6 Cigar Humidification Approaches
Now that you have a solid underst
anding of exactly what a hygrometer does
and what can happen if your humidity is too high or too low, let us talk about how to really control the humidity in your humidor. Unfortunately, you can't just use a damp paper towel in a ziplock bag...
1.
The Hockey Puck Humidification Method
The unofficial hockey puck method was my very first means to control the humidity in my humidor and boy was it trying. This is the"puck" that is included
with humidors the majority of the time and needs one to boil it in propylene glycol. I discovered it to be a little bit of a guessing game because you need to be sure that your"puck" does not run out of juice. It was mainly stressful since I used the free version from my humidor so results may vary. However, after I updated to a Xikar puck, it was smooth sailing. I just had to re-soak each 30-45 days and found it to be much more consistent. Soaking a humidor puck is quite easy. It takes approximately 30 minutes and you simply buy the propylene glycol individually. This solution is odorless and only replaces water as a more pure form of moisture. Using tap water can create problems because of 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 easy to use products that you may just open and pop it in a humidor such as this
electric humidor. These have a much more controlled way of handling humidity compared to the puck method. The only bad thing is you have to replace these completely most of the time each 3-6 months completely. I don't recommend attempting to"re-soak" them with the propylene glycol. The beauty of them, especially the tubes, is that they don't occupy much space in your humidor. But, depending on how big the jar format will work better:
3. The Boveda Packs Cigar Humidification Method
Like the tubes or jar out of Xikar and Drymistat, it is possible to go with a very controlled system of Boveda humidity packs. These are my favourite cigar humidification method and ones that I use for the tupperdor today. However, they can err a bit on the large side in terms of humidity if you use them in a tupperdor. I would aim to go several percentages lower than your desired humidity for a result when you have a tupperdor. (These packs come in all different humidity levels.) Otherwise they do a great job of absorbing humidity whether it is too high and growing if it is too low. Once your package is stiff, you then just throw it off. That having been said, many claim to be able to recharge these quite easily simply by soaking them for a few days once they become stiff. Although this may be a great way to save money, the recharged packs definitely will not be as precise 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 because I'm going to spend hundreds of bucks 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 common humidity method which many advocate across cigar forums. This provider revolves around these beads and they have a lot of diehard followers to their merchandise. These are popular with larger humidors or even wineadors. These are most likely one of the costlier choices but continue forever. They do need spraying of water following two or week though so you've got to abide by a program. This method is somewhat more geared towards the advanced cigar collectors. Normally, cigar collectors will have a pouch of those beads or a layer at the bottom of their wineador.
5. The Electric Cigar Humidification Method
There's nothing greater than the place it and forget of a electric humidifier, particularly in the event that you've got a large or valuable set. These are a little expensive when compared with the other choices such as
electric humidor but there is the advantage of very little maintenance. The units work best if plugged in -- so you'll be required to run 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 good deal of Boveda packs...) You really do have to replace the cartridge every 6 -- 12 months but it's relatively
cheap.
6. The Kitty Litter Cigar Humidification Method
To get a larger wineador installation, many recommend kitty litter as a viable choice to control humidity. This is a very similar technique to this Heartfelt beads strategy outlined above. The key is to get a kitty litter without a fragrance and spray distilled water every two to three weeks as required. I've seen very positive reviews from Exquisicat Crystals with very low dust nor odor.
