New from NYC

[Mestrongbeast]

Good morning gents. My name is scott and I’ve become interested in cigars the past 2 years. I’m enjoying more of a dark maduro wrapper. Camachos Gurkha and cohiba mostly. But there is nothing I won’t try other than acids. I’ve been a fireman the past 26 years and own a bbq catering business. I have a humidor that I inherited from the firehouse when we upgradEd to a refrigerated unit. Here are a few pictures. I’m having issues keeping the humidity up and am curious as to how I can improve it. Thanks

 

[fisherclive]

Welcome from Detroit Scott!
As far as maintaining humidity, glass top humidors are known to not seal well.
Was the unit kept in storage or empty for a while? May need to reseason it.
What's the temp and RH like where you're storing the humidor now?

 

[CigarGavin]

Welcome to BOTL! couldn't help but notice you mentioned the firehouse upgrading to a refrigerated humidor.... do all firehouses in NYC have communal refrigerated humidors? Is it like an employee fridge where you put your name on your lunch and hope someone else doesn't eat it? Is there a budget for smokes?

 

[the camaro show]

Welcome from West Virginia, I’d love to see the refrigerated unit and what you guys enjoy smoking.

 

[icehog3]

Welcome from Chicagoland and thank you for your Service.

 

[OneStrangeOne]

Welcome from Texas!

 

[Thebutcher]

Welcome from North Idaho

Welcome to BOTL! couldn't help but notice you mentioned the firehouse upgrading to a refrigerated humidor.... do all firehouses in NYC have communal refrigerated humidors? Is it like an employee fridge where you put your name on your lunch and hope someone else doesn't eat it? Is there a budget for smokes?

This!! enquiring minds want to know

 

[zcziggy]

welcome from so. florida

 

[Rupe]

Welcome to BOTL @Mestrongbeast

As mentioned above, glass top humidors are notorious for being leaky when it comes to humidity. One trick that has been mentioned here in the past is to use some odor free aquarium silicone to seal up the joints where the glass meets the wood.

I also noticed that your humidor is fairly empty which can be another detriment to keeping your humidity up. Generally, the more "open" space you have the harder it is to keep your humidity stable. my suggestion would be to either fill it with more cigars or see if you can get some empty cigar boxes from your local shop that you can break apart and fill the spaces. The only caution with using wood is that it may be dry which will definitely suck moisture out of your system, making your dryness issues worse.

The other possibility is that your humidor may need to be re-seasoned. There are scads of YouTube videos that explain how to do the seasoning so you should have plenty of DIY advice there. The best advice that I can give on the topic is to make sure you have patience. Trying to short circuit the process by wiping down the wood can warp your wood or cause mold. also be sure that you are using distilled water so you do not introduce unwanted minerals or contaminants.

 

[Alwayslit]

Welcome to the madness

 

[Rod707]

Welcome from NorCal and thank you for doing what you do brother!

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

 

[Mestrongbeast]

Thanks for all the reply’s. I’ve been working in a light duty capacity for the past 6 months and they do not have a large humidor so I’ve been bringing from home. Lol that’s why mine is anemic. I recently tried reseasoning it and it is doing better. Right now it’s *70 and 70.9 rh. Yesterday it was 58rh. I wiped down the cedar with distilled water. Seems I may need to do again. I will try the aquarium sealant. There is a mirror on the one side of the unit. Any functionality other than seeing lower? Also the digital screen on the front of the humidor won’t work. I can’t seem to find a replacement and ideas?
not all firehouses have humidors. My house does and we have 1 guy that keeps it stocked. He usually buys from cigarbid and cigar international to keep it stocked. We always have a broad spectrum of what’s in there. He charges 5 a stick regardless what it costs when purchased. He usually has a surplus of cash from each delivery in which he buys more expensive brands as time goes on. i will be back to full duty status in next few weeks and I’ll post pictures of this monster…

 

[Old Smokey]

Welcome Scott. If you get tired of trying to maintain Rh in your glass top humidor, consider using a good sealing Tupperware type container and using couple of Boveda packs. You will be amazed how much knowledge about cigars and their care you can gain by hanging out and asking questions. What is your preferred Rh?

Thank you for your service!

 

[Mestrongbeast]

Welcome from Detroit Scott!
As far as maintaining humidity, glass top humidors are known to not seal well.
Was the unit kept in storage or empty for a while? May need to reseason it.
What's the temp and RH like where you're storing the humidor now?

It sat for a few years. I never reseasoned it. I’m trying that now and I haven’t reached the saturaction point yet. Today it’s holding @ 70 and 70 rh

 

[Mestrongbeast]

Welcome from North Idaho




This!! enquiring minds want to know

I sat next to a guy on an airplane from Idaho…..16 hours. He talked the WHOLE time

 

[Mestrongbeast]

Welcome from NorCal and thank you for doing what you do brother!

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

Thank you for your support. I was born in Southern cal as my pops was in the air force…..Vandenberg Air Force Base

 

[CigarGavin]

Thanks for all the reply’s. I’ve been working in a light duty capacity for the past 6 months and they do not have a large humidor so I’ve been bringing from home. Lol that’s why mine is anemic. I recently tried reseasoning it and it is doing better. Right now it’s *70 and 70.9 rh. Yesterday it was 58rh. I wiped down the cedar with distilled water. Seems I may need to do again. I will try the aquarium sealant. There is a mirror on the one side of the unit. Any functionality other than seeing lower? Also the digital screen on the front of the humidor won’t work. I can’t seem to find a replacement and ideas?
not all firehouses have humidors. My house does and we have 1 guy that keeps it stocked. He usually buys from cigarbid and cigar international to keep it stocked. We always have a broad spectrum of what’s in there. He charges 5 a stick regardless what it costs when purchased. He usually has a surplus of cash from each delivery in which he buys more expensive brands as time goes on. i will be back to full duty status in next few weeks and I’ll post pictures of this monster…

Sounds like you guys have a pretty good system as long as the sticks keep going up in quality, just be careful there are about 5 cigars on cbid worth 5$ everything else is a trap

 

[Capn_Jackson]

Welcome from Texas, and many thanks to you and all your firehouse for doing what you do! I’ve had a lot of friends, a few family, and a former girlfriend who were firefighters, and I greatly admire both the strength and the courage. There has already been some good advice given above. I would say get a Govee mini Bluetooth hygrometer off Amazon, download the app on your phone, that way you can monitor the temp and rh% without opening the lid. After calibrating it, it’ll probably be a little more accurate than the digital one on the box. Like others have said, the humidor will also retain better humidity the more smokes you fill it with. What humidity do you prefer in your sticks? Boveda makes humidity pouches at different levels, 65%, 69%, etc, and they work pretty well for a humidor that size. They’re very low maintenance, too.
Good luck! Stick around here and you’ll pick up a lot of information. I still do, every day.

Jackson

 

[Mestrongbeast]

Welcome to BOTL! couldn't help but notice you mentioned the firehouse upgrading to a refrigerated humidor.... do all firehouses in NYC have communal refrigerated humidors? Is it like an employee fridge where you put your name on your lunch and hope someone else doesn't eat it? Is there a budget for smokes?

Lol you put something in here it’s fair game. Every firehouse is different. We have 1 guy that buys.

 

[Mestrongbeast]

Welcome from West Virginia, I’d love to see the refrigerated unit and what you guys enjoy smoking.