Re: Shilala Beads
On the ammonia/PH thing...
To recharge, you use water vapor. That way there is no chance of soiling the surface of the beads. You use distilled water.
The beads trap ammonia via their structure and covalency.
The beads are full of tunnels. Those tunnels are small enough to hold out free hydrocarbns, yet large enough to let in ammonia molecules.
Once ammonia is drawn in (and I say "drawn in" because it is via the electrical charge of the beads) it is bound inside the beads.
There is so much ammonia capturing potential in a volume of beads per volume of humidor space that they can never become saturated with ammonia in a humidor, no matter how many wet cigars you put in there.
It's another huge mathematical equation that bears that out. The never is because there's roughly 3,000 years of potential in a volume of beads per volume of humidor space, based on a constant flow of ammonia from cigars for that entire period. So I suppose never is a bit agressive.
Cool thing is that if you do live for 3000 years, all you have to do is steam clean the beads, all the ammonia will be released, and your beads are brand new and ready for another 3000 years.
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