Tag Archives: Hygrometer

by | October 18, 2020 · 11:40 am

An Island Jim San Andrés No. 2 and a Contest!

I know, you’re saying to yourself: “didn’t Craig just have a great contest a few weeks ago? Is he going back to his old ways?” Well, it just works out that a cool item came across my doorstep that I wanted to share with you guys, and why wait, but more on that in a bit. First, I made another visit to one of my local CigarCigars shops, this time the one in Berwyn, PA. Kameron is the manager there, and curates the Instagram account for the shop. I have been seeing his proclivity for pics of vanity license plates, so I figured there was one glaring omission from his collection and it was my responsibility to fill that void! Give him a follow (CigarsBerwyn), and make sure you follow CigarCraig1 (CigarCraig has gone dormant as I can no longer log in!). While there I picked up a few new-to-me cigars, as I do, and smoked the Island Jim San Andrés No.2 last night. I smoked the regular issue No. 2 several years ago on a birthday visit to Cigar Mojo. Holy crap, I just checked and it was 2014, can you believe the Island Jim No. 2 has been around for over 6 years? Damn! That’s just stupid. I guess it’s no more stupid than me eating an Island Jim BBQ Pineapple Pork stick well over two years past its sell-by date (I did this recently, BTW, it was good!). The San Andrés No. 2 has the same 6″ x 52 Torpedo shape as the Original, which has a Jalapa wrapper, and I assume this also has Honduran binder and fillers with, obviously, a San Andrés wrapper. It also has the stripped head and shaggy foot.  I really enjoyed this cigar! It reminded me of the old Leccia Luchadors with the spicy cocoa flavors, and I don’t think that has anything to do with both Jim and Sam being from Pittsburgh. This was a really good smoke and I recommend it!

 

Contest! 

 

Hopefully you didn’t just skip through the Island Jim part, because I really spent some time on it.  Anyway, let me tell you about this contest! One of my favorite things to do is to share things that I really enjoy, hoping that others will enjoy them too. My friends at Cigar Oasis are the exclusive distributor of a product that I’ve been using long before they became involved, so when they sent me one, I decided this would be a great time to share one with one of my readers! About 6 years ago I discovered the AshStay ashtray, and I’ve been using mine daily on my porch ever since. This thing is great. It keeps the smell and mess contained, and doesn’t look unsightly. When my grandkids come over I don’t even have to clean up and put it away! It’s super cool! Mine is white, and if I clean it (big if!), it looks brand new. The one they sent is Gunmetal, normally I’m a big fan of Gunmetal, but I have a perfectly good white one, and have plenty of ashtrays, so I’m willing to part with this one! Also, from Cigar Oasis, is a Caliber IV Digital Hygrometer. I have been using one of these for years as well and it’s a great hygrometer! Of course, it wouldn’t be a CigarCraig contest without some cigars. I put together a seven cigar sampler of one of my favorite unknown cigar brands, Danli Honduras Tobacco (DAHOT) from my humidor. These are cigars that I really love, and love to share. There’s Don Juan Calavera in Connecticut, Maduro and Sumatra, Flor Maya in Connecticut and Habano, The Clown Corojo and Marchetti box pressed Maduro. These are some of my go-to cigars, I love them all. The Don Juan Calavera Connecticut is one of my favorite Connecticut cigars, and the Sumatra was my favorite cigar of 2018. The usual rules apply. Leave a comment on this blog post, and this blog post only, to enter. You need to be of legal age in your jurisdiction to win cigars. I’ll select a winner next Sunday, October 25, 2020. It would be great if the winner read the blog post and emailed me their shipping info instead of me having to track them down 😉  ! Good luck! 

 

That’s all for now, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | July 5, 2019 · 12:05 am

Accessory Review: Govee Bluetooth Mini Thermometer & Hygrometer

 

Last year I reviewed a couple of wireless hygrometers from Govee that I really like, they are still going strong today and are in daily use in my humidors. You can see the posts here for the Bluetooth model and here for the WiFi model. I’ve been so pleased with the Govee products that when I needed a new door bell for my house I bought a Govee wireless doorbell and it’s working quite well. Recently they have come out with a new item which I think address some of the things I thought were overkill with the full size model, a Govee Mini Thermometer and Hygrometer. This version eliminates the LCD screen and is just the sensor in a small case. It seamlessly adds in to the smartphone app and has all of the same features as the larger Bluetooth and WiFi versions, temperature and humidity readings with adjustable high and low alarms, data tracking, everything but the display. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the technical details right from the manufacturer:

  • App Control via Bluetooth: Monitor temp/humidity data on Govee Home App (free downloading from App Store/Google Play) via Bluetooth. Up to 328ft connecting distance (no obstacles) enables you to monitor temp and humidity remotely.
  • Higher Accurate Monitor: Built-in Swiss-made SHT30 sensor, it offers higher precision monitoring than other brands. Temp is accurate to ±0.36℉ and humidity is ±2%RH. (Calibration is supported)
  • Data Storage & Export: 20 days on-board and unlimited in-App storage. The temperature sensor uploads data to App when it connects to APP via Bluetooth. Alert will be sent to App when data is beyond preset range. Besides, export data in CSV format for free.
  • Mini Size: Smaller size than other brands. Space-saving and portable. A hanging hole is designed for various placement as you want. The battery lifespan is about 365 days.
  • What’s in Box: 1 x Govee Thermometer and Hygrometer, 1 x Hanging String, 1 x User Manual. Offer 30-day money-back guarantee for any reason and 365-day warranty for quality-related issues.
I bought this from Amazon a couple of weeks ago and received it promptly. All of Govee‘s products are sold through Amazon, and through July 16th (2019) this and the WiFi unit are featured on their Prime Day sale at 60% 0ff (follow the links sprinkles liberally throughout this post) I highly recommend these products especially at these deep discount prices! Anyway, as soon as I received the sensor I pulled the tab covering the battery and it connected to the app and I named it and it started reading temperature and humidity right away. It spent its first few days next to its WiFi sibling, so it’s at least as accurate as that one is, and, judging by the way the cigars smoke, it’s just fine. I like the fact that it doesn’t take up much space, and in a desktop humidor it doesn’t really need a display. I need a hygrometer to give me the data when the humidor is closed, which this one does nicely, a regular digital hygrometer is already moving in the wrong direction as soon as the lid is opened, so you never really know. I think this is a really cool solution, and at the Amazon Prime Days price, it’s a steal! Heck, I ordered another one.
Thanks to Leo at Govee for giving me the opportunity to use Govee products in my humidors and make me into a customer! That’s all for today, until the next time, 
CigarCraig
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by | November 19, 2018 · 7:25 am

Accessory Review: Govee WiFi Smart Hygrometer/Thermometer

In August I reviewed the Govee Bluetooth Smart Hygrometer/Thermometer, which is a handy item, but I really wanted more from it. Recently the WiFi version has become available, so I jumped on it and picked one up to test out side by side with the Bluetooth version. With the bluetooth version, I found that I had to be in the same room as the unit, which is fine if I wanted to know the conditions inside a given humidor without opening it up and looking in, or get alerts if things are going out of whack. This is all well and good, and the historical information that the unit logs is nice to have also. I did wish for a  longer range solution, then along comes the WiFi version. The only difference is a small WiFi symbol in the lcd screen, as noted in the picture. The free app is the cool part, and I can only speak to the iOS version, but I was able to add both units, and I have no reason to believe that there’s no reasonable limit to the number of units you could add, assuming you name them differently in the set up.

I did fumble a bit with the setup directions, they weren’t quite as concise as they could have been. I had to read through the Q&A to find the directions to connect to my home WiFi, but once I did find it, it couldn’t have been easier. I would suggest that the company might put documentation on their website as a resource as well as I actually looked there before reading further into the printed manual.  If the documentation is the only downside I’m not going to complain, I’ve had other WiFi devices that I’ve given up on using because they were too much of a pain in the ass (PITA) to set up, which is a shame, because that particular item would have been far more useful than just monitoring. I digress.

Some technical details:

  •  Easy Check: big LCD screen, WiFi supported, check on App anywhere and specific time. 
  •   High Accuracy: advanced Swiss SHT30 sensor. Accuracy of ±0.5°F on temp and ±1% on hum (Temperature Range: 14°F – 140°F/-10°C – 60°C, Humidity Range: 0 – 99%)
  •   7X24h Monitoring: Sensor automatically monitoring temp & hum., records real-time data on device and cloud
  •   Alert Settings: allow settings your desired values and automatically send alerts to your phone at once if exceeds.
  •   Data Tracking: 32,000 records in device (about 20 days), two-year data on cloud, NO SUBSCRIPTION FEE
  •   ALL IN ONE: Govee Home App supports for more sensors connected at the same time, check all on hands via App!

For ease of use, this gets a thumbs up, and the unit appears to be reasonably accurate, compared to both its Bluetooth sibling and other digital hygrometers. Also, the cigars in the humidors that the hygrometers are in smoke fine, the ultimate test, in my opinion. As far as price goes, the WiFi version is almost twice the price of the Bluetooth version, which is a bit steep, but the functionality is worth the extra cash. Are there cheaper items on the market that do the same thing? Sure there are. Maybe they don’t provide the data logging that these units do, nor do they have a family of other home automation products that work with the same app like lighting and doorbells and other fun stuff if you’re into that.

That’s all for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | August 10, 2018 · 5:00 pm

Accessory Review: Govee Thermometer/Hygrometer

Here’s a neat remote digital thermometer/hygrometer for your humidor that I tried out recently that isn’t awfully expensive and is readily available on Amazon. It’s the Govee Thermometer/Hygrometer. This isn’t necessarily a purpose-built humidor accessory, so it’s made to cover a much wider range of temperature and humidity than we need, and let’s face it, our range of need is very narrow. It’s attractive enough, and sized appropriately for a medium or larger humidor, it would take up valuable real estate in a small humidor. I attached a metal plate the back and have corresponding magnets in various places in several humidors that match up with other hygrometers so I rotate them around to make sure they are all more or less in agreement with each other. An aside, most cigars smoke well out of my humidors anyway, so I’m not anal retentive about the readings, but it’s nice to see if somethings out of whack.



Govee App1One of the nice features of this unit is the app that is included. This logs everything that’s going on, and alerts if temperature or humidity goes outside of limits that you can set yourself with simple sliders. The downside of this is that it’s a Bluetooth connection, so you have to be relatively close to the unit to sync readings or get alerts. So if you are out of the room, you aren’t going to know any more than you did before. I suppose if you Govee App2were some sort of geek genius you figure out a way sync to a WiFi network somehow, but that sound like a whole lot more work that I know how to do, and I just got a headache thinking about it. That seems like the biggest flaw in an otherwise nifty little device. Naturally, it allows you to see the temperature and humidity inside your closed humidor without opening it, which took me a minute to realize the value of since the first two humidors I tried it out on have glass, so I can always see a hygrometer without opening a door. It wasn’t until I tried it in a desktop that it occurred to me the utility of being able to get a reading remotely, even if only a foot away. It seems to be as accurate as the other digital hygrometers I have to compare it too, which are Western Digital units.  Obviously this could have many other applications outside your humidor as well, but this is a cigar blog, so I’m unconcerned with those!

 

Govee makes a lot of smart home products as well, many available on Amazon.  I appreciate the opportunity to evaluate this unit, and will look at it again in several months and see how it holds up. The fact that it uses normal AAA batteries is a plus, and tells you the battery level in the app is excellent.

 

That’s all for now, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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