It has been a while (5-6 months) since I have checked on my cooler of smokes (about 25 sticks, nothing fancy, but some favorites in there) because it has been too cold to smoke. It is finally a ncie night out and i open the cooler up, and my hygro says 62 deg and 45% humidity, and the sticks look very dry. Any advice on saving them? The have been sitting with 2 4oz bags of Shiala's beads, I'm surprised they got so dry!
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Did you rehydrate the beads over the 5-6 months? If not, that is your problem.. Bring the humidity up SLOWLY, and you should be all set. Take it from me, do not handle the cigars at this point.. They are prone to tearing and ripping.
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Nope - didn't realize you need to hydrate them. How do I bring up the humidity?
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By rehydrating the beads.
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I wouldn't think Shilala's beads would need recharging that soon. PM Scott.
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Could be, but he said he didn't know you needed to hydrate them - does that mean they were never charged in the first place? :-)
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They arrive fully charged. Not surprised that 4-5 months of winter weather and low humidity dried them up. I need to charge mine at least once a month during the winter, but in the summer, hardly at all.
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If the cooler's leaky, sure they would.
To the OP: Don't add water to the beads. just dampen a sponge slightly with distilled water and put it in the cooler. You want to rehydrate your cigars gradually. If you do it too quick, the wrappers can split.
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This is the correct method for Shilala Beads and best way to bring cigars slowly back up or they will explode for sure.
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They are shipped set at 65%.
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And don't forget vacuum-packed. :-)
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I am no expert by no means, but I havent had to recharge mine in the vino in a year or so. Prolly not as dry here in Florida and the vino seals up very tight.
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That's exactly right.
You wouldn't think a cooler would leak. I have a 70 quart cooler upstairs that I used to precondition beads. I started having all sorts of trouble trying to keep the beads at 65%.
Somehow it warped along the edge where the lid seals.
I had to put weatherstripping all around it and put a couple brass catches on it. Now it works pretty good.
On top of that, one of the latches it had on it snapped off. I'm not real impressed by the quality of the cooler, to say the least.

There's a thread over in accessory discussion where you can download the instructions, and I know Michael has them at his site.
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You need to rehydrate beads every month or so, especially if it is winter outside and it has been quite dry. I would of course, like the rest, suggest you put a damp sponge and let rehydrate for a while. Possibly over a month, so they stabilize as well.
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It's important when you get a cooler to check it very carefully for holes in the plastic, I found one when I bought mine, covered it with duct tape, and it holds great humidity. Maybe try the flashlight test?

I have not had to recharge the beads in my cooler since I bought it a year ago. :-) :-) :-)
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This is the key with any humidor and humidification device -- the humidor (coolidor) must have a good seal. Once you have that then any of the humification devices out there will work better. Naturally, Shilala's beads work best :-)
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