Calibrating your humidor is really about calibrating your hygrometer, which is the device that measures the humidity in your humidor. A hygrometer can be analog or digital (electric). A precise and regulated hygrometer is essential even with the most excellent humidifier. Cigars are innate goods that are acutely vulnerable to humidity and temperature. As a result, they must be stored in a regulated atmosphere to avoid becoming dry or musty due to excessive dampness. If you don’t have a machine that could check these amounts, you’ll be simply guessing and won’t be able to manage your cigars adequately. Cigars require carefully regulated temperature and relative humidity levels to keep them healthy for long-term preservation, and you probably wouldn’t be able to do so without a humidor. If not correctly stored, a cigar’s quality will deteriorate in less than two weeks.
On the other hand, Cigars may improve over time if stored properly, known as aging a cigar. When you’ve already reserved your cigars safely in a nice humidor, the only thing you need to do is monitor the moisture levels within and keep the humidor at room temperature, which should be simple enough. Using such a hygrometer is a pretty straightforward task in and of itself. Nevertheless, its data may imply that you will have chores to complete to keep the ecosystem of cigars stable. A humidor is a storage container meant to assist preserves a relative humidity level, which is essential for cigars since the tobacco leaves inside them spontaneously expand and contract according to the relative humidity of the air surrounding them.
How to Calibrate a Hygrometer
- Find a clean bottle cap from any bottled water, but clean it first.
- Place a teaspoon of salt in the bottle cap and wet with several drops of water or filtered water. Don’t go overboard. You don’t want the salt to dissolve. Only a tiny amount of water should add to dampen the salt.
- Make sure the cap is not spilling into the plastic container. Place the hygrometer within the lid, ensuring it does not come into contact with the solution. Close the container tightly.
- Lock the bottle firmly, but don’t attempt to remove any trapped air within. Wait several hours for the atmosphere to settle; this might take up to 6 hours. Do not attempt to open the container. Take note of the humidity percentage level displayed on the gauge. It should be precisely 75%. If it isn’t, take note of the variation as the amount your hygrometer is out of calibration. For example, if it reads 65 percent, the gauge is 10% low. If it reads 80%, the indicator is 5% too high.
- Take long 6 hours before attempting to open the closed plastic container. Then, check to see if the reading is at 75%. If the dial is not exactly at 75 percent, recalibrate it by rotating the screw on the rear clockwise or counterclockwise until it reads 75 percent. Remove the unit from the container/bag with care. Assuming your hygrometer has a calibrating screw on the back (most better ones do), take a tiny flathead screwdriver and gently spin it while monitoring the whole front dial. If your gauge was set too low by 10%, turn the screwdriver so that the dial was charged 10% higher than it was previously.
Analog hygrometers, for example, are constructed of hair fibers and springs. As a result, they will quickly get out of sync, necessitating a new calibration procedure. There is another reason we dislike them because it makes them even less dependable. You’ll be able to trust the readings in your humidor once you’ve calibrated your hygrometer. As a result, if you see any unusual effects, you’ll know it’s a problem with your storage rather than the hygrometer. In general, calibrating a hygrometer is a straightforward idea. Expose the hygrometer for 24 hours to a defined and verified relative humidity level. Following that, the hygrometer’s reading maybe alters the same way a watch is. Your hygrometer should indeed be appropriately adjusted, allowing you to keep your cigars in a better general environment. If the gauge does not appear to be moving, blow warm, wet air into its rear.
Do Your Need to Calibrate a Hygrometer
The hygrometers must calibrate correctly to deliver reliable results. As you would understand, this may be devastating because you may be utterly ignorant if your humidor’s levels are alarmingly low or high. Something may lead to dry cigars, mold growth, or even tobacco bugs. If you’re a conscientious collector who uses many hygrometers, you may have observed inconsistencies. As a consequence, you may attempt to calculate the natural humidity level. Thankfully, calibrating a hygrometer is typically straightforward and requires over 24 hours. And besides, calibrating a hygrometer is so simple that it isn’t worth taking the risk. Without calibrating your hygrometer properly your large humidor full of 200 cigars may not be keeping your cigars as safe as you think, and you could be flushing money down the toilet.
