Crystal humidifier issues

[dheppler]

Greetings all!

When I purchased my larger desktop humi (75-100 stick), I also purchased a Xikar crystal humidifier. After seasoning the humi for over a month, I installed the 100 stick puck in it only to find that it wouldn't hold anything over 56% RH. Thinking that it was not large enough, I dropped a couple shot glasses of water in and it held until my beads arrived.

Not one to waste my money, I tossed the puck in my small humi (20-30 stick). To my surprise, when I checked up on it the RH it was at 76%, after re-calibrating my hygrometers I found that it was, infact, increasing the RH to that level.

My question is seemingly simple: what gives, why the RH variance between the two boxes, other than size (~500in vs. ~2000in)?

My beads have arrived and they have cured my problems, except for my mind roaming for answers about the crystal gel. So, perhaps someone here might shed a little light on the issue and put my mind at ease.

-Dan

[Colt45]

My thoughts are more toward the humidors than the humidifier. First, there is the seal on the humidors. Second, a full humidor is easier

to regulate / maintain than an empty humidor. So if both were empty, the larger humidor might not be able to come up to humidity as

easily as the smaller.

Also, what is the quantity of beads versus the gel puck? I know little about how the gel product works.

[CigarmanTim]

can we assume you calibrated digital hygrometers and not anolog? Analogs are good for one thing only...looks...and the trash bin.

[dheppler]

The further info is has follows, the large humi is at about 50% cap, the smaller is empty. The amount of beads vs. gel seems negotiable, around 4oz ea. The seals both seem decent.

I can understand that the how the puck would not be able to hold RH in the larger void, just trying to figure how the product releases more water then its pre-described level of 70% in the smaller. I may just be over thinking a simple matter of size. Or perhaps, curious about the hydroscopic properties of the gel.

[Shelby07]

Hey Dan, It will take several months for the cedar to fully absorb moisture. After that things tend to stabilize. The important thing to remember is that the humidistat is measuring the RH of the air inside of the humidor, not the moisture content of the cigars themselves. Opening the lid often on an empty humidor will dry the air out quickly and the humidistat will reflect that. After you close the lid on an empty humidor it's going to take a while for the air to re humidify. Also realize that the cigars themselves, once they are properly humidified, will also act as humidifying devices. More cigars equate (practically) to more humidification devices and better stability. So yes, an empty humi will take much more to humidify the air inside the box than one that is half or 3/4 full.

I've never used the crystals myself, only the beads. Now I use the Oasis active humidifiers. They work well in the dry air here in Colorado.

But I'm sure everyone here will tell you the same thing. Let the condition of the cigars themselves dictate whether the RH is right. Humidistats are notoriously inaccurate. The best thing to do is to figure out what they read when the cigars are "right" then use any relative drop in the reading to tell you when to add water to the device.