Humistat How-To

[muleskinner]

I was recently given a German tobacco humidor with a humistat in the lid. I haven't been able to find any instructions on how to use it. The brand looks to be Deco or Decc. It looks like a little clear plastic pill bottle with a cap on one end that can be turned to open or close the vent. Any help is much appreciated!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Is the brand Decatur, possibly? Maybe part of the word got scraped off. They make most of the accessories out there for smoking.
My dad used to keep his pouches of pipe tobacco in a humidor. It was a wooden jar with a humistat in the lid also. But it caused his tobaccos to mold. I remember vividly him tossing the thing into the garbage after loosing a whole gross of pouches and shortly thereafter he switched back to cigarettes. From all of the stories I've heard, those pipe tobacco humidors aren't worth flip. They may actually work better for cigars, and marketing the idea to pipe smokers was an after thought.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Short term or as decorative item, yes, but worthless for longer storage of pipe tobacco.

 

[hawke]

I made a humidor and found it to be useless as stated concerning Pipe Tobacco, however ...
There are two ways I know of that you can calibrate it...

Calibrate a Humidor
Calibrate a Hygrometer with Salt

 

[okiescout]

There is such a thing as to much water and pipe baccy. I have got away with putting a great deal of whiskey in it though.

 

[gloucesterman]

I use humidors (Rumidor) for all the tobacco I have open but never use the internal mechanism. Instead I use a small plastic canister with a head that allows the moisture to escape (as vapor) (Purchased from Leavitt & Peirce Harvard Sq. Cambridge, Ma.). The key is to use ONLY distilled water. Regular tap water will often result in mold. Keep in mind this solution is for tobacco that will be smoked up in a month maybe two at most.

 

[muleskinner]

Thanks all, I have been buying Dunhill Nightcap in bulk and splitting it into mason jars. I have a small amount in one jar that is about 4 months old now, I can'afford to buy enough to both age and smoke regularly. I put my "working" jar of nightcap into this humidor and it seems to be drying out really fast. Probably best just to go back to using the mason jars and shelf this humidor. It looks really nice, but if I can't use it reliably to store my short-term use tobacco then I think I'd feel better with the mason jars. They haven't let me down yet!

 

[muleskinner]

Thanks for all the advice, I'm still pretty new to the pipe world. I hope to learn from and contribute to this forum a greaat deal in the future!