Expert: Bill Finck Jr. - 12/21/2007

Question
QUESTION: Bill, I have been reading some of the previous questions and answers, the one question I have is, if a humidor has glass in it, do you lose some of your humidity around this.  My humidity stays around 55%.  I have a box that holds 120, I seasoned it when I first bought it.  Also, how do you feel about electronic humidifiers?

ANSWER: Tony,
Having a glass top in your humidor should not cause it to lose any humidity (assuming it is well-sealed). Your humidity is around 55%, but what is the temperature? At 55% humidity, your temperature should be around 85 degrees to maintain proper moisture. The real question is how well are your cigars holding humidity inside the humidor? If they are not drying out, you may have a less than accurate hygrometer. Unless it is digital, I wouldn't be too confident in its readings. If the cigars are maintaining humidity, don't worry about what the gauge reads. If they are indeed drying out, we need to look at improving your humidity system. I really like the Cigar Oasis brand of electronic humidifiers. They work very well, are reliable and require very little maintenance.
Let me know if you need help in figuring out how to raise the humidity in the humidor, but again if the cigars are doing ok don't worry about what the hygrometer reads.
Bill

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you Bill for your time!  So far I have not put any cigars in it yet, still trying to raise the humidity.  My temp stays around 71 or 72 and the Humidity is still at 55%.  I have an analog and digital hygrometer.  I have done two nights of wiping it down with the distilled water and have a small bowl of it in the bottom.  Oh back to the hygrometer, the analog one is about 10% less than the digital, the digital one is the one I go by.  Should I do another wiping it down tonight with the distilled water?  I am still thinking about get the Oasis Ultra electronic humidifier...Thanks again, Tony

Answer
Tony,
Hey, I didn't realize that you don't have cigars in it yet - that makes a lot of difference. You won't be able to raise the humidity in an empty humidor to 70% - you just can't humidify that much dead air space with an evaporative humidifier. Go ahead and fill it with cigars and then start watching the humidity. I bet your digital model is going to read very close to 70%. Let me know how it goes and if you have problems we'll get it figured out!
Bill