please correct me if im wrong, first i take a damp clean cotton cloth and give the inside a good wipe down..not soaking the wood..just enough to where it changes color..then i take a shit glass and fill it with distilled water and put it inside the humidor..at that point is where im stuck..do i close the lid and keep an eye on the temp and humidity or do i also have to add in the humidity beads and then keep a eye on the hygrometer? also..if i take a few vitamin bottles and cut them in half to hold the beads will this work or will it effect the outcome?
seems as if you have a good handle on seasoning. I do much the same with mine. I wipe down the inside with a damp cloth, place a shot glass full of steaming water in there, along with the rag (placed on a ziplock to keep from soaking the bottom) and I also fill all the humidifiers that I intend to use in the humi. I then place a calibrated hygrometer inside so that I can monitor what is going on. with a glass top, I place it so that I can read it easily, but not next to a humidifier, so that I get a better reading of the average humidity inside. For the beads, you would have to check with one of the others, as I dont use them. I use the heartfelt sheets instead, and add them after the process is done. they will absorb moisture if the environment is over the set point on them, so you may want to keep them out during seasoning. After about 72 hours, I typically remove the shot glass and the rag, and let the humi set for another 24-48 hrs, and then check the hydrometer. if it is holding a steady acceptable humidity level, I then fill the humi, and watch it for another 24 hrs or so. after that, its ready to go as far as i am concerned
Hi there! I wanted to respond to the questions about how to correctly season a humidor. I suggest you go to our XIKAR website (
www.xikar.com) and to the news letter archive dated December 2008 where Kurt Van Keppel discussed how to properly season a new (or existing) humidor. Bottom line, wetting the inside of the humidor, even with a slightly damp cloth, could lead to warping the humidor and causing issues in the future. Altough Kurt discusses using the XIKAR PG solution, this is not a XIKAR sales pitch as there are several products on the market that will achieve this goal (although we believe ours are best suited and this is discussed in the article). We have tried to dispell all of the myths about how to do this which is why this article is posted. We sell XIKAR humidors and are constantly asked this question. So, good luck with your new humidor. Hopefully these helpful hits work. If you want to sign up for the monthly news letter you can do that on the site! Happy smooking!