Recommendation for pumidor heater

[Rdeitz]

I'd like to heat my pumidor, which is a small closet. I have a cigar oasis humidifier in there right now. I'm not sure what type of unit I should consider. A heating mat? Might not be powerful enough. A heating lamp? Not sure if that is a good idea. I'm also concerned about fire hazards.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[Bef]

I would just heat the whole closet. Otherwise maybe a heating mat, but then you need to make sure it doesn't get too hot.

[Rdeitz]

Even though this is sold as a dehumidifier, maybe this would work:
http://smile.amazon.com/Goldenrod-72575 ... op?ie=UTF8

[Exempt]

Even though this is sold as a dehumidifier, maybe this would work:
http://smile.amazon.com/Goldenrod-72575 ... op?ie=UTF8

All it does is warm the space??? That doesn't seem like a good solution for humidity if you live in a wet climate... Warmer air holds more water per sq inch than cold air. Although it does look like it may work to heat the closet, wouldn't put it in my pumidor however

[William]

Wouldn't be easier and quicker to buy already aged Pu Erh? Sellers exist also for this.

[Puerlife]

Regardless of your storage place, I enthusiastically recommend buying not one but two hygrometers. This way you can compare conditions in your storage area and in another place in your house. There are lots of lessons to be learned by comparing various places with the windows opened, closed, air con on, off, etc. You can even place one inside I cardboard box and leave the other outside and try the air con to see how long your box will take to be affected.

[Exempt]

Wouldn't be easier and quicker to buy already aged Pu Erh? Sellers exist also for this.

Wouldn't it be easier and quicker for car enthusiasts to buy ferraris instead of less expensive cars and then working to make them better... not everyone's made of money

edit: ps. if you'd like to buy me an "already aged" puerh I'd like one of these https://www.essenceoftea.com/tea/puerh- ... tored.html It is quicker and easier than aging one myself

[wyardley]

Wouldn't be easier and quicker to buy already aged Pu Erh? Sellers exist also for this.

Wouldn't it be easier and quicker for car enthusiasts to buy ferraris instead of less expensive cars and then working to make them better... not everyone's made of money

I'm not sure that the car analogy totally makes sense, even in the context of cars.

As someone who has a lot of younger pu'er I don't like to drink, and passed up smaller amounts of older tea that I thought was too expensive at the time, I agree with the other William's take on this. Obviously, we all need to work within our budget, but it's still possible to get smaller quantities of older tea vs. larger quantities of younger tea (and storage / quality will also affect price).

I remember in particular having the chance to buy a late 80s 8582 for ~ $600 (at the time when 88 qing bing was in that range still), and thinking it was too expensive (though did end up buying a few chunks of it later on). But given how much I enjoyed drinking that tea, I wish could get it now, even at double the price.

Yes, good aged pu'er is expensive, and hard to find, and getting more so. But the results of "working" to make tea better take a long time, and don't really have a known or predictable outcome. And, even given the right storage conditions, which many of us don't have, it takes time. The best aged teas I've had are over 40 years old, and were stored in wetter conditions, so, while I hang onto the huge amount of "young" (90s / 00s) teas that I have, I am not holding my breath. I have some older teas too, but with hindsight, I probably would have spent the money I spent on young sheng differently. It is tricky, because as a new drinker, having the confidence to spend $300-1000 on one cake (vs. spreading out the risk) can be both scary and risky.

Tea is expensive, but if you think about the quantities we usually drink it in, it's still a (relatively) affordable luxury. For example, with your example (I haven't tried that exact tea, and can't comment on its provenance or value, but just for the sake of argument), 10g would cost < $30 US, and would serve several people for probably 10-15+ infusions in a 150g brewing vessel. That would be one experience vs. a cake which you might be able to drink every day for a month or two, but there's lots of other teas you could drink on those other days.

[wyardley]

Also, in regards to the original topic, while I've flirted some with adding moderate amounts of humidity to tea, and while I recognize that heat is a big part of the picture (in terms of effective humidity), I think that it's a really risky business to get into to start adding heat in a (relatively) small space and for extended periods of time.

I think you might be better off buying tea with a bit of age and a bit of wet storage to begin with.

[William]

I'm not sure that the car analogy totally makes sense, even in the context of cars.

As someone who has a lot of younger pu'er I don't like to drink, and passed up smaller amounts of older tea that I thought was too expensive at the time, I agree with the other William's take on this. Obviously, we all need to work within our budget, but it's still possible to get smaller quantities of older tea vs. larger quantities of younger tea (and storage / quality will also affect price).

I remember in particular having the chance to buy a late 80s 8582 for ~ $600 (at the time when 88 qing bing was in that range still), and thinking it was too expensive (though did end up buying a few chunks of it later on). But given how much I enjoyed drinking that tea, I wish could get it now, even at double the price.

Yes, good aged pu'er is expensive, and hard to find, and getting more so. But the results of "working" to make tea better take a long time, and don't really have a known or predictable outcome. And, even given the right storage conditions, which many of us don't have, it takes time. The best aged teas I've had are over 40 years old, and were stored in wetter conditions, so, while I hang onto the huge amount of "young" (90s / 00s) teas that I have, I am not holding my breath. I have some older teas too, but with hindsight, I probably would have spent the money I spent on young sheng differently. It is tricky, because as a new drinker, having the confidence to spend $300-1000 on one cake (vs. spreading out the risk) can be both scary and risky.

Tea is expensive, but if you think about the quantities we usually drink it in, it's still a (relatively) affordable luxury. For example, with your example (I haven't tried that exact tea, and can't comment on its provenance or value, but just for the sake of argument), 10g would cost < $30 US, and would serve several people for probably 10-15+ infusions in a 150g brewing vessel. That would be one experience vs. a cake which you might be able to drink every day for a month or two, but there's lots of other teas you could drink on those other days.

Thanks bro!

BTW, I totally agree with what you wrote.

It is part of the learning process understand what you wrote here, but I wish I had received such advices when I entered in the Pu Erh world for the first time.

[Exempt]

Wouldn't be easier and quicker to buy already aged Pu Erh? Sellers exist also for this.

Wouldn't it be easier and quicker for car enthusiasts to buy ferraris instead of less expensive cars and then working to make them better... not everyone's made of money

I'm not sure that the car analogy totally makes sense, even in the context of cars.

As someone who has a lot of younger pu'er I don't like to drink, and passed up smaller amounts of older tea that I thought was too expensive at the time, I agree with the other William's take on this. Obviously, we all need to work within our budget, but it's still possible to get smaller quantities of older tea vs. larger quantities of younger tea (and storage / quality will also affect price).

I remember in particular having the chance to buy a late 80s 8582 for ~ $600 (at the time when 88 qing bing was in that range still), and thinking it was too expensive (though did end up buying a few chunks of it later on). But given how much I enjoyed drinking that tea, I wish could get it now, even at double the price.

Yes, good aged pu'er is expensive, and hard to find, and getting more so. But the results of "working" to make tea better take a long time, and don't really have a known or predictable outcome. And, even given the right storage conditions, which many of us don't have, it takes time. The best aged teas I've had are over 40 years old, and were stored in wetter conditions, so, while I hang onto the huge amount of "young" (90s / 00s) teas that I have, I am not holding my breath. I have some older teas too, but with hindsight, I probably would have spent the money I spent on young sheng differently. It is tricky, because as a new drinker, having the confidence to spend $300-1000 on one cake (vs. spreading out the risk) can be both scary and risky.

Tea is expensive, but if you think about the quantities we usually drink it in, it's still a (relatively) affordable luxury. For example, with your example (I haven't tried that exact tea, and can't comment on its provenance or value, but just for the sake of argument), 10g would cost < $30 US, and would serve several people for probably 10-15+ infusions in a 150g brewing vessel. That would be one experience vs. a cake which you might be able to drink every day for a month or two, but there's lots of other teas you could drink on those other days.

Not sure how much puerh I have at the moment, but it's somewhere between 80 and 110 kilos based on my outdated inventory. There have been some teas that I purchased for anywhere from a few dollars a gram to 10+. While these are generally amazing, I think the price:quality/enjoyment ratio drastically decreases after about $1 per gram. Most of my personal favorite, and best aging cakes, are the ones I spent $.5-1 per gram when they were 3-8 years old around 2010-2012. For some it may be worth it to just go all out and buy an already aged cake, but for me part of the enjoyment is in aging the tea myself and the value just isn't there when I have to pay $25+ for a session. Different strokes for different folks I suppose

[Drax]

I agree with wyardley about concerns over the heat issue. Most of the solutions seem to involve things that probably shouldn't be left alone and untended. A floor/space heater might be a good solution, but you'd be heating the room adjacent to your pumidor (that is, not putting it in the pumidor).

For what it's worth, I solved this problem by putting my pumidor on the top floor of my house. In the winter, when I turn on the heater, the top floor gets the hottest, and so I'm able to easily keep the temperature at 70F+.

[gasninja]

I heat in the winter with two large reptile heating mats on the side of my cabinet. I do this because the cabinet is built into my house next to an exterior wall. So it will get to cool in the winter. I also use a fish tank heater in a ceramic water vessel that is anchored to the side of the cabinet. This provides some heat and humidity. I also have all my cakes on wire racks and away from the walls a few inches away from the walls. This all should be done in moderation. As it is not worth trying to replicate SE Asia conditions and having to worry about mold.


So far I am really loving my results I recently compared several Yan qing hao cakes that I have been storring since 2011 with the same cakes stored in Taiwan. The Taiwan stored cakes may have been a bit more mature but not by much.

[Puerlife]

In a few Facebook posts, Tea Dee has said they store their tea between 50 and 60% relative humidity, which is lower than I thought the safe range was.

"Warehouse : Bangkok, Thailand
Average Temperature and Humidity : 30 degree Celsius plus or minus with humidity 50 - 60%"

I have tried their 2007 Fulu Yuancha and found it very unaged but also very much alive and fresh (and we must keep in mind that that particular tea is designed the old school way). The next time I visit them I'll have a storage conversation with them and ask why they keep the humidity so low, but in the meantime I will breath more easily when the dry season comes. In less than ideal conditions, keeping the pu alive is the goal, not pushing it to age fast.

[Drax]

Hrm, according to Wikipedia, the average humidity in Bangkok ranges from 66-79% (see here). I suppose if it were a closed warehouse, it might be different...

Those reptile mats sound like a good solution, gasninja.

The one thing I've noticed about the pumidor (or at least, mine)... the tea definitely needs airing out, and a quick turn in a roaster is probably not a bad idea, either.