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Humidifier getting dusty/fuzzy??

asolomonasolomon Posts: 128 ✭
in Cigar 101
I have a CCOM 20 ct humidor. Everyone time I take out the puck it came with (not my primary humidification; I have a Drymistat tube in there as well) the screen seems to be covered in a white fuzz. Some distilled water and a soft tissue takes it right out, but I can't help but worry that a) this is preventing my puck from delivering much humidity and b) it might be caused by something wrong inside the humidor. Any thoughts?

Comments

  • MAJORdorMoMAJORdorMo Posts: 356 ✭
    That, my boy, is mold.

    Get rid of the puck. The mistat tube should be more enough.

    Do you know the humidity?

    Take yoru cigars out of there, examine them VERY carefully. Toss out any cigars with mold on em, put the rest in a ziplock bag with a humipillow or the tube. Clean out any mold in the humidor, then you can put them back in with only the dry mistat tube.
  • asolomonasolomon Posts: 128 ✭
    Really? That's strange - my humi's actually been pretty low humidity the last few days (low 60s - trying to get it back up) and never really gone over 70% for any significant length of time. And thankfully it seems that none of the cigars have mold on them. So how would I have gotten mold in the first place?
  • Duder2Duder2 Posts: 926
    Pucks are notorious for mold. A charged drymistat tube should be more than adequate for a 20 count anyway.
  • asolomonasolomon Posts: 128 ✭
    Hmmm if the charged tube is fine for a 20 ct is there any reason why my hygro for the last week or so has been reading low 60s consistently? Granted it's on the other side of the humidor from where my tube is. I use one of them Walmart digital hygros.
  • Russ55Russ55 Posts: 2,765 ✭✭
    asolomon:
    Hmmm if the charged tube is fine for a 20 ct is there any reason why my hygro for the last week or so has been reading low 60s consistently? Granted it's on the other side of the humidor from where my tube is. I use one of them Walmart digital hygros.
    Have you calibrated the Hygrometer?
  • laker1963laker1963 Posts: 5,046
    If you did NOT use distilled water on the puck then that would likely be your mold source. If you also did'nt use distilled water on the tube, I would turf that too and get some beads or gel. And YES check your hygro calibration as it may be telling you lies.
  • Duder2Duder2 Posts: 926
    laker1963:
    If you did NOT use distilled water on the puck then that would likely be your mold source. If you also did'nt use distilled water on the tube, I would turf that too and get some beads or gel. And YES check your hygro calibration as it may be telling you lies.
    Good advice here. I got two of the Springfield hygro's and they were so far off and inconsistent I had to ditch'em. Others on the forums here have had much better luck with them, but you really need to calibrate it to know if it's even close.
  • asolomonasolomon Posts: 128 ✭
    Hmm I'll go calibrate it then. And how accurate is the salt test?
  • xmacroxmacro Posts: 3,402 ✭
    asolomon:
    Hmm I'll go calibrate it then. And how accurate is the salt test?
    As accurate as you are :) What I mean by that is that you need to make the salt damp, not wet, so it requires a steady hand. Personally, I like to stick in an extra bottle cap of dry salt as a control of sorts

    Overall the salt test is pretty accurate if you do it right
  • Hawk55Hawk55 Posts: 846 ✭
    Laker strikes again!!! Good response, I was thinking it may be calcium or some other mineral from not using distilled and using tap water. His humidity levels have been low so that may rule out mold. Definitely use distilled water in the tube and it may be a good idea to use 50/50 solution in the puck since they have been known to be susceptible to mold.
  • rossdavey2rossdavey2 Posts: 979
    Hey, so for the last few weeks my humi has been sitting high around 75% before it was holding steady at 66%. Any ideas.

    I have tired fanning the lid, changing my humi source, and removing some sticks to another humi.
    all that just dropped it to 73%
  • laker1963laker1963 Posts: 5,046
    rossdavey2:
    Hey, so for the last few weeks my humi has been sitting high around 75% before it was holding steady at 66%. Any ideas.

    I have tired fanning the lid, changing my humi source, and removing some sticks to another humi.
    all that just dropped it to 73%
    How full was your humi before you moved some of the sticks. It sounds like when you made some room in the humi the RH went down, possibly from the extra space.
    If you had just added some new sticks into that humi, these new sticks may have been at a higher RH then your humi stock was. Quite often when new sticks arrive they are too fresh and will take a little while to let some of that extra moisture go. If it does so in a humi that you don't open very often it can take a while for the extra humidity to balance out.
    If you have a spare humi, you can keep it on the dry side 63 - 66 % RH and when you get new sticks place them in that humi for a week or so. This will help to lower the RH in your new sticks without raising the RH of all the sticks in your smoking humi every time you add new stock. Hope something here will help.
  • aron325aron325 Posts: 158
    i would definetly switch out the puck with a humi-jar or get some beads. you will hear this over and over again until you get some lol. its probably the best advice i have ever taken though from here. i dont need a scare of mold. that would ruin my day. i would rather put something in my humi that will take care of my sticks with out much risk if any.
  • KCWKCW Posts: 1,334 ✭✭✭
    Hawk55:
    Laker strikes again!!! Good response, I was thinking it may be calcium or some other mineral from not using distilled and using tap water. His humidity levels have been low so that may rule out mold. Definitely use distilled water in the tube and it may be a good idea to use 50/50 solution in the puck since they have been known to be susceptible to mold.
    You can still get mold with Distilled water. Distilled just means the impurities have been removed.
  • laker1963laker1963 Posts: 5,046
    KCW:
    Hawk55:
    Laker strikes again!!! Good response, I was thinking it may be calcium or some other mineral from not using distilled and using tap water. His humidity levels have been low so that may rule out mold. Definitely use distilled water in the tube and it may be a good idea to use 50/50 solution in the puck since they have been known to be susceptible to mold.
    You can still get mold with Distilled water. Distilled just means the impurities have been removed.
    Nobody said you couldn't, but the mold would not be forming from the distilled water but from whatever was on the surface the water was sitting on. The distilled water itself contains nothing which could mold.
    That suggestion was made because if he hadn't used distilled water, it is more likely to grow mold with non sterile water.
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