Help needed with newbie humidor

[IrishMahoney]

Ok I recently purchased a Whynter CHC-120S Stainless Steel 250-Cigar Cooler Humidor, 1.2 Cubic Feet.

I’ve smoked cigars my whole life (I’m 41) but this is my first humidor.

Here’s what I did, I got it, cleaned it all down with a wet rag, went over all the wood several times (per the directions to get it ready). I filled up the little cup it came with with water, plugged in it and set it to 66 degrees (that’s the highest it goes, odd since most my reading has said you want 70 degrees/70 humidity). It settled on 70 humidity perfect on its own. So she’s at a solid 66/70

I thought everything was good, so I went on an ordering spree. I’ve got a real nice selection of cigars. Then about two weeks later I started getting white spots on my cigars. I looked this up and see that it’s probably plume, and my cigars are aging perfectly, I’m ecstatic.... a few days later the white spots have grown, clearly its mold.

I tore everything down, washed the wood (lightly) with rubbing alcohol, cleaned the whole humidor, I had to throw several cigars away that were molded to bad. The rest I cleaned really good to get rid of all mold spores and stuff from them without ruining them.

Now for the questions.

A: what did I do wrong? With 1000’s of dollars of cigars I can not be having this issue
B: how do I stop it from happening again?
C: this humidor came with an LED light, it’s blue and it’s not very bright. I left that on the entire time because it kinda made it look cool. Should that be left off? What’s that light for? It’s not bright enough really to be able to see, it’s more of an accent light

If you have any clarifying questions to help me get to the bottom of this, ask away.

Thanks for any help you guys can give me!


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[ChuckMejia]

Did you use distilled water?

 

[GreekElite]

Do you notice a little pool of water, if you have a plug in the bottom, at the bottom? This happens with the cooling running often.

My wineador is downstairs so it is cool enough there where I don't even need it plugged in, maybe try that.

I may have missed it, but what do you have for absorbing humidity?

For meantime, you have large tupperwares where you can put the cigars? Let the wineador dry out a bit?

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[Glassman]

70 is actually a little high on the humidity oftentimes. Especially if your hygrometer is off. Or varies.

Get some boveda

Use distilled water only.

Either leave it off or consider a thermostat switch plug to only kick it on at say, 69.
(too large of a temp differential will cause condensation)

And, yeah, I'd probably leave the light off as well.

Also, all plume is mold.

Keep a close eye on it and toss what you need to.

Good luck man, sorry about that.

 

[IrishMahoney]

Thanks for all that. One thing that stood out the most in these responses was glassman asking if I used distilled water. I did not. I used tap water. Should I be using distilled instead?

What is boveda and where do I get it? Will local cigar shops carry it, or is it something I order online?

If 70 humidity is too high how do I keep it down? I open my humidor for a few minutes and it comes down to around 65 pretty quickly (my House is pretty dry). But is there a good way to naturally keep it down at the correct humidity (what do you recommend if 70 is too high)?

I’m not sure what a wineador is? This is an actual (made for cigars) humidor. Although it is right next to a wine fridge too

Yesterday my cigars spent time in Tupperware while I cleaned everything out and alcohol scrubbed everything, then wiped everything down with clean (tap) water again, essentially starting over from scratch. Today everything went back in again. Everything’s clean. For them moment. I just wanna prevent this from happening again.


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[Glassman]

Thanks for all that. One thing that stood out the most in these responses was glassman asking if I used distilled water. I did not. I used tap water. Should I be using distilled instead?

What is boveda and where do I get it? Will local cigar shops carry it, or is it something I order online?

If 70 humidity is too high how do I keep it down? I open my humidor for a few minutes and it comes down to around 65 pretty quickly (my House is pretty dry). But is there a good way to naturally keep it down at the correct humidity (what do you recommend if 70 is too high)?

I’m not sure what a wineador is? This is an actual (made for cigars) humidor. Although it is right next to a wine fridge too

Yesterday my cigars spent time in Tupperware while I cleaned everything out and alcohol scrubbed everything, then wiped everything down with clean (tap) water again, essentially starting over from scratch. Today everything went back in again. Everything’s clean. For them moment. I just wanna prevent this from happening again.


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Gotta give credit to Chuck for mentioning distilled water first. I'm not sure I would have thought of it.

But yes, you absolutely need to use it, tap water can leave behind minerals and deposits that can encourage mold growth.

Boveda are very accurate 2 way humidity packs. Available in stores and online. I'd recommend getting mostly 65 rh packs to start, they cover the spectrum pretty well. If you have enough of them they will keep the humidity from getting too high or too low.

It's called a wineador, because those were initially used for wine until people started repurposing them into humidors.

You also may have oversaturated your shelves.

I'd first get some boveda, then clean the wood and plastic with peroxide (less smell) let it all air out, and gently season with distilled water.

Again keeping a close eye on everything and tossing sticks that look like they're causing trouble.

 

[Just__Jeb]

When I set up my wineador I never wiped down my shelves. I simply put a couple small bowls of distilled water on a couple different shelves. I let it sit for about 2 weeks. I packed it full and use bovedas but everything has been great since then.

I do battle with excess moisture run off at the bottom but simply place a small towel in the back and check it every 10 days or so. It has been rock solid. I do live in Hawaii so my ambient temperature is greater than the recommended 10 degrees from cooling. I am going to place a small container of beads with a channel to feed that container and see how it goes.


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[navyvet]

You could always get a small cigar coffin and fill it with 100% silica kitty litter and set in the bottom. It seems to me everything is exstreamly too wet. I would get 100 proof vodka and start over wipe everythi g down with 100 proof vodka leave it to dry get the boveda at least 12 packs for that little fridge get a gallon of distilled water. Fill a little tupperware with it leave the kitty litter and the shelves in like 3 days take distilled water out put cigars and boveda in 65% is what i shoot for sometimes with temp swings it might float up to 68% what kind of hygrometer are you using

 

[GreekElite]

@IrishMahoney you sh ould absolutely use distilled water.

Since everything was just re wiped with tap water, would he me to take the cigars out again keep them in a Tupperware, let the Cedar dry out, then re wipe with distilled once or twice?

Here's my take on step by step process, just to avoid further chances:

1- take out cigars and put them in a large Tupperware. Buy 2-3 boveda 65 or 67 packs from cigar shop and put in with the cigars, hopefully can suck out the extra moisture from the sticks.

2- leave the unit unplugged and open, let it air out a day or 2

3- put drawers back in, measure humidity (also make sure your hydrometer is calibrated.. ie look up and do the salt test). If rh is still high maybe have it air out more.

4- once rh is low and wood is dried, put back in, then as @navyvet said just put a small bowl of distilled water in there for 1-2 weeks. Once that passes take out the water and observe rh, when it holds at 65-67% it's good to put back in the cigars.

5- if your house is cool, say low 70's, you may not can need to plug it in, or at least just have it on a timer to kick on every few hours for 5-10 min or so. This will minimize moisture buildup as well, but if your room temp is warm you'll need it plugged in

Just my .02, but anyone with more orcbetter advice please add because in no way am i an expert lol

good luck!

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[Nacho Daddy]

get a second hydrometer, check it against one at your B&M.
CCs need 60 to 63%,NCs can be kept around 66 to 68.

 

[Bondo 440]

Yep. Your boner was definitely the tap water. I'm thinking 200+ cigars are making the exodus to tupperware?
Definately isolate and consider pitching the moldy ones. Don't re-introduce them to the wineador.

 

[IrishMahoney]

Yes there’s been a huge transition to Tupperware lol. Rookie mistake. Many sticks got detoured on the way to the Tupperware and were rerouted instead to the trash. Such a shame.

I have an industrial dehumidifier I’m thinking about putting all of my cedar into to dry out completely, then redoing the process with distilled water instead of tap. Will dehydrating the wood hurt it in any way you guys can think of before I go that route?


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[IrishMahoney]

get a second hydrometer, check it against one at your B&M.
CCs need 60 to 63%,NCs can be kept around 66 to 68.

I’ve smoked cigars basically since I was 12 or so. My father smoked and didn’t care to much if I smoked with him. But this is my first time being in any kind of forum dedicated to smoking. So forgive my ignorance on what is probably very common terminology on here, but what is CC and NC? Thanks


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[Glassman]

I’ve smoked cigars basically since I was 12 or so. My father smoked and didn’t care to much if I smoked with him. But this is my first time being in any kind of forum dedicated to smoking. So forgive my ignorance on what is probably very common terminology on here, but what is CC and NC? Thanks


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Cuban cigar / non cuban

 

[IrishMahoney]

Cuban cigar / non cuban

Ahh. I’d love to get some Cohibas here without the red dot... so far I’ve failed at finding a way other than to have a friend in Australia order them for me and then ship them from his place to mine lol. Or of course I could take a vacation to Cuba myself and sneak them back lol


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[Glassman]

Yes there’s been a huge transition to Tupperware lol. Rookie mistake. Many sticks got detoured on the way to the Tupperware and were rerouted instead to the trash. Such a shame.

I have an industrial dehumidifier I’m thinking about putting all of my cedar into to dry out completely, then redoing the process with distilled water instead of tap. Will dehydrating the wood hurt it in any way you guys can think of before I go that route?


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Dehydrate it too much and it could warp the wood. Just leave it open to air out, or put some silica desiccant in for a few days to pull off the excess moisture (unscented mimi kitty litter from Wal mart works)
Biggest thing now is get that wood Clean.

You're allowed to bring back quite a bit now. No need to sneak. But there are fakes everywhere, even on the island. Cohiba are fantastic but definitely carry a premium price tag. There are other ccs that are delicious for a much more reasonable price. Read around a lot here on the forum and you'll learn a ton. Feel free to message me any questions you have.

 

[navyvet]

I’ve smoked cigars basically since I was 12 or so. My father smoked and didn’t care to much if I smoked with him. But this is my first time being in any kind of forum dedicated to smoking. So forgive my ignorance on what is probably very common terminology on here, but what is CC and NC? Thanks


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Big swing may crack it becareful

 

[navyvet]

You dont have to sneak cc back anymore you can bring them without any problem. Buying them from the friend in austraila will be exspensive js

 

[Glassman]

You dont have to sneak cc back anymore you can bring them without any problem. Buying them from the friend in austraila will be exspensive js

No kidding! Stupid expensive with that aussie tax!