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Emperor Zurg
this all sounds so familiar.
I do have hygrometers in my humidor/cooler, but like EZ, I think the batteries were dead in one for many months and the other is buried deep within my cooler to be viewed very rarely. I use kitty litter in both of my humidors, except for my habanos are in a compartment within one of the humidors that I use a 62 Boveda. I pour water directly on my kitty litter, and yes I hear them crackle and creak as they soak up water. In my cooler, I recharge the KL when the majority of the crystals have turned white; and again, I just pour a little water over them. I only need to recharge once every 3-6 months, depending upon the season. My wooden humidor gets recharged about every 2 months. My KL is in an aquarium filter mesh bag that I just pour water onto. Now don't take this that I don't care, I only do this after previous experiences have shown that it doesn't really make that much difference.
In reality, I have come to learn that cigars are really much more resilient than what we are sometimes led to believe. I would rather spend my limited free time smoking them, instead of fussing over the exact storage and care.