Cigar guys - need your help with some humidor questions
 

Wife bought me a nice humidor and cigars for Christmas.

I've been monitering the humidity, its always been stable at 70 according to the analog gauge.

Discovered the other day that some of the cigars on the lower level, nearest the humidifier thingy, had some fuzzy mold on them!

I tossed them just to be safe. Wiped the inside of the humidor down and let it air out for a few days.

Now, I have a few questions:

1. Why did they get moldy? How can I prevent it from happening?

2. How should I condition the humidor? There is a lot of conflicting info out there. Some say to wipe it down/soak the interior with distilled water. Others say that is crazy, will damage the wood. I tend to agree with the latter. Thus far, I've put a dish of water in it and closed the top, that's it.

3. Some sites say to recharge the humidifier with a 50/50 blend of distilled water and polypropene glycol, The PG will help keep the right humidity. Sounds ok to me, but where does one buy PG?

Any other tips?

I'll have to check the bottle when I get home, but I think I use a 70/30 mix of distilled water and glycerin. (Maybe it was polypropene glycol? I'm not sure.)

Anyway, any decent tobacco shop should carry the stuff. My humidor has a nice brass gauge in the underside of the lid and a green-spongy thing next to it that I put the mixture in to keep it humid. I've never done anything to the interior wood (occasionally wipe down the outside with Pledge) and I've never had any mold problems. I just fill the green-spongey thing about once a month.

I agree that you shouldn't wipe down the wood with water, I usually condition a new humidor with a shot glass of distilled water and some sort of wick ( a few cotton balls work well). As for PG, you can buy it at any pharmacy (ask the pharmacist, they use it to mix a lot of medecines) but you'll probably need to buy a pint, which is a lifetime supply. Any cigar shop will sell the mix of 50/50 PG and distilled H2O, which is what you want to end up with.
In terms of your fuzzy cigars, your humidity is too high, no doubt about it. You need to calibrate your hygrometer.....google "Hygrometer salt test" for instructions on doing this. Or, you could upgrade to a digital hygro, which I would recommend. FYI, I keep my cigars (all 1500-2000 of them) at around 66% relative humidity, I find them more enjoyable to smoke at that humidity.

I once bought an ammo box full of stogies from JR Cigar...they had lined the ammo box with cedar. Actually, I've bought more than one...one is now in the trunk of RoninLB's 911 as a tool box, and I still use the other as a humidore...it's works better than my $$$ humidor with the gauge and the green sponge thingie... ;)
SocalSC? Smoke more often! Before the mold hits! :D
Seriously, I suspect there is too much mumbo-jumbo attached to cigars & wine both. The best cigar made is still a smoke, and the finest wine is still booze...

Seriously, the best cigar I ever had was made by a guy who grew his own tobacco and hand-made his own cigars as a hobby, and sold them to the local tobacco store. I think I paid something like $2 a pop.

How come I fking agree with him....something truly must be wrong with me.....

Good info Grant. I've yet to see one of those cutesey little brass hygrometers that's even close to right. The one in my big humidor (500 cigars) reads about 10% low so yours may have been well over 80% and this was the cause of your mold. Get a digital (Radio Shack under $30). You can get by with a tiny bit of mold (referred to as bloom). This is actually somewhat desirable in cigars with some age. But it should accumulate over time not take over your box.

In my 30+ years of cigar smoking here's my take on it. In most areas of the USA you don't need much in the line of humidification (if you keep the box fairly full). Here in Tennessee I used my humidification devices for about 3 weeks this year. In CA you will need more, but not as much as you brobably think. I have had every type of device on the maket from the cheesy green plant foam that comes inside the plastic boxes in your humidor to a $75 Diamond Crown unit that is better but still not very good.

I currently use the plastic boxes that come with you humidor. Inside them I have some gel crystals (Wal Mart plant dept, $5 for a lifetime supply for you & everone in LA) inside the toe from a stocking. They hold more water than anything else & dispense it perfectly. When the humidity drops below 63% soak your crystals, let them drain, wipe the plastic & snap them in. Perfection awaits. I soak them in ordiary tap water and have NEVER had a mold problem. IMHO mold comes from too much water and in the presence of too much water, cannot be prevented. In spring when the temp starts to rise, so will your humidity. When it gets above 70 - 72, pull your humidifiers (the lower level will always be a few points higher than the upper).

I also remove my smokes from the cellophane when I put them in the box. I think they age better that way. And since the very best cigars come with no cello, apparently I'm not alone. My experience is that all but the very best cigars (Padron Anniversario, high end Fuentes & Opus, Cuban Cohibas & Montechristos, etc.) will improve markedly in avout 5-6 weeks in a box without the cellophane. To guage the stage of the cure put the cut end up to your nose (touching) and sniff. When you don't smell much amonia, your cigar has reached it's peak. The top notch cigars come in much closer to perfect.

Happy smoking.

PS to prepare a new box I wipe it down with a damp cloth to get the wood dust out of the box then put about 1/4 tsp on the crystals in a small bowl and add 1 to 1.5 cups water. This will get your box ready in about a week.

Got a place here that is a relative of Fuente. He sells apprentice rolled cigars from the Fuente factory for about a buck a piece. 20-25 in a bundle for $25 bucks. Nothing sweeter than a $2.00 8-5-8

My info is not from a lifetime of personal experience, but it comes from someone who has such experience in making cigars and being one of Cubatobaco's largest dealers. So I'm not that smart on this, I'm just conveying what was imparted unto me.

Mold isn't fatal, wipe it off. Keep your humidity nearer 80% if you can manage it -- the tobacco is moister, burns less/smolders more and is less acrid when burnt.

The gentleman who gave me my 5-month long education on cigars has a walk-in humie with hundreds of thousands of dollars of Cuban and other fine tobaccos, and he keeps it warm and near 80%.

When friends get very nice/expensive cigars and pop them in a box at 70% I cringe... Back when I had 3 humidors running, I'd ask for 2 of their finest/favorite cigars and store them in my highest humidity box for 2 weeks, then get together and they could side-by-side their 68% smoke with my 77-78% smoke. I won the Pepsi Challenge every time.

You'll be able to tell when the smokes are ready by their feeling when squeezed. It takes a while to develop this touch. But you should be doing this whenever you buy your cigars anyway (assuming you're not buying by the box).

Re: taking cigars out of cellophane. Do whatever you like, but store like wrappers together. To wit, don't put those jet black maduro-wrapped cigars on/under the Connecticut shade leaf wrapped babies. The flavors will migrate from one to another somewhat (esp. if you're storing for months). This isn't fatal, but a lot of times people refer to their cigars "aging" when they're just absorbing the qualities of all the other tobacco around it; and the other tobacco is doing the same.

JP

Isn't distilled water a MUST? I thought tap water wouldd cause the mold...

Nope, moisture is moisture. JP, I agree about the different wrapers touching but I don't know about being in the same box. As far as humitity & temp, the suppsed target is 70 & 70. I've had boxes get in the 80's but mold becomes prevalent much above 80. Also a lot of smoke don't like to stay lit when they are that damp. As to curing, the nose doesn't lie. If the ammonia smell is going away, your smokes are improving.

I think there's something to this. I left a couple of good cigars in a ziploc in my golf bag for a month. When I found them they were very soft, but still holding together. What an amazing smoke! Smoldered along for about twice as long as usual and the mouth feel was much mellower.

I can't reliably keep the humidity that high in the humidor, though.

Jon -
I agree; it's tough to maintain that kind of humidity b/c you've really got to "push" water into the air. I'd jury-rigged a little heating element I left in a cup of water in the humie to keep the water warmer and more likely to evap.

Mule -
I'd use distilled water just out of principle. Moisture is moisture, but there are other impurities in regular "tap" water that I wouldn't want to introduce to the closed system of a humidor. YMMV, but distilled water is so cheap, why not use it?

JP

While I can't say that distilled water wouldn't be better, there's a lot nastier stuff coming off the stogies than will over come off of that little bit of water that evaporates in your humidor. I guess you could make a case that over years some chlorine from the water could affect taste but that's a streach. When they moisten the tobacco to make the cigars they use regular old water.

From what I've read, distilled water is used mainly because it doesn't have the minerals and other things that can eventually cause deposits and clog up the little humidifier device.

Sorry for a bump this ancient thread...just my humble observations...
First of all, I will say that I am crazy about my cigars. I have been collecting cigars for quite a few years now and it is my belief that if you are going to invest all of the time and money that we do into our hobby it is worth preserving your investment.
For starters, most people have heard of the 70/70 rule. This rule states that cigars are perfectly kept at 70% humidity and 70 degrees F. While this is not incorrect, it is not my preference. I keep my cigars at 65/65. I do this for a variety of reasons.

-First the temperature
If your cigars get above 70 degrees F you will run the risk of beetles hatching in your cigars (use the search function to see my post about freezing cigars). To be on the safe side, run my humidors at 65 degrees to account for fluctuation in room temperature, sunlight, etc.
- Now for humidity
While cigars may age perfectly at 70% relative humidity (RH from here on) it is my experience that they do not smoke as well at that level. Also if you get a humidity spike you will run the risk of mold growing on your precious smokes. That being said, all of my humidors are kept at 65% RH so I do not run the risk for mold and so that I can pull any stick out of my humidor at any given time and smoke it without needing to dry box it for the night (dry boxing is the process of taking a cigar out of 70% RH and placing it into a dry cigar box or unseasoned humidor for a period of time to allow the stick to dry out just enough to reveal the true potential locked in the cigar/eliminate the risk of the cigar being over humidified and it smoking hot).
I love cooler humidors (Here is a link to the review, if you want to know more about them) https://coolerexp.com/best-cigar-cooler-humidor-review/ They are beautiful pieces; they just never seem to work well for me. I have bought and sold countless numbers of desktop humidors and besides several custom humidors and Daniel Marshal’s desktop line I am largely unimpressed with them. It is my opinion that you will grow out of your desktop quickly and they are far too difficult to regulate. If you want my advice; make a coolidor. They are cheaper, more reliable, and it is easier to expand with a coolidor. That being said, I have several desktops that I love and every cigar smoker should have one good desktop to store their smokes in.