I know there are several posts about this on here but I have a question. I got back from Vegas on Sunday to find the RH in my desktop had dropped to 58. I have shiala beads and obviously they have dried out. My question is, what is the best way (for both the beads and sticks) to reintroduce moisture? If I use a wet sponge will that work too fast and split my sticks? Should I place a small cup of water in there and let it go?
Thanks for your help.
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Check out the site... there are instructions right here.
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Same thing happened to me. I have a Bally II, and I think the cheap plastic hygrometer embedded in the wood is the source for much leakage, especially in the winter. My RH dropped to 57%, so I took out the shilala beads, put them in a ziploc w/ my digital hygro & a folded papertowel soaked with distilled water. Let it all sit overnight, took out the papertowel, let the beads sit and now they're back at 67% which is perfect for me.

I have a love/hate relationship with my humidor. I mostly hate it 7 months out of the year. gl with yours!
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:-)

That is why I also have a cooler.....I checked it every few weeks when I first got it and the RH was the same.....now I check it maybe every 6 weeks and I have yet to see the RH move. **knock on wood**
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Yep! I moved all the cigars out of my Bally and into my cooler when I recalibrated the beads. Will try to do a little humidor repair & resealing over the holiday.
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People have answered about the beads, so I will focus on the sticks. To avoid any splitting raise the RH in your humi slowly. Putting in recharged beads would be fine, but I would not throw a damp sponge or anything will a lot of moisture in with the cigars.
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This is what I was concerned about. Thanks.
I can tell already that it is going to be a chore this winter keeping that thing in a decent range.
I wonder if the wife will spring for some beads and cooler for Christmas??? Hmmmmmmm....
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I just add a credo humidifier back into the humi. slow release of moisture everywhere. Works just fine for me, and is a gradual change. When it gets where I want it, I remove the credo.
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For me this is just the problem with desktops in general. The RH always goes down...

Coolers are the way to go. Mine is Rock solid 64 RH for the past 2.5 months.
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I hear ya, Bill. I've not been able to keep a steady rh in a desktop. But I do open them a couple times a day at least.
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also difference between winter and summer....in summer i use about a gallon of distilled water in my moistenaire every month and humidity holds...in winter it is about a gallon/wk have to check it more often....cold saps humidity
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Yea mine gets opened MAYBE once a day for sure once every 2 days but ....just disappointed. I cannot believe how awesome coolers are. Every time I open it 64 RH, without fail. Also I got 120 quarts of storage for half the price of a desktop with 300 count that is maybe 200.
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