I just purchased my first humidor a few of weeks ago from Cheap Humidors. It is a 100 count. I put a large bowl of DW in it for 11 days with the humidity reading 85% when I took the water out. I then put my uncharged 65% Heartfelt beads in it to help stabilize the humidity before putting in my small stock of cigars. It has been sitting like this for 4 days and has been reading 75% for the last three days. Why can't I get the humidity down to the mid 60%.
certexas
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Did you calibrate your hygrometer?

By the way, welcome to Cigar Asylum! you should head over to the New Inmate Section and introduce yourself!
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Patience is key, it could take a week or more to stabilize. Try drying your beads again (they have probably soaked up as much as they can) and/or you can just leave your humidor open for a several hours, several times a day to let the humidor dry out a bit.

Test the hygro!

:-)
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open the humidor for about 30 minutes, close and then let it stabilize for a couple hours. Check the humidity, repeat.

If the beads are full (clear), then they will give up moisture below their set level. Dropping the humidity below the bead set level while the beads are full is fine, since they will compensate.

Getting the humidor up to 85% may lead to some warping, watch for this.
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I did the salt test and calibrated the hygrometer. I still see a lot of white in the beads so they don't seem to be full. I will air it out some and wait a few more days to see if the humidity goes down. I guess I need to be more patient. Thanks
certexas
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Above don't panic -- as others have said these things take time. Enjoy some smokes while you wait :-)
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