
How To Select The Very Best Cigar Humidors? Reason #996
6 Cigar Humidification Approaches
Now that you have a good comprehension of what a hygrometer does and everything can happen if your humidity is too high or too low, let's discuss how to really control the humidity in your humidor. Unfortunately, you can not just use a damp paper towel in a ziplock bag...
1. The Hockey Puck Humidification Method
The unofficial hockey puck system was my very first means to control the humidity in my humidor and boy, was it trying. This is actually the"puck" which is included with humidors the majority of the time and requires you to soak it in propylene glycol. I discovered it for a little bit of a guessing game since you have to be sure that your"puck" doesn't run out of juice. It was mainly stressful since I used the free version from my humidor so results may vary. But once I upgraded to some Xikar puck, it was smooth sailing. I only had to re-soak each 30-45 days and found it to be much more consistent. Soaking a humidor puck is very simple. It takes about 30 seconds and you just buy the propylene glycol separately. This remedy is odorless and just replaces water as a more pure form of moisture. Using tap water may create issues due to chlorine or other chemicals, and distilled water won't stay moist provided that propylene glycol.
2. The Tubes or Mini Jars Cigar Humidification Method
Xikar and Drymistat make very simple to use products that you can just open and pop it into a humidor such as this
arc-14s. These include a much more controlled way of managing humidity than the puck method. The only bad thing is you have to replace these completely the majority of the time each 3-6 weeks completely. I don't recommend trying to"re-soak" them together with the propylene glycol. The attractiveness of them, particularly the tubes, is they don't occupy much room in your humidor. However, depending on how big the jar arrangement will work better:
3. The Boveda Packs Cigar Humidification Method
Like the tubes or jar out of Xikar and Drymistat, you can go with a very controlled method of Boveda humidity packs. These are my favourite cigar humidification method and ones that I use for the tupperdor today. However, they could err a bit on the high side in terms of humidity should you use them at a tupperdor. I'd like to go several percentages lower than your preferred humidity as a consequence when you've got a tupperdor. Otherwise they do a fantastic job of consuming humidity whether it's too high and increasing if it is too low. As soon as your pack is stiff, then you simply throw it off. That having been said, many claim to have the ability to recharge these quite easily by simply soaking them for a couple of days after they get stiff. Although this may be a great way to save money, the recharged packs certainly will not be as accurate as a first. To find out more about the way to recharge, check out this YouTube tutorial. For me personally, I really don't recharge since if I'm going to spend hundreds of dollars on cigars, I don't want to cut corners to save a couple bucks on Boveda packs.
4. The Heartfelt Beads Humidification Method
Heartfelt beads are a frequent humidity method that many recommend across java forums. This provider revolves round these beads and they've a lot of diehard followers for their merchandise. These are most likely one of the more expensive options but last forever. They do require spraying of distilled water following two or week though so you've got to stick to a program. This way is somewhat more geared towards the more advanced cigar collectors. Normally, cigar collectors will have a pouch of these beads or a coating at the base of the wineador.
5. The Electric Cigar Humidification Method
There's nothing better than the set it and forget of a electric humidifier, particularly if you have a large or precious set. These are a bit expensive when compared with the other options such as
electric humidor but there's the advantage of very little maintenance. The units work best if plugged in -- so you will be asked to run a level cable into the outside of your humidor. However a few of those units have a few really cool features like wi-fi capacities and can humidify around 1,000 cigars! (That would be a good deal of Boveda packs...) You really do have to replace the cartridge every 6 -- 12 weeks but it's comparatively cheap.
6. The Kitty Litter Cigar Humidification Method
For a larger wineador installation, many advocate kitty litter as a viable option to control humidity. This is a really similar method to the Heartfelt beads strategy outlined previously. The crucial thing is to get a kitty litter without a odor and spray on distilled water every two to three weeks as needed. I've seen very positive testimonials out of Exquisicat Crystals with very low fructose nor odor.