Good evening. Tonight I pulled out the hygrometer from my humidor (which I store in a wine cooler), and placed the hygrometer directly in the wine cooler, outside of the humi. After several hours when I checked the hygro, it was 64/64. The humidity seemed to fluctuate between 63-68 though. Im hoping to be able to use the wine cooler itself as a humidor. I have the temp problem solved, but is there a way to stabilize the humidity in the cooler so that it doesnt fluctuate as much?

Ive never used "beads", dont even know what they look like. Does anyone use their coolers as humidors successfully?

Forget the last question I used the search function. I do have this question though. If I wanted to age cigars for 1 year, 2, etc, would a 5% fluctuation in humidity have any effect? Is it ok if the temp is good but the humidity fluctuates between 63-68 during the day? I believe that most of the day the humidity is pretty stable, the change occurs when the fans power up inside. Any info would help me. Thanks.

I hope someone answeres your question because I want to know also. My humidity usually stays at 65 but it fluctuates here and there.

My this my temp fluctuates alot during the day from 63F-69F, is this a problem for the temp to fluctuate that much?

So both your humidity and temp fluctuate? My problem is only the humidity fluctuates between 63-68, my temp is a constant 64-65. Thats what I have the wine cooler temp set at.

If the slight fluctuation in humidity doesnt affect the cigars, can I just place a new box of cigars irectly in the wine cooler since it maintains a 64-65/63-68?. It pretty much has the environment of a humidor.

a small fluctuation of RH will not be noticable by most palates...

also be careful with the wine cooler.. if it's compressor based, you will have a big drop of RH every time the compressor kicks in... you should be using a thermo-electric cooler...

although many people use compressor based wine coolers as humis, it's a risky business..

now if your smokes are stores in cedar boxes, the box will act as a barrier, and protect the smokes when those spikes happen...

I have a Vinotemp 28 bottle thermo electric wine cooler that I converted. My rig works great.

The temp is very stable at 64 and RH is steady 62-64%. I keep all my full boxes in there and all the smokes in my singles trays are cello wrapped. I have a desk top that I keep loose unwrapped singles in.

The key to keeping your RH stable in a TE wine cooler is circulation. I have 1.5 lbs of heartfelt beads in the bottom of the cooler with the condensation routed from the channel in the back of the cooler to the beads, so I rarely add water. For circulation I made my singles trays and shelf so there is 1.5" of clearence in front and behind them, and have two computer fans mounted in the back about 3" from the floor pointing up. The space allows air circulation to go up the back and down the front and cycles via a digital timer.

The complete start to finish build is posted here http://www.cigarpass.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=34187

works like a champ

quote:

Originally posted by salibas007:
a small fluctuation of RH will not be noticable by most palates...

also be careful with the wine cooler.. if it's compressor based, you will have a big drop of RH every time the compressor kicks in... you should be using a thermo-electric cooler...

although many people use compressor based wine coolers as humis, it's a risky business..

now if your smokes are stores in cedar boxes, the box will act as a barrier, and protect the smokes when those spikes happen...

Thank you Salibas. Would it be ok if I store single cigars in empty cigar boxes then?

Thank you akmik, but I simply dont have the time/resources/patience to do a conversion. Good job on yours though.