FYI: Recharging Boveda packs

[Baccy]

I don't know if anyone else has ever wondered about this or wondered if it was possible to recharge these things, but I've always thought it would be really nice to not have to toss out so many Boveda packs because they were spent after only a relatively short time. I have hoped someone would come up with a solution to this expensive problem. Well I have stumbled across a solution, at least it works well for me anyway. What I had been doing was tossing a few almost spent boveda bags into my wine fridge to keep the moisture down inside because I was getting damaged labels. Well, after a few weeks I would notice them plumped up like fluffy pillows. So I began to use this process more like a cycle... moving them away from humidors and coolidors as they would flatten out and move them into my "charging station" then once they plump up again I cycle them back to my humidors. It looks like I won't be needing to buy any news packs in the near future unless they start leaking or get damaged in some way. Obviously you have to keep an eye on them and catch them before they get completely spent as they can't be salvaged from a dry state. This works well for me. So if you also have a wine fridge, give it shot! Has anyone tried this before or discovered other effective methods of recharging the packs?

[shamz84]

Just get a lock and lock box place your boveda in there will a bowl of water over the next Few day / weeks you'll see the packs will be recharged..keep it where it's somewhere hot to speed up the process.

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[David88]

I just throw mine into a bowl of distilled water for a couple of days when they go flat. Not had any split and they still work perfectly. 

[Baccy]

10 minutes ago, shamz84 said:

Just get a lock and lock box place your boveda in there will a bowl of water over the next Few day / weeks you'll see the packs will be recharged..keep it where it's somewhere hot to speed up the process.

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So this works too? Awesome... The wine cooler is easier for me personally because I just toss em in there and that's it. What exactly is a "lockbox" ?

[nKostyan]

I'll tell you about my own experience and a couple of myths.
The bag comes not fully charged, which gives him the opportunity not only to give moisture, but also to pick up the excess. But we must bear in mind that the package is not rubber and if it is full, it will not take away any excess moisture. In this case, it should be pulled out for a while on the air to dry.
If the bag lies for a long time in the mode of moisture release, the gel often hardens in places of sutures. In this case, I regularly mash the bags.
I use it in conjunction with a gel moisturizer, so I almost don’t need to charge the packages, and I fill the humidifier when I see that Béveda is “thinner”
If I need to refill, I use this method: I take a non-woven disposable rag, urine is usually water, wring it out so that it remains just wet, I wind it on Bower and put it in a warm place in cellophane. 1-3 days and package refilled. At the same time, the paper does not defrost and retains its original appearance.
Some myths:
- if the package is completely dry and hardened, then it is not refillable, or refilled only by immersion in boiling water. This is not so, we refuel without problems using the method described above.
- 75% bags only for hygrometer calibration. The hygrometer is calibrated with any humidity, if no specific method is indicated on its passport. Simply, Bowera is used for different purposes, so it has a fairly wide range of humidity.

[shlomo]

Boveda packs are too expensive to throw out every time they dry out. Run a search, I am certain there are many posts about different techniques to extend life of a pack.

That being said, if your Boveda are running dry in short periods of time, I would suggest checking your humidor seals, and getting a secondary humidity supply. In my current humidor, I have not had a Boveda go anywhere close to dry in several years.

[clickbangdoh]

I just put them in a Ziploc bag and toss some distilled water in and seal it. In a day or so they'll soak up the water and recharge. Even completely dried out packs will recharge. I live in Florida which means almost year round air conditioning which tends to pull the moisture out of things. So far, other than a few that got damaged (getting jammed by a box corner or the like), all my original packs are still going after years of use.

[Pag]

Here's what I do. I use a pretty big Tupperware container. Fill the bottom with about 3/4" of an inch with distilled water. Place a small salad strainer in it. Put Boveda packs in strainer so they don't get wet. Seal the lid and toss it under the bed or the least likely place the wife will look for her strainer. Check in 14 days, when 70% filled switch with current in use Boveda's and start again. I save $100 a year. By 2025 I can purchase a box of Esplendidos. Funny, funny, funny.

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[Derboesekoenig]

6 hours ago, nKostyan said:

urine is usually water, wring it out so that it remains just wet, I wind it on Bower and put it in a warm place in cellophane.

Ummm what 

[nKostyan]

Ummm what 

"Lost in translation": it is not urine, but to dampen the cloth he had in mind

[BellevilleMXZ]

Great info folks, Ive been tossing these?

[BinBin]

I put them in plastic bags and dunk em in. I do it all the time and no issues

[Islandboy]

9 hours ago, shlomo said:

That being said, if your Boveda are running dry in short periods of time, I would suggest checking your humidor seals, and getting a secondary humidity supply. In my current humidor, I have not had a Boveda go anywhere close to dry in several years.

This^

I have 3 wineadors that seal so well, I’ve had Bovedas in there for nearly 2 years without any hardening whatsoever. On the other hand, I’ve got a wooden desktop humidor that I can’t even use anymore because of poor seal - Bovedas go rock hard in 3 months.

[Baccy]

17 minutes ago, Islandboy said:

This^

I have 3 wineadors that seal so well, I’ve had Bovedas in there for nearly 2 years without any hardening whatsoever. On the other hand, I’ve got a wooden desktop humidor that I can’t even use anymore because of poor seal - Bovedas go rock hard in 3 months.

Same here. That's the way mine go in my Amazon humidor, but my Daniel Marshall has a pretty tight seal. The packs inside still look new and I've had it up and running for about 6 months...

[Stogiepuffer]

I have about 15 packs. Maybe three have gone dry from car use with ziplock bags. I now use those for dry boxing.

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[WhiteMamba]

Large ziplock with a damp paper towel. Leave them in there for a week or two and they’re good to go.

[LLC]

As many have said no need to throw out. I have some along with beads and if I find a dry one I put in a small Tupperware with a bowl of distilled water. To be honest I usually forget about them until I find another dry one and then switch them up. Works great, never an issue. 

[Ceephus Banks]

Been sticking mine in small Tupperware containers with some distilled water for 24-30 hours until they fluff up for almost 2 years now. 

[Mossome]

This is my setup for recharging them. DW on the bottom. A grid with bovedas above. They absorb the water vapor and recharge fully in about a week.

[BuzzArd]

I recharge all the time.  Small ones.  Mid size ones. Large ones.   All done the same way. Put what i need to refill in a ziplock or in the original boveda ziplock, fill the bag til water gets about 1/2 way up the boveda packets I have in there, and then lean the ziplock against my desk valet so the packets stay mostly veryical.   Not completely submerging them cured the ones that didn’t seem to want to uptake h2o, and within a few hours (like, overnight) they’re refilled.  Living in the desert I’m really never worried about them needing to uptake excess moisture from the humidor.   It just doesn’t happen here.  When they’re filled I lay them on a cloth on the desk until the surface dries (hour, tops) and then reseal in the original package.  I keep several sets in rotation for the desktop humidors I still have.  

 

[Baccy]

It sounds like some of you are actually submerging the packet under water. The exterior is made of paper so doesn't that damage the pack??? If I were to use distilled water I would try to keep it away from the liquid...

[TNT009]

Like others have said.. zip-lock bag and dw, they'll rehydrate overnight and let the wrapper air dry.. Simple.

[Pag]

My mini Recharging station.

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[SCgarman]

I take a medium size Ziploc plastic container and fill with about an inch of distilled water. Take another smaller container and place it inside to use as a "shelf" to place the Boveda packs on keeping them from getting wet. Place lid on the Ziploc and wait about 2 weeks for the Boveda packs to fully absorb the moisture and become pillow-y again. While I don't use Bovedas, I had 3 of them from prior Cuban vendor box purchases and they had gotten thin and semi-hard in a sealed Ziploc bag. So decided to re-hydrate them and see if my experiment would work. Yup!

[earthson]

I thought everybody recharged Bovedas!?  Yes, they're rechargeable.  If they're drying out fast, the humidor is either not seasoned or not sealed.  I touch mine up every year or 2.

Beads are better.