CheapHumidors.com

[tin man]

I think it is true (once again) that time is something that cannot be avoided. It will take some time for your new humidor to stabilize and become the seasoned, reliable vault of stogies that you know it can be. Don't sweat it. (no pun intended )

As far as blotting the inside with distilled water to get a little jump start, well, I don't have any warping issues after doing that to mine. And I have wiped it down more than once. My humidor is relatively thick and heavy for its size, so maybe that has something to do with it.

As usual, YMMV.

ipe:

 

[puros_bran]

If I had read I'd have seen what you were refering to.

PDiddy, I have issues with the advice you have received. Before waterpillows and cheap humidors people wiped their ceder. Here's where I think the gimmick is. A dollar jug of water and a 50cent sponge doesn't make the 'cigar dealer' (some of the modern crew are far from tobacconist) any dough. Plus they need an excuse for the extremely shoddy construction of the stuff they market.

Every humi I have bought had instructions in it to wipe the spanish ceder. Its a thirsty wood that swells very little and retains strength when 'wet', which is the main reason its used in a humi. The pleasent oder is secondary. I've chased a lot of links looking at the stuff on the market, one actually said you didn't need ceder. WTF? So what they want me to believe is I need to buy their cheap humi,with inferior wood, and umm oh yeah don't get it wet,you'll warp it.
A quality unit made of/lined with Spanish ceder will be ok with the water.

If I'm wrong there are millions of folk down through time that are wrong with me, and we aren't chasing profit. Take whatever advice ya prefer

 

[Puff Daddy]

I have a feeling that the whole "Do not wipe" thing is borne out of warping incidents on humis with very thin cedar lining, which is probably a lot of the cheaper humidors out there. A second thing I infer from the stuff I've read is that guys are putting sticks in a humi that has not absorbed the moisture it could and should to become stable at a given humidity level, and then the moisture given through the humidification device is too little to continue to hydrate the wood and the cigars too - humidity in the box drops and the cigars are too dry, loss is incurred. Seems it's more a general commentary on making sure your humidor is seasoned (has absorbed all the moisture it will, achieving the woods saturation point wherein the unit will now retain a good stable relative RH level) with a warning about possible warpage. Patience, young padawan! So yeah, you might find that a whole lot of guys just wipe em down and everything's fine, but then those who have issues, well, here's some reasons why and things you could have done differently, more carefully.

Also, seems it's pretty much a consensus that the humidification devices included with the humi's (beads too) are not sufficient to season a humidor, they're designed to maintain RH in an already humid environment. To saturate a humidor, a good deal of moisture should be slowly and carefully introduced to the wood over a period of time to achieve saturation and stability. You may think it's BS (and may be, hell, I dunno) but it sounds cautiously logical to me, and when you consider the cost of a humidor and 100 sticks, I'm willing to be cautious. So if you buy an expensive, quality humidor you can probably forget all o this nonsense, but if it was an inexpensive model (they're still not cheap) it may be woth while to baby it a bit.

 

[Hud]

Both humidors I've bought I went with the old "shotglass of water" inside treatment till the humidity evened out. Of course I live in Florida, so I fight too much humidity more than too little and for this the beads are great.

One thing to keep in mind is that whatever humidification system you use will work better in a full humidor than an empty one. The stogies act as mini-humidification-dealies (technical term there.) In other words the hardest environment to regulate is one that is mostly air, not stogie. :tongue:

 

[JohnnyO]

I have a 100ct humidor from them that I had problems with originally until I kind of figured everything out..originally I only had it about 50% or less filled with cigars and not knowing how often to add water...I now keep it almost all the way filled with cigars and add water maybe once a month and it has stayed around 65 to 68% humidity for a few years now...My church pastor smoked one of my connies today thats about 3 or 4 years old and he was amazed at the humidity and how beautiful it smelled and looked... 8)

 

[Mikem]

Lucky, Sorry I didn't get back to you quicker but they had already shipped my order the morning after I placed it. Thanks for the offer though. It looks like I will be able to start "seasoning" the new humidor by tomorrow if everything gets delivered like it is suppose to.

 

[Anonymous]

As Mike gets thinner his cigars get thicker.

 

[luckydogguy]

NO Problem! Hope all works out well! If you do need anything, please just drop me a PM. I'd love to help in any way I can!

I just got done smoking a Rocky PAtel Vintage 1992. FANTASTIC smoke! Nutty, and creamy with a touch of coffee on the finish. Nice way to cap off my sons 5th Birthday!




Lucky

 

[Mikem]

Well, I prepped the humidor with the beads and electric humidifier that it came with for a little over a week until the digital hygrometer read a steady 70%. I placed all of my cigars from the three small humidors I have into the new one. It has been reading a steady 70% for two days now with it half full of cigars. I am going to let it go for another week and transfer the remaining cigars from my other larger humidor then. I really like his new humidor and it's size and quality. The spanish cedar is at least 1/8" think on all sides and the bottom. I was a little overwhelmed when I saw just how many cigars and brands I have. I guess I need to start smoking them up.

 

[JohnnyO]

do you have a list of what cigars you have? With pipe tobacco I finally put together a list of what was in my cellar cause there was just no way I'd remember all the blends I have...
With my cigars I only have about 100...so the most of any one kind would be 15 to 20...probably a LOT of 5 packs I've thrown in there..I know theres some singles that I don't even remember buying...saw a montecristo in there the other day...dont even remember when/where I got that..it was a year or two ago...

anyhoo...was just wondering if anyone has an inventory of their humidor...

 

[Mikem]

I thought about making a list as I was filling the humidor up. Maybe when I have a lot of spare time on my hands. I have a lot of singles in there of different brands. I very seldom buy cigars by the box. The only boxes that I can think of off the top of my head is a half box of Baccarat's, a half box of Creme de Jamaica and a box of Myorga's, all in Robusto size. Everything else is singles and my guess would be close to, if not more, two hundred other cigars.