Being a long time flute player, I have over the years kept my flutes in a tupperware plastic container to help keep the humidity levels relatively stable when not playing. Being new to the pipes, and presently having big issues with variations in humidity levels due to heating, I am wondering if it be be wise to keep my reeds in a similar container when I am not playing. Anyone else do this?
Thanks,
A newbie to the piping world-
Arbo
I just let my reeds abide in an unsealed box exposed to the vagaries of ambient air. The one time that I did keep a reed in an airtight container, it cracked immediately upon being played. Admittedly, I did not think to let the reed acclimate to its new environment. Nevertheless, I’m very comfortable letting my reeds change along with the environment. Now that I think of it, I leave all of my instruments exposed to the changing environment in the house; the only time they get boxed up is when I’m transporting them.
Thanks Bill. I am honestly perplexed about the whole thing! Great quote by Robbie btw!
Arbo
A sealed container will only keep the reeds, or an instrument, at a controlled humidity if the temperature is absolutely constant. This is because the capacity of air to hold water depends strongly on temperature - cold air can hold less moisture than warm air. The practical result is that sealed containers for reeds and/or instruments are usually not a great idea.
For instance, from the chart below:
One sees that if you put reeds in a box of air at about 22 degrees C and 45% relative humidity (RH), it will ‘rain’ inside that same box if you take it down to 10 degrees C. Conversely, if you put reeds at 40% RH into a box at 15C and then warm it to body temperature, you’ll expose them to a crack-inducing 10% RH.
Bill
Arbo, your question reminded me of something I read on the internet years ago, written by a piper named Mike Scully:
“Actually, the reed issue is susceptible of an easy solution, and I can’t believe that more people haven’t figured it out by now. Here’s what you do. Build a workshop with the strictest possible climatic controls. Set the temperature to 68 degrees and the humidity to 50 percent. Now, however long it takes, build a set of reeds “perfect” for your instrument in that environment. Repeat this procedure for every temperature between 50 and 85 degrees, and every humidity between 0 and 100 percent. This leaves you with 3,500 sets of reeds built specifically for your pipes, thus guaranteeing that no matter what the conditions you will have a working set of reeds 11.3 percent of the time.”
Bill, and Bill, and Jarlath…
Thanks for the input. At this stage of the game any and all information is helpful. I have decided to just llet the reeds hang and acclimate to my house. I had been taking them to school, leaving a forced air heating system, and entering a radiator system for 7+ hours, then back to a forced air system… No wonder the poor reeds were struggling… so, I have decided to keep them in one environment (save the occasional session- for good behavior), and try as hard as I can to keep the environment constant, what ever it may be!
Arbo
Where I live, I have both extremes in humidity/temperature (high in summer and low in winter). I’ve lost a few reeds to the cold dry winter.
Pat Sky suggests putting half an apple in your pipes case. This will help to keep the humidity constant. This works for me.
You might consider the humidity in the whole house.
Attaching an aprilaire to your furnace is a little costly and time consuming but you can set your house to the RH that you want.
A floor standing humidifier that covers 4000 sq ft is about $150 at home despot.
Your sinuses would also feel better in the morning.
I end up making a new reed at just about each change of seasons fall and spring. I live in a climate (eastern Adirondacks of New York State U.S.) that has extremes in temperature and humidity. I just accept it as part of the piping thing.
The climate in Quebec is very similar to up-state NY and I’ve played the same chanter reed since Feb 2009. My bass drone gets a little unpredictable when the winter starts so I usually change the reed (and change back in late spring). The other reeds require a little adjustment but nothing radical. That said, I don’t go to sessions and so my pipes don’t leave the house from October to April.
I like to gently fold my chanter reeds in a piece of paper coffee filter loosley tied round the staple end with a bit of excess string,
stick them in a tin mint box (such as what one might see in a supermarket checkout line) ,
pad the elbow room with a piece of tissue, wad of cottton or something like this.
then put a ruber band round the tin…(details, details details..)
Some guys get elaborate with metal eyeglass cases,
velvet covered bands of metal, vintage stainless steel cigarette cases, etc,
but most pipe cases ive seen have a mint tin as standard issue 
(when i used cane drone reeds, the safest thing (for me) was to leave them in the drones & remove for adjustment while tuning up before piping. Kept the spares in a long plastic scrip bottle with a couple holes punched in near the lid. )
Pat Sky suggests putting half an apple in your pipes case.
Does it matter which half?
The half that grew closest to the tree, obviously. 
I always wonder when going home from being out with my pipes if my car is warming up fast enough for the reed not to freeze!
Thawed reeds sound very “squishy”…
But probably not as squishy as that half apple after it freezes and thaws out again…
I’m in the “nature over nurture” camp. I have to play the things in various places so we all might as well get used to it. That said, I do let the pipes reach the basic room temperature of wherever I am before blasting away. I also try to take it easy as far as bag pressure, etc. for the first few minutes, and I don’t really make judgments or changes until I’ve played steadily for about 15 minutes. It seems to take about 15 minutes for the reed to figure out what it’s going to be that day and for me to figure out if I can do anything about it.
Speaking of the magic 15, I’ve also found that if I play for at least 15 minutes every day my reeds seem to stay more stable and be more consistent from day to day. Only my observation, but there you go.
Cat,
this seems like a good idea if your reed is playing when you strap on the pipes. If it isn’t, then 15 minutes, or 15 hours doesn’t much matter…
Arbo
Well, that’s a whole different question! When that happens I test the crow and tweak the bridle to make sure the reed’s not too open, but only by micro-degrees until the reed is just playing. Steam heat isn’t supposed to be as drying as forced-air heat, but I don’t know if I buy that. In my old apartment it got so dry I needed pans of water on the radiators or my lungs felt like pork cracklings.
Anyway, once I get a bit of love out of the reed I go for 15 minutes of easy playing and see what happens before making any other adjustments. And even then there are days when it’s wiser to just practice the flute. Good luck!