Reddit reviews Boveda for Cigars/Tobacco | 72% RH 2-Way Humidity Control | Size 8 for Use with Up to 5 Cigars | Patented Technology for Cigar Humidors | 10-Count Resealable Bag

This is what I use. It's the best. Don't buy the D'addario refills, get these instead (much cheaper): https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00JV27MJU/ref=pd_aw_fbt_267_img_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=H1YHS69NHAJRXK75S0S0

This has been a long and arduous road for me, learning about humidification and the intricacies of region, and the value of patience.

I have used every single humidification source mentioned (except an active humidifier) and after 3 years of constant maintenance, I have found out that the simplier you go, the better.

My first humidor was the crappy glass-top starter one everyone seems to get. I spent a month trying to get that thing to hold any humidity at all. It didn't help that my first order of cigars was a dehumidified variety pack from Thompson Cigars (shudder). Basically, I thought that I wasn't seasoning my humidor correctly when I dropped from 82% to 62% when I suddenly stuck 20-odd cigars in, and looking back at it I realize that it should've been expected for the humidity to plummet so much when you stick that many dry cigars in at once.

What I've learned since then is that I live in a super-dry area in my home, where the air conditioner is on 24/7 during the summer and the heat is on 24/7 during the winter, so the ambient humidity in the air is never above 45%, and dips to 25-30% during the winter months especially. Combine that with wooden humidors and you get a situation where I literally have to refill my humidification weekly at the worst times, and monthly at best.

Anyways, the point of this story is that I started panic-buying humidification options at the beginning, and here are the results, from good to bad. As a note, I have wireless hygrometers from Xikar that allow me to monitor humidity without opening my humidors, as well as a Certified NIST calibrated hygrometer because I didn't trust that I was doing the salt calibration method correctly.



Good
Boveda packs - The good ol' Boveda packs are the staple of simplicity. Not only can you refill them by sticking dried ones in a zip-lock bag with some distilled water, you can actually run without a hygrometer while using these. I don't think there's a single person here who would recommend against these, and for good reason. I use 72% ones to maintain 67-69% in my dry environment.

Cigar Caddy Humidification Jar - These are great in that all you have to do is add distilled water, and when they get a little discolored, they're cheap enough that you just buy a new one. Again, simplicity is king. I use these to support the humidity sink that is the dry North-Eastern United States, otherwise I would be rotating 72% Bovedas weekly.

Drymistat tubes - These were OK but it didn't seem like they did a good job at giving humidity fast enough after I opened my humidor lid. I would always see a huge dip in humidity that didn't re-stabilize for 1-2 days. I wouldn't recommend these unless you have an odd-shaped humidor that's only good at containing cigar-shaped objects.

Bad
Heartfelt beads - This might be a controversial opinion here, but I linked the exact one I purchased to be fair to those people who swear by heartfelt beads. I feel like these are annoying to deal with. Not only do you have to take them out to recharge them, they fracture if you add water too quickly to them. Though it doesn't affect their ability to hold moisture, it is annoying as hell to have a ton of heartfelt bead crumbs everywhere in your humidor. If you opt to refill them via the spray bottle method, you now have to keep a spray bottle next to your humidor and refill that too. OK, you want me to start gardening too while I'm at it? As a side note, these also don't hold moisture well enough for the dry area I'm in.

HCM Cigar Beads - I tried these in my panic to restore humidity during my early days, and these... just don't work. Not only do you have to have a sponge to hydrate/"calibrate" these beads, but they don't seem to have any indication as to how well they're doing. I had nothing but trouble with these, and I can't recommend these. They might be OK in a well-controlled environment, maybe controlling humidity swings in small amounts, but I can't see them working well in anything with a door or lid.

Sponge pucks (usually included with your humidor) - Do not use. Throw away.



Finally, I'd like to add a big caveat to my reviews - YMMV (your mileage may vary). The type of humidor you use (plastic vs wood) has a huge effect on the ability of your humidity control device to work, as well as area you are in. Even the ambient temperature can drastically change the ability of your humidity-control device to work. This is why the Boveda packs are so highly regarded here, they simply work. They will work if you're using tupperware, they will work at 60 degrees F or 80 degrees F. They work if your environmental % humidity is higher than what you want, and if it's lower. They will simply work. Some of the "bad" options can be perfectly fine if you're in an area where the outdoor % humidity is pretty close to where you want your cigars, or if it's more humid outside than you want your cigars to be. I'm just leaving my $0.02 here in respect to what I've seen in my particular area of the United States (SW PA).

Edit: formatting

Read this article on curing and storing your buds. (Two important things that it doesn't talk about very much is that (1)They need to be kept in 100% darkness because light degrades THC. (2)The temperature can't fluctuate very much, or your risk of growing mold increases drastically because the humidity in the air in the jar will condensate on the buds, promoting mold growth.) Essentially, you want to keep them in the glass jars at around 60% humidity using these humidity control packets. Some people use humidors, but many people will say the flavor is much better when kept in glass jars vs a humidor. To be honest, you probably don't need a mini-fridge, just keep them in a cool dark place where the temperature doesn't fluctuate too much. The glass jars I linked to are air tight. The ones with the two-part lid (like I linked to) seal better than the one piece lids. Mold should only be a problem if the humidity in the jars stays too high for too long, or your temperature fluctuates rapidly.