Expert: James Yee - 1/10/2010

Question
My humidor has dropped from 70% down as low as 59% i have a oz gel container in that is charged with 100% glycol. I recently added a prop/ glycol mixture and it brought it up as high as 65% but now has gone down. I've had the gel for 4 months and the humidor just as long it's a 150 count humidor with apprx 65 stogies in it. In my house i have forced hot air for heat and keep the temp in the house set at 67-68 deg when we are home and when we leave we drop it down to 63-64 deg can this also affect the humidity in the humidor as well? I am now recharging the humidor with distilled water where can i store my cigars in the mean time.

Answer
Hi John,

In winter, the dry heat in our homes can cause the humidity level in our humidors to deplete faster.  (The dry air will wick away the humidor's moisture faster than normal.)  To fix this, you should monitor your humidor every few days and refill your humidification device twice as often during winter.  As an alternative, you can upgrade to an electronic humidification unit that allows you to custom set the desired humidity level and this will maintain a constant humidity level year round.

Also, a propylene glycol mixture is only effective when you have extremely high humidity.  If your humidor doesn't have high humidity (ie: greater than 75% rh), it's not necessary to add PG.  (Don't worry, if you've added PG to your humidor, it will be fine.  Adding PG to your humidor will not effect the performance in a negative way.)

When doing maintenance on your humidor, it's safe to temporarily store your cigars in another humidor, humi-pack (available at most cigar stores), regular Ziploc bag, or a clean Tupperware container.

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

Regards,
James