6 Cigar Humidification Approaches
Now you have a solid understanding of what a hygrometer does and what can occur if your humidity is too high or too low, let's discuss how to actually control the humidity in your humidor. Regrettably, you can not just use a moist paper towel in a ziplock bag...
1. The Hockey Puck Humidification Method
The unofficial hockey puck system was my first way to control the humidity in my humidor and boy, was it trying. This is the"puck" which is included with humidors the majority of the time and requires one to boil it into propylene glycol. I discovered it to be a bit of a guessing game since you need to be sure that your"puck" doesn't run out of juice. It was mainly stressful because I utilized the crummy free version in my humidor so results may vary. I found that I had to soak the puck every 15 days or so using a humidor of 30 cigars. However, after I upgraded to some Xikar puck, it was smooth sailing. I just had to re-soak every 30-45 days and found it to be more consistent. Soaking a humidor puck is very easy. It takes approximately 30 minutes and you just purchase the propylene glycol individually. This remedy is odorless and just replaces water as a pure form of moisture. Using tap water can cause issues due to chlorine or other chemicals, and distilled water will not stay moist as long as propylene glycol.
2. The Tubes or Mini Jars Cigar Humidification Method
Xikar and Drymistat make quite simple to use products which you may merely open and pop it into a humidor such as this
electric humidor. These include a much more controlled way of managing humidity compared to the puck technique. The only bad thing is that you need to replace these entirely the majority of the time each 3-6 weeks completely. I don't advise attempting to"re-soak" them with the propylene glycol. The beauty of them, especially the tubes is they don't occupy much space in your humidor. However, depending on the size, the jar arrangement will work better:
3. The Boveda Packs Cigar Humidification Method
Like the jar or tubes out of Xikar and Drymistat, you can go with a very controlled method of Boveda humidity packs. These are my favorite cigar humidification strategy and ones that I use for the tupperdor today. But they can err a little on the large side concerning humidity should you use them at a tupperdor. I would aim to go several percentages lower than your desired humidity for a result when you have a tupperdor. Otherwise they do a fantastic job of absorbing humidity if it's too high and growing if it is too low. As soon as your pack is stiff, you then just 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 once they become stiff. Even though this might be a great way to save money, the recharged packs definitely won't be as precise as an original. To discover more about how to recharge, take a look at this YouTube tutorial. For me personally, I really don't recharge since if I'm going to spend hundreds of dollars on cigars, I do not wish to cut corners to save a few dollars on Boveda packs.
4. The Heartfelt Beads Humidification Method
Heartfelt beads are a common humidity method which many recommend across cigar forums. This provider revolves round these beads and they have a lot of diehard followers to their product. These are popular with larger humidors or even wineadors. These are most likely one of the costlier options but continue forever. They do need spraying of distilled water following week or two though so you've got to stick to a program. This method is a bit more geared towards the more advanced cigar collectors. Normally, cigar collectors will have a pouch of those beads or a layer at the bottom of the wineador.
5. The Electric Cigar Humidification Method
There's nothing better than the place it and forget of a electric humidifier, especially if you have a big or valuable collection. These are a bit expensive when compared with the other options such as
newair 250 but there is the benefit of very little upkeep. The units work best if plugged in -- so you'll be asked to conduct a flat cable into the outside of your humidor. However a few of these units have a few really cool features like wi-fi capabilities and can humidify up to 1,000 cigars! (That would be a lot of Boveda packs...) You really do need to replace the cartridge every 6 -- 12 weeks but it's comparatively cheap.
6. The Kitty Litter Cigar Humidification Method
To get a bigger wineador setup, many recommend kitty litter as a viable choice to control humidity. This is a really similar technique to this Heartfelt beads strategy outlined previously. The key is to get a kitty litter with no fragrance and spray on distilled water every two to three weeks as needed. I've seen very positive testimonials from Exquisicat Crystals with very low dust nor odor.
