A Christmas humidity question...
 

First off, Merry Christmas everyone!!

Instead of writing out a huge back story and what not, I'll spare all of you and just ask...

If my coolidors are in a room with *signifigantly* lower RH, would running a basic run of the mill room humidifier in the room before/during the opening of the coolidors allow me the ability to leave them open/work with moving around and organizing cigar boxes without having to worry about cigars cracking and significant dropping of internal Coolidor RH?

And if so, would it be recommended to use distilled water in the humidifier? (That assumption is based upon the fact that distilled is recommended for all humidification devices.) Or would regular tap water suffice? Or, is this an absurd question & should I fashion myself a dunce cap and sit in the corner of the lower RH room?

Thanks in advance for any and all help you are able to provide!! -(P

Re: A Christmas humidity question...
 

Hi Michael and Merry Xmas!

Do you have a cooler with a good seal? That would probably be ideal for this. I have a marine one that is also well insulated. I just put in a wide-mouth cup with distilled into the cooler when holding cigars in there. If going to long term, add beads. This is how I do my 300 and 500 count desktops as well.

If you are just moving boxes around for a half hour or so, I wouldn't worry. If you plan to go longer than that, then I would by some large (2 gallon or larger) zip lock bags for holding them while they are out, provided you do not have a cooler handy.

Re: A Christmas humidity question...
 

I think you’re worrying about short term changes more than it’s worth. Those cigars travelled in a cargo ship on the ocean to get here and didn’t crack.

Tap water has different amounts of minerals and sediment in it in different locations. So, it may leave a residue on the heating element or on room surfaces ( for humidifiers that don’t use heat ). Or not. Try it and if it causes a problem for you, switch to distilled.

Re: A Christmas humidity question...
 

I agree with Mr. Mark, I'll do a big reorganization once every few months and pull everything out of a large cabinet for over an hour. Cigars are resilient, that won't hurt them in any short period of time. Good advice from him also if you need a long term solution.

Re: A Christmas humidity question...
 

Yeah I'm using Coleman xtreme 6/ 120 quart coolers and they seem to hold the RH pretty steady!
I like the idea of maybe keeping them in a humidified bag temporarily...but yeah I'm going to be trying to separate cigars boxes by location so I might need them to be outside of coolers for a bit...but hopefully I can get the organizing done fast!

Re: A Christmas humidity question...
 

I agree with Tom agreeing with Mark.

Cigars are very resilient, sitting outside the cooler shouldn't be an issue in most cases.


Merry Christmas!

Re: A Christmas humidity question...
 

This:banger