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by David P. Diaz, Ed.D.
Fed up with having to swap out the foam or sponge humidifiers in your humidor because they're no longer effective or have developed mold? The past 8 years have introduced newer hi-tech products that have become popular as humidification devices: I'm talking about silica gel, popularly called "Humidity Beads," and superabsorbent polymers. A humidifier is a device that is placed inside a humidor to emit moisture into the air and wood of the box. These can come in two types: active and passive. Our discussion today is centered on the so-called passive humidifier, which is usually a piece of sponge or foam that is placed into a cassette made of plastic or metal and placed into the humidor. Below: "The Puck-ifier" Silica Gel Humidifier There are several weaknesses in using foam or sponges as humidifying elements. Since they are so porous, they pick up the byproducts of fermentation in your box, like ammonia, which clogs the humidifier and reduces its functionality and shelf life. This type of humidifier will also pick up impurities in water, which will negatively affect its capacity. Finally, these porous materials serve as a natural breeding ground for mold and fungus and need to be carefully treated for prevention of the fuzz. Sponges and foam must be replaced on a regular basis, approximately every year or so. Recently, a few synthetic products have been modified for use as passive humidifiers. Silica gel and superabsorbent polymers are two products that have tremendous potential to help us better preserve our stogies. Silica Gel Silica gel is not new. It's been around for many years. It was patented in 1919 for use in the adsorption of vapors in gas mask canisters in World War I. It was first recommended for use in museums as a buffering agent to control relative humidity (RH) as far back as 1959. The current form of silica gel that is used for cigar humidor applications is a moisture-sensitive material that absorbs and desorbs moisture in order to offset changes in RH. The goal is to create a microclimate in the humidor that is suitable for the proper aging and storing of cigars. Silica gel has been used successfully in art galleries to regulate the humidity levels inside display cases with precious art. Since the gel can regulate humidity by adsorbing and desorbing water, it can be adapted for use as a humidification agent in helping you keep your cigars fresh. The beads come pre-treated from the retailer and you simply need to add distilled water as prescribed. These "silica" beads will last for 10 years or more and, at less than one dollar per year, represent a real bargain. You can buy pre-humidified beads preset to 65% or 70% RH. I have reviewed the silica gel "Humidity beads" that are sold by Heartfelt Industries. You can find this review in the Stogie Fresh Cigar Journal. Superabsorbent Polymers Superabsorbent Polymers, as the name suggests, absorbs water. Lots of it. The polymer beads will soak up 400-500 times their weight in fluid and will also release that fluid, helping to regulate humidity. Below: Superabsorbent polymers, dry and wet Polymers have had many industrial used over the years. They have been used in agriculture to prevent erosion and conserve water. They have even been used in diapers! I have retrofitted my foam type humidifiers, both active and passive, by removing the foam and replacing with polymers. The polymers are clean and efficient and work well as a humidifier. Like silica gel, the polymers have a very long shelf life and are very inexpensive, a one-pound bag will last you a lifetime. Comparison There is no perfect humidifier. Both silica gel and superabsorbent polymers have their respective strengths and weaknesses. Below, I give my list of the relative values of each media type. Click on button to Expand Chart: Silica Gel is very easy to use, though you must use the correct amount for the size of your humidor. Heartfelt industries has a helpful Calculator and Chart. There is no chart that I am aware of for how much of the superabsorbent polymers to use. Since the polymers expand greatly, you should be able to reduce the amount vs silica gel by 1/3 to 1/2. Both Silica Gel and Superabsorbent Polymers should last you for many years. Silica Gel is mold resistant when you use distilled water only. You should not use propylene glycol (PG) or other humidity mixtures with Silica Gel. This will impair the adsorption/desorption qualities of the beads. On the other hand, Polymers may develop mold if you use only water as the moisturizing agent. I recommend mixing in a small amount of a PG humidifier mixture to prevent mold growth. If mold does develop, just toss the Polymers and mix up a new batch. You will find my recipe for mixing Polymers at the end of this article. Although both Silica Gel and Polymers have the ability to adsorb and desorb moisture, in my experience, Silica Gel works best when ambient temperature and humidity are within temperate ranges. Warm, dry summertime conditions and/or the use of home air conditioning systems wick moisture out of the beads and they dry quickly. Superabsorbent Polymers, on the other hand, work best when more moisture is needed in warm, dry conditions. When humidity levels are high, Silica Gel is better at reclaiming excess moisture, while Polymers tend not to adsorb as efficiently when humidity levels are high. David Diaz is the president of Stogie Fresh and the editor of the Stogie Fresh Cigar Journal. He has served as an educator, researcher and writer and has taught in the Health Education and Health Science field for nearly 30 years. He possesses an earned doctorate from Nova Southeastern University.

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Welcome one and all to our blogging of the 75th Annual RTDA Show.  For those of you who are not familiar, the RTDA is our industries biggest trade show where all of the manufacturer, cigar companies, and retailers/e-tailers meet under one roof.  This is usually the time of year when most companies will release their latest and greatest products.  From the buzz I have already heard, this year should prove to be one of the most interesting that we have seen so far.  We'll keep you posted via the blog with whats going on. So, we got in last night.  A nice quick flight from Phoenix.  Our hotel is right across the Street from the convention center, which should prove convenient after our evenings of debauchery.  You see, a lot of manufacturers have dinners and or parties, so they keep us pretty busy in the evenings. Last night we had a very interesting time.  We invited Pepin Garica and the El Rey de Los Habanos crew to dinner at Morton's the Steakhouse.  It was quite an interesting table.  Out of the eleven of us at the table,  four of spoke English, two were able to translate, and a few us spoke broken English or Spanish.  The rest spoke no English at all; only Spanish.  As I'm sure you can imagine it was quite an entertaining evening.  It was particularly interesting ordering dinner.  A lot of commotion, translating and all but we finally got it done. Thank goodness that Mike Villaplana wa there to translate the entree presentation.  If he hadn't been able to translate, I'm not sure what time in the evening we would have gotten dinner! It was a tremendous evening and Pepin promised us he had some very exciting things to show us at the show.  We stopped by his booth first thing in morning and we were not disappointed.  The first item he introduced us to was the Don Pepin Garcia Series JJ Maduro made in his Miami factory.  It is the same core medium to full bodied blend as the Natural JJ, but this time with a chocolate brown, dark and oily Corojo Maduro wrapper.  It was dynamite smoke.  This should prove to be another outstanding edition to the Don Pepin line.  The second smoke he showed us was the El Centurion. This smoke is hand made in his Nicaraguan factory, Tabacalera Cubana using Criollo '98 binder and Corojo '99 wrapper.  It is medium to full and bursting with flavor.  It is absolutely his best Nicaraguan effort to date.  We have high hope for this item as well. We love searching out the boutique manufacturers.  That's how we found Pepin in the first place.  We came across a very interesting cigar called Canimao. What really caught our eye was they had silky smooth, beautiful wrapper leaves.  The owner of the company, Mel Gonzales, is  very passionate man.  After speaking with him for a few minutes, we could tell that he has a deep love and understanding for tobacco.  He truly has a special product.  His cigars are beautifully constructed and his pride shows in his products.  They are all naked (no cellophane) to ensure the cigars to continue to age in the boxes.  They are a solid medium bodied smoke with excellent construction, an even burn, and a nice solid ash. Next we stopped by the booth of our old friend Phillip Wynn of Felipe Gregorio.  This man is fantastic at breaking the mold and creating truly unusual products.  We saw a new line extension of Pelo de Oro line calle the arrow.  It's exactly as it sounds.  The cigar starts off at a nice 46 or so ring gage.  it maintains this shape till about half way up and then it begins to taper to a point and topped off with a nice flag.  We also saw his latest addition to the Power line, this being called the Art of Power.  This product is really unique as it utilizes two wrapper leafs and the cigars are all unique shapes.  They are both excellent smokes. Later we stopped by the General Cigar Co. booth to see what they had in store for us this year.  They had a few new releases that should prove to be fairly interesting.  The first one is called Stradivarius. This is a super premium smoke with a super premium price.  Pricing for this beauty will be between $30 and $34.  It is expensive, but these cigars feature a 15 year old Connecticut shade wrapper and each cigar comes in its own cedar coffin.  Now we come back down to earth a bit with the new Hoyo de Tradicion. I'm very excited by this new offering.  General is using the traditional Cuban art work on this little dynamo.  Retail pricing should be about $5 a stick, slightly more palatable to the regular smoker.  It uses a Honduran Rosado wrapper leaf that is simply magnificent.  It is a medium bodied smoke with a tremendous amount of flavor.  Their other new release is the Don Tomas Sungrown. This one again is back down to earth (thankfully) priced at about $4-$5 a piece.  It is a Honduran puro that is a solid medium-to-full body with rich and satisfying flavors. Our last stop of the day was by the CAO booth.  These guys have to be the most creative marketers in the business.  This year they are creating some interesting line extensions as well as a new release the CAO American. The American is their last entry in the country series.  This distinct product should be priced along the same lines as their Brazilia and Italia cigars.  What makes this unique is the two wrappers they use on this cigar.  It uses a Connecticut grown Broadleaf maduro wrapper with a thin line of Connecticut grown Shade wrapper.  Another home run in my opinion from the CAO guys and gals.  They also have a special CAO Sopranos gift box and new Limited edition.  Additionally, they are releasing the CAO Maduro 10th anniversary.  Finally, they are releasing new aluminum tubes in the Gold, Brazilia and Italia lines.