Mould!

[Lads2000]

This thread has come at the right time for me. I found Mold at the weekend on one of my cigars a culebras. It was in it's coffin and then in the original box so I'm hoping that this contained the mold as all of my other cigars appear to be clean. I have removed the offending article and going to sort it out this weekend.

I think this is because my humi has been slightly over humified for a while. In fact I have been struggling to get it below 70%. I currently use two digital hygros one in the singles draw and one in the bottom box area and been using gel as my hydration method. This sits in the singles draw as I noticed this seemed to give the best hydration across the whole of the humi. Once I found the mold I removed the hydration pack and it has not been in the humi for over a week and although the humidity has droped a bit it is still showing as 70% down from 71%. I'm at a loss as to how I can get this down further. I ended up taking the hydration out during the summer as again I felt that maybe it was over humidifying and this took a week for the levels to drop suffeciently. However I also find the singles draw drops sharply and the boxes stay a bit more constant. If I add the humidifier in the sigle section this does have an effect on the bottom box section though. I'm really struggling with this any ideas?

[Puff Scotty]

OK, I've just rubbed them down with surgical spirit. So far so good. I'll let you know how I get on

I would have drunk that to kill the mold spores in my tummy .
Just kidding... Ithink?

[Puff Scotty]

Yes. It's nature's way of doing certain things and a little beyond our total control.

No. I'm just a graphics designer.

And no you don't have to put up with it. You just have to keep your humi, boxes and tup well monitored. Make sure your humi's kept clean. Make sure your hands are as clean as possible when you touch your cigars. Decide on the humidity you best like to smoke your stocks at .... and go from there.

Just a graphics designer ! But a voice of sense & reason in the cacaphony of sound.....

[bambini]

OK, I've just rubbed them down with surgical spirit. So far so good. I'll let you know how I get on

[ACMCC]

+ 1 Arf, All the details and topics around mould etc. have been done before so plenty of extra info on the board from a year or so ago.

Reloading Boveda/Humi sachets is also very easy and well reported, pop it in a tupperware container on something with distilled water in the base of the container, leave for a week or so and it's puffed up full, I tested a load a while ago and works perfect - 69% spot on, use about 8 or so, 10ish recharges in a year.

I removed all my humidifiers as they tended to fluctuate more, control of moisture/ventilation/temperature together is your best bet, I know no more than others with regard to mould on cigars, but am a registered Damp/Dry rot/wet rot/infestation specialist in the building industry (Done loads of courses ) and it's a similar situation, there are billions of spores in the air everywhere! brush em out, drop the RH, watch the temp, smoke them ones, and you should be fine.

[tippexx]

So what you're saying is that mould will grow whether we like it or not, and we should all just learn to put up and shut up?

Arf, are you some sort of mycologist or summat?

Yes. It's nature's way of doing certain things and a little beyond our total control.

No. I'm just a graphics designer.

And no you don't have to put up with it. You just have to keep your humi, boxes and tup well monitored. Make sure your humi's kept clean. Make sure your hands are as clean as possible when you touch your cigars. Decide on the humidity you best like to smoke your stocks at .... and go from there.

[bambini]

So what you're saying is that mould will grow whether we like it or not, and we should all just learn to put up and shut up?

Arf, are you some sort of mycologist or summat?

[tippexx]

....monitoring & good housekeeping gives you the best return for your effort

.... yep. The basic's of medicine too.

There is no such thing as tobacco mold, there is only mold(s) on tobacco.

Molds are fungi and fungi's spread as spores. There are an estimated half million species of fungi and these cover every climatic niche of the planet. The vast majority of fungi feed on dead or decaying organic matter ? they are one of the principle agents responsible for the natural recycling of dead plant and animal life.

There are 4 critical requirements for mold growth.
1) available mold spores
2) available mold food
3) appropriate temperatures
4) preferred moisture
The removal of any one of these items will prohibit mold growth, but it will never elliminate it.

Ranging in size from 3 to 40 microns (human hair is 100-150 microns), mold spores are ubiquitous ? they are literally everywhere ? so, trying to control mold growth through the elimination of mold spores is not feasible.

Almost any substance that contains carbon atoms (organic substance) will provide sufficient nutrients to support mold growth. Even the oil from your skin that is left when you touch an otherwise unsuitable surface, like stainless steel, or the soap residue left from a good cleaning will provide sufficient nutrients to support the growth of some molds. And many of the most common materials found in homes like wood, paper and organic fibers are among the most preferred of mold nutrients.

Molds grow very well at the same temperatures that humans prefer. In addition, anyone who has cleaned out their refrigerator quickly realises that temperatures close to freezing are not cold enough to prevent mold growth and temperatures that are much warmer than humans prefer, like those of the tropics, will grow abundant quantities of mold. Therefore, it is not feasible to control mold growth through the control of temperature.

Molds, in common with most organisms, require moisture for growth. Mycologists (fungi scientists) refer to 'water activity' when describing the required conditions for mold growth. The various species of mold have different water activity requirements. A material's 'water activity' is equivalent to the relative humidity of the air that would be in equilibrium with the material at that material moisture content. The vast majority of mold species require 'water activity' levels that are equivalent to material equilibrium moisture contents corresponding to relative humidities of at least 70%.

So. Mold spores are so numerous that they can't be eliminated. Natures function for mold is that it should grow-on, and so decompose dead organic substances. Molds are tolerant to to a wide range of temperatures. Molds thrive on hosts when the humidity characteristic of the host and it's humidity environment are equal ..... sound familiar.

[daverave999]

I'm on my phone so can't link you, but search my blog for Boveda as I posted about recharging them a while back. The idea is to put it in a high humidity environment, and it sucks it back into the pouch. I'm still using my originals I bought well over a year ago.

[bambini]

Hi again, thanks for your request .
Room temperature variation can have a disastrous effect on your humi. I can't put a humi in my smoking den yet because of fluctuations.
Go steady on buying new kit (unless of course you want to ) 'til you've exhausted the possibilities of what you have. Again, a discussion opener on what's best. I still think proper monitoring & good housekeeping gives you the best return for your effort, just my opinion....

Now I likes the sounds of that - saves my money Nevertheless, I think I may well need to at least buy some 65% beads as I'm pretty convinced my smokes are still a little overhumifidied.

[Puff Scotty]

Time to invest in another method of humidifying methinks. And a digital hygro.

I've also had to turn down the heating in the room that my humi is kept in - I noticed that it was getting pretty warm in there, so I suppose that hasn't helped.

Hi again, thanks for your request .
Room temperature variation can have a disastrous effect on your humi. I can't put a humi in my smoking den yet because of fluctuations.
Go steady on buying new kit (unless of course you want to ) 'til you've exhausted the possibilities of what you have. Again, a discussion opener on what's best. I still think proper monitoring & good housekeeping gives you the best return for your effort, just my opinion....

[Watkins]

No need to apologise - just 'point' away, but do get it right!
This is what you said:



and as for another thread, I didn't 'tell' you anything, it was a suggestion because Bambini had asked us not to go off topic, but you may not have seen that: so ignorance is bliss I suppose!

Yes it has worked for me when restoring an old humidor, the wood. which is why I said that's the most I'd ever do on my initial post. I didn't at any point mean he should do it no matter what. It's just the most I'd ever do and he may of wanted to do so just to put his mind to rest.

I agree with not getting off topic however I had no intention of talking about this as it was merely to try and help not a form of analysis. When not going off topic he was referring to the plume/mold debate which was clearly off topic as it had already been outlined that this was mold. This was somewhat different as it was at least dealing with mold, the threads topic.

Anyway I have no intention of arguing about this and in all honesty it seems as though you know more about it than myself, it has however worked which is why I recommended doing it if it must be done.

Bambini I'm sorry if you felt I personally went off topic but let me know, as for what I'd do personally now is really try and keep the temperature constant, place a piece of veneer over the humidifier until some 65% heartfelt beads arrive. ( I happen to use these and can state they are very good at keeping humidity constant however would order the size up at least of beads due to some cracking and much less monitoring you have to carry out due to have more)

[Aussiewaz]

There are posts on recharging Bovedas.

[bambini]

Am I correct in thinking you had Boveda in there too? Try with just the Boveda?

Not a bad idea. The only thing that puts me off Boveda is that they are not reusable. The only reason I have one is because it was a stop gap in the biscuit-tin-ador until I got my proper humi. Once I got the humi, I figured I may as well chuck the boveda in there too.

So I could use the boveda on its own, but that would only be a short-term solution: once the boveda dies I'd want to replace it with beads, crystals or a humiditube of sorts.

[Aussiewaz]

I've also had to turn down the heating in the room that my humi is kept in - I noticed that it was getting pretty warm in there, so I suppose that hasn't helped.

It would be one of the major contributors methinks.