Cabinet Humidor RH Question

montecristo,
Living near the ocean can pose it's own unique challenges with cigar storage. Consider the relationship of humidity & temperature. If you have 60% RH at an ambient temperature of 75 degrees, then lower the cabinet humidor to 68 degrees, the RH will probably rise to 67-69% without adding any moisture at all from the humidification system.

However, the 60% is not a constant so there are days or times of the year when the ambient RH is lower & more humidity is required, so one needs to have some sort of system to add moisture.

My observation over time is that folks in generally high RH environments need to have both an active humidification system & plan on adding beads to help reduce moisture as needed. There is a fine balance of temp & RH that is a bit more difficult to achieve when living near the ocean. Plan on taking a bit of fiddle time to get the temp/RH right for your particular circumstances.

One client in Florida commented to me that roughly half the year he had no water at all in the humidifiers & the other half year would add a small amount. Others rarely add water at all.

For the rest of us who generally use hvac systems most of the year the ambient RH is generally in the 40-50% range which makes it easier to balance temp & RH since the need is almost always to add moisture at any temperature. Even then, adding beads to moderate RH during the rainy seasons in a temperature controlled humidor is still a good idea.

cheers,
Bob Staebell