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White residue

Scott EdwardsScott Edwards Posts: 3
in Cigar 101
I have a 50 cigar humidor in which I am using the Humi-Care blue stick. The box has 40 or so sticks in it and the temp is 75 constant and 72% humidity constant. For some reason I have a white residue on my sticks, it wipes of rather easy, my concern is what in the heck is it. I was careful to season the box and make sure it was dry before loading it. Cigars were in it for 4 months with no issue, then the white crap appeared. Anyone run up against this? Do I need to trash the sticks and clean the box, I am pretty much at a loss at this point.

Comments

  • StrongStyleStrongStyle Posts: 221
    sounds like plume to me, but ill let one of the seasoned smokers handle it.
  • DiamondogDiamondog Posts: 4,171 ✭✭
    Highly unlikely its plume if you have multiple brands of cigars with it on them at the same time, it just doesn't work like that....I would be concerned with your temp and humidity levels, need to get them down...you may have the beginnings of a mold problem...
  • Lakota72Lakota72 Posts: 1,269 ✭✭✭
    I agree. Is it on all the cigars evenly? If so, 99% chance you have a mold issue. If your temp is that high, maybe think about brining your rh down a bit and you should be ok.
  • Russ55Russ55 Posts: 2,765 ✭✭
    I doubt it's plume. Do you have a pic? It could be white mold. You might want to lower that humidity a tad.
  • jlmartajlmarta Posts: 7,881 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I agree with the temp/RH angle. You need to get the temp to 71 or less to avoid beetles and RH to 70 or less. Personally, I prefer RH of 62-65% but that's personal choice.
  • Scott EdwardsScott Edwards Posts: 3
    It was mold, lost a little under $300 in sticks. I tossed all the cigars, cleaned the box with a non-bleach medical mold spray and I am letting the box air dry. Anything I should do to the box other than pretreat. Maybe spray it with distiller water and let dry?
    I looked up plume and saw a picture, it was definitely mold, all over the sticks in spots and all the brands and types were different.
    I am going outside to cry with a 1926 Padron I had in a travel humidor.
  • docbp87docbp87 Posts: 3,521 ✭
    Whoa... Unless it was all in the feet of the sticks, they were probably salvageable. Don't be so quick to toss them! I've smoked several cigars before that had a little fuzzy spot that wiped off alright. Unless it stains, it can probably be saved.
  • CharlieCordusCharlieCordus Posts: 84 ✭✭
    Ouch, sorry to hear about that. I was wondering the same thing as what docbp87 brought up. Could some of the sticks be salvageable?

    I ask because I did that once before to a white spot that showed up on one stick near the label and wiped right off. So I figured it was just at the surface and smoked it anyhow.
  • Scott EdwardsScott Edwards Posts: 3
    The sticks were pretty bad as was the box itself. Pretty substantial mold growth. I workout of town for long periods of time, my guess is this has been going on for awhile, just never investigated. My tossing of the sticks is because I work as a catastrophe adjuster and I am well versed in mold and proper mitigation. Unless all mold is eradicated it will spread to any new sticks, it's lack of visual presence does mean it isn't there. 8 sticks in my travel humidor will get me through this hard time.
  • PsychoSJGPsychoSJG Posts: 766 ✭✭✭
    PM to you sir
  • fla-gypsyfla-gypsy Posts: 3,023 ✭✭
    If you live in a high temp, high humidity climate where the temp cannot be lowered like I do you will need to reduce the RH. I can rarely get my temp below 75 but keep my humidity at 60--65% and have no issues. Sorry to hear about the loss but I believe they may have been salvagable also.
  • HeavyHeavy Posts: 1,591 ✭✭✭
    fla-gypsy:
    If you live in a high temp, high humidity climate where the temp cannot be lowered like I do you will need to reduce the RH. I can rarely get my temp below 75 but keep my humidity at 60--65% and have no issues. Sorry to hear about the loss but I believe they may have been salvagable also.
    Ditto that. I had some mold issues in my early goings, but I caught it early and saved most all of my sticks.

    BTW, what are you using for humidification? When I had my problem I was using the humidification puck that came with the humidor. If you're using that, chuck it now and order some beads. I have not had a mold problem since switching to beads and that was probably 1.5 - 2 years ago.
  • kuzi16kuzi16 Posts: 14,633 ✭✭✭✭
    just keep that RH under 70%.

    65%-70% will do well. if your temp gets over 75 then id keep the RH in the 65-68% range.
    Kuzi's Forum Links Page
  • RhamlinRhamlin Posts: 9,042 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Damn that sucks dude. I worry about that all the tim since I work out of town for a month at a time. Maybe I should be thankful my wife won't hardly mess with my humi shell moisten my beads when I mention it so my humidity doesn't usually get too high except during those first few days of recharging.
  • kaspera79kaspera79 Posts: 7,257 ✭✭✭
    double post
  • kaspera79kaspera79 Posts: 7,257 ✭✭✭
    .. sorry to hear about the loss. I would have dusted them off, I hate to throw out cigars. " and Rhamlin, nice to hear your "beads " are being well cared for. ; )
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