How To Use Humidor Humidity Beads
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Humidor beads are a great way to ensure that your humidor is at the right RH level (relative humidity level). They are typically used for two main reasons: If your humidor is dry, they help generate humidity, and if your humidity is moist, humidor beads help absorb humidity.
Storing your cigars in a dry humidor will damage the cigar by weakening it until it cracks and falls apart. Also, dry cigars have no real taste, considering that all the flavors have evaporated, and smoking cigars like this offers little or no satisfaction to the cigar smoker.
Also, a humidor can be moist for your cigars, causing them to burn haphazardly and eventually, turning your cigars moldy. Therefore, it is essential to have your humidor at the perfect RH, which is around 65-69%.
This article will address everything you need to know about humidor beads, what they do, and a step-by-step guide on their usage.
How To Use Humidor Beads
What Do Humidor Beads Do?
Typically, humidor beads are packed into a bag and are about the size of a lemon. It is advised that humidor owners discard the standard humidifying device that comes with the humidor because it ruins the quality of cigars after some time.
Also, gel jars are not the best for humidifying your humidor because the humidification process is only one way- it produces humidity. However, it does not absorb humidity.
Humidor beads work as regulators in your coolidor. When your humidor is dry, these beads help to release moisture to ensure that your cigars are revived back to normal. Likewise, if your humidor is too moist for your cigars, a humidor bead pouch will help eliminate most moisture and return functionality to your humidor. Boveda packs are also a great choice for keeping your dry humidor moist and ensuring that your moist humidor releases some of its dampness.
However, these packs tend to dry up quite faster, and using them for a long time will be quite expensive on the pocket. Humidor beads are the best when it comes to maintaining the RH of your humidor, considering that they last forever, and you only need to spray distilled water over them every few weeks. There are two types of beads you can use in your humidor, and they are:
Heartfelt Beads
Crystal Beads (Kitty Litter)
How To Set Up Humidor Beads
Here is a step-by-step guide to help you set up your pouches of humidor beads.
- Transfer 1/4 cup of either heartfelt beads or crystal beads into the toe part of a pantyhose.
- Carefully tighten the pantyhose and cut the excess fabric off.
- Pour some distilled water into a bottle and spray your bead pouch only a few times (3-4 squirts of water).
- Place the pouch in your humidor, and ensure it is not in contact with your cigars.
- Leave it to perform its job and enjoy your cigars as you wish.
- All you have to do to maintain your humidor bead pouch is to spray it every week or two with distilled water. It is important to understand the RH reading of your hygrometer- it is best to go with the digital hygrometer, as the analog ones are usually inaccurate.
The addition of water to your bead pouch depends on what you want to do to your humidor. You may need more bead pouches in your humidor if one does not do the job. However, as a rule of thumb, a 1/4 cup of bead pouch is enough for 50 cigars. However, some cigar aficionados tweak the recipe based on their weather condition and the stare of their humidors.
Bottom Line
Instead of leaving your premium cigars to get ruined in your humidor, you can easily restore them to their perfect state with humidor beads. Considering how easy it is to set up and use humidor beads, it is a surprise that some cigar lovers still thrash their cherished cigars out of ignorance.
Depending on what is going on in your humidor, you have the solution in a pouch of humidor beads. They are capable of restoring functionality to your humidor and also repairing your damaged cigars.
Humidor beads don’t require replacement or tedious maintenance. All you have to do is spray your pouch with a few squirts of distilled water every few weeks. Finally, one interesting thing about a humidor bead pouch is that after a while, it begins to smell just like your aromatic cigars.
I have been smoking cigars for 30 years and counting, I started at 18 years old with mild Cubans and worked my way up to medium and now bold. I own 4 humidors, that I try to keep stocked at all times.
