Visiting specialist shops in Honolulu for the first time, I was struck by the use of humidifiers (usually just bottles filled with water and a wick stuck in the top) in cases containing objects made of wood. Along much of the southern shoreline including Honolulu, it is almost desert-like in spite of the beaches just yards away. Rainfall is only 10-15 inches a year and humidity is often low. Just a mile or so mauka (inland, towards the mountains) are rain forest conditions, and rain clouds may be seen from the hot, dry beach strip.