Tuesday, April 19 2011
Q: I must have slept through science class or otherwise damaged my noodle but I was always under the impression that humid air was heavier and would "fall" to bottom of my
humidor. So, I thought my beloved
cigars were well tended as long as the
hygrometer (mounted under the lid) read ~70%. After I read a recent article on
the traits of humid air on Robustojoe.com. I had to do some additional research, as I was so convinced it was wrong.
You can only imagine my shock and horror when I saw an almost 2-3% difference in humidity from the top to the bottom of my 300 count humidor. Panicked, I ran out and bought a
bunch of
Boveda packs, shuffled cigars around and layered in the packs. I am now wondering how badly I screwed up some of my delicate tasty treats. I went out and read some websites on setting up humidors, looked at pictures of humidors and nowhere did I find any mention of the fact there can be significant differences in humidity inside an average sized humidor. I look at pictures of humidors and see the humidifiers mounted on the lids and no warning of potential peril...THE HORROR!!! (although this catastrophe never affected my 100 count humi).
- Rich in Houston, TX
A: Here's the deal: Warm air rises, right? Moreover, this is also one of the reasons why it's important to rotate your cigars from time to time. Placing the humidifier anywhere cigars may touch or be too close to the unit may be detrimental to those specific cigars, which is why under the lid is the most logical place. As long as there is good air circulation, the cigars should be fine, regardless whether the humidifier is above or below. I've read reports of cigar smokers adding fans to the their humi's to circulate the air. Speaking of which, you might be better off getting a Cigar Oasis XL which will accommodate most medium and large humi's, plus it has a built-in fan to circulate the air.
Secondly, a 2-3% difference is not all that big a deal. RH fluctuates regardless of how reliable your gear is.
Except for a glass top unit in which I have a humidifier on the bottom and a small jar of gel crystals, all of my humidors have the humidifiers under the lids, and they've been keeping my cigars fresh for years.
Thanks again for pointing this out, and I hope others read the Robustojoe article, too.
