NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jihiggs

looked through my humidors to recharg my beads and I noticed the wood next to my humidity beads was covered in white specs. its mold!!!!!!!!!!!! my other humidor has the same. I put all the cigars in a ziplock to isolate them from the rest, now I have to get the wood clean, I hope there is no mold on the beads too. im thinking ill dry the wood out and then put it in the sun for a few hours, then hopefully the mold will be killed. I really want to avoid any chemicals.

Lasabar

j0z3r

Don't just put it in the sun, you can't be assured it will kill the mold, and I personally wouldn't count on it. Mix up some white vinegar and warm water in a ratio of about 5:1 (water to vinegar) and wipe down the interior surface, then put it in the sun. The vinegar will kill off the mold and will evaporate without leaving a scent.

Lasabar

j0z3r:

Don't just put it in the sun, you can't be assured it will kill the mold, and I personally wouldn't count on it. Mix up some white vinegar and warm water in a ratio of about 5:1 (water to vinegar) and wipe down the interior surface, then put it in the sun. The vinegar will kill off the mold and will evaporate without leaving a scent.

I believe that also Kuzi recommended baking your humidor/cigars to 180*F... I don't know if it was beetles or mold he was talking about, so don't quote me....

kuzi16

rwheelwright

I'm not positive but I think you might be OK as long as there ins't mold on the cigars.

phobicsquirrel

Mold from beads? wow, haven't heard of that one. Well hopefully all goes well. When was the last time you charged the beads?

jihiggs

probly been a couple weeks, might be time to buy a new jug of distilled water, had it for a while. thats the only thing I can think of. I hadnt checked it often enough, when I looked at the humidor it had gotten down to 62%, probly the only thing that saved my cigars, if it was higher I might have had a giant petri dish.

clearlysuspect

I have 2 rectangular humidifiers mounted to the inside top of my humidor.  When I went to recharge them a month ago, I found both yellow and green mold.  Scared to death and not knowing what to do I relied on my professional training in aviation maintenance.  On sensitive electronic components, when we find mold, corrosion, etc., we use isopropyl alcohol diluted with water to the lowest ratio possible to remove the corrosion or mold.  If the ratio is not strong enough, you add a little more alcohol until it does.  Well, I didn't have any alcohol lying around so I diluted Listerine into distilled water at a 1:50 ratio.  I seems to be working out really well so far.  No mold, no odors, no damage to the humidor.

rusirius

clearlysuspect:

I have 2 rectangular humidifiers mounted to the inside top of my humidor.  When I went to recharge them a month ago, I found both yellow and green mold.  Scared to death and not knowing what to do I relied on my professional training in aviation maintenance.  On sensitive electronic components, when we find mold, corrosion, etc., we use isopropyl alcohol diluted with water to the lowest ratio possible to remove the corrosion or mold.  If the ratio is not strong enough, you add a little more alcohol until it does.  Well, I didn't have any alcohol lying around so I diluted Listerine into distilled water at a 1:50 ratio.  I seems to be working out really well so far.  No mold, no odors, no damage to the humidor.

No offense intended, but I can't imagine letting listerine anywhere NEAR my cigars... That stuff smells RANK... One of my neighbors insists that it's the best "mosquito repellent" ever... They keep a bottle of the stuff on their porch and "spray down" with it when they sit out... During the summer I can smell that crap all the way at my house even OVER a cigar! It's horrid!

rusirius

Oh, and as for the OP... I dunno what coulda caused that... Usually you don't see mold until very high humidity / heat... If you were in the 75-80% range and running like 80+ degrees I'd fully expect a petri dish... Otherwise I really don't know how it could have bloomed... Have you tested your hygrometer lately? Is it a large humidor? Do you perhaps need a small fan to move the air around a bit? (I use an "Oust" battery operated fan in my large footlocker humi. It runs a few seconds every 10 minutes i think... and without the scent of course!!!) Without it I can get some really dry areas and some really humid areas because of the volume of it. Where is the humi located? Is it somewhere where it might get direct sunlight and be heating up inside or anything like that?

jihiggs

it has been very hot, up to 83 lately, nothing I can do to help that. two years now I have dealt with the high heat and never had a problem. humidity was actually low, unless some how my beads AND 2 of my hygrometers malfuntioned I dont think this is wrong. my large humidor had mold built up in the crevice where my top tray sits, it has a fan in it, the smaller one does not. the smaller one had mold on the side wall next to my beads and the lid. now that I think about it, a fan would not be a good thing if you had spores floating around looking for a home.

clearlysuspect

rusirius:

clearlysuspect:

I have 2 rectangular humidifiers mounted to the inside top of my humidor.  When I went to recharge them a month ago, I found both yellow and green mold.  Scared to death and not knowing what to do I relied on my professional training in aviation maintenance.  On sensitive electronic components, when we find mold, corrosion, etc., we use isopropyl alcohol diluted with water to the lowest ratio possible to remove the corrosion or mold.  If the ratio is not strong enough, you add a little more alcohol until it does.  Well, I didn't have any alcohol lying around so I diluted Listerine into distilled water at a 1:50 ratio.  I seems to be working out really well so far.  No mold, no odors, no damage to the humidor.

No offense intended, but I can't imagine letting listerine anywhere NEAR my cigars... That stuff smells RANK... One of my neighbors insists that it's the best "mosquito repellent" ever... They keep a bottle of the stuff on their porch and "spray down" with it when they sit out... During the summer I can smell that crap all the way at my house even OVER a cigar! It's horrid!

Mixed in a Ratio of 1:50 with distilled water you can't smell it at all. Trust me. I understand that cigars are extremely absorbant and I wouldn't put something that smells of listerine near my cigars either.

phobicsquirrel

clearlysuspect:

rusirius:

clearlysuspect:

I have 2 rectangular humidifiers mounted to the inside top of my humidor.  When I went to recharge them a month ago, I found both yellow and green mold.  Scared to death and not knowing what to do I relied on my professional training in aviation maintenance.  On sensitive electronic components, when we find mold, corrosion, etc., we use isopropyl alcohol diluted with water to the lowest ratio possible to remove the corrosion or mold.  If the ratio is not strong enough, you add a little more alcohol until it does.  Well, I didn't have any alcohol lying around so I diluted Listerine into distilled water at a 1:50 ratio.  I seems to be working out really well so far.  No mold, no odors, no damage to the humidor.

No offense intended, but I can't imagine letting listerine anywhere NEAR my cigars... That stuff smells RANK... One of my neighbors insists that it's the best "mosquito repellent" ever... They keep a bottle of the stuff on their porch and "spray down" with it when they sit out... During the summer I can smell that crap all the way at my house even OVER a cigar! It's horrid!

Mixed in a Ratio of 1:50 with distilled water you can't smell it at all. Trust me. I understand that cigars are extremely absorbant and I wouldn't put something that smells of listerine near my cigars either.

I don't know, I love the vanill/mint listerine, that would be a good cigar!

jihiggs

blech, what happend to the puke emoticon?

clearlysuspect

Alright. Well, my method didn't work out very well. Mold is back. I've isolated all my cigars and I guess I'll try the vinegar method this time. Am I supposed to clean the entire inside of the humidor with the vinegar water or just the affected area?

laker1963

clearlysuspect:

Alright. Well, my method didn't work out very well. Mold is back. I've isolated all my cigars and I guess I'll try the vinegar method this time. Am I supposed to clean the entire inside of the humidor with the vinegar water or just the affected area?

You should do the whole surface. Mold spreads using spores and your whole Huni should be considered affected with these spores. If you wipe the whole surface and make sure you get the vinegar into the corners and into any cracks, crevices or seams or you may very well have mold come back in the future. Good luck, if you are dilligent you will kill off the spores.

clearlysuspect

laker1963:

clearlysuspect:

Alright. Well, my method didn't work out very well. Mold is back. I've isolated all my cigars and I guess I'll try the vinegar method this time. Am I supposed to clean the entire inside of the humidor with the vinegar water or just the affected area?

You should do the whole surface. Mold spreads using spores and your whole Huni should be considered affected with these spores. If you wipe the whole surface and make sure you get the vinegar into the corners and into any cracks, crevices or seams or you may very well have mold come back in the future. Good luck, if you are dilligent you will kill off the spores.

Cool. Thanks for the info!

Theedge

Would using a propylene glycol solution for your humidty source have prevented this problem?  Such as the solution from Xikar?  It says it contains an anti fungal agent.  It also is formulated to run at 70% humidity.  So far I've been very impressed with the solution.

 

clearlysuspect

Theedge:

Would using a propylene glycol solution for your humidty source have prevented this problem?  Such as the solution from Xikar?  It says it contains an anti fungal agent.  It also is formulated to run at 70% humidity.  So far I've been very impressed with the solution.

 

Do you have a good link for a website where a propylene glycol solution can be purchased????

niz33

If you are going to dry out the wood go ahead and use STERI-FAB its the only thing I use to wipe down anything that goes inside my humidor and I mean everything. It has a strong smell like alcohol but it goes away within seconds of it drying. LOOK it Up. Oh and I also put a drop or two in my electric humi-care.

Theedge

clearlysuspect:

Theedge:

Would using a propylene glycol solution for your humidty source have prevented this problem?  Such as the solution from Xikar?  It says it contains an anti fungal agent.  It also is formulated to run at 70% humidity.  So far I've been very impressed with the solution.

 

Do you have a good link for a website where a propylene glycol solution can be purchased????

You can just go on Amazon or ebay and search for Xikar solution and find what ever deal looks best to you.  I see you can purchase it direct as well: http://www.xikar.com/product_humidification.asp

I've not figured out what the best deal is yet.