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Help me understand my Craigslist find... cigar lives depend on it!

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So I scored a pretty good deal on Craigslist from a guy getting out of the hobby. A large tower humidor, a Cigar Oasis Magna humidifier, and 175+ cigars. I just got home and have the cigars in a ziplock bags as my tupperdore is full.

Should I continue to humidify this tower with the Cigar Oasis? How often should the beads be replaced? They are extremely moist right now and the top layer is slightly brown (see picture.) He had it at the bottom of the tower, the sensor up top along with two tiny (~1.5") extra fans up top. I'm guessing if it was good enough for him, it's good enough for me and I might as well get his sticks back in there and adjust as necessary? First thing on the list: a couple hygrometers...


2016-02-20 16.58.57.jpg 2016-02-20 17.10.24.jpg 2016-02-20 17.00.03.jpg
 

Angry Bill

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You can use the oasis for now. May upgrade to an Avallo Accumonitor in tge future. But add some beads to help put humidity throughout the tower. I would also get new beads to replace the ones in the picture.

Do not add your cigars in until you check the humidity in your tower though. Nice pick up
 
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I'd replace the beads(just because they look gross) and run it for a while to see what the RH settles at. Just because someone else was running it doesn't mean it was anywhere close to ideal cigar environment.... Better safe than sorry.

Heck of a find, should serve you well once you get it dialed in.
 
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Thanks. I'm going to guess that the hole in the cigar here is from a beetle? I've been through about half so far and have found three with such holes. What would you guys do?

I've also found what might be the tiniest amount of mold on a few -- not sure if my eyes are looking for things, or if it's plume. The guy smoked for 10 years and a lot of these cellos are nearly as brown as the cigars.

2016-02-20 18.42.28.jpg
 
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That looks like a beetle hole. Freeze all of those cigars to kill them. If the mold is white, you can wipe it off and they should be fine. Maybe quarantine them for a little while. If the mold is green, pitch it.
 
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That looks like a beetle hole. Freeze all of those cigars to kill them. If the mold is white, you can wipe it off and they should be fine. Maybe quarantine them for a little while. If the mold is green, pitch it.
I ended up throwing the three out. I'm guessing I should freeze the others to be sure.
 
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Throw the three out, inspect the rest. They most all look wrapped so if the cello has no holes they can't telepathically get in there.
But watch what hardware or boxes you import from our old storage container, ya know, hitchhikers. Freeze the sticks if you want...

I wouldn't use any secondhand RH media !. Just not worth a mold attack.

The cabinet absolutely looks great ! Nice find !!! Great drawers and trays !!

EDIT - Ah see you doing the deep freeze ! (y)
 
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I picked up the same one recently. My humidifier has moldy floral foam in it that I immediately tossed, sterilized the box and added new floral beads like you have. It's been working great ever since.

Like others have said, toss those beads and clean it up. Get a lifetime supply of new beads from amazon for about 10 bucks if memory serves.
 
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Thanks guys. I've got new beads on order. I also have some 65% boveda packs on the way to place in the drawers and up top to help even it up and provide some buffer. I have three hygrometers and a calibration kit coming too. I need to get the Oasis calibrated. It's about 7% off. The analog one is way off but I guess it's just there for looks.

As it is now it looks like there is going to be a large difference in humidity between top and bottom, even without sticks blocking the airflow more. Hopefully the boveda helps with that. Maybe I need to put a pound or two of heartfelt up top.
 
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