Damage Control.

[Tbaggins]

Had an unfortunate surprise upon opening my humidor. Mold covered the foot of a god of fire robusto. Spent the next several hours thoroughly inspecting 200 cigars. Lost about ten I thought too suspect to keep, wiped about five with spot mold and quarantined a few boxes to watch.

Several blunders led to this mistake. One was overcrowding the humidor. Next I refilled my silica container and even though I had multiple Boveda packs I found the humidity spiked to almost 80% and hadn’t caught it in time.

I’m putting everything in coolers in hopes to bring humidity back down. The white one is the quarantinador. I plan to inspect them all over the next week, then introduce humidity back into the coolers and check again regularly for mold before restocking the humidor. Obviously I’ll clean the humi thoroughly. Any tips for my strategy here?

Funny enough smoking this cigar it has a perfect draw and requires no relights. So even though the humidity dropped back to a reasonable level, about 65%, the damage has been done.

 

[Smoke Wagon]

The good news is the lower humidity shouldn’t allow more mold growth. Hope you caught it in time.

 

[onestrangeone]

Sounds like you’ve done everything you needed to. You didn’t mention how long the spike lasted but once everything acclimate’s again you should be good.
Mold spores are literally everywhere, all you can do is keep ‘em in a dormant state.

 

[Tbaggins]

Sounds like you’ve done everything you needed to. You didn’t mention how long the spike lasted but once everything acclimate’s again you should be good.
Mold spores are literally everywhere, all you can do is keep ‘em in a dormant state.

I think it was 24 hours, maybe more, honestly I can’t remember. But yeah, I hope they stay dormant!

 

[pantsBoots]

I think it was 24 hours, maybe more, honestly I can’t remember. But yeah, I hope they stay dormant!

I would think you were having high humidity issues much longer than 24 hours if you are finding mold. I'm a coolerdor man myself and what I had heard and always remember is that the plastic cannot adsorb and emit moisture in balance with the cigars and cigar boxes inside the coolerdor like Spanish Cedar or other woods can. Plastic can be considered non-porous for our purposes here. If you add too much moisture, the coolerdor material is no help in buffering the RH.

What "strength" Boveda do you have in the cooler and how many of them do you have in there?

I've inadvertently used Bovedas for years as they come free so often in trades and purchases, but I don't care for them. I haven't found them to work well at removing moisture from the air compared to their ability to contribute moisture, "two way moisture control" advertisements notwithstanding. Sure, they eventually dry out and can be recharged by sitting them in a Tupperware with a moist sponge, but it takes a long time. I pretty much use them exclusively for pipe tobacco tins I am not smoking through quickly enough.

I have a 70quart cooler with two small nylon bags filled with heartfelt beads ( Humidor Humidity Beads Small Mesh Bag from Heartfelt Industries - https://www.heartfeltindustries.com/proddetail.asp?prod=DB_1&cat=14 ). It's been going strong for, I guess, about 10 years. I have a small Western Digital hygrometer in there that displays the current temp and RH as well as the max and min since I last cleared those values. Helps me see if any issues presented themselves. After a couple years, however, I found myself barely checking it because coolers are fairly well sealed and do not lose much moisture at all (that goes doubly for a Yeti). I probably add a little water to the beads every year or year and a half. When I do, I only add enough to wet about 70% of the beads, to allow them the capacity to remove moisture from the coolerdor environment, should it get too moist in there.

I have found a few very light dustings of mold here and there in a couple tubos, but nothing significant.

Incidentally, a crowded humidor holds moisture better than one with lots of empty space, provided you are maintaining an appropriate RH. Nothing better than a cigar adopting the same RH as hundreds of its cigar neighbors.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I had this happen one time in a very large cooler or. I used floral some with PG. Got lazy and added too much water. I also am no fan of boveda packs. I found the best solution was to monitor things on a more regular basis, make sure I didn't add too much water and keep the drain nozzle open to allow some exchange of air. Never had a problem again.

 

[fMf Piper]

I have a 70quart cooler with two small nylon bags filled with heartfelt beads ( Humidor Humidity Beads Small Mesh Bag from Heartfelt Industries

I have a coolidor with multiple 69% Boeveda packs, and fortunately have not had any mold issues. However, I have heard so many say they use the heartfelt beads and love them.

Not to derail the thread, but @pantsBoots do you use the 65% or the 70% beads in your coolidor?

 

[Tbaggins]

I would think you were having high humidity issues much longer than 24 hours if you are finding mold. I'm a coolerdor man myself and what I had heard and always remember is that the plastic cannot adsorb and emit moisture in balance with the cigars and cigar boxes inside the coolerdor like Spanish Cedar or other woods can. Plastic can be considered non-porous for our purposes here. If you add too much moisture, the coolerdor material is no help in buffering the RH.

What "strength" Boveda do you have in the cooler and how many of them do you have in there?

I've inadvertently used Bovedas for years as they come free so often in trades and purchases, but I don't care for them. I haven't found them to work well at removing moisture from the air compared to their ability to contribute moisture, "two way moisture control" advertisements notwithstanding. Sure, they eventually dry out and can be recharged by sitting them in a Tupperware with a moist sponge, but it takes a long time. I pretty much use them exclusively for pipe tobacco tins I am not smoking through quickly enough.

I have a 70quart cooler with two small nylon bags filled with heartfelt beads ( Humidor Humidity Beads Small Mesh Bag from Heartfelt Industries - https://www.heartfeltindustries.com/proddetail.asp?prod=DB_1&cat=14 ). It's been going strong for, I guess, about 10 years. I have a small Western Digital hygrometer in there that displays the current temp and RH as well as the max and min since I last cleared those values. Helps me see if any issues presented themselves. After a couple years, however, I found myself barely checking it because coolers are fairly well sealed and do not lose much moisture at all (that goes doubly for a Yeti). I probably add a little water to the beads every year or year and a half. When I do, I only add enough to wet about 70% of the beads, to allow them the capacity to remove moisture from the coolerdor environment, should it get too moist in there.

I have found a few very light dustings of mold here and there in a couple tubos, but nothing significant.

Incidentally, a crowded humidor holds moisture better than one with lots of empty space, provided you are maintaining an appropriate RH. Nothing better than a cigar adopting the same RH as hundreds of its cigar neighbors.
View attachment 204921

Thanks for the reply. I had a small bowl of squizzy cat crystals that I definitely overfilled, along with four 65% boveds packs. It has worked fine for the last several years but I overfilled and recalibrated my hygrometer about the same time. Which was a really stupid mistake. I’ll keep what I found had mold and wiped in a yeti cooler and the rest back in my cleaned Winador.

 

[pantsBoots]

I have a coolidor with multiple 69% Boeveda packs, and fortunately have not had any mold issues. However, I have heard so many say they use the heartfelt beads and love them.

Not to derail the thread, but @pantsBoots do you use the 65% or the 70% beads in your coolidor?

I believe I have 62% if memory serves (it's been years). 65% is my highest RH that I'm comfortable with and 62% is my rough target, both from a mold standpoint for boxes I'm aging long term (15+ years) as well as from a smoke-now standpoint for boxes I'm aging shorter term (5-10 years, I start sampling after 5 years and when the cigars are ready, I tear through the box).

I spoke with a gentleman on the Friends of Habanos forum years ago who is very knowledgeable about adsorption, absorption, and the various materials used for humidity control. Before he lost me in the finer points of vapor pressure and the ideal gas law, the general idea was it didn't matter so much which RH value was assigned to the beads you bought because humidity control was more about how much water was being added to the system and how much was leaking out.

Getting humidity fine-tuned for the long term takes some time if you're doing a passive system like beads (which has served me well in over 15 years of cigar smoking). It's a quicker process with coolers since there is no wood to season, but it does depend on the condition of the boxes and cigars you are putting in there. If you have a humidor/cooler steady at your target RH, and then add several boxes of overhumidified cigars, you've just introduced excessive moisture to your system. For that reason, I've tended to add boxes to the cooler one at a time, though that's easy since I filled it for the first time - I finish boxes slowly, so just add one in when an empty box comes out.

 

[pantsBoots]

Thanks for the reply. I had a small bowl of squizzy cat crystals that I definitely overfilled, along with four 65% boveds packs. It has worked fine for the last several years but I overfilled and recalibrated my hygrometer about the same time. Which was a really stupid mistake. I’ll keep what I found had mold and wiped in a yeti cooler and the rest back in my cleaned Winador.

I have read that Boveda are good for calibrating hygrometers, but I have never checked mine. The numbers seem reasonable and when they register a spike up, I find my cigars are wetter, so the cheapo hygrometers win again!

You might get a second hygrometer so you can put them on opposite sides of the cooler and use dry beads or kitty litter. Resist the urge to check the cooler every day, but check it once or twice per week. Let it wallow around the low 60s% RH for a few months, and when it starts persistently staying in the upper 50s, begin slowly introducing water to the kitty litter. In 6 months to a year, you could have something very stable.

I'm also not a cigar vendor, but I would consider adding boxes to the cooler to fill it up as funds allow. Boxes of cigars are better buffers against extreme RH swings than air is.

 

[fMf Piper]

Thanks, @pantsBoots, this is very helpful informaiton. I like a lower humidity as well, and I think 65% was lowest I saw for sale on heartfelts' website, so that was what I was leaning towards getting.

 

[kcghost]

Well, your damage control seemed to be proper, but time will tell if it was effective.

 

[Coreios]

I'm a tupperdor 69% Boveda guy, never had a mold issue in Ky humidity. Never used a cooler though just seen others using them.

 

[fMf Piper]

I'm a tupperdor 69% Boveda guy, never had a mold issue in Ky humidity. Never used a cooler though just seen others using them.

I use a cooler with 69% Bovedas (have about 150 cigars in it), and so far no issues here in humid KY either.

However, I am considering the 65% heartfelts beads as the Boveda packs seem to loose their accuracy after several recharges. So far, from what I have read, the heartfelts beads last a long time.

 

[BiginV3gas]

For wooden desktop humidors, which are not as airtight, I've always used 72% to 75% Boveda, depending on just how "leaky" I knew that box to be. I've not had a problem with mold using Boveda packs this way. The one time that I did get mold, I attempted to combine a silica bead device with the Boveda. When the box was closed, the silica bead pack was brought in close proximity to cigars without the synthetic wrappers, and it caused mold to originate there. The lesson learned was not combining other methods with Boveda. I've been fine cramming as many as six of the 60gr. Boveda packs in a desktop humidor. For gasketed coolers like you're using, with less potential for leak, I wouldn't exceed a 69% Boveda. I really don't think the Boveda packet was your problem, unless you went too high on the RH.

 

[BiginV3gas]

I forgot to add that I shy away from silica in my cigar humidors for another reason. It's just my opinion, but the silica methods seem to absorb the "essence" of cedar and tobacco in mine, and I would rather have both in abundance.

 

[NomadOrb]

I have a mostly sealed wine cooler and use 65% boveda. That's as high as I'm willing to go, but I think I can get away with 62%.

I've had a couple or cigars mold on me, but that was when I had some air flow problems, that's all fixed now and I haven't had a mold issue for a couple of years. Knock on wood.

 

[Coreios]

I use a cooler with 69% Bovedas (have about 150 cigars in it), and so far no issues here in humid KY either.

However, I am considering the 65% heartfelts beads as the Boveda packs seem to loose their accuracy after several recharges. So far, from what I have read, the heartfelts beads last a long time.

I had one Boveda lose its charge and I figured out it was my fault. This might not work for everyone but for me, if I charge it to 90% its fine. I always leave 1 big lump the size of a coffee bean. I even fixed the one that lost it charge by letting it dry out until it had a knot and putting it back. I've had 5 of them, and the oldest is about 10 years old. Only threw 1 away because I ripped it trying to dry it after a recharge accidentally. As for the beads, I've never used them so I don't really know, Ive heard of them and seen them before.

 

[fMf Piper]

I had one Boveda lose its charge and I figured out it was my fault. This might not work for everyone but for me, if I charge it to 90% its fine. I always leave 1 big lump the size of a coffee bean. I even fixed the one that lost it charge by letting it dry out until it had a knot and putting it back. I've had 5 of them, and the oldest is about 10 years old. Only threw 1 away because I ripped it trying to dry it after a recharge accidentally. As for the beads, I've never used them so I don't really know, Ive heard of them and seen them before.

Good to know.

I have had the current Boveda packs packs for about four years, and have never let them go dry. Usually, when I notice they are getting stiff, I put a small jar of distilled water in the bottom of the coolidor for a couple of weeks. Once the packs are plump again, I just take out the water.

I forget where I read they will slowly lose their accuracy, but mine seem to be keeping the humidity right in the range, with some variance for temperature.

I priced the heartfelft beads, and they are reasonable, but I am just going to stick with my Boveda packs for now. No reason to fix what isn't broken.

 

[Coreios]

Good to know.

I have had the current Boveda packs packs for about four years, and have never let them go dry. Usually, when I notice they are getting stiff, I put a small jar of distilled water in the bottom of the coolidor for a couple of weeks. Once the packs are plump again, I just take out the water.

I forget where I read they will slowly lose their accuracy, but mine seem to be keeping the humidity right in the range, with some variance for temperature.

I priced the heartfelft beads, and they are reasonable, but I am just going to stick with my Boveda packs for now. No reason to fix what isn't broken.

Yeah Bovedas are great even if it fails eventually you more than got your moneys worth. I just fill up a Tupperware container with distilled water and leave them for a few days. But I have done what you do and it works well too.