I am somewhat new to cigars and very new to humidors. Recently i bought an acrylic jar humidor, a hydroset II hygrometer, a drymistat tube, and a xicar jar. I calibrated my hygrometer, and it read a perfect 75% with the salt test. When i put the hygrometer in the jar with the tube, as well as with the jar (but at separate times) I have found that the humidity skyrockets to around 80% when these products say they will keep a 70% humidity. Has anyone else has this problem? Or have any suggestions? Please help I have 12 Gurkha grand reserves that need some storage so your help would save them!
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Xikar gel and drymistat only add humidity, not regulate it, I believe. I would suggest some sort of rH or HCM beads.
:-)
Also, because there is nothing in the jar, there will be nothing to absorb the humidity. Adding cigars and perhaps a few strips of cedar should help it regulate at your desired humidity.
:-)
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Drymistat tubes and xikar gel are essentially exactly the same thing, humidity jello. They suck at absorbing excess moisture out of the air, they can do it, but they aren't very quick about it. They tend to do a bit better in larger spaces or humidors that leak a bit.
The acrylic jar humidors, especially the ones made like spring top canning jars, are airtight. Airtight + humidity jello is begging for overhumidification as you are experiencing.
My recommendation for the acrylic jar, because there is so little space in there, is a Boveda 65% 2-way pack. You could also go with a very small tube of beads, which are also 2-way humidifiers, from either HCMbeads.com or heartfelt.com, but, you will lose the space for one to two cigars by putting that tube in there.
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