Now, I know that there are a lot of you newer smokers who have not owned a humidor before and would like to take a step up from buying a few singles at your local B&M and keeping them in a drawer. Buying a humidor is usually one of the first steps down the "slippery slope", and I'll admit that I was a little scared about messing up my humidor.
I just want to share my experience so others can see how another New Gorilla started this wonderful and rewarding hobby (and in some cases, lifestyle). Well, here we go!...
First, a little background on me:
I am a college student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY (very close to Albany). I have smoked a fair number of cigars before, but I would love to smoke more often despite my fairly limited budget right now.
Buying a humidor:
I chose this small (20 ct.) humidor from Cigars International.
http://www.cigarsinternational.com/prodDisp.asp?item=M-5VHUM2&cat=10
I knew that it would be a good quality humidor from the many good reviews I have heard from this forum and what I know from other personal experiences with CI. It was $20 and included the standard circular humidifier.
When it came in the mail, I unpacked it and it looked like this:
I had learned how to season a humidor before the package came, so I wiped the inside down with very slightly damp paper towel to remove any dust and put a small bowl of DISTILLED water in the center of the humidor and closed it. I knew that it would take a few days to get up to humidity so I moved on to my hygrometer.
I chose to buy is hygrometer:
http://www.cigarsinternational.com/prodDisp.asp?item=M-HYG10&cat=10
I chose this one because I liked how small it was and I liked the way it attaches to the humidor. There is a magnet on the back of the device and a metal plate with an adhesive back is included so you don't need to rely on Velcro to hold it on there. I also picked it because it is adjustable so if it is slightly off from the factory, you can correct it yourself. It also has a temperature display, which is nice to see all in one place.
Now, the salt test. The general idea is that you can check the accuracy of a hygrometer by combining water and salt in an enclosed environment and the relative humidity (RH) of the air will be 75%. To do this, I got the smallest Tupperware container I could find and a small cup (like the ones for condiments in a cafeteria or fast food place). I filled it about half way with salt and slowly dripped distilled (not necessary, but I had it around) water into it, stirring it with a toothpick, just until the salt was saturated but there was no standing water. I could turn the cup upside down and the mixture would stick to the bottom and nothing would come out.
I placed my hygrometer in the Tupperware with the salt and monitored it for about 16 hours (long enough to get the air stabilized at 75% RH). I noticed that the Hygrometer was averaging at 72% RH (71, then 72, then 73, then 72...). I now knew that it needed to be calibrated 3% up. I turned the knob clockwise 3 clicks and pressed the reset button. I then put it back in the Tupperware for another 16 hours and it read dead on at 75% RH.
Now at 2 days into conditioning the humidor, I placed my calibrated hygrometer into the seasoning humidor and closed the lid again. (it read 60% after a few hours so I knew my humidor was getting to my goal of above 70% RH).
Now, on to the beads. after reading about humidification beads on this site, i realized that they really are the best way to maintain humidity in my humidor. I went to http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/ and bought 1 oz. of the 65% humidification beads (the recommended amount for my sized humidor). I took the humidifier that came with the humidor out and opened it up. I then put the beads into a cut off toe of a set of pantyhose (the lighter the color, the easier it is to see how wet the beads are). I took a spray bottle of distilled water and sprayed the beads until 80% of them were wet/clear. I closed the pantyhose baggie with a twist-tie and placed it into the humidifier.
After 4 days, my humidor is up to 73% RH and I feel that it is properly seasoned so I removed the distilled water and attached the humidifier to the lid with the included Velcro. I also attached my hygrometer. I let it sit for two days, letting it reach equilibrium (65% RH, these beads are extremely accurate!) and spritzing the beads when the got a little dry.
Now it's time to add some cigars!
This is the final product!
Right now, I just have 4 cigars, due to my empty college pockets, but I have faith that as I keep sliding down the slope, this humidor will be filled and I'll be buying a bigger one!
I also recommend keeping track of the cigars you try so here is the excel spreadsheet format that I use:
http://www.david-schindler.com/cigars.xls
Have fun and keep this thread active, I would love to hear your experiences and as always, questions and [SIZE=-1]criticism [/SIZE]are always welcomed!
For those curious, the cigars are:
Fonseca Habanna Seleccion Cadete
Carlos Torano Exodus Silver Corona Grande
Carlos Torano Casa Torano Robusto
Perdomo Reserve Champagne Petite Corona
Happy Smoking!
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I just want to share my experience so others can see how another New Gorilla started this wonderful and rewarding hobby (and in some cases, lifestyle). Well, here we go!...
First, a little background on me:
I am a college student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY (very close to Albany). I have smoked a fair number of cigars before, but I would love to smoke more often despite my fairly limited budget right now.
Buying a humidor:
I chose this small (20 ct.) humidor from Cigars International.
http://www.cigarsinternational.com/prodDisp.asp?item=M-5VHUM2&cat=10
I knew that it would be a good quality humidor from the many good reviews I have heard from this forum and what I know from other personal experiences with CI. It was $20 and included the standard circular humidifier.
When it came in the mail, I unpacked it and it looked like this:
I had learned how to season a humidor before the package came, so I wiped the inside down with very slightly damp paper towel to remove any dust and put a small bowl of DISTILLED water in the center of the humidor and closed it. I knew that it would take a few days to get up to humidity so I moved on to my hygrometer.
I chose to buy is hygrometer:
http://www.cigarsinternational.com/prodDisp.asp?item=M-HYG10&cat=10
I chose this one because I liked how small it was and I liked the way it attaches to the humidor. There is a magnet on the back of the device and a metal plate with an adhesive back is included so you don't need to rely on Velcro to hold it on there. I also picked it because it is adjustable so if it is slightly off from the factory, you can correct it yourself. It also has a temperature display, which is nice to see all in one place.
Now, the salt test. The general idea is that you can check the accuracy of a hygrometer by combining water and salt in an enclosed environment and the relative humidity (RH) of the air will be 75%. To do this, I got the smallest Tupperware container I could find and a small cup (like the ones for condiments in a cafeteria or fast food place). I filled it about half way with salt and slowly dripped distilled (not necessary, but I had it around) water into it, stirring it with a toothpick, just until the salt was saturated but there was no standing water. I could turn the cup upside down and the mixture would stick to the bottom and nothing would come out.
I placed my hygrometer in the Tupperware with the salt and monitored it for about 16 hours (long enough to get the air stabilized at 75% RH). I noticed that the Hygrometer was averaging at 72% RH (71, then 72, then 73, then 72...). I now knew that it needed to be calibrated 3% up. I turned the knob clockwise 3 clicks and pressed the reset button. I then put it back in the Tupperware for another 16 hours and it read dead on at 75% RH.
Now at 2 days into conditioning the humidor, I placed my calibrated hygrometer into the seasoning humidor and closed the lid again. (it read 60% after a few hours so I knew my humidor was getting to my goal of above 70% RH).
Now, on to the beads. after reading about humidification beads on this site, i realized that they really are the best way to maintain humidity in my humidor. I went to http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/ and bought 1 oz. of the 65% humidification beads (the recommended amount for my sized humidor). I took the humidifier that came with the humidor out and opened it up. I then put the beads into a cut off toe of a set of pantyhose (the lighter the color, the easier it is to see how wet the beads are). I took a spray bottle of distilled water and sprayed the beads until 80% of them were wet/clear. I closed the pantyhose baggie with a twist-tie and placed it into the humidifier.
After 4 days, my humidor is up to 73% RH and I feel that it is properly seasoned so I removed the distilled water and attached the humidifier to the lid with the included Velcro. I also attached my hygrometer. I let it sit for two days, letting it reach equilibrium (65% RH, these beads are extremely accurate!) and spritzing the beads when the got a little dry.
Now it's time to add some cigars!
This is the final product!
Right now, I just have 4 cigars, due to my empty college pockets, but I have faith that as I keep sliding down the slope, this humidor will be filled and I'll be buying a bigger one!
I also recommend keeping track of the cigars you try so here is the excel spreadsheet format that I use:
http://www.david-schindler.com/cigars.xls
Have fun and keep this thread active, I would love to hear your experiences and as always, questions and [SIZE=-1]criticism [/SIZE]are always welcomed!
For those curious, the cigars are:
Fonseca Habanna Seleccion Cadete
Carlos Torano Exodus Silver Corona Grande
Carlos Torano Casa Torano Robusto
Perdomo Reserve Champagne Petite Corona
Happy Smoking!
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