Xikar cigar bar and humidity/temp a little high in 25 ct desktop humi

[jabuan]

I'm hella new to this so bear with me.

Bought my first desktop 25 ct humi and went with a xikar cigar bar and of solution. I followed the seasoning instructions as written out by xikar. And saw that it had settled at 72-73 rh and 75 F.

Did more reading around the boards, and saw that people posted that humis work well when 75% full. So I bought more sticks but the numbers remained even after a week.

Could i have over seasoned my humi? Should I ditch the cigar bar and switch to boveda packs?

also I store it in a dark cool spot in my condo and no changes.

Home rh is 70-75 lately. And temp has been no higher than 76-78. Thinking about throwing it in a cooler with some ice blocks (gonna take measures to reduce condensation, not sure how but ill figure it out.

Ok, I'm rambling now. But any other suggestions in lowering the temp? Would really like to avoid the beetles, cigars ain't cheap.

Thoughts? Comments? Criticisms?

 

[StocktonJohn]

I'd go with 65% bovedas, let the humi stabilize and them put the sticks back in.

 

[Rupe]

My first suggestion would be to make sure that you calibrate your hygrometer (if you have not already done so). You can do the salt test or get a Boveda calibration kit, either method will work. Basically you want to make sure the reading that you are seeing is accurate.

If your hygrometer is already calibrated then my guess is that what one of two things may be happening.

1. You may just be opening up your humi too much and what you are seeing is a reflection of what the humidity level that is inside your house. 72-73 is a little bit high but it's not going to wreck your cigars. I know it's difficult but see if you can go 2-3 days wthout opening your humidor and then check it to see where it is at. My guess is that it will be sitting right around 70.

2. It may be because your cigars are overhumidified. A couple of times in the past I have purchased cigars from my local shop that were overhumidified and when I placed them in my smaller humidor the RH level read high in there. Over time they stabilized though and the rh in my humidor went back to the desired level.

As far as temperature goes, don't sweat it. 75 degrees is not a killer.

 

[jabuan]

Right on. And yes, my hygrometer is calibrated. I may have to just leave it the hell alone like you said. Hahahah. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Robertsndr68]

Dang man I JUST moved out of the phase you're in right now where you just want to look at your stash every 15 minutes....it doesn't get easier but you learn discipline lol

 

[jabuan]

i hear ya Robertsndr68 rookie stuff i guess. hahaha

guess i'm just paranoid when reading about beetles and splitting cigars and what not. i'm like man, there's over a hundred bucks in that thing. (tiny compared you guys with crazy wineadors or multiple humidors, but hey i'm new! hehehe) i'd be pretty salty if beetles showed up. hahahaha.

 

[jabuan]

Could I just throw my humidor in a wine cooler and call it a day? Was thinking about getting an 8 bottle by Emerson. That way I can take one shelf with the humidor and the woman can have one with a couple bottles of vino.