x "tall" wineador. Uses 2 (@ 4oz ) HCM beads containers and a small beanbag of Silica KL

I think the plan is to get another wineador eventually and use this tupperdore I just bought for overflow, and maybe turn at least one of the wood desktop humidors into a CC-only. If the RH is going to stick around 61-62, it’ll be perfect for that.

First things first, gotta try and get these dialed in. They’ve never given me any trouble prior to me shipping them from HI to CA. When I boxed them up they were 65’ish, when they landed they were 62’ish, I just figured they would come back up but it’s been a fight for a bit.

I checked them about 10 min ago, they’re all still close to RH as they were around noon today, 79-80-81’ish (empty).

Checked the tupperdore of sticks, it’s floating around 64 RH. Will check again tomorrow morning to see where they are, hoping they stabilize out just below 70 RH.

 

[Almi]

Another thing to try is rubbing some bee's wax around the area where it should seal to make the seal a little tighter.

 

[jasonatjl]

I checked them again this morning and again this afternoon.

All 3 are right around 80 RH with just the beads (70 RH) and the DW I put into the interior walls.

One reads 79, another 80, the last 81. It seems like they’re holding onto that humidity pretty well, so going to just keep an eye on it and wait for it to creep down.

Sticks are floating at 65 RH in the tupperware currently; hoping to get them up to around 68-69 before combining the two.

@Almi - Beeswax is an excellent idea - never even considered it.

 

[Almi]

Trust me it was not thought up by me but a suggestion by a fellow BOTLer years ago. I quit using the humidior and went with the 120qt Colemen.

 

[jasonatjl]

Trust me it was not thought up by me but a suggestion by a fellow BOTLer years ago. I quit using the humidior and went with the 120qt Colemen.

Was looking at Coleman’s the other day, actually.

The current plan is, try and see if these can hold a consistent humidity with beads, otherwise, going to make the change to tupperdores and my one wineador all the way around.

 

[jasonatjl]

Update:

Checked them today, clearly they’re losing a little humidity or the beads are doing their job, as they’re checking out at 78 / 80 / 81.

Smokes in the tupperdore are sitting at 67, but I’ve opened it a few times to grab stuff to smoke.

 

[WatchmanUSA]

I suggest watching this this YouTube from Boveda discussing changing humidity in humidors.


I have had issues with mine over the last couple of weeks. In MN we have had a don’t of very cold (below zero) temps both day and night since Christmas. So we take outside air with a dew point we’ll below zero and heat it resulting in an internal RH in the house of 10% or less. We try adding humidity but it still only gets to 25 or 30% at best.

So what happens is your wood humidor is getting the moisture sucked out into the house faster than you can get your media to respond. Boveda says it takes 4 times longer to replace the humidity than it does to loose the humidity. It was a very interesting video. It’s worth looking at it.

 

[jasonatjl]

I suggest watching this this YouTube from Boveda discussing changing humidity in humidors.


I have had issues with mine over the last couple of weeks. In MN we have had a don’t of very cold (below zero) temps both day and night since Christmas. So we take outside air with a dew point we’ll below zero and heat it resulting in an internal RH in the house of 10% or less. We try adding humidity but it still only gets to 25 or 30% at best.

So what happens is your wood humidor is getting the moisture sucked out into the house faster than you can get your media to respond. Boveda says it takes 4 times longer to replace the humidity than it does to loose the humidity. It was a very interesting video. It’s worth looking at it.

Appreciate the link. Sounds about the same for SD - the RH in the house is so low that it’s destroying the RH in the humidor.

The wineador holds up great but these desktop humidors are getting their teeth kicked in.