Set up humidor

[Newbie]

Hello everyone. I am new to cigar and everything. I am facing some problems so I hope I can get some advise/help here.
I had a humidor before and it was a cheap one. It didn't maintain the humidity so I bought a better one last week.
The new humidor is diamond crown 40ct. I looked at youtube video and followed the steps to season it two days ago and waited for 24 hours but it didn't maintain 70% humidity. I re-seasoned it again yesterday. Hope that it will stay for 70%. (after re-seasoned it, I put a boveda 75% pack with two gel humidity jar)
I am not sure whats the reason that it didn't stay 70% after I seasoned it. I did the dollar bill test and it seems seal good. But again because I am new to this so I am not sure if the seal is good or bad. (This is a diamond crown so I hope it is good.....) Also, I am living in Utah so it is really dry here. I heard that I should keep it at 72% since the weather is so dry. Please give me some advice/ help of how to season it and maintain 70% humidity.
Thank you.

 

[Boudie]

You probably need more time, there is a lot of wood that needs to absorb water, especially in such a dry environment. How are the gel jars affecting the 75% bovedas?

 

[Newbie]

You probably need more time, there is a lot of wood that needs to absorb water, especially in such a dry environment. How are the gel jars affecting the 75% bovedas?

I guess I wasn't explain clear enough. The first time I seasoned it I used a sponge and distilled water to wipe the humidor, then I put two jars in the humidor and let it sit for 24hrs. (That's what YouTube tells me) but then it doesn't maintain the 70% after 24hrs so I re-seasoned it. And this time I put a 75% boveda pack with two jar, hoping that more humidification stuff can make the humidor stay at 70%. I'm not sure if I'm wrong with seasoning or anything.
BTW, it was 62% after 24 hrs of seasoning it the first time.

 

[Boudie]

The beads I read about hold at 65 - 70%. Try placing a jigger of distilled water inside the humidor and see if that helps. I still think 48 hours (if that is correct) isn't enough time with the dryness of Utah. If your hygrometer is correct, your seal is tight, and it's not in the sun or dry wind you need to add more humidity to the humidor. I've had new cedar shelves that threw of my storage for a week or two before they stabilized. If it's well build there is probably a lot of wood that has to come to equilibrium.

 

[Newbie]

Thank you so much. I will try that. I hope it's not the humidor problem because it cost $200. Also, will there be any damage/problem because I seasoned it twice?

The beads I read about hold at 65 - 70%. Try placing a jigger of distilled water inside the humidor and see if that helps. I still think 48 hours (if that is correct) isn't enough time with the dryness of Utah. If your hygrometer is correct, your seal is tight, and it's not in the sun or dry wind you need to add more humidity to the humidor. I've had new cedar shelves that threw of my storage for a week or two before they stabilized. If it's well build there is probably a lot of wood that has to come to equilibrium.

 

[Boudie]

Nope, just don't go putting too much water on the wood directly. You need to be patient and give it time. Use only distilled water and keep it closed for a couple of days in a cool dark place.

 

[Newbie]

Ok. Thanks for the advice. I will try to do that

 

[WatchmanUSA]

I would go a week if not 2 weeks. Make sure you don't wipe it down any more with distilled water. Wood absorbs moisture naturally. Just give it time. You might want to check out your lid seal using a dollar bill. Put it in across the lid seal and make sure it closed. It should take a lot of effort to pull it out if you can pull it out at all. Then another method is to put a high output light turned on in the box with the lid closed. In a darkened room see if you can see any light coming through any of the lid or joints.

 

[Newbie]

I would go a week if not 2 weeks. Make sure you don't wipe it down any more with distilled water. Wood absorbs moisture naturally. Just give it time. You might want to check out your lid seal using a dollar bill. Put it in across the lid seal and make sure it closed. It should take a lot of effort to pull it out if you can pull it out at all. Then another method is to put a high output light turned on in the box with the lid closed. In a darkened room see if you can see any light coming through any of the lid or joints.

Thank you for the suggestion. I will go try the light test. I did the dollar bill test but I'm not sure because I felt it was somewhat hard to pull out but not too hard..... during this week or two for the moisture to suck in, can I open the lid and check the humidity? Or just don't open the humidor at all this week?

 

[Glassman]

Biggest thing is that it needs time. I gave mine a full week in humid Tennessee. With a bowl of distilled water in it.

 

[WatchmanUSA]

I have a SensorPush that sends the humidity and temp to my iPhone. I don't need to open it to check it. It alerts me when it goes out of the humidity and temp range I have set. At the moment the temp is 69.3 degrees and 67.5% rh. Is you don't have a humidistat get a SensorPush. If you want to check on it and have to open the lid just do it every couple of days. Every time you open it changes the RH and temp. Then it has to recover all over again.

 

[Newbie]

I have a SensorPush that sends the humidity and temp to my iPhone. I don't need to open it to check it. It alerts me when it goes out of the humidity and temp range I have set. At the moment the temp is 69.3 degrees and 67.5% rh. Is you don't have a humidistat get a SensorPush. If you want to check on it and have to open the lid just do it every couple of days. Every time you open it changes the RH and temp. Then it has to recover all over again.

Thank you for sharing that. I will look into it. Hope everything go well.

 

[WatchmanUSA]

This is what it looks like when you open the humidor. Not too bad is it is for a minute or so but a larger impact if it is open for a good period of time. This is my SensorPush graph for the past 7 days.
View media item 48883

 

[ehk089]

I have a little 50 stock humidor and I think it was 2-3 weeks before it held humidity...also be careful rubbing it down w more water, seems to be mixed reviews on this....

 

[Newbie]

I have a little 50 stock humidor and I think it was 2-3 weeks before it held humidity...also be careful rubbing it down w more water, seems to be mixed reviews on this....

ok. Thank you for the advise

 

[Newbie]

This is what it looks like when you open the humidor. Not too bad is it is for a minute or so but a larger impact if it is open for a good period of time. This is my SensorPush graph for the past 7 days.
View media item 48883

Thanks for sharing that. But it seems that I can't view the media.

 

[arjennrudd]

I use Boveda seasoning backs (somewhere in the 80s for the RH) and followed the directions and left it in there for 2 weeks. Never failed me yet. Whatever way you use, I believe the consensus from the forum will be to leave it in there for a week or two at the minimum with whatever humidifying media.