Hey guys, does your box ever smell funny?

I recently seasoned a 500 count humidor that I've had for around six months. I haven't seasoned it until now because we have a humidity problem in our area, and even unseasoned and with several small packets of desiccant it is still extremely difficult to get the RH much below 75 in the summer (I use two hygrometers for added accuracy). I figured that there was no reason to add extra moisture to the interior and hoped that the wood might absorb some excess humidity. Well, with winter coming I decided to season the interior by wiping it out first with a clean cloth, then using a lightly-dampend cloth using distilled water. Several hours later, I noticed that the interior had that nice, strong cedar smell like it had when I first purchased it.
Now, several days later and with my cigars in place, I've noticed a smell I've never encountered before in this or any other humidor. It smells like, well, it smells like a freshly painted room, you know, that fresh paint smell, like a can of interior wall paint. Which of course begs the question(s), "was my cloth/water clean? Does it have any paint inside of the box? Have I painted lately?" The answers to the above questions all point to something that I am at a loss to explain. The smell is strongest deep in the interior, with my head in the box. The smell stays with me, even after a spiced steak dinner, I can still "remember-smell" it quite easily. I removed the trays and aimed a fan at the inside to attempt to air it out, but the smell is still there. Before this the only smell I noticed was cedar and tobacco. Could I simply be smelling a more intense cedar smell from the damped wood? Is this normal? If not, what do I do? You can imagine my fear:what if the cigars take on this smell/taste?

I have read that "green" cigars can cause an ammonia smell in a humidor. Could the seasoning cause the now-dampened wood to released pent up odours?

[LostAbbott]

Let it air out for a while, if you are still having problems getting humidity out of it, a chest freezer or similar would do a great job of drying it out.

How long has it sat? Have you had cigars in it before? You might want to try one of those odor absorbing gels that they sell for closets...

[Blak Smyth]

Wow this title caught my attention.
My box has never smelled funny though.

[DPD6030]

That title is classic

Can't say I've ever smelled strong paint smell or any strange smell other than laquer

[N2 GOLD]

Originally Posted by Blak Smyth

Wow this title caught my attention.
My box has never smelled funny though.

[CigarNut]

Just for clarification: could the smell have been more like an ammonia smell? Young cigars give off ammonia as they age.

[loki]

did you do the sniff test before you stuck it in?












wait what are we talking about here

I've had cigars in it almost up to capacity for the six months prior to seasoning it the other day. It *could* be some kind of diluted ammonia smell but to me it smells just like a can of interior house paint. I'm thinking that it is coming from the cedar because when I was younger and didn't know that cedar was toxic, I sanded a piece and got sickly-nauseous with a head ache. When airing it out today with the fan, the smell filled the room and I started getting that same sickly and head-achy feeling as I experienced when younger, albeit much less intense. Maybe the seasoning brought out that (absorbed) ammonia smell from the wood, and I'm perceiving it as a paint smell? Pure ammonia is a gas and it combines easily with water, so maybe the dampening combined with something absorbed into the wood and is now releasing it. Does this sound reasonable to anyone else?
Come to think of it, I used to raise rabbits, which have a high-ammonia content to their urine. I remember whenever their old bedding got wet it just reeked of ammonia so maybe it is ammonia after all.

[alwayslit]

A water and vinegar solution might help

[Aero95]

Originally Posted by alwayslit

A water and vinegar solution might help

[688sonarmen]

Are you running fans in it? And are there any lacquered boxes in it as well. The only other thing I could think of is glue, but that does not make sense since this happened after you placed boxes inside. So I would think it would have to be something that changed from the time you seasoned it to when you smelled it, leaving only the items placed inside.

Only after working out!

[Steve]

It's getting pretty personal around here...







I have never noticed anything.