The cigar shop

[timot_one]

There are debates on whether or not to remove the cellophane from cigars.  It's all personal preference.  I remove the cello from my cigars, others prefer to leave it on.  Either way, it's not going to make a difference what you decide to do.

Ryan, when it comes to the humidification device that came with your humidor, THROW IT AWAY and buy something that works.  Mike suggested Boveda packs as a low/no maintenance option.  They're fairly inexpensive and will hold for months before you need to replace them.  I have heartfelt beads in my humidors and they do fairly well at maintaining the humidity at 65%.  The need to recharge (or replace) your humidification device is dependent on the environment.  Things like outside climate, air movement in the room you keep your humidor, how often you open your humidor, how many cigars you store in your humidor all factor in.  The only way to tell when you need to recharge your humidification device is by paying attention to your calibrated digital hygrometer.  When the Rh starts to drop, you know that you need to recharge it.  Pretty simple, right?

[accordguy04]

Sounds good to me.  There's a cigar shop downtown ill stop in on the way home and see what they got.

[exelr8]

Look for a xikar digital round hygrometer. From what Tim says, they have awesome customer service. They are a very reputable and well known brand. Calibration was easy, just time consuming. As for the boveda packs, make sure you get the 65% RH humidity packs. They're like 5 bucks at my shop but they're proud of things. You could order them for cheaper online.

[accordguy04]

Well not going to that shop again.  I went in and asked the guy at the counter if they had em and I shit you not he laughed at me and said "No no no son.  Distilled water, just put it in your humidifier."  So I told him I only had the shitty one that came with the Humidor and he told me to go get a good humidifying system.  Fucking know it all prick.  Looks like ill just order em from the shop back home.

[exelr8]

Yeah you will have that. The owner if the local shop here takes all of the opus x off of the truck and rarely lets them be sold.

[timot_one]

That kind of stuff is going to hurt their business. If you act like a know it all prick to someone that is new, they're probably going to go to another shop or order it online. I'm glad that the shops I frequent are friendly. I have yet to hang out in a shop and smoke a cigar there though. I'm still anti-social.

[exelr8]

We shall fix that Tim next time you come by chatt town ill show ya how it's done

[timot_one]

I'd like to make a trip down there this summer if I can find the time.  I hear that I'm going to be pretty busy with work this summer.

[exelr8]

All the more reason to duck out for a few days

[exelr8]

I think I found some of the issues, I over-humidified the humidor while seasoning it(too big of a sponge), and I feel like the hygrometer being is such close proximity to the beads may have a slight affect. I too the hygrometer off the magnet and placed it on the floor of the humidor next to my cigars with the beads on the other side of the divider. Today it was down to 71% RH. I'm going to figure this damn thing out lol

[timot_one]

Just remember to give it time.  This is a hobby of patience.  I'm debating what I want to smoke tonight.

[exelr8]

This is true. I just keep feeling like in doing it wrong. At least I acquired a good bit of cedar from the small cigar shop to build my tupperdor.

So last night, I smoked an AF short story. It was great except the wrapper started coming apart towards the end. I also got Lori to try a cigar(didn't take much convincing). Nonetheless, she tried an acid blondie and really enjoyed it once she got the hang of it.

[timot_one]

That's good news.  Glad to hear you got the cedar.  That will be helpful with the tupperdor.  Short Stories are good smokes.  They're really nice because they don't take a lot of time if you want a quick smoke.

[exelr8]

And I got enough cedar to have a pretty good sized tupperdor too. I should be able to grab you a few of those sticks we talked about last night, they are a pretty robust and rich smoke

[ikethegreat]

So I bought a 4-pack of the "Boveda 84% One-Step Seasoning Kit" to season my new humidor.  I put three of the packets in the humidor and the forth packet I put in a ziplock bag with a new digital hydrometer I bought.  I figured that would be a good way to calibrate it.  After 48 hours the hydrometer was reading 95%.  Was what I did not a good way to calibrate it or is it just wayyy out of calibration?  I took the hydrometer and the boveda package out of the ziplock bag and put them both in the humidor.  Tomorrow will be one week since I started seasoning the humidor.  They typically take two weeks right?