Looking for some suggestions as one of my humidors won't hold 70% humidity. I've tried putting 3 pucks in it,  one puck is a CI smiley crystal gel puck with distilled water, the other 2 are foam type with a cigar juice mixture in them. Along with 1 drymistat crystal tube. Best I can get for humidity is 62% stable. If I take out any of the humidification devices, the humidity drops.

I admit the humidor is full (it's a 100 count ) and I have about 90 sticks in it...... but 10 feet away I have another humidor full with 90 sticks, and can keep that one stable with only 2 pucks at 68%


the room both humidors are in is around 30% to 45% humidity (my fish tanks are in that room) and temperature in the room is 74F.



I really hate to loose the humidor......  

Any ideas on what I can try or do to get the humidor more under control closer to 70% ?? Maybe it's just a leaky humidor ???  

 

Are the cigars in it newer?  If so, they could be sucking up the humidity.  Once the cigars are at the right humidity, a full humidor is better than an empty one because the cigars limit the humidity loss when the lid is opened and keep things more stable.

You and I live only a few hours apart, and I can tell you that the low humidity of winter here in Upstate NY has brought down all my humidors (but not my tupidors) by 7-10%.

Bruce,  

yeah NY winters are the worst !   the sticks have been in there for awhile (months) so they aren't new ones. I just get nervous when the humidity is below 65%, and this winter I've been adding water and cigar juice a lot to the pucks in this humidor.

It has a partial glass top, but I doubt that has anything to do with it.

Sometimes I seem to have the same problem and find that in the winter my humidor faces the same issue but with the weather warming and humidity building it gets back up in no time I use the pucks and mix but it does bug me sometimes I can't control it all the time. Maybe a large humidor is in the future for you and I.

Quotekennyg - 4/4/2011  7:10 PM

Bruce,  

yeah NY winters are the worst !   the sticks have been in there for awhile (months) so they aren't new ones. I just get nervous when the humidity is below 65%, and this winter I've been adding water and cigar juice a lot to the pucks in this humidor.

It has a partial glass top, but I doubt that has anything to do with it.

Forget about adding more cigar juice, just keep adding water.  If you get too much PG in there, you won't be able to add humidity (just absorb it).

Did your humidor used to work fine and now it's not holding humidity?  Or is it a new humidor that has never held humidity?


What I have done with some success on humidors that don't seal well, I take a paper towel or cloth soaked in distilled water and moisten the edges of the humidor where the lid seals against the base.  I wipe the lid and the base in an attempt to get the wood to swell and create a tighter seal.  Sometimes it takes several applications, but I have had good results improving the seal on my humidors with this method.  It will also have the side benefit of raising the humidity in your humiidor.   Careful not to dribble any water on your cigars.

QuoteJackal - 4/5/2011  12:48 AM

Quotekennyg - 4/4/2011  7:10 PM

Bruce,  

yeah NY winters are the worst !   the sticks have been in there for awhile (months) so they aren't new ones. I just get nervous when the humidity is below 65%, and this winter I've been adding water and cigar juice a lot to the pucks in this humidor.

It has a partial glass top, but I doubt that has anything to do with it.

Forget about adding more cigar juice, just keep adding water.  If you get too much PG in there, you won't be able to add humidity (just absorb it).

That's a good suggestion. I'll pull the PG pucks out and replace them with distilled water devices

QuoteHot Stuff x - 4/5/2011  2:26 AM

Did your humidor used to work fine and now it's not holding humidity?  Or is it a new humidor that has never held humidity?


What I have done with some success on humidors that don't seal well, I take a paper towel or cloth soaked in distilled water and moisten the edges of the humidor where the lid seals against the base.  I wipe the lid and the base in an attempt to get the wood to swell and create a tighter seal.  Sometimes it takes several applications, but I have had good results improving the seal on my humidors with this method.  It will also have the side benefit of raising the humidity in your humiidor.   Careful not to dribble any water on your cigars.

This humidor has always seems to run lower in humidity then my other humidors, ever since I got it.

I will try the wetting of the edges with distilled water, that sounds like a good idea, allowing the wood along the seals to expand and conform to each other, thanks !

I've had some issues as well.  If the sticks are new, the humidity will be low as they are sucking the humidity out of the air.  If the humi is new, seasoning it takes a little while but I've tried to speed things up by wetting down the cedar around the lid to try to swell it a little bit for a good seal.  With that many humi packs in there, i'm sure it's just the cigars pulling moisture.  It'll balance eventually.

Run a lery or two of Scotch tape around the edges of the humi lip to improve the seal. Barring that, just lay a piece of Saran wrap over the box and close the lid...assuming that your humidifier is not in the lid. Problem solved.  

From what you are saying, it sounds like it may not have a great seal.  Does it make a "whooshing" sound when you close it?  If not, then Les and/or Ken's ideas should have you covered.

I agree that if it is a newly seasoned humidor with new sticks, you will need to let it stabilize.  With that said, is the hygrometer or hygrometers calibrated?  I have a glass top which luckily has a good seal  Sounds like if you have done everything correct, you may have a leak

Quotenwb - 4/5/2011  7:33 AM

From what you are saying, it sounds like it may not have a great seal.  Does it make a "whooshing" sound when you close it?  If not, then Les and/or Ken's ideas should have you covered.

This humidor might have a poor seal....as when I close the lid there is NOT a whooshing sound....more like a light thud sound, but not like my other humidors.

This morning I wet the seals on the humidor, and closed it. When I get home from work I will check the humidity inside and re-wet the seals again.

I like the idea of adding a layer of scotch tape to the humidor seals to increase the surface contact.

I've got to agree with the others who question the integrity of the seal on this humidor...

QuoteDonM - 4/5/2011  7:52 AM

I agree that if it is a newly seasoned humidor with new sticks, you will need to let it stabilize.  With that said, is the hygrometer or hygrometers calibrated?  I have a glass top which luckily has a good seal  Sounds like if you have done everything correct, you may have a leak

I'm positive that the hygrometer is accurate. I use one from work..... and is under a calibration control. It gets certified to be accurate to within 1%  

When I got home from work yesterday I checked the humidity in the problem humidor, it was down to 55%.  I re-wet the seals, a total of 3 times over the evening, and after the third time of wetting the seals, closing the lid made a noticeable whoosh noise, instead of the clunk I'm use to hearing from that humidor.  Humidity was on the way up through the evening, up to 64% at bedtime.

This morning, the humidity was at 66% which is much better then before.

I wet the seals down again this morning, and am now going to see if the humidor retains it's ability to seal.

If humidity stays up there, problem solved, if humidity drops..... plan "B" is to add scotch tape to the seals to improve the fit.


Thanks to everyone for the help on this one, I''l post what the final outcome is.

 

Quotekennyg - 4/6/2011  8:20 AM

When I got home from work yesterday I checked the humidity in the problem humidor, it was down to 55%.  I re-wet the seals, a total of 3 times over the evening, and after the third time of wetting the seals, closing the lid made a noticeable whoosh noise, instead of the clunk I'm use to hearing from that humidor.  Humidity was on the way up through the evening, up to 64% at bedtime.

This morning, the humidity was at 66% which is much better then before.

I wet the seals down again this morning, and am now going to see if the humidor retains it's ability to seal.

If humidity stays up there, problem solved, if humidity drops..... plan "B" is to add scotch tape to the seals to improve the fit.


Thanks to everyone for the help on this one, I''l post what the final outcome is.

 

If none of that works then I guess you'll just have to tie the whole thing up in an over-sized condom...

Quote87North - 4/5/2011  9:06 AM

I've got to agree with the others who question the integrity of the seal on this humidor...

You should become a fan of my facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Agreeing-to-Agree/200035186685845

Quotekennyg - 4/6/2011  9:20 AM

When I got home from work yesterday I checked the humidity in the problem humidor, it was down to 55%.  I re-wet the seals, a total of 3 times over the evening, and after the third time of wetting the seals, closing the lid made a noticeable whoosh noise, instead of the clunk I'm use to hearing from that humidor.  Humidity was on the way up through the evening, up to 64% at bedtime.

This morning, the humidity was at 66% which is much better then before.

I wet the seals down again this morning, and am now going to see if the humidor retains it's ability to seal.

If humidity stays up there, problem solved, if humidity drops..... plan "B" is to add scotch tape to the seals to improve the fit.


Thanks to everyone for the help on this one, I''l post what the final outcome is.

 

I wish you well in figuring it out and fixing the problem