Mold....DAMN HOW I HATE YOU!

[stevef2005]

So. I positively identified a cigar with mold on it. Nice circle that looks like cobwebs. Of course it happened to be in the box that held cigars from that special island. I digress on that though.

I have a few other cigars that look to possibly have mold on them. Of course all of the ones that do are all cigars of the same type. I had some RyJ and punches that have no visible sign of mold or even plume. I have some others that looks like it could be plum. It wipes away easily and is very consistent across the cigar. What has me worried though is a couple of the sticks have it thicker in certain areas.

What are my options here?? I don't want to assume it is plum and toss them back into the humidor just to dig around in 6 months and have a full blown field of white in my humidor. I also don't want to toss them if it is plum. I can post up some pics tomorrow but what are my options?? I read online that a good hard freeze will kill the mold. I am open to tossing them in the freezer if need be.

Any advice??

I guess I should also mention that the Punch that had mold was in a tube. I took the other punches that were in the tubes out just in case that had something too do with it.

[bobarian]

You're safer assuming that its all mold. Remove all the cigars and clean the humidor using rubbing alcohol or a weak bleach solution. Wipe off each cigar with a tissue dampened with the same solution. Only cigars with mold in the foot need to be tossed. Otherwise you are good to go.

[CigarNut]

I prefer to wipe the cigars with a tissue dampened with distilled water rather than bleach or alcohol. Be careful with the wrappers and wipe in the direction of the roll, not against it.

[Brlesq]

If the mold is white, you can save the cigars if it is only on the wrapper. (If the mold is blue or green, toss them. And as mentioned above, if its on the foot, then it has traveled up into the cigar and again, you should toss it.)

I use isopropyl alcohol, which can be bought at any grocery or drug store for about $2. Before people start recommending high proof liquor . . . don't. Liquor has other ingredients, including sugars, that can cause harm later on.

A gentle wipe down of the cigars, and a thorough wipe down of the humidor, should fix the problem. The tubes are a loss, toss them right away. Keep this humidor at 65% humidity going forward to inhibit future mold growth. You should be fine.

[stevef2005]

Originally Posted by Brlesq

If the mold is white, you can save the cigars if it is only on the wrapper. (If the mold is blue or green, toss them. And as mentioned above, if its on the foot, then it has traveled up into the cigar and again, you should toss it.)

I use isopropyl alcohol, which can be bought at any grocery or drug store for about $2. Before people start recommending high proof liquor . . . don't. Liquor has other ingredients, including sugars, that can cause harm later on.

A gentle wipe down of the cigars, and a thorough wipe down of the humidor, should fix the problem. The tubes are a loss, toss them right away. Keep this humidor at 65% humidity going forward to inhibit future mold growth. You should be fine.

The actual tubes or cigars in them?? I think the cigars minus the one or two are good. I took them all out of the tubes. I am going to take cedar wrapped cigars out of the cedar.

Thanks everyone for the info. Ill be cleaning up what I can and tossing what I can't.

[jjirons69]

I'd comment to dry box them for a while after wiping. Hard for mold to actively grow when the humidity is on the low side. Also a good idea to keep air circulating, so open the boxes every month or so to let a breathe of fresh air in.

[Krish the Fish]

I had a mold issue in my wineador a few months back. I ended up scrapping all of my HF beads I had used, and separated my cigars into 3 categories: those that didn't have any mold, those that had white mold on the body (none on the foot), and those that had mold on the foot/blue or green mold. When ordering my HCM beads, I asked Michael what I should do, and he recommended wiping down the wineador with a diluted bleach solution, letting it dry, and then reseasoning.

I quarantined the cigars that had mold on the body from the ones that were free and clear (each category in their own tupperware with a boveda, wiped down the mold on body with Tito's vodka, only because I didn't have everclear on hand), and threw away the third category (mold on foot, or colorful mold) while I was seasoning the wineador again. I probably through out 100+ cigars over the past year. But after this, I haven't been touched by mold at all, so I chalk it up as a success.

Interestingly enough, the mold seemed to start with my 2009 box of Anejo 49s. I had a box of RASCC sitting above the box of Anejo, so those seemed to get attacked pretty badly by the mold. But none of the other CCs seemed to get any mold, even beside other cigars that were. And the mold was growing at 65% humidity, I recalibrated my humidor and even still the mold would continue. So my takeaway from the whole ordeal was to not store any more Anejos in my humidor, and that HCM beads rock!

[Brlesq]

Originally Posted by Krish the Fish

I had a mold issue in my wineador a few months back. I ended up scrapping all of my HF beads I had used, and separated my cigars into 3 categories: those that didn't have any mold, those that had white mold on the body (none on the foot), and those that had mold on the foot/blue or green mold. When ordering my HCM beads, I asked Michael what I should do, and he recommended wiping down the wineador with a diluted bleach solution, letting it dry, and then reseasoning.

I quarantined the cigars that had mold on the body from the ones that were free and clear (each category in their own tupperware with a boveda, wiped down the mold on body with Tito's vodka, only because I didn't have everclear on hand), and threw away the third category (mold on foot, or colorful mold) while I was seasoning the wineador again. I probably through out 100+ cigars over the past year. But after this, I haven't been touched by mold at all, so I chalk it up as a success.

Interestingly enough, the mold seemed to start with my 2009 box of Anejo 49s. I had a box of RASCC sitting above the box of Anejo, so those seemed to get attacked pretty badly by the mold. But none of the other CCs seemed to get any mold, even beside other cigars that were. And the mold was growing at 65% humidity, I recalibrated my humidor and even still the mold would continue. So my takeaway from the whole ordeal was to not store any more Anejos in my humidor, and that HCM beads rock!

Anejos are notorious for growing mold. Its always best to remove the cedar sleeve on these right away. Camacho Liberty's are also another known culprit (especially the 2012's), and removing these from their tissue paper and coffins will save a lot of heartache down the road.

[Krish the Fish]

Originally Posted by Brlesq

Anejos are notorious for growing mold. Its always best to remove the cedar sleeve on these right away. Camacho Liberty's are also another known culprit (especially the 2012's), and removing these from their tissue paper and coffins will save a lot of heartache down the road.

Yeah I found that out reading up on it (and them) after I first had the issue. After getting rid of all of them and the whole process though, not a lick of mold! *knock on wood* I think it might have been a combo (for me at least) of having the box at the very top of my wineador, taking the cello off but keeping the cedar on, and keeping them in the box (with the velvet interior). But hey, you live and you learn, right?

[Sadden]

Anything with a cedar sleeve seems to have a tendancy to mold on me.


I have a zero tolerance for mold. Moldy stick get the can.

[Porch Dweller]

Originally Posted by Sadden

Anything with a cedar sleeve seems to have a tendancy to mold on me.

+1.

Any sticks I buy with a cedar sleeve, the first thing I do is remove it.

[czerbe]

That sucks! Sorry to hear about it. What was the % humidity you kept your Box at?