I received this humidor in November 2010 and thought it would only be fair to use it for a few months before reviewing it. Well it has been 4 months and I can honestly say that this is the absolute worst humidor I have ever owned. It will not and never has come close to getting to 70% RH. The best I can do is 63%RH. I am not a beginner with cigars or humidors. I have been smoking cigars for 20 years. I also own two other humidors (***and ***) which maintain their RH consistently at 69-71%. Below are some of the steps I have taken to try to get this humidor up to 70% RH.
Followed the instructions to the letter from Cuban Crafters upon receipt of this humidor.Seasoned the humidor for 2 weeks using three Boveda 84%RH Seasoning Packs. (never reached 84%)
Put 90 cigars in this humidor.I am using one “Paradigm System Humidifier”, one of the finest humidification systems for 125 cigar humidors. After failing to get RH into the low 60’s, I swapped out the Paradigm System with a Xikar Puck 100 from my other humidor (still wouldn’t go over 61%RH) After that I added a Xikar Puck 50 into the humidor with the Xikar Puck 100 which was already in it. So I have the equivalent of a Puck 150 in the humidor. (still wouldn’t go over 61%RH)(Note…. When swapping humidification systems each one kept my other humidor at 70% so it is not a problem with my humidification systems)So after no luck In getting the RH up to 70% using various humidification systems I assumed that the culprit must be the seams around the glass.I proceeded to very thoroughly tape all the edges of the glass with Duct tape making sure to get every nook and cranny. I was going to use silicone but did not want to take such permanent action at this time. I was certain that this had to be the problem but to my surprise the RH never went over 62%.So at this point I started to doubt my hygrometer even though it was calibrated. So I got the 2 hygrometers from my other 2 humidors and put them all in this new humidor. All 3 hygrometers read 62% after 24 hours. This rules out any hygrometers being inaccurate.So determining that this problem Is not due to faulty a humidification system, or a faulty hygrometers or leaks in the glass I only had one thing left to try.I picked up some weather stripping and put it around all of the edges of lid of the humidor. Now as an extreme measure… I took my humidor with duct tape around all of the edges of the glass and weather stripping around the edges. I put all of my hygrometers in the humidor (Paradigm System, Xikar Puck 100, and Xikar Puck 50) I then put it in our dark bedroom closet with a phone book and a cinderblock on top of it to make sure the lid was down tight.
After 48 hours I took it out of the closet and the RH was (drum roll please)………. 63%. I give up! I have no idea why this humidor will not even get close to 70%RH. I guess you really do get what you pay for.The only thing that you will be receiving when you purchase this humidor is a pretty box…. A pretty worthless box!