Your right T.G I am guessing/hoping. People use kitty litter? That sounds a little gross.

Seeing as how some have commented that my risk is larger than I think. What kind of risk am I looking at going with these instead of cigar specific beads?
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You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means...

You're misusing or misunderstanding what "beads" are. "Beads", in the cigar humidification sense are a solid, rigid, often silica based, humidity control medium that comes in the shape of tiny beads (1/16" diameter or so) that functions as a 2-way humidity control substance - it both releases and absorbs moisture to maintain a certain pre-set humidity level.

Heartfelt is one well established supplier of trusted bead based humidity control products.

Comparing the Aqua Gems to beads is really an apples to oranges comparison.

Aqua-Gems are a super-absorbent polymer gel, not a bead, they just happen to come in a spherical shape. What you should be comparing the Aqua Gems to is other super-absorbent polymer humidification gels found in products such as Drymistat tubes and Humi-Care Crystal Gel jars. Gel humidifiers do work, and can maintain a set humidity, but they are less than ideal for climates where the humidity goes above their "set point" as they are kind of sluggish to absorb humidity out of the air and lower the RH in a humidor. Beads react much quicker to changes and seem to work about equally well/quickly for both raising and lowering humidity.

Now, as for your risk... *shrug* I dunno. Assuming that the aqua gems are in fact non-toxic as claimed, which they probably are, your max risk is the value of the cigars you are humidifying plus the value of the humidor, if something happens that were to contaminate the humidor and make it unusable.

As for the kitty litter, there are some unscented litter "pearls" that are pretty much just silica and because of this and their nature to absorb moisture in the form of cat urine and then slowly release the water to evaporation, there are some who feel that KL is equal to, if not completely identical to, it's cigar bead counterpart and for the cost of about $10 for 7 lbs they are getting exactly the same thing as the cigar beads which are about $30 a pound.

One can spend quite a lot of money on cigars, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of dollars over the years. Why **** around with the unknown and put your whole collection and humidor at risk, just to try and try to save a few dollars, and in this case, aqua gems versus humi-care gel, it really is only a few bucks you are going to save at the most.
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Cool thanks for all the help and opinions guys. Clearly I need to go spend some time in the newbie room and get my **** figured out a little better.
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Hey, you're cool here. Use the newbie room to introduce yourself, spend some time reading, find the newbie trade thread and get in that line.

I think, more than anyone, T.G. hit it on the head in that the Aqua beads are more like the drymist type medium than any thing else discussed. I use a combination of drymist sticks for moisture release, plus 65% Heartfelt beads for humidity control. I will note that the medium in my drymist sticks will evaporate at differing rates, depending on the humidity level in my humidors. Sometimes I go several months without having to re-hydrate the sticks, sometimes it's two weeks. Depends on room humidity, temp and how often I open the humidors. I would suspect the main difference between the medium in the drymist and that of Aqua beads is that Aqua beads may not have any added item like the polyglycol to regulate the evaporation rate. If not, you could run a higher risk of OVER hydrating your sticks than you would if you had a humidity regulation system like Heartfelt beads. And at 70%, you are already pushing the upper threshold of where you want to be. Much higher, and you might start noticing splits, plugging and other problems related to too much humidity.

I would be interested is hearing back on these beads dehydration rate as you go into the future, assuming you stay with their use. It would be interesting to see how they fare against the gel systems marketed specifically for cigars.
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No problem bro.

Honestly, I wouldn't get too hung up on trying to find a substitute for the gel, as once you get a bit further down the road, you might realize that you really would prefer your cigars stored at 60-65%RH, which, from my experience, are not reliably obtainable with gel (gel tends to stabilize at a higher humidity), but easily reliably obtainable with beads.

But if you don't, and you want to be swimming in gel crystals, LMK, I'll give you a few URLs for suppliers of good product that is known to work as we desire it to, and $10 will get you about 3oz dry, which will blow up to fill the better part of a 5gal bucket.
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HCM Beads are different from both the Aqua Gems and Heartfelt beads. They are much smaller (about .5 to 1mm in diameter) and are made of clay (rather than a polymer); they absorb as well as release humidity (as does Heartfelt).

The HCM beads can be set to any desired RH. While I am certainly biased toward the HCM beads (Shilala's Beads), both products are good and will do the job for you.

The risk you are taking with your cigars getting moldy by using Aqua Gems is IMHO too great.
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In the scheme of things, spending the extra dough on a tested humidity device is just a better idea to know you're cigars are going to be safe. Why spend thousands on cigars only to save 15$ on humidity? At least you asked first :-)
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I use HCM beads as well, my father's humidor uses a Humi-Care jar. His humidity fluctuates anywhere from 69-72 RH... My humidity is rock solid at 65, which is what my beads are set for. Even so, he does not see the advantage, his philosophy is more relaxed about cigars, where as mine, I want everything to be perfect. It all comes down to preference and how anal retentive you get about it.

I have never used Heartfelt beads so I cannot comment, but the HCM beads I got from www.shilalasbeads.com have worked perfectly for me. I plan to purchase some more soon for a 2nd Humidor I just picked up for storing Flavor Infused cigars.

The way I see it, I have about 200 cigars worth hundreds of dollars in cash. Spending 20-30 dollars on humidification that is proven time and time again is a small price to pay. Why risk your cigars with an experiment that will only save you a few bucks.
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That's why I said "often silica based" - because I know HCM beads are the exception, but it was getting too wordy to put that in there. Plus, you eventually chimining in with a sales pitch is basically a given on these threads. :-)

BTW, HF beads aren't polymers, the gel is a polymer product.
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I try very hard NOT to do the sales pitches and I think I am doing alright. I do try to state the facts and let people know that there is an alternative. You are the only one complaining...

As far as I know the Silica products use a polymer coating to set the RH.
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I'm not complaining - the implication there was that it was too wordy for me to explain the differences of a singular product, but knew you would fly in and do it for me.

See, it's not about you. It's about me being lazy and not wanting to type up a big technical dissertation on how your product is different.
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So people use both gel and silica or clay beads? Being that the gel provided the humidity while the "beads" keep it set?
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Reminds me that I need to stop by Petsmart for more "Beads"
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Some do. The HCM (clay) beads work a bit differently than the silica beads, and I seem to recall Scott (Shilala) saying at some point that it's not a good idea to mix his beads with gel.

I've also seen HF beads placed into humidors where the primary source of humidification is an active humidifier - cigar oasis, hydra, humi-care electronic, habitat monitor, moist-n-aire, avallo accumonitor, Bob Stabell's set-n-forget, etc... Why? Simple, active humidifiers are very good at raising humidity, but I have yet to see one which incorporates a dehydrator to lower it when necessary.

Look, here's the deal with humidification: there is NO absolute single definitive right way/product, but there are a lot of WRONG ways/products.

There are a lot of known good products out there that can be trusted, most with some unique characteristics and properties since they all work differently. Certain products might work better for one person who lives in a certain climate zone while not working well at all for someone else, with a different humidor, in a different climate zone.
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Well I am in Seattle, which is a fairly wet and cool climate. I currently have a digital hygrometer and am using the gel thingies. For the size of my humi it looks like 2-4 oz of Shilala beads would do the trick and it would be cool if I can use just those.

Unfortunately his site does not answer questions I have. Do I need to add water to his beads? How long before they need a recharge? Should I have a separate humidification element with them? I would have e-mailed him on his site but I think others might have this question as well.

Reading around here it does sound like 70% is too high and I should try and get it down to 65%. I also like the idea of getting something in there that I can just kind of forget about and not worry if it is working or not.
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Search is your friend.

But try here, there is a link to a doc that answers all the HCM questions

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showth...ighlight=beads
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I thought that the FAQ on my website answered this -- I will update the FAQ to make sure all the information is there -- you do not add water to HCM beads. They are preset to a desired RH (65%). There are instructions for rasing or lowering the preset RH should the need arise. You raise the RH by putting the beads in a sealed enclosure (with a hygrometer) and a sponge that has been dampened with distilled water. You raise the RH by putting the beads in a refrigerator for a short period of time and then moving the beads quickly to a sealed enclosure (with a hygrometer) while they readjust to the higher temperature. In both cases (raising or lowering RH) repeat as needed until you are at the desired RH.

If you have any questions please feel free to post here or to contact me directly.
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The document posted above should answer most of your questions.
As far as how often do you need to recharge. That will depend greatly on your humidor. If you have a leaky humidor, you may need to recharge more often. That goes for any of the methods mentioned.
I have used the HCM (Shilala) beads in my Vinotemp for over a year and have only had to recharge once. That was during the winter months, and it had only dropped a few percentage points. Opening the Humi a bunch doesn't help either.
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The FAQ answers all of those questions... Read it, it will help answer any question you might have.

As for the amount of beads, don't guess how much you need, use the tool on the website. I have an 8oz bag in mine, while the tool recommended 3.5oz. My new humidor I will be ordering 2oz while the tool suggests 1oz. It never hurts to go extra, infact I think it is recommended.

GL! :-)
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Darn. Now I have to wash my screen off and get another Pepsi!! :-):-):-):-):-)
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