Hey geeks - looking for a little bit of help here please.  I'm going to be setting up a new humidor next month, it's a 300ct humidor.  I decided to go with beads for it due to the long lifespan of the beads (never have to buy new ones, just spray with DW). 

My question is twofold:

1) is it possible to maintain a lower RH than what is rated for the Heartfelt Beads?  I have 65% beads, ideally I'd like to maintain b/w 62%-65% in my humidor.....can I achieve this by keeping say 1/4 or 1/2 the beads "activated" with DW? Or are they just designed to fight to get back to that 65% no matter what?

2) realistically, having a wooden humidor which is porous and not 100% airtight, will this cause the 65% beads (or Boveda, etc) to typically run a little less than 65%? (Assuming of course that the outside environment is less than 65%).  I know with my airtight Tupperware, 65% is 65%...

Many thanks!

Tom 

If you haven't purchased them, I fully support HCM Beads over Heartfelt.

Quoteshakinghorizons - 5/8/2018  4:18 PM  If you haven't purchased them, I fully support HCM Beads over Heartfelt.

Guess I should've asked this question before I bought them!! .....anybody wanna buy a 1/2lb of Heartfelt Beads???? lol

Different strokes, I have been using Heartfelt beads (65 % RH) for years and recommend them.  Used them in my now gone 500 ct humidor for at least 7 years with the HF pucks and they worked great. I  would spray 2 with distilled water and leave 2 dry.  Doing this will get you close to the 62% you are looking for.  Literally the only maintenance is giving them a spray when you see the RH drop.

I just bought a pound last month for my tower and put them in it only partially wetting them (I am using a Cigar Oasis Magna in that as well)  Along with my recent fan build, my tower stays @ 65% RH top and bottom.  Don't get any better than that IMO.

You already bought them, use them.  You will not be disappointed

Thanks Don.  Yeah, I'm going to use them.  I bought them because they seem to be very popular and talked about quite often.  I'll try to play around with the DW spray and see if I can dial it into that low-to-mid 60's range

QuoteDonM - 5/8/2018  4:40 PM

Different strokes, I have been using Heartfelt beads (65 % RH) for years and recommend them.  Used them in my now gone 500 ct humidor for at least 7 years with the HF pucks and they worked great. I  would spray 2 with distilled water and leave 2 dry.  Doing this will get you close to the 62% you are looking for.  Literally the only maintenance is giving them a spray when you see the RH drop.

I just bought a pound last month for my tower and put them in it only partially wetting them (I am using a Cigar Oasis Magna in that as well)  Along with my recent fan build, my tower stays @ 65% RH top and bottom.  Don't get any better than that IMO.

You already bought them, use them.  You will not be disappointed

Don is just saying this so that you don't mail them to somebody and he has to lift another 1/2 lb. package!
 

QuoteBrlesq - 5/8/2018  6:57 PM  

QuoteDonM - 5/8/2018  4:40 PM  Different strokes, I have been using Heartfelt beads (65 % RH) for years and recommend them.  Used them in my now gone 500 ct humidor for at least 7 years with the HF pucks and they worked great. I  would spray 2 with distilled water and leave 2 dry.  Doing this will get you close to the 62% you are looking for.  Literally the only maintenance is giving them a spray when you see the RH drop.  I just bought a pound last month for my tower and put them in it only partially wetting them (I am using a Cigar Oasis Magna in that as well)  Along with my recent fan build, my tower stays @ 65% RH top and bottom.  Don't get any better than that IMO.  You already bought them, use them.  You will not be disappointed  

Don is just saying this so that you don't mail them to somebody and he has to lift another 1/2 lb. package!    

No sweat, I'll just break it up into a dozen smaller packages    

Jack @$$e's  

I use the 65% HF beads in my coolidor and almost every time I check, its at 62% like you are looking for.  It's probably just the way I have them arranged and how often (rarely) I add DW.  So I'm sure it can be done.  Will just take a little trial and error to find the sweet spot for you.  Good luck.