Does your cigar gel ever mold?

acewoodson

I was checking on my cigars and found what appears to be mold growing on the gel crystals. Have any of you ever had this happen. It has worked great up until now. I appreciate any input.

T.J. Armstrong

We have three smaller humis with the gel and so far none of ours have done it, but I am glad you posted this because it is something I will definitely be checking more often just to be safe.

Lee.mcglynn

Huh never had this happen but it shouldn't since pg solution is anti fungal. Maybe go and buy some boveda packs they work well

robertgreen30

Yes this has happened to me, I toss the gel out and checked all my cigars, thank god none of my cigars had mold on them, but after I toss the gel my humidor was reading more normal levels 66 to 69, as before it was reading 72 to 75. I say toss the gel and get the packets they work great

The Sniper

Ive had it happen too - just tossed the gel and replaced it with another gel. Somebody mentioned PG solution not doing this, so that could have played a role in mine - I always refill my gels with distilled water.

Rhamlin

Well that sucks! I got gel in my main humi. But been thinking about going the bead route. On a side note I got 2 of the large humicare gel humidifiers. Would they hold enough beads for a 300 count humi that actually holds about 180 sticks?

Marker

Used PG and Distilled water in gel. The water eventually molded the gel. Went to beads and never looked back. If you run a 200ct or under desktop humidor just buy boveda packs. No reason to ever worry about them. $4 each and last anywhere from 1-3 months.

acewoodson

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm using a humi pillow until I can get some beads.

jsnake

I have never seen it or heard of anyone getting mold with gel. Will keep an eye on mine though.

rwheelwright

jsnake:

I have never seen it or heard of anyone getting mold with gel. Will keep an eye on mine though.

Me neither!

rusirius

I've had it before... Before I had the cabinet/oasis I have now I had a smaller desktop humidor that I kept a Xikar gel humidifier in as well as a "footlocker" style humi, which also had xikar gel... I did not use PG solution, but rather distilled water since at the time I had heard several people saying PG didn't work well with the crystals... After several months I was re-arranging some cigars when I noticed down at the bottom corner of one of the humidifiers (they were clear whitish plastic) was an odd looking spot... After pulling it out and getting a better look at it, I noticed a slightly reddish circle area, darkest toward the center. It was pretty obvious it was some sort of mold growth. I removed it immediately then checked my footlocker. It too had mold growth (slightly worse) but it was yellowish and black, not reddish like the other. Freaked me out a bit to say the least... I went back to the standard humidifiers, but then it dawned on me... Whose to say I wasn't getting the same thing with those, but because they were black/solid they just didn't show up. Likewise I know my Cigar Oasis refills have some sort of "anti-fungal" treatment that lasts a while, but not forever (hence why they suggest replacing them every 6 months to a year or so...)

jadelt

jsnake:

I have never seen it or heard of anyone getting mold with gel. Will keep an eye on mine though.

I had one jar (small 2oz jar - clear crystals) that had 1 crystal that got what looked like black mold on it so I took that crystal out and all has been good since.

Andrew_Dzikoski

I've seen it get dark brown and in some cases black but it was never mold in my case. unless its 3d and fuzzy it more likely just discoloartion of the beads.

rusirius

Andrew Dzikoski:

I've seen it get dark brown and in some cases black but it was never mold in my case. unless its 3d and fuzzy it more likely just discoloartion of the beads.

true, I can't definatively say in my case it was mold... It certainly was colorful though, blacks, yellows and reds.... Not sure what would have caused the colorings if it wasn't some sort of mold though?