About me: I'm a newbie. I enjoy a cigar a few times a year and usually buy the one I'm going to smoke a few hours before I light up. Recently I'm interested in putting together a tupperdor to keep several of my favorite smokes on hand rather then have to run out to the store when the rare opportunity to smoke comes up. I've read the stickies here and elsewhere and did the requisite searching prior to asking the following question:
Does propylene glycol work or not? I mean, I've read it all over the place that 50% pg solution is supposed to seek natural equilibrium at 70%rh but my real world experience is that pg solution is good for nothing at all. I've tried the flower pot foam as well as just a shot glass half full with 50% pg solution in a tupperware container for months undisturbed and it stabilizes somewhere around 85%rh which isn't that much better then just sitting a shot glass of water in there. So I'm stumped. For all I've read it seems folks have been using pg solution for eons and that means it must do something. Hell if I can make it happen.
Now, I've read all about the mo-bettah options like beads, kl, broveda, and gel. I've already purchased some broveda packs since that will be the best option for me. But here I got this huge bottle of lab grade 100% pg, a gal of distilled water, and several blocks of foam that I've been trying to get to work for months, maybe a couple years, I lose track. Does it really actually work or not? And if it does, WTH am I doing wrong?
Here's my testing set-up: I've got a pyrex glass pan with air-tight rubber lid. I have a tiny 1" electric fan that I place inside the container to gently keep the air mixing and circulating. The wires are very thin and pass between the lid and the pyrex without messing up the seal. I use two digital (caliber IV) hygrometers. Both hygrometers read 75% within 6hrs using the salt/water paste and remain stable for days or as long as I've let them sit in that environment. Using the shotglass half full of 50% pg solution it seems to stabilize at 84% rh. Same with the florist foam. Now with the florist foam I mix the pg and DI water in a cup first, measuring each with a syringe. Then I soak the foam to saturation and pat dry with paper towel. I let the foam sit out in the dry ambient air (34%rh) for half a day or so till it's surface is dry to the touch. Then I place this foam into the test container. It also stabilizes at 85%rh. In all cases temperature has remained 73*F +/- 1* and has not appeared to greatly affect the result.
Please let me know what you guys think. Thanks for your time.
J
Does propylene glycol work or not? I mean, I've read it all over the place that 50% pg solution is supposed to seek natural equilibrium at 70%rh but my real world experience is that pg solution is good for nothing at all. I've tried the flower pot foam as well as just a shot glass half full with 50% pg solution in a tupperware container for months undisturbed and it stabilizes somewhere around 85%rh which isn't that much better then just sitting a shot glass of water in there. So I'm stumped. For all I've read it seems folks have been using pg solution for eons and that means it must do something. Hell if I can make it happen.
Now, I've read all about the mo-bettah options like beads, kl, broveda, and gel. I've already purchased some broveda packs since that will be the best option for me. But here I got this huge bottle of lab grade 100% pg, a gal of distilled water, and several blocks of foam that I've been trying to get to work for months, maybe a couple years, I lose track. Does it really actually work or not? And if it does, WTH am I doing wrong?
Here's my testing set-up: I've got a pyrex glass pan with air-tight rubber lid. I have a tiny 1" electric fan that I place inside the container to gently keep the air mixing and circulating. The wires are very thin and pass between the lid and the pyrex without messing up the seal. I use two digital (caliber IV) hygrometers. Both hygrometers read 75% within 6hrs using the salt/water paste and remain stable for days or as long as I've let them sit in that environment. Using the shotglass half full of 50% pg solution it seems to stabilize at 84% rh. Same with the florist foam. Now with the florist foam I mix the pg and DI water in a cup first, measuring each with a syringe. Then I soak the foam to saturation and pat dry with paper towel. I let the foam sit out in the dry ambient air (34%rh) for half a day or so till it's surface is dry to the touch. Then I place this foam into the test container. It also stabilizes at 85%rh. In all cases temperature has remained 73*F +/- 1* and has not appeared to greatly affect the result.
Please let me know what you guys think. Thanks for your time.
J
