The Way To Select The Best Cigar Humidors? Reason #377

6 Cigar Humidification Approaches

Now you have a good understanding of what a hygrometer does and everything can occur if your humidity is too high or too low, let's talk about how to actually 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 method was my first way to control the humidity in my humidor and boy was it stressful. This is actually the"puck" which is included with humidors most of the time and needs one to boil it into propylene glycol. I discovered it for a bit of a guessing game because you need to make sure that your"puck" does not run out of juice. It had been mostly stressful because I utilized the free version in my humidor so results may vary. I only 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 seconds and you just purchase the propylene glycol individually. This remedy is odorless and only replaces water as a pure form of moisture. Using tap water may cause problems due to chlorine or other substances, and bottled water won't stay moist as long as propylene glycol.

2. The Tubes or Mini Jars Cigar Humidification Method
Xikar and Drymistat make quite simple to use products that you can just open and pop it into a humidor such as this
electric humidor. These have a much more controlled way of managing humidity than 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 advise trying to"re-soak" them with the propylene glycol. The attractiveness of them, particularly the tubes is they don't occupy much room in your humidor. However, depending on the size, the jar format will work better:

3. The Boveda Packs Cigar Humidification Method
Similar to the jar or tubes out of Xikar and Drymistat, you can go with a very controlled system of Boveda humidity packs. These are my favourite cigar humidification method and ones that I use for my tupperdor today. But they could err a little on the high side concerning humidity should you use them in a tupperdor. I'd like to go several percentages lower than your preferred humidity for a result if you've got a tupperdor. (These packs come in all different humidity levels.) They do a great job of consuming humidity if it is too high and growing if it is too low. As soon as your package is stiff, you then just throw it off. That being said, many claim to be able to recharge these very easily simply by soaking them for a couple of days once they get stiff. Even though this might be a great way to spend less, the recharged packs certainly will not be as precise as an original. To find out more about how to recharge, take a look at this YouTube tutorial. For me personally, I don't recharge because I'm going to spend hundreds of bucks on cigars, I don't want to cut any corners to save a few dollars on Boveda packs.

4. The Heartfelt Beads Humidification Method
Heartfelt beads are a common humidity method which many recommend across java forums. This company revolves around these beads and they've a great deal of diehard followers to their merchandise. These are popular with larger humidors or even wineadors. These are most likely one of the more expensive options but last forever. They do need spraying of distilled water following week or two though so you have to abide by a program. This way is a bit more geared towards the advanced cigar collectors. Normally, cigar collectors will have a pouch of those beads or a coating at the bottom of the wineador.

5. The Electric Cigar Humidification Method
There's nothing greater than the set it and forget of an electric humidifier, especially in the event that you've got a large or valuable collection. All these are a little expensive compared to the other options such as
electronic humidor but there is the advantage of very little upkeep. The units work best if plugged -- so you will be required to run a level cable into the outside of your humidor. However some of those units have a few really cool features like wi-fi capabilities and can humidify up to 1,000 cigars! (That would be a good deal of Boveda packs...) You do have to replace the cartridge every 6 -- 12 weeks but it's relatively inexpensive.

6. The Kitty Litter Cigar Humidification Method
For a larger wineador installation, many advocate kitty litter as a viable choice to control humidity. This is a very similar method to this Heartfelt beads strategy outlined above. The key is to obtain a kitty litter with no odor and spray on distilled water every two to three weeks as needed. I have seen very positive testimonials out of Exquisicat Crystals with very low fructose nor scent.