It's about 6 months past my birthday, but today I got a present from one of my Aunts. She heard I had taken up cigars and decided I needed a humidor. I'm quite impressed with it so far in terms of fit and finish. It's the same one seen here on CheapHumidors, but from amazon. Says it holds 100, but I know that doesn't mean it will. Has a nice woosh and solid thunk when it closes.

I've got the hydrometer in a bag to test it, and then I'll be adjusting it to make it accurate. I know everyone says they aren't reliable, is that because they stop working or they simply aren't calibrated properly?

Also, I'm planning on not using the humidifier that came with it, but I'm a bit lost on which route to go, there are beads, and the "crystal" things, are they all they cracked up to be?

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HCM beads work well , but you need to be sure that the humidor seals well.

A very thoughtfull gift on your aunts part.
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Go beads, I'll let everyone else explain why.

As for the hygro, they are suspect because they rely on springs to measure the humidity (honestly I have no idea how that happens, just what I've been told). However, the primary issue is not that they read X% off, it's that they can change the variance at any time. Therefore, you could salt test them on a monday and have it only be off 3%, but on Friday it could be 12% because something has stretched out on the inside and you have no way of knowing. You can continually salt test it, but that's a waste of time, when the problem can be fixed by spending $25 on a nice digital hygro. That's my take on the analog/digital argument :-)

and oh ya, nice lookin humi :-)
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Thanks guys.

Stearns, that's exactly what I wanted to know. Digital will be coming soon!
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nice looking humi. Now it just needs to be topped off.
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What a thoughtful gift. Be sure to thank her.
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I've got to get it seasoned first, and purchase a bunch more cigars!:-)
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FYI an empty Humi Pic on this place is very very Dangerous :-)
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When you put the hygro back in the hole, wouldn't hurt to use a little food-grade sealant at the base to prevent leaks.
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Very nice gift :-)
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I also recommend using a sealant around where the hygro goes. If it seams to be leaking after you get it conditioned then you might also need to run a bead of sealant around where the windows are.

That's a cool looking humidor, and it will look even better filled with cigars :-)
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:-) HCM beads and a digital hygro is the way to go


and around the glass where it meets the wood.

edit:...and that is a great looking humidor :-) :-)

i am sure i was only beat by a couple of seconds :-)
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Scotty's suggestion is excellent -- and while you are sealing the hygrometer you might also want to put a bead aound the glass inside the humi, as the glass-to-wood joints are often a source of leaks (this was the case for me in a humidor that I received in a raffle).

It's a great looking humi and I hope you get many years of enjoyment from it!

Edit: looks like the Jason's and I are on the same wavelength :-)
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just means we are learning a thing or two and more then happy to share what we have learned :-)
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I'm not too worried, my address isn't spread around here like some of you poor guys, seems like everyone has certain poor souls' addys.

Bit of an echo in here eh? :-) The glass seems fairly well sealed, but since I will be getting some for the hydrometer, I may as well sure the joints up there too. Just want to make sure I do it in a way that doesn't show through to the outside.
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I had glass in the top of my first humidor and was able to remove the wood strips around the edges and expose the the area where the glass meets wood. I was surprised to see just a couple of dabs of some kind of sealant around the edges. I removed the glass and ran a good bead of silicone around the wood, then pressed the glass back into place. Then place the wood pieces back in.
It made a huge difference in the stability of the humidity. Not sure if it's an option on yours.
That's a very nice gift from a loved one! :-)
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Thanks for the help, I'm going to start the seasoning process tomorrow and then see how she holds humidity after I seal the hole up front. If I've got leaks I'll probably go with your process.
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Bowl of Distilled Water is in! And now we wait until it stops sucking it up and is fully seasoned.
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Good luck on this one! I have one of these and never used sealant on it, but will after I transfer its contents to a new desktop humi -

Threads like this help people like me too :-)
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Well, finally put cigars in my humidor. Has distilled water in it for almost 20 days, had been holding humidity steady for the last 10. Was trying to wait until my Heartfelt Beads arrived, but they are currently MIA thanks to Chicago USPS. So a boveda pack it is.

Now I've gotta buy some more sticks to fill her up to the top! More cigars helps the humidity right?!?
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