Issues with mold

[Nickerson]

Hey guys,

I have never had an issue with mold in nearly 2 years until this past month. I'm not sure what the problem is... I use 65% humidity beads and it holds around 68%. It has never gone higher than 69%.

Was just poking through my cigars and I found 3 Oliva G Maduro's on the top shelf of my humidor with big fuzzy spots on them. It was on the bottom of the cigars.

What should I do? Does my humidor need to be decontaminated or anything?

:help:

 

[GoingPostal]

When you say bottom of cigar do you mean the foot? if it hasn't gotten into the foot you can wipe it down. be sure your using only distiled water to hydrate the beads. I would check/calibrate your hygros. Also you may want to move your smokes into a temp storage and check to see if any spores are in the humi.

 

[Nickerson]

When you say bottom of cigar do you mean the foot? if it hasn't gotten into the foot you can wipe it down. be sure your using only distiled water to hydrate the beads. I would check/calibrate your hygros. Also you may want to move your smokes into a temp storage and check to see if any spores are in the humi.

No not the foot, the side facing down. It's strange. This time I just checked was only on Oliva G's. And it was only on the ones without the celo on them.

How do I check for mold spores?

I just got a digital hygro a week ago and calibrated it and it is spot on with my analog.

 

[Ravenwood]

No not the foot, the side facing down. It's strange. This time I just checked was only on Oliva G's. And it was only on the ones without the celo on them.

How do I check for mold spores?

I just got a digital hygro a week ago and calibrated it and it is spot on with my analog.

I'm kind of at the point where I'd like to see photos of your set up.

Maybe we can help. Right now it seems strange.

RW

 

[Jfire]

desktop, vino, cooler? May be humidity resting in one area. Sounds like air movement needed or the hygros still are off.

 

[Jwrussell]

Something's off, for sure. As to the whole "spore" thing, there really is no point in worry about that. Cigars carry mold spores, they just do. You can't see them and they are pretty much impossible to get rid of. The only way to avoid mold is to keep your temp/humidity in the correct range. Some will tell you to wipe down the area where the moldy cigars were with isopropyl alcohol. This will certainly sterilize the area and kill any spores, but really, your other cigars are just as likely to be carrying them.

Some more questions: How long have you had the Oliva's? Did they come from somewhere that might have been over humidified to begin with? Seems to me if they were over humidified when they went in, it is possible that they produced mold almost right off the bat, before they had a chance to acclimate. Kind of grasping at straws here...

As has been asked, how big of a humi are we talking? If it's a big humidor or wine cooler or something along those lines, you could be dealing with some differences in RH due to different temps throughout...just a thought.

 

[ciggy]

desktop, vino, cooler? May be humidity resting in one area. Sounds like air movement needed or the hygros still are off.

yea..I would like to know as well. I use 65% Beads and never had any issues but that's in a wood Humi. If its a cooladore or a vino you may need to let it breath once in awhile regardless of the Beads or not. They can't control the humidity issue completely if the humidore cant breath atleast a little. This is my experience anyways. Hope you can find the issue but that would be my guess.

 

[Ben W]

The only issue Ive ever had with mold was on the element. Just had to replace it.

 

[Nickerson]

Some more questions: How long have you had the Oliva's? Did they come from somewhere that might have been over humidified to begin with? Seems to me if they were over humidified when they went in, it is possible that they produced mold almost right off the bat, before they had a chance to acclimate. Kind of grasping at straws here...

As has been asked, how big of a humi are we talking? If it's a big humidor or wine cooler or something along those lines, you could be dealing with some differences in RH due to different temps throughout...just a thought.

I use a 300 count desktop humidor. I had the Oliva's since July and got them from CigarMonster (Famous).

 

[Jwrussell]

I don't know if Famous is known for shipping "wet", maybe someone else can answer that. Is the 300 count packed full, and were the Olivas right above the beads? If you have the humi jam-packed that can affect circulation of air throughout. It is possible to get humid spots in a humidor right near the humdification media, but it just seems really odd to me that these 3 cigars are the only ones effected. Brings my focus back to the cigars rather than your storage. 300 count is a sizable humi, but not really big enough that I would think there would be real issues with fluctuations throughout the humidor.

Another question, where do you keep your hygrometer and where were the cigars in relation to it?

You say you calibrated your digital hygro. Did you use the Boveda kit or the salt method? It's not impossible but being "spot on" with your analog (assuming we are talking a true analog, not digital analog) does give me pause. I'm sure they exist, but I've never run into an accurate analog hygro.

 

[Nickerson]

I don't know if Famous is known for shipping "wet", maybe someone else can answer that. Is the 300 count packed full, and were the Olivas right above the beads? If you have the humi jam-packed that can affect circulation of air throughout. It is possible to get humid spots in a humidor right near the humdification media, but it just seems really odd to me that these 3 cigars are the only ones effected. Brings my focus back to the cigars rather than your storage. 300 count is a sizable humi, but not really big enough that I would think there would be real issues with fluctuations throughout the humidor.

Another question, where do you keep your hygrometer and where were the cigars in relation to it?

You say you calibrated your digital hygro. Did you use the Boveda kit or the salt method? It's not impossible but being "spot on" with your analog (assuming we are talking a true analog, not digital analog) does give me pause. I'm sure they exist, but I've never run into an accurate analog hygro.

I used salt calibration.

There is maybe 100 cigars in the humidor?

The beads are on the bottom and the hygro's are on the top. The cigars were directly above the beads on the shelf above it.

 

[Danilo]

Salt test for calibration does not work!
It's somewhere in the ballpark, but def. not accurate!!!

The beads will keep the humidity where it says it does... 65% stay right around that.
If you have beads wet and dry 50/50, you should be good to go.

 

[Jwrussell]

I used salt calibration.

There is maybe 100 cigars in the humidor?

The beads are on the bottom and the hygro's are on the top. The cigars were directly above the beads on the shelf above it.

Danilo is correct, the salt method is not the most accurate. Too easy to screw up the ratios. Grab a Boveda One-Step Calibration Kit.

OK, so you aren't over packed, that's not the problem. The hygro really should be reading what is probably the highest humidity being that it's at the top (slightly higher temps up top, humid air rises). The only thing I can think of that might possibly be the issue is if you overfilled the beads and put them away wet, maybe? Either that or like I said, the cigars were shipped wet and have had mold on them for some time. If you hygro isn't really off, I just don't see why you would be having mold issues.

 

[SlipperyPete]

I used salt calibration.

There is maybe 100 cigars in the humidor?

The beads are on the bottom and the hygro's are on the top. The cigars were directly above the beads on the shelf above it.

Sounds like your issue is that as you mentioned the cigars were directly about he beads. Assuming the shelf has some kind of holes or slots, it would appear they are getting a good dose of Humidity off the beads.

 

[Nickerson]

I got some fresh beads I can put in and re-fill them if you think that may help. The beads have no excess moisture to them or anything.

 

[Danilo]

Sounds like your issue is that as you mentioned the cigars were directly about he beads. Assuming the shelf has some kind of holes or slots, it would appear they are getting a good dose of Humidity off the beads.

I have cigars sitting just above 2 pounds of beads, in a 12x12 tray... maybe an inch between the cigars and beads, and I have no such issues. My cigars that are near the beads smoke like the ones that are at the top of the humidor. I really doubt that the position is the issue!

 

[Danilo]

I got some fresh beads I can put in and re-fill them if you think that may help. The beads have no excess moisture to them or anything.

use a blow drier, when about half of them are dry, you stick it back in... that way when the humidity rises, you have something to take it in, and when it drops, you have some to give it out.

 

[38-50]

The only time I ever had a mold issue was during the summer when I let the temps rise to about 73 degrees before giving in and running the AC @ 70 for the rest of the season. I am pretty sure that 68% @ 73 degrees is enough to promote mold growth. My outbreak was isolated to two cigars that I wiped off and quarantined but that was that. This year I will bite the bullet and set the AC to 70 during the early spring to avoid a repeat.

What is the temperature inside your humidor?

 

[38-50]

I have cigars sitting just above 2 pounds of beads, in a 12x12 tray... maybe an inch between the cigars and beads, and I have no such issues. My cigars that are near the beads smoke like the ones that are at the top of the humidor. I really doubt that the position is the issue!

I think the position may lead to some issues especially if the setup is already borderline. I have a cabinet style humidor(china cabinet that I converted) and if I put my hygrometer right next to my beads it reads about 3% higher than the other hygros that are placed randomly throughout the humidor.

That being said, my beads are always giving off humidity during the colder months as it is a dry winter and my humidor is not 100% sealed. I have to add distilled water every few weeks or so to keep the unit at aprox. 63%.

 

[SlipperyPete]

I have cigars sitting just above 2 pounds of beads, in a 12x12 tray... maybe an inch between the cigars and beads, and I have no such issues. My cigars that are near the beads smoke like the ones that are at the top of the humidor. I really doubt that the position is the issue!

I would agree if I knew that all of the beads were not saturated/clear and that the temp did not get above 70 for any length of time. Otherwise, I would still say that it is possible.