6 Cigar Humidification Approaches

Now you have a good understanding of what a hygrometer does and what can happen if your humidity is too high or too low, let's talk about how to really control the humidity in your humidor. Regrettably, you can't 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 stressful. This is the"puck" which is included with humidors the majority of the time and requires one to boil it in propylene glycol. I found it to be a little bit of a guessing game because you have to make sure that your"puck" doesn't run out of juice. It was mainly stressful since I utilized the free version in my humidor so results may vary. I just 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 individually. This remedy is odorless and only replaces water as a more pure form of moisture. Using tap water may cause issues due to chlorine or other chemicals, and distilled water will not stay moist provided that propylene glycol.

2. The Tubes or Mini Jars Cigar Humidification Method
Xikar and Drymistat make very easy to use products that you can merely open and pop it into a humidor such as this
whynter arc-14s. These have a much more controlled way of handling humidity than the puck technique. The only bad thing is you need to replace these entirely most of the time each 3-6 months completely. I don't advise attempting to"re-soak" them with the propylene glycol. The beauty of these, particularly the tubes, is that they don't occupy much room in your humidor. However, depending on how big the jar arrangement may work better:

3. The Boveda Packs Cigar Humidification Method
Like the jar or tubes out of Xikar and Drymistat, it is possible to go with a very controlled method of Boveda humidity packs. These are my favorite cigar humidification strategy and ones that I utilize for my tupperdor today. But they can err a bit on the large side in terms of humidity should you use them in a tupperdor. I would like to go a few percentages lower than your desired humidity for a result when you have a tupperdor. Otherwise they do a great job of absorbing humidity if it's too high and growing if it is too low. Once your pack is stiff, you then just throw it away. That being said, many claim to be able to recharge these quite easily simply by soaking them for a couple of days after they get stiff. Even though this might be a great way to spend less, the recharged packs definitely will not be as accurate as a first. To discover more about how to recharge, check out this YouTube tutorial. For me personally, I don't recharge because 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 frequent humidity method that many advocate across java forums. This company revolves round these beads and they have a lot of diehard followers to their merchandise. These are probably one of the costlier choices but continue forever. They do need spraying of water after week or two though so you have to abide by a schedule. This way is a bit more geared towards the more advanced cigar collectors. Normally, cigar collectors will have a pouch of these a coating at the base of their wineador.

5. The Electric Cigar Humidification Method
There's nothing better than the place it and forget of an electric humidifier, particularly in the event that you've got a large or precious collection. These are a little expensive compared to the other options such as
air purifier for smoke but there's the advantage of very little upkeep. The components also work best if plugged in -- so you'll be asked to conduct a level cable into the outside of your humidor. However some of those units have some really cool features like wi-fi capabilities and can humidify around 1,000 cigars! (That could be a lot of Boveda packs...) You really do need to replace the cartridge every 6 -- 12 months but it's relatively cheap.

6. The Kitty Litter Cigar Humidification Method
For a bigger wineador installation, many advocate kitty litter as a viable choice to control humidity. This is a really similar technique to this Heartfelt beads strategy outlined above. The crucial thing is to get a kitty litter with no odor and spray distilled water every two to three weeks as required. I have seen very positive reviews out of Exquisicat Crystals with very low fructose nor scent.