Hey guys!

I am new to this forum and new to cigar smoking, I have always enjoyed smoking one when I got the opportunity, reciently I have been MAKING the time and opportunity because I find it so relaxing and de-stressing. So I made the decision to buy a humidor so as I learned about the hobby I could store cigars for me and my friends to have a good or a cheap smoke whenever I wanted.

So I bought a humidor off Craigslist for 30$ it was this humidor
http://www.cheaphumidors.com/p_HUM-100PR.html

When I received it the gentleman had a bowl of water sitting in it trying to get it "ready" for me. On the way home I looked at the analog hydrometer that read 90%....!!!!!! Hoping it was just an uncalibrated hydro I got home and out in a calibrated digital one......the analog was off, it was only 82% !!!

I left the lid open for 2 hours and got it to 79% then the following day left it open for 10 hours while I was at work, it settled at 69% for 2 days then my heartfelt 70% beads came, I soaked about 3/4, after 3 days I'm steady between 72-73%

I did more research and found I wanted to be at 65% so I ordered 1/2 pound of 65% beads and plan to put them in dry. How long do you think it will take for the beads to lower the humidity aprox 7%?

Sorry for the long post!!
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Hi new person, there are people that will be much better at talking to you about the beads and explaining how to "dry" some of them and set the humidity.

I'd like to welcome you to the nut house! There is a thread HERE that you can introduce yourself to the members in.

There is also a thread for newbies to learn how to trade and pack cigars for shipping while getting trading rating on the boards, it's a fun way to interact with some of the established members and try some new smokes.

You can find that thread HERE.

Again, welcome to the Asylum!
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Depends how dry the beads are. Could be a few hours to a day or so.
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Dont soak your beads. Depending on the type of container you are using you can simply spray them with distilled water until 2/3 to 3/4 turn clear.

When your Rh settles down, remove the 70% beads. Having two different beads will cause them to fight against each other and is not recommended by Heartfelt. The chances are that your humidity will rise as you add cigars but after a week or so the beads should absorb the excess Rh. :-)

Also, you should check the seal on your humidor. Open the humidor a few inches and drop the lid, you should hear a slight "woosh" as the air escapes evenly. If it slams down you need to run a bead of odorless silicone around the edges of the glass. There is a thread on sealing this type of humidor in the Accessories thread. Glass top boxes are notorious for leaking around the edges of the glass.
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Thanks guys!

The box does have a nice whoosh to it and doesn't slam but I think once thi g's settle out I will still run a smear of silicone on the inside of the box amount the glass just for piece of mind as well as around the analog hydrometer that's built in

Soon as the new beads come in I will be removing the 70% beads and adding the 65% beads dry, just curious as to how long u guys think it would take to drop to the 65% the beads are set for, I figured it would be better for the sticks to let the beads slowly absorb the excess humidity vs leaving the lid open and dropping the level quickly

Oh and I have the beads in a single ladies knew high, I think the box came to 887 cubic inches and they say 1/2 pound of beads is good for 2.5 cubic feet so I feel they should recover somewhat quickly
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Sounds like you got it wired. :-)

Should settle withing 3-4 days. Then double check your beads and moisten if needed. :-)
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Ok so just an update for anyone reading, I sealed up my humidor around the glass (still need the clean it up a little) and around the hydrometer just to make sure there were no leaks, and added the 65% beads on saterday and the humidity was at 72%, left it alone for a few days and today it's at 67%. I put the beads in dry. I have about 5 cigars in there and once it's at 65% I can finally slowly build a collection!!

[IMG]Image[/IMG]
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looking good :-)
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