Mold on Foot: Cut & Light? Or Toss?

[Brent Strande]

I believe that all I've read says to toss 'em, but damn!

Both of these sticks have been sitting for a year and I've never tried either!



I cut to look, but don't think it's worth the risk...

They were in my wineador next to sticks in cello and were the only two affected: CAO Amazon Basin and Fuente Anejo.
The tray looks to have water damage marks, but I've never used a liquid solution nor have I seen my humidity above 70 in there.
Any insight on how I let this happen?

 

[navyvet]

cut and light

 

[bdc30]

Personally, I'd pitch it. Even if the cigar was fine, the entire time smoking it I would be on edge looking for any deviation in flavor or texture, the whole time wondering if I'm straight up smoking melted mold spores. Life's too short to smoke suspect/subpar cigars.

 

[navyvet]

i hear alot of brothers if it's white smoke it any other color pitch it in all honesty

 

[TheReMixologist]

I believe that all I've read says to toss 'em, but damn!

Morning Brent ~xox Mold jumps... I'd toss it in the event it jumped up the stick... I've gutted sticks with mold to see if foot mold could become mouth mold by jumping up the inside of the stick... it can. Spores are spores and microscopic at first and move with moisture and air which are in any good humidor... by the time you see it... it's too late... not worth the risk so toss sadly. My dad used to say if cheese has a lil mold on it cut it off and eat the rest lol... dad dad... "It's mold anyway" he'd say lol. No so for sticks unfortunately. If your humi had water damage it's likely that the spores were in there and jumped to the sticks if the moisture conditions were just ripe enough. Might want to treat your box... also are you sure there was no transfer to the wrappers? If it were just the sticks and the sticks were the problem (they had already been too moist with purchase and didn't dry out sufficiently before putting in the humi), then I think the mold would have been far worse after a year... this is maybe within a month worth of mold progression. Mold is invasive and slow growing in a humi but on the stick it can be faster (riper condition). Anytime mold is present in your box (on or off sticks) treat your box/humi and start all over again. Me thinks the water damage may have been previously treated but came back to life if not treated properly... were you a second owner of it or was it new to you? To treat it... use some isopropyl alcohol slightly diluted with distilled H2O and let it dry out... repeat... dry out and then sand down with fine sander for fine wood and coarse for grainier woods ... vacuum out... reprime humi conditions as if it were new and then put sticks in it... takes awhile ... it's a process worth the time. ~xox

 

[bostoneo]

pitch it, you never know how far mold has gone when its on the foot itself

 

[Jesse]

Personally, I'd pitch it. Even if the cigar was fine, the entire time smoking it I would be on edge looking for any deviation in flavor or texture, the whole time wondering if I'm straight up smoking melted mold spores. Life's too short to smoke suspect/subpar cigars.

I'm with you on this one, I would be worried the whole time smoking it. Not worth the risk.

 

[D Quintero]

toss it !

 

[xjsnake]

Chuck it (aka ship it to @ChuckMejia for proper ordinance disposal)

 

[ChuckMejia]

Chuck it (aka ship it to @ChuckMejia for proper ordinance disposal)

Send winnings to @TA929

 

[AlohaStyle]

Rule of thumb many people go by is if mold is on the foot, toss it. Some mold on wrapper that can easily wipe off, smoke it. Looking at your picture, that one cigar is nasty, no way I'd touch that. The other one has much less mold, but you don't know how far into the cigar the mold goes. I'd toss both.

 

[Brent Strande]

Chuck it (aka ship it to @ChuckMejia for proper ordinance disposal)

Need an address

 

[Nacho Daddy]

"Any insight on how I let this happen?"
70% at 75 degrees is equal to 75% rh. Any higher and you could grow orchids.(Don't laugh,I grow orchids)
the rest of your stash is at risk,time to clean out your humi...
you need to seriously reduce the h2o in your humi.
I keep my stock around 62-64 %............have done this for 43 years,works fine.

 

[Brent Strande]

Well, I started inspecting... they were in a tray on the shelf above the first drawer



The back left of the tray had the water marks (back center of wineador)



I took everything out (spilled one container of KL in the process...



Here's what my KL setups look like. Cookie tray in bottom with ballet tight wrapped around it to prevent spillage and MOW Puro Authentico boxes for other levels.



Everything out and now I'm scared... I've found two more. WTH happened???



I think I spotted the reason: water marks coming from the fan...



Wife found a 32oz water cup with cut lemon and lime spilled on the back of it all dried up that one of the kids must have spilled. It appears the old fruit water went in and dripped through the fan into the trays up against the back of the humi. It was sometime within the last month but that's as close as I can be certain of.



I'm scouring all of these now... would freezing kill of any mold spores I couldn't see yet? What do I do to treat the sticks? Should I bake the cedar at low temps to dry/kill mold? Trying really hard not to be irrationally mad at the family right now - stuff happens, but this is a real kick in the nuts!

 

[Brent Strande]

"Any insight on how I let this happen?"
70% at 75 degrees is equal to 75% rh. Any higher and you could grow orchids.(Don't laugh,I grow orchids)
the rest of your stash is at risk,time to clean out your humi...
you need to seriously reduce the h2o in your humi.
I keep my stock around 62-64 %............have done this for 43 years,works fine.

I like mine at 65F and 62-64%. Per my post above, I think that I found the culprit but still have to deal with the rest now... glad I didn't keep it warmer and wetter or it could've been even worse!

 

[Mossome]

Well, I started inspecting... they were in a tray on the shelf above the first drawer



The back left of the tray had the water marks (back center of wineador)



I took everything out (spilled one container of KL in the process...



Here's what my KL setups look like. Cookie tray in bottom with ballet tight wrapped around it to prevent spillage and MOW Puro Authentico boxes for other levels.



Everything out and now I'm scared... I've found two more. WTH happened???



I think I spotted the reason: water marks coming from the fan...



Wife found a 32oz water cup with cut lemon and lime spilled on the back of it all dried up that one of the kids must have spilled. It appears the old fruit water went in and dripped through the fan into the trays up against the back of the humi. It was sometime within the last month but that's as close as I can be certain of.



I'm scouring all of these now... would freezing kill of any mold spores I couldn't see yet? What do I do to treat the sticks? Should I bake the cedar at low temps to dry/kill mold? Trying really hard not to be irrationally mad at the family right now - stuff happens, but this is a real kick in the nuts!

First off, I don't think it was your kid's fault. Those wineador are airtight. It's sealed so water doesn't get out, so it can't get in either. Those water marks are from condensation forming when the cooling unit kicks on because the humidity is high. That's why there is that channel going down the back wall and across the bottom to a drain hole. If you lower your RH, you can potentially eliminate the condensation problem.
Secondly, people say you can sterilize and sand down those drawers to get rid of the mold. I don't know how much stock I would put in that. The wood is extremely porous and I don't know if I could ever trust that it was gone once it gets in there. You ever get mold in your shower grout? You can bleach it all you want and it always comes back because it gets down deep in those pores.

 

[AlohaStyle]

Those water marks are from condensation forming when the cooling unit kicks on because the humidity is high. That's why there is that channel going down the back wall and across the bottom to a drain hole.

First thing I thought of before seeing any pics. It looks like you have not plugged the drain hole, right? Good. If not, maybe your drawers go too deep to the back and doesn't leave any room for the condensation to drip down? Doesn't make sense since we can see the groove for water to drip down.

Not positive, but I would lean towards condensation. I got a lot when I started using wine fridges awhile back, then kept the drain plug open. I also only ran the air when it was the warmer months and kept it unplugged during cooler months. The more it runs, the more condensation can build up.

 

[atllogix]

It doesn't matter, you're constantly breathing in mold spores with every single breath you take unless you work in a place where you DECON. Lick it off, light it up, and puff away. Actually I have a moldphobia.