I am ordering beads for my first humidor. I have looked at the FAQ and have narrowed it down to heartfelt and cigarmony. I am also looking at digital hygrometers. Is the Xikar better than the one heartfelt sells or are they about the same? What RH do I want I always heard 70% but after a lot of reading is 65% a better choice? Are the tubes from heartfelt better than a mesh bag. I am putting them in a desk top I got for Christmas. I plain to put more in than required due to the fact that I am new and am sure I will have it open more than a seasoned smoker.
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http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showth...949#post677949
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Thanks for the reply but I can't seem to access any links. I get this screen
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I use a 2oz tube of 65% Heartfelt beads in my desktop humidors. I have 1lb in two mesh bags in each of my Vinotemps. I prefer lower Rh as my cigars smoke more to my liking at the lower Rh. :-)
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Thanks,
I was leaning toward the heartfelt 65% tubes. I just like the tube.
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Thats a smart choice . A nice sealed container so the beads never come out and a perfect humidity solution at 65% . Get the Heartfelt beads . :-) They take all the worries away .
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I also recommend the Heartfelt beads. I use the tubes in all of my humidors. I also use a pen type hygrometer and just move it from humidor to humidor to test the RH and temp.
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Nothing against Heartfelt, but I really like Scott Shilala's beads (the link above that won't work for you). You can search some of the other threads for info regarding Scott's beads.

The nice thing is that if you have a sealed humidor then you just put Scott's beads in and forget them.

If your humidor is leaky then it does not matter whose beads you are using, you are going to have a lot of maintenance to do...
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I use 65% Heartfelt beads in a mesh bag. When I first started smoking, I did the 70% humidity b/c the guys at the B&M recommended it. When they were at 70%, my wrappers on the cigars split pretty frequently. I joined here and everyone recommended 65%, and all is well :-)
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Another satisfied Heartfelt bead user checking in. :-) Personally, I wouldn't use anything higher than 65%, but YMMV.
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I have ised "other" commercial beads and by far Scott's beads were superior. He ships them at 65% which is my preffered RH as I find 70% to be wet and causes many burn issues.

As to the hygrometer, they all suck IMO. Had many different digital flavors and none really stayed accurate, average battey lasting about 6 months. I put fresh batteries and re-cal every now and then, but as Scott's beads are so rock solid and use way more beads than required the humis and coolador stay perfect.
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How do I get the links on this sight to work? All that I have tried gives me the same error. It says I dont have access yet. I would be intrested to see Scotts beads but can't make the link on his posts work. I am ordering the heartfelts this morning. I can always buy more/different in the future.
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Once you reach so many posts and are a member for a certain length of time, all these wonderful doors open.

Patience. :-)

In the meantime, pm shilala and I'm sure he could give you all the info you need to make an informed decision.
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Heartfelt beads are great. 65% for me.
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I wanted to get some of shilala'a beads but when I needed them he was out :-) so I went with heartfelt 65% and they have been great in my desktop and my vino. when I need more I will be getting some from shilala
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