Need coolidor bead troubleshooting help!

BigT06

Ok. So I recently purchased a coleman xtreme 120qt cooler. I got it cleaned and got rid of the smell, got boxes/trays in it, got the humidification up with active humidifiers. Ready to put cigars in!

BUT THEN! After putting cigars in and charging the beads I am using for long term humidification (Conservagel), I noticed that a plastic smell was back!! The culprit... THE MESH BAGS OF BEADS!!

I used the blue 1/2lb bags that came with the beads. I didn't notice any smell from the beads or the bags prior to prepping them and humidifying them... but the smell is DEFINITELY coming from the bags of beads!

I removed the bags from the cooler (luckily I had enough gel on hand to keep the humidity in the cooler regulated for now!), and put a newspaper in the bottom of the cooler to remove any lingering plastic smell, and added a few ounces of distilled water in a glass to help counteract the newspaper from absorbing too much humidity...

I know I can put the beads in tupperware bowls if the bags themselves are to blame. But the thing is... I haven't had ANY smell or issues from the bag of dried beads I put in my large desktop to help regulate the active humidifier I have in it. So my question is: is it the bags, the beads, or the added water (distilled, same brand I use for everything else)???

I really wanna be able to use the bags/beads combo for the sake of convinience. Has anybody else had a similar issue? What do I do??

HELP!!

sorry for the long post, but this is really bothering me! Thanks for any help/advise.

JudoChinX

I've never had an issue with the bags I've received from them, but the newspaper ought to help, and it couldn't hurt to put in a dish of baking soda for a few days to get anything that's left over. That's always worked for me. Hope that helps!

BigT06

JudoChinX:

I've never had an issue with the bags I've received from them, but the newspaper ought to help, and it couldn't hurt to put in a dish of baking soda for a few days to get anything that's left over. That's always worked for me. Hope that helps!

I did that, too... it's actually sitting on top of the newspapers. lol

JudoChinX

BigT06:

JudoChinX:

I've never had an issue with the bags I've received from them, but the newspaper ought to help, and it couldn't hurt to put in a dish of baking soda for a few days to get anything that's left over. That's always worked for me. Hope that helps!

I did that, too... it's actually sitting on top of the newspapers. lol

Nice! Sounds like all you need at this point is time my friend.

skweekz

My question would be...did the beads really need charged? When I got mine, I charged them right away and ended up with sky high rH levels. I had to let them sit out and dry out for about a week then put them back in. They've been holding steady ever since. So maybe your's were already charged when you got them. And when you tried to charge them, they ended up "over charged"? Just a thought..

laker1963

skweekz:

My question would be...did the beads really need charged? When I got mine, I charged them right away and ended up with sky high rH levels. I had to let them sit out and dry out for about a week then put them back in. They've been holding steady ever since. So maybe your's were already charged when you got them. And when you tried to charge them, they ended up "over charged"? Just a thought..

The beads probably did NOT need to be charged. The smell seems odd. I don't remember having any smells from my beads. I use the conservagel beads and bags and heve no issues. My concern for your set-up right now is the active humidification you are using. Keep a CLOSE eye on the RH. The cooler will hold the RH longer and at a higher level then will a wooden humidor. The active humidificstion may be too much for the size of the cooler and the plastic it is made from. If the smell is from the beads, I would put them into a bowl or even in the bags and place them outside for the day. Let them air out a bit and see what happens.

Diamondog

My wife keeps a bunch of dollar store black stockings on hand for doing crafts with the kids, simply cut the foot end off and fill with beads and use a twist tie to close, works like a charm...

howtobass

Diamondog:

My wife keeps a bunch of dollar store black stockings on hand for doing crafts with the kids, simply cut the foot end off and fill with beads and use a twist tie to close, works like a charm...

genius!

CAcigarguy007

This is one of the top reasons I quite using beads. My heartfelt beads got a yellow tinge to them and had a chemical sort of smell. Same thing happened with the generic kitty crystals and pearls, though it took much longer to develop and wasn't as bad as the heartfelt beads. I even started noticing some flavor changes in some of my naked sticks and could taste "that smell" in my cigars. I was bombed some cigars a few months ago from a generous SOLT who uses beads and I can taste "that smell" in the cigars she sent and they have been in beads for 2 years+. I have read that you can bake them in the oven to dry them out and restart but I would toss them and replace them or find a new humidity media. I recommend humi pillows, they are the easiest, cheapest (10 for $5), and most reliable option out there IMO. Even over the over-hyped Boveda packs and their marketing two-way humidity nonsense. They use the same stuff as the pillows, gels ect. They just charge you more and claim you can't reuse them. I keep my humi pillows in a small plastic bag in the humi and they hold humidity fantastically.

Diamondog

CAcigarguy007:

This is one of the top reasons I quite using beads. My heartfelt beads got a yellow tinge to them and had a chemical sort of smell. Same thing happened with the generic kitty crystals and pearls, though it took much longer to develop and wasn't as bad as the heartfelt beads. I even started noticing some flavor changes in some of my naked sticks and could taste "that smell" in my cigars. I was bombed some cigars a few months ago from a generous SOLT who uses beads and I can taste "that smell" in the cigars she sent and they have been in beads for 2 years+. I have read that you can bake them in the oven to dry them out and restart but I would toss them and replace them or find a new humidity media. I recommend humi pillows, they are the easiest, cheapest (10 for $5), and most reliable option out there IMO. Even over the over-hyped Boveda packs and their marketing two-way humidity nonsense. They use the same stuff as the pillows, gels ect. They just charge you more and claim you can't reuse them. I keep my humi pillows in a small plastic bag in the humi and they hold humidity fantastically.

Humi pillows for humidification?? I would not suggest that long term.....beads will absorb smell but they absorb the smell of the humidor and cigars that are in it...I have 2 coolers for bulk storeage, one for Cuban and one for NC, both coolers when opened have a unique tobacco smell....my beads smell like my coolers smell when I open them (heavenly) and they should not smell of anything "strange" unless they have been exposed to it....if they do smell strange try soaking them completely in distilled water and then use low heat from a blow dryer, you may get cracking of the beads but that does not hinder their properties...

CAcigarguy007

Diamondog:

CAcigarguy007:

This is one of the top reasons I quite using beads. My heartfelt beads got a yellow tinge to them and had a chemical sort of smell. Same thing happened with the generic kitty crystals and pearls, though it took much longer to develop and wasn't as bad as the heartfelt beads. I even started noticing some flavor changes in some of my naked sticks and could taste "that smell" in my cigars. I was bombed some cigars a few months ago from a generous SOLT who uses beads and I can taste "that smell" in the cigars she sent and they have been in beads for 2 years+. I have read that you can bake them in the oven to dry them out and restart but I would toss them and replace them or find a new humidity media. I recommend humi pillows, they are the easiest, cheapest (10 for $5), and most reliable option out there IMO. Even over the over-hyped Boveda packs and their marketing two-way humidity nonsense. They use the same stuff as the pillows, gels ect. They just charge you more and claim you can't reuse them. I keep my humi pillows in a small plastic bag in the humi and they hold humidity fantastically.

Humi pillows for humidification?? I would not suggest that long term.....beads will absorb smell but they absorb the smell of the humidor and cigars that are in it...I have 2 coolers for bulk storeage, one for Cuban and one for NC, both coolers when opened have a unique tobacco smell....my beads smell like my coolers smell when I open them (heavenly) and they should not smell of anything "strange" unless they have been exposed to it....if they do smell strange try soaking them completely in distilled water and then use low heat from a blow dryer, you may get cracking of the beads but that does not hinder their properties...

Yes, humi-pillows for long term storage. They have the same stuff in them that boveda packs/gels use. Why not use them? They are hassle free, cheap, and work great. What is the downside? I use them in a small plastic bag with a small piece of foam with 50/50 and it works great for my bin. I have used beads, crystals, pearls, credo, boveda packs, ect. Humi pillows are the most hassle free and very cost effective. I will never use beads again (for my current stash) after having it taint my cigars previously. Inevitably that smell gets stronger and stronger and will effect the cigars to the point you can taste it. If all the sticks are effected you wont even realize it until you smoke some other sticks that haven't been tainted. I can totally taste it in cigars that I have from bombs where they have been stored in long term.

Diamondog

CAcigarguy007:

Diamondog:

CAcigarguy007:

This is one of the top reasons I quite using beads. My heartfelt beads got a yellow tinge to them and had a chemical sort of smell. Same thing happened with the generic kitty crystals and pearls, though it took much longer to develop and wasn't as bad as the heartfelt beads. I even started noticing some flavor changes in some of my naked sticks and could taste "that smell" in my cigars. I was bombed some cigars a few months ago from a generous SOLT who uses beads and I can taste "that smell" in the cigars she sent and they have been in beads for 2 years+. I have read that you can bake them in the oven to dry them out and restart but I would toss them and replace them or find a new humidity media. I recommend humi pillows, they are the easiest, cheapest (10 for $5), and most reliable option out there IMO. Even over the over-hyped Boveda packs and their marketing two-way humidity nonsense. They use the same stuff as the pillows, gels ect. They just charge you more and claim you can't reuse them. I keep my humi pillows in a small plastic bag in the humi and they hold humidity fantastically.

Humi pillows for humidification?? I would not suggest that long term.....beads will absorb smell but they absorb the smell of the humidor and cigars that are in it...I have 2 coolers for bulk storeage, one for Cuban and one for NC, both coolers when opened have a unique tobacco smell....my beads smell like my coolers smell when I open them (heavenly) and they should not smell of anything "strange" unless they have been exposed to it....if they do smell strange try soaking them completely in distilled water and then use low heat from a blow dryer, you may get cracking of the beads but that does not hinder their properties...

Yes, humi-pillows for long term storage. They have the same stuff in them that boveda packs/gels use. Why not use them? They are hassle free, cheap, and work great. What is the downside? I use them in a small plastic bag with a small piece of foam with 50/50 and it works great for my bin. I have used beads, crystals, pearls, credo, boveda packs, ect. Humi pillows are the most hassle free and very cost effective. I will never use beads again (for my current stash) after having it taint my cigars previously. Inevitably that smell gets stronger and stronger and will effect the cigars to the point you can taste it. If all the sticks are effected you wont even realize it until you smoke some other sticks that haven't been tainted. I can totally taste it in cigars that I have from bombs where they have been stored in long term.

To each their own...good luck with that...

BigT06

I appreciate the input, guys.

I'm gonna stick with beads. I'm gonna try DD's suggestion of soaking/drying them, then I will place them in the sun for several hours to remove the smell from the beads.

For safety sake, I am going to put them in glass containers in the cooler rather than bags, and see how that works. Better safe than sorry on this one, so I'm not gonna take any chances.

as far as the active humidification I have been using, I know my system works, as I have used it for years within my humidors with no issue, and have humis set at different, controlable rh levels.

I like humi pillows for travel, but only use them in my humis if I need to bring up the rh by a little bit, and don't want to worry about recharging the humidification device.

This is the first time I have used conservagel beads, so I am not sure if they needed charging or not, but according to the way it was described to me, they were too white to be charged... but like I said, I really don't know for sure.

I guess all this stuff is a learning process, and it'll be nice once I have it all figured out, but hey, at least I'm learning something new!

Diamondog

BigT06:

I appreciate the input, guys.

I'm gonna stick with beads. I'm gonna try DD's suggestion of soaking/drying them, then I will place them in the sun for several hours to remove the smell from the beads.

For safety sake, I am going to put them in glass containers in the cooler rather than bags, and see how that works. Better safe than sorry on this one, so I'm not gonna take any chances.

as far as the active humidification I have been using, I know my system works, as I have used it for years within my humidors with no issue, and have humis set at different, controlable rh levels.

I like humi pillows for travel, but only use them in my humis if I need to bring up the rh by a little bit, and don't want to worry about recharging the humidification device.

This is the first time I have used conservagel beads, so I am not sure if they needed charging or not, but according to the way it was described to me, they were too white to be charged... but like I said, I really don't know for sure.

I guess all this stuff is a learning process, and it'll be nice once I have it all figured out, but hey, at least I'm learning something new!

I've not used Conservagel beads before I use Heartfelt, same thing? most likely...You mentioned "too white to charge" with the heartfelt beads when they are white that means they are dry needing to be recharged, clear means they are holding water...

BigT06

DD - I meant that they were so white that I didn't think there was any way that they were already charged when they got to me.

from everything I have read (and I did a LOT of research before getting them) they are the same thing as hearfelts, just cheaper. They work the same way though... clear is wet - white is dry.

laker1963

BigT06:

DD - I meant that they were so white that I didn't think there was any way that they were already charged when they got to me.

from everything I have read (and I did a LOT of research before getting them) they are the same thing as hearfelts, just cheaper. They work the same way though... clear is wet - white is dry.

Yes that is correct. The reason it was suggested to try them for a few days in your humi / cooler was that they tend to be overcharged VERY easily. If you let them sit for a few days and if they need some chaging you can remove some of them and add moisture while leaving some "dry" to absorb excess moisture. The humidity of your coolerdor will affect the beads as well.

CharlieCordus

BigT06:

I appreciate the input, guys.

I'm gonna stick with beads. I'm gonna try DD's suggestion of soaking/drying them, then I will place them in the sun for several hours to remove the smell from the beads.

For safety sake, I am going to put them in glass containers in the cooler rather than bags, and see how that works. Better safe than sorry on this one, so I'm not gonna take any chances.

as far as the active humidification I have been using, I know my system works, as I have used it for years within my humidors with no issue, and have humis set at different, controlable rh levels.

I like humi pillows for travel, but only use them in my humis if I need to bring up the rh by a little bit, and don't want to worry about recharging the humidification device.

This is the first time I have used conservagel beads, so I am not sure if they needed charging or not, but according to the way it was described to me, they were too white to be charged... but like I said, I really don't know for sure.

I guess all this stuff is a learning process, and it'll be nice once I have it all figured out, but hey, at least I'm learning something new!

I wanted to resurrect this thread and ask BigT06 if you were able to able to fix the issues and what you did/learned?

Diamondog

Nylons....cut the feet ends off, fill with beads....no plastic smell from bags...

BigT06

CharlieCordus:

BigT06:

I appreciate the input, guys.

I'm gonna stick with beads. I'm gonna try DD's suggestion of soaking/drying them, then I will place them in the sun for several hours to remove the smell from the beads.

For safety sake, I am going to put them in glass containers in the cooler rather than bags, and see how that works. Better safe than sorry on this one, so I'm not gonna take any chances.

as far as the active humidification I have been using, I know my system works, as I have used it for years within my humidors with no issue, and have humis set at different, controlable rh levels.

I like humi pillows for travel, but only use them in my humis if I need to bring up the rh by a little bit, and don't want to worry about recharging the humidification device.

This is the first time I have used conservagel beads, so I am not sure if they needed charging or not, but according to the way it was described to me, they were too white to be charged... but like I said, I really don't know for sure.

I guess all this stuff is a learning process, and it'll be nice once I have it all figured out, but hey, at least I'm learning something new!

I wanted to resurrect this thread and ask BigT06 if you were able to able to fix the issues and what you did/learned?

Yessir! Got it worked out. I did DD's idea of drying them and starting over. Worked perfectly.

What I learned is that the beads will absorb any and all smells the come in contact with. SO even if you think the plastic smell from your cooler is gone, do not put the beads directly on the plastic bottom of the cooler until you know for SURE it's been gone for a few days. Set them on some spanish cedar or on a dish of some sort.

another thing was that the bags, just like any new manufactured plastic product WILL have a little smell to them, and it will amplify when placed into a sealed environment like a cooler. Just put the empty bags insiode the cooler when you set it out in the sun (when preparing it) and it'll get rid of the smell.



In the end, everything worked out brilliantly! Just took a couple extra days. For the end result, see BigT's coolidor pics in the gen. discussion thread.

CharlieCordus

Cool, Thanks! That all makes alot of sense!