Found a Petsmart in Orlando that carries the Exquisicat fragrance free crystals. It's on sale for $9.00 for the 8#container. May end up switching to the more revered crystals at some point, but at 1/5 the cost, sure as heck gonna give the kl a try first. Just gonna be damn sure to keep the cats away! No yellow snow in my wineador! Thanks to the replies that we're actually on point! :-)
RR
[Reply]

I only saw one post that was poking fun. Ths rest of the "off point" posts (which I'm assuming you mean those of us who don't agree with trusting kitty litter with our cigar collection) were actually spot on.
[Reply]

Just poking back- love to be an instigator...absolutely no disrespect meant. After all, I just may end up eating my kitty litter and using beads!!!
RR
[Reply]

Makes your mission all the more important.
[Reply]

Cat litter is not for me. Scott has it well documented why quality beads are the way to go. The surface area needed for kitty litter alone is so drastic that the beads pay for themselves. Not to mention time it takes to rehumidify after opening and closing the door.
[Reply]

Reviews and impressions from other folks are great but I'm 3 months in with the unscented silica KL and have not touched 'em in the humidor or coolidor since getting them to my desired humidity after installing (which took a couple of days).

I respect other opinions and accounts but that won't override my personal experience and my real world experiment with a $4 bag of KL is going great (I've only used 1/4th of the bag). My cigars are smoking great and I haven't had to lift a finger in these 3 months to adjust humidity (I have the humidor at 66/67 and the coolidor at 64/65). I love it!

Now maybe in month 4 my humidity will fall off and I'll have to spray the KL with a little distilled water to have 'em pick it up, but even if that is the case, I will be thrilled with a humidification system this inexpensive that only has to be tweaked every 4 months.
[Reply]

Out of curiosity: what is the ambient humidity of the room where you have your humidors(s)?
[Reply]

Here it is below...this recently calibrated hygrometer has now been sitting in the room for 45 minutes. Chicago weather is predictably unpredictable...though its cooler outside right now at 46 degrees, it was 90 a few days ago and I don't know what the room humidity was then.

Image
[Reply]

10 points? I could bring a humidor up 10 points with wet brick.
[Reply]

Ok, maybe but my credo with distilled water was unable to accomplish without weekly adjustment. Also, keep in mind that this now spring and I started on the KL in winter when the room humidity was in the 40s...humidity still was maintaining in the mid 60s.

i keep hearing how anything could maintain this humidity for this 3 month period of time, but I disagree. The humidity swings can be crazy in Chicago and I've gone 3 months in 2 different seasons with a couple 90 degree summer like days thrown in...yet both my storage options remain rock solid in the mid 60s with no maintenance.

I just believe what I'm witnessing more than what other folks are saying.
[Reply]

Ken - good info. Glad to hear the KL is working out thus far. Keep us posted as time goes by. Just received my trays yesterday, so will be setting up my wineador this week...using the low cost route. Hey- even if things get out of whack, can still go to beads. What is they say...nothing ventured...
RR
[Reply]

I bow to your superior knowledge, experience and understanding gained in three whole months.
[Reply]

Thanks. I will update here in a couple of months or sooner if anything changes.

As do I to your mischaracterization of my position (congrats!).

I didn't come to this thread for input on KL and if it works. I came to share my brief experience with the OP. Funny how my whole KL setup has just luckily (according to some) held humidity for 3 months but my previous setup wasn't stable for more than a week at a time.

So as long as my cigars are smoking right (they are) and my humidity remains stable (it does), I will be beating the KL drum.
[Reply]

Nice attitude to a guy just trying to experiment to see if something works for him.
[Reply]

I use beads exclusively but I appreciate you sharing this information as I enjoy reading about how other's take care of business. Thanks!
[Reply]

Ken, care to post some picks of your setup? You treating your KL just like Heartfelt beads?
[Reply]

Peter is 100% correct.
I can make KL beads work. Thing is, I can achieve the same results with clay cat litter and it's cheaper. I don't know why anyone would pay $8.00 a bag for silica kitty litter when clay litter is under 2 bucks at the dollar store.
That's not a tongue-in-cheek comment, either. I just need a few hours with some tupperware, hygrometers, a calculator, and a clock.

Adam is correct, too. Quite frankly I'd rather work with a wet brick than either type of Kitty Litter.

Bob is right on the money, too. Kinda.
Kitty Litter will gather and release humidity. If you use enough, it'll even regulate to a setpoint via equilibrium.
Problem there is the math. KL needs about twice the surface area in a perfectly sealed environment to do the same thing as HCM beads. Notice I said SURFACE AREA.
In order for KL beads to work as fast and with the same efficiency as HCM beads, it'd take 9 times the surface area as HCM beads.

Now, if you calculate density per volume by weight, you'll find KL beads are much lighter per volume than HCM beads. In order to hold the same amount of water in KL beads as you can hold in HCM beads, I'm guessing you'd need somewhere near a pickup bed full compared to a pound of HCM beads.
I'm being facetious, and can't remember the volumes to do the math, but it's a LOT.
Clay KL would do much, much better per volume in that arena.

I guess what I'm trying to point out is that there are a lot of points to consider when you pit one type of beads against another. Far more than meets the eye.
Regardless, there's not a type of cigar humidification product that you can get on the cheap that's a value over Micheal's HCM (shilala) beads or Heartfelt beads, Cigarmony's beads.
I know how this sh1t works. If I could use a brick with greater efficiency, you can be certain there'd be bricks in my humidors because I'm cheap.
I learned every lesson I've ever learned straight through my pocketbook, and you KL guys are welcome to do the same. It's how we learn.
Do be aware that you can easily end up with moldy, soggy, or dried out cigars if you aren't careful. Be vigilant and you'll probably be okay. Don't get too confident though. :-)
[Reply]

Scott is wise. :-)
[Reply]

:-):-)
[Reply]

THIS!!
I've tried everything but KL. And personally, I'll never use anything but HCM. I have 2 half pound bags in my 150qt Marine cooler and it stays rock solid at 65% RH year round. I've invested too much to use anything else. Just my :-)
[Reply]