Antietam Cabinet Humidor = Fail?

S

svghax

Young Ape
So my girlfriend got me an Antietam for... idunno, funsies, she's a model and thus balling. Anyway, got it, seasoned it, it held about 80% for about a week and a half which is how I've seasoned other humidors, but now that I've added some cigars It won't hold 70%... WTF?

These cigars were nice and moist upon adding them, however now they taste like garbage, perhaps from drying out? The Hydra runs almost constantly, it's sitting on the bottom with the first shelf in it's highest position to give a good amount of room for circulation. It's as far towards the front as I can get it, and there's a fan on the first shelf above it blowing toward the back of the humidor. I also threw in a couple Humi-Disks on the singles shelves, and there are 5 shot glasses of distilled water sitting through out...wtf?

There are two cigar boxes on the bottom, on is a little over full so it's open, the other is sideways against the wall; there are some Puros Indios Special Aged bundles on the first shelf as well as another closed box. There are a number of singles in the trays, and unfortunately, I just bough a bunch for this even this weekend, so my other humidor is full and these must stay here. I wanted to take a few with me, but at this rate none of them will be smokeable anyway!

Here are some pictures.

Front closed:
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Front open:
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Bottom:
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Middle:
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Bottom singles drawer:
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Top singles drawer:
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I know the singles drawers are pretty full, but for comparison here's my 100 count humidor stuffed with 120 sticks maintaining a perfect 70%... so what the hell? :( I'm going to lock it up tight till wednesday night when I need to get in it again I guess unless anyone can suggest anything... The humidity is getting better, I'll admit that much, it just crests 70% now before nose diving again, before it was barely making 65% on the top before falling to 55%. :(

Er, right, 100 count over stuffed!
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maybe the hydra isn't enough to humidify the humidor.....or really poor seal
 
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CigarmanTim said:
put a 1/4 to 1/2 lb of beads on each drawer. My hydra hardly runs at all after I added them. Ran all the time before.
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I was thinking that... the Hydra should be more than enough though according to bargainhumidors.com though. The funny thing is I kept hearing that the Antietam and troubles with the top being more humid than the bottom, but my problem is the reverse... :/

The problem of the top being more humid makes sense, I mean, warmer air holds more humidity than cooler air, and warmer air rises. Not only that, bot the Hydra blows humidity upwards... That said, the problem still existed when i has the extra fan I got blowing up along with the Hydra! I had gotten two fans, however one of them didn't work, so there's a replacement in the mail.

Perhaps two giving better circulation would help? :/

Another thing I noticed for anyone interested in buying... the Antietam is built from fiber board, and covered with veneers inside and out. I would not be surprised at all if fiber board was a shit material from which to build a humidor... after all, it's basically a big slab of glue, not wood.
 
If my eyes serve me right, your hygro is reading 69%. So...thats fine. Barely holding 70% is good; you shouldn't be any higher than that. If you have trouble keeping above 60%, then you may need to try and find a way to seal the humidor better. Masking tape worked well for me.

Your hygro is calibrated right? With the hydra unit, you're getting a burst of moisture at once, which could mess with the readings of the hygro, and once the moisture stabilizes, it reads 55%.
 
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Couple of questions.

You said that it won't hold 70%, what is the Hygrometer actually reading?

It looks like a very sunny spot. What is the ambient temp of the room? of the humi?

Where are the pics of your girlfriend? :D (you like how i snuck that one in?):r

One recommendation I would make is to get the shots of water out of there. :2
You can search to find that this can only lead to a potential disaster.
 
Looks like the temp says 79 degrees too.....to hot for cigars IMO. Maybe it says 73 degrees...either way if your storage temps are in the low to mid 70's you might want to lower the humidity down to the mid to low 60's. High temps + high humidity = BAD NEWS
 
Why would you want it all the way up to 70%? 60-65% is fine, but if you like em that moist, you could always just dip them in water.

:r:r

All picking aside, 70% is pretty high. Shilala sells beads that are INCREDIBLE. I'd suggest you check his stuff out.

Good luck, man... that looks like a nice humi!
 
I had opened the blinds to take pictures, but then got distracted for a couple hours so it heated up, usually the temp is around 70 or so, which is pretty good considering I live in SoCal! :X

I've calibrated the hygrometer and the Hydra, the Hydra is set to maintain 70% (cause that's how I like em!). The RH usually drops to something like 58%-62% as the Hydra is coming on, and while that might not sound bad to you guys, the ambient humidity is about %55 here.

I'm not really sure why I like 70%, but I've noticed that low 60s leave cigars tasting like cigarettes to me. :(
 
Welcome,

Where in So Cal are you? I also recomend adding beads, about 1 pound will make it worry free for a several weeks.
 
The very first thing I ask guys to do when things aren't working out is to salt test/calibrate their hygrometers. All of them, using a mayo jar lid of salt in a gallon freezer bag.
You didn't mention when you calibrated your hygrometers.
It's not that it matters, because if it wasn't today, the process of troubleshooting humidity problems requires that as step one. You simply have to remove that from the equation first before you start making changes, because the changes will take a lot of time to take hold.
Please take time to calibrate your hygrometers right now.
Pay attention to which one came from where.
Then put them back in their respective humi's, wait 24 hours, and see what's up.
Salt test and calibrate that hydra again, too. That's mega-important as well.

Once you have done the calibrating, it's very simple to fix the humidity problems.
Until you've done it, there's no way to ensure that anything will work.
If you think some personal attention to this would be any help to you, just shoot me a pm. I'd be happy to stick with you and get this thing fixed up. It's fun. :)
 
Doesn't the Hygrometer read 69%, not sure that is a huge problem unless you have yet to calibrate it. The bigger problem might be all the extra water and high temperatures, unless you are getting ready for mold or beetles. In my opinion, the Hydra is worthless in a cabinet that small, just get a bunch of beads and spread them out. :2
 
Brother, the Antietam is one of the finest humi cabinets; of all the cabs I've sold or gotten rid of, that is the one I wish I'd kept. Never had another that seasoned as nicely, sealed as tightly.

I would say add beads - add them until the beads can act to stabilize the humidity, then fine-tun it to your specs.
 
chippewastud79 said:
Doesn't the Hygrometer read 69%
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Yes, but it does that, and then, without opening it or anything, falls back to 58% or so.

I calibrated everything before posting. I read a number of threads, etc... :( I did my lurking... Beads may be the answer, maybe, but somehow an active system seems like it should be better than a passive system, unless the Hydra is broken. :X

I reorganized things a little and added another fan today, maybe that will help.

Oh, and the temp is reading 69°, along with 55% humidity, though I just opened it to add that fan, so we'll see.

Also, I removed the shots of water, though I really don't understand this advice... water evaporates. The shots should only be adding extra humidity, maybe they are confusing the Hydra somehow though so, removed.

EDIT: Oh, my friend is going to bring over his Oasis and we're going to leave that in there over night, just incase it's the Hydra that's busted or something.
 
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You may think "active is better than passive", but just remember that "active" is a mechanical device that can fail. Passive relies on simple chemistry that isn't going to change, get uncalibrated, or break.
 
I have the exact same humidor and I just don't think the seal is that great. I have a 1/2 pound MORE beads than recommended for the space. I use the 70% beads and my humi holds right at 65-67%(I test my hygros regularly). Which is how I like it. BTW, that's all I use for humidification. Got rid of my oasis. Best of luck with it.
 
lenguamor said:
Brother, the Antietam is one of the finest humi cabinets; of all the cabs I've sold or gotten rid of, that is the one I wish I'd kept. Never had another that seasoned as nicely, sealed as tightly.

I would say add beads - add them until the beads can act to stabilize the humidity, then fine-tun it to your specs.
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Agreed, I've had mine for almost 2 years and not a single complaint. Rock Solid!!
 
If you used propylene glycol that could be the problem. Other than that, get some beads in there. Or it may just need more time to stabilize and it case you didn't notice Girlfriend + Model + Cigar Forum =
And still no pictures of the girlfriend......:confused::BS
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