Expert: James Yee - 5/30/2008

Question
Hi James, I was trying to write a follow up question but says the other expert is on vacation.  His response to my initial question is here: http://www.allexperts.com/user.cgi?m=6&catID=2143&qID=4714375

Anyways.. I took his advice.  I bought a new oasis aquafoam, and seasoned by humidor.  I used a damp cloth and wiped up the entire interior of hte humidor and let it sit.  Then I got my NEW aquafoam, and filled it with the Xikar PG formula (premixed).  And I was expecting to see the humidity rise

The first time I did it, I had the humidity around 63%ish, not too bad.  But now since I seasoned my humidor and added the 50% water and 50% PG, (which it wasnt before), I was expecting better results

I check my humidor this morning to see a unchanged humidity of 57% from before I put the PG in.   So im like, maybe its just slow, i'll give it some more time.  I check again and its dropped to like low 50's.   Can PG make the humidity drop?

not sure what im doing wrong anymore, any help would be immensely appreciated

thanks!

Answer
Hi Andrew,

The first thing you should do is make sure your hygrometer is accurate.  You mentioned in your original post that you did the salt test and calibrated it accordingly.  Double check to make sure your hygrometer is indeed working properly.  As a better alternative, consider investing in a digital hygrometer as they are factory preset, extremely accurate and usually do not require calibration (depending on the brand and model.)

If your hygrometer is working properly, then your humidor may just need some time for the PG to stabilize.  PG solutions can take as long as a week for it to fully stabilize and during this time, the humidity can dip and peak erratically.  Let your humidor sit for a few more days and monitor your humidor for any change in humidity.  If the humidity still hasn't improved or continues to drop, it may be possible that the humidor is either not fully seasoned or the humidor may have a physical defect that causes humidity loss.

If the humidity does not improve, thoroughly examine your humidor for any possible defects that may cause humidity loss.  Make sure the lid has a firm seal when closed and the corner joints do not have any cracks or gaps that would allow humidity to escape.  All construction joints should be tight and appear seamless.  If your humidor doesn't have any physical defects, you may need to season it again to ensure that the interior wood has been prepped with enough moisture.  If a humidor is not properly seasoned, it's very possible for the humidity to behave erratically.  Check my question archive for previous answers on how to properly season a humidor.

Hope this answers your question. If you have any more questions, please feel free to just ask and I will be happy to help.

Regards,
James