I got a great present from a fellow member. I love my HCM beads but I can't afford anymore at this time.
So Andy explained that he buys the silica gel crystals, unscented, for cat litter. He buys these little porous bags with a tie off at the top.
He lays out the crystals on a flat surface and spritzes them with distilled water. He shoves them tight into the 6" pouch, and throws it into the humidor.
Every time the humidity begins to sag, you repeat the process.
The humidity was low on my humidor and within a couple hours it was up to 67%. And it's stayed there for a week so far.
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Kitty litter is not the same as Heartfelt or HCM beads. They do not regulate Rh to a specific percentage. They may act similarly under certain circumstances but KL is not something most of us trust to protect our valued collections. :-)
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:-) Bob is wise.
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Adam,

I agree with you completely. But I have 3 humidors. Not many cigars in each but I have a system about quality.
The kitty litter is a poor man's method. And I'm a poor man.
I couldn't afford $60 for three bags of HCM beads.
I'm getting $76 per month in food stamps. So spending $20 was a huge deal and required a conference with my wife.
So don't take it wrong and think I'm belittling the product. I'd much rather have HCM beads than kitty litter. But this is an acceptable substitute until I have more money, that's all.
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I'm not sure how you could think anyone would take your prior statements as belittling the HCM product and I certainly didn't. If they work for you, great, the point Bob and I are stressing is that while KL might work to some extent under certain conditions, it's not the same as HCM or Heartfelt beads. In fact, it's about as close to HCM or Heartfelt as a saltine cracker dipped in ketchup is to a hand-tossed pizza.
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this is very helpful information - but are there other ways of doing this without distilled, or boiled water? i ask because i've mail ordered a new travidor and live on a ship as i've said before, so i cant obtain boiled nor distilled water.
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The main reason for using distilled water is there is less chance of contamination and mold growth. Bottled drinking water may be an alternative. If there is a laundry or medical office(not sure what kind of ship) you might check with them.

But if its a small traveldor you may not need to worry about seasoning it at all. A water pillow or Boveda pack will probably suit your purposes and these are available by mail order.
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Bob knows things. :-)
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awesome! i definately can get my hands on some bottled water if need be :-). i have a small humidifier that i salvaged from one of my co-workers cigar samplers he recieved from the parent of a child whom he donated bone marrow to. but supposably this little packet is supposed to have about 75% RH or so, its only about 2" by 2" no wider than a few playing cards so im not sure how much it'd actually help so i just stuffed it in a tin with some crappy cuesta reys. (dont ask, got them from the ship store!) although.. the store DID have a few boxes of AF curly head deluxe!
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The little packet sounds like a water pillow. Those are perfect for your small traveldor. It should last at least a month, maybe two before you need to recharge it. :-)

PM me your address and I will send out another water pillow and a few smokes for you.
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and i'm guessing the water pillows are recharged by the water in cup / sponge method? :-)

that was unexpected! but this is why i like forums, they often hardbor the most kind and helpful people, pm incoming!
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Good Job, Bob!:-):-)
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Nice move Bob. :-)
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My traveler is inalready! But unfortunately the foam that is supposed to stick the sponge (like thing) messed up so I figured I'd just let it rest on the bottom. I've checked it for a leak with the dropping the lid method and got good results, I was wondering if our shipboard water would be acceptable as well as bottled water since out water is drawn infromthe ocean and purified on the ship, without flouride. Also I don't have a gage for the humidity, are there any tricks to knowing if the humidifier is about right without a Gage?
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"Feel" Your Cigars. They Shouldn't Feel Dried Out Or Too "Spongy".:-)
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Bottled water that doesn't read "Minerals added for taste" or "Natural spring water" (ie: Evian, etc) would be the best bet, or hit up one of the medics for a bottle of "sterile water". You don't need much, I keep a 500ct cabinet humidor, plus a couple of coolers and a few small desktops and I don't think that I even use a gallon of water per year. Just get one bottle and only use it for the humidor, it should last awhile.

In a pinch, generally speaking because I'm not familiar with the specific engineering plant on your ship... assuming no contamination from the potable storage tanks or piping, the evap and/or RO water that you make aboard the ship should be ok, so long as they haven't taken on shore water recently.
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okay! i'll definately hit up one of the corpsman for a bottle, luckily i've befriended one! which im guessing that i should just saturate the humidifier it came with and let it sit in the box for a couple of days before taking my cigars out of the ziplock and cellaphane?
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I'm assuming this is a wooden box Traveldor? If so you'll have to season it like you would any wooden humidor, just not as long but I went as long with my old one before moving on to my herf-a-dor traveldor that needed no preprep but i did anyway to bring up rh
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Here is a sticky on seasoning a humidor. http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=620

You'll find a wealth of information in the sticky's at the top of each forum.
No need to take the cigars out their individual cellophane but you can if you want. There is no advantage or disadvantage to keeping them in their cello.
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Does the humidifier look like a plastic puck or stick with some sort of foam (often green, sometimes white) inside? Something like this:
Image

If so, yes, put some water in it, be advised that it doesn't hold much.

If the humidor is wood, then yes, sure a few days with the humidifier in there alone won't hurt. If it's a plastic traveldor, then no need to wait, just stick everything in, but go easy on the humidification, plastic traveldors often seal well enough that a humidifier is more like an invitation to mold.

As for the cellophane on the cigars, I'd leave it on. It's porous, so it breathes, while still affording protection to your cigars from damage due to moving around and such.

The other humidifier pouch that you were describing to Bob - something like this?
Image
Image

or is it something more like this?
Image
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