Expert: Bill Finck Jr. - 10/7/2008

Question
Thank You in advance, I have a Montegue cabinet humidor. I have a large
collection of cigars and the humidor is filled to maximum capacity in both the
cabinet with boxes and the drawer with sticks. My readings are good in my
drawer, the issue is in my cabinet. At first I was using 2 Oasis xl plus
humidifiers, but they are too high maintenance to refill every 4-5 days. So I
switched to a moistnaire with distilled water. Humidity levels get to high and I
find myself having to monitor it more than I did before out of concern.
Recently I opened up the humidifier to examine the resivoir and there was
some mossy green sledge in the water. I cleaned it thoroughly  with soap and
water and then with bleach and water. I filled it with 50/50 premix and was
reading other Q&A postings on your sight which some indicated not to use
any PG or 50/50 with a moistnaire. On top of that my humidity levels are still
a little high and erratic. I know it may take a week to balance out. I also
ordered some PG from my local pharmacists to add a couple drops to bring
down the humidity to get a desired 70/70. Tell me what to do if you would,
as I feel I'm somewhat on the wrong track still.

Thanks Again
Jim

Answer
Jim,

We use Moist'n Aire Humidifiers in many of our commercial humidors, so I am familiar with them. We only use distilled water in them, not Propylene Glycol solution. That solution is really formulated for evaporative type humidifiers. If you use it in a Moist'n Aire, I believe  the fan will force the water to evaporate faster than the propylene glycol, and leave a higher concentration of PG than you want. This "sludge" you initially found is common in reservoir-type humidifiers. A couple of drops of bleach in the water should keep it from forming and won't hurt the cigars at all.

It sounds like your biggest issue is that the humidity is too high. If it is too high everywhere in the humidor, you just need to turn the setting down a little more. If it is too high closer to the humidifier and ok when you get farther away, you may have to consider adding a second humidifier as far away from the first as possible so that together they will distribute the moisture more evenly.

One last thing - make sure you are shooting for the proper humidity level. remember that you are measuring humidity relative to the temperature, and unless your temperature is 70 degrees Fahrenheit, 70% RH is not the target. The warmer your temperature is the lower you want your relative humidity to be. I have a chart and a basic explanation of this that I can e-mail you if you'd like me to - just send me your e-mail address to b.finck@finckcigarcompany.com.

Hope this helps. If you have more questions let me know.
Bill