Expert: Bill Finck Jr. - 5/6/2008

Question
I have bought 2 new digital hygrometers and both read the  same so I believe they are accurate.

I have 1 box and one golf bag. The bag has a pillow w gel crystals and the box has the xirkar crystal jar.( i tried the black round humidifiers but they failed to keep humidity up.)


The problem is I cannot get the temperature and humidity down close to 70/70. Mine both range in the 78% range.

The house temperature stays around the 76-78 range.
So that being said, what can I do to lower the ranges closer to 70% for both. Or, am I just worrying  to much.

Secondly, I found your forum here recently and I have read I think every entry and I want to thank you for all of the great articles and topics you have discussed. They have literally saved me hours of work.

Answer
Bruce,

You'll read in a lot of places that the ideal storage for cigars is 70 degrees Fahrenheit and 70% relative humidity. The truth is, the temperature is really not that important, so don't worry about trying to get it down. You don't want the cigars to be stored in a hot environment, but 76-78 degrees is fine.

That being said, if your relative humidity is really 78% at 77 degrees, your cigars will become over-humidified. If you notice them becoming too soft, the wrappers becoming wrinkled or any mold growing, you'll know that there is too much humidity in the humidors.

I don't have much experience with the water pillows, but the Madeline products are really good at regulating proper humidity so it is very odd that you would have this problem.

It may be that you have too much humidifier (too big) for your humidor, or that when you wiped it down that you left too much moisture inside the box. Also, if you have the hygrometer directly below the humidifier it will give you a false reading (too high) as the humidity comes out of the hygrometer. Be sure that you keep them at least a few inches apart.

You might try leaving the humidor open for a few hours, letting the humidity level out and then close it back up for 24 hours and see what it does.

On your golf bag, it is probably air-tight and may have a similar problem. Try leaving it open for a few hours and then see if it corrects itself after 24 hours.

Let me know what happens and we'll keep working on this until we figure it out.

Bill