Ruined Humidor?
So I look in one of my humidors the other week. Apparently I neglected it too long. Out of town, etc. The sponge was covered in mold, stuck to the bottom. Yeah I'm pissed at myself. Only lost a few cigars though. I have never seen so much mold in a humidor. It actually went through the bottom panel of the humidor. What the hell??!!. I cleaned it off best I could and then used a bleach cleaner spray to help kill it all the way through. I treated it many times and pretty sure I killed it all. Dried it out for weeks. I can't smell chemicals. The question I have is: did I ruin my humidor for any future cigar holdings and is it now just a mantelpiece? --Maimer12
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I agree with squirrel and goldilocks on this one. Get some beads for it, and reseason it, and if the mold comes back, just toss it. The mold probably won't come back if the Rh doesn't get too high, and by using beads you can help prevent that.
Nevermind, I re-read the original post...maybe baking soda would be a good idea if bleach was already used.
"Long ashes my friends."
Definately get rid of the sponge. Those things are mold magnets!!!!
I would fill it with Ghurkas and Puros Indios so that you dont ever have to smoke them! I say throw it up on craigslist, then its someone elses problem! (and no I dont work for T....I just stole their sales practice!!!)
"Long ashes my friends."
To remove the mold from your humidor, what you need to do first is remove all the mold-infected cigars (check all your cigars in tubes and cellophane as well) and relocate your unharmed cigars to a temporary storage container such as another humidor, travel humidor, (clean) Tupperware container or humi-pouch. Next, gently brush out and vacuum any mold particles inside your humidor.
If your humidor has compartments, trays or drawers, be sure to thoroughly vacuum every hidden crevice to remove any residual mold spores. Once your humidor has been thoroughly vacuumed, take a brand new and clean sponge and gently wipe the entire humidor interior down with a tiny bit of isopropyl alcohol. Don't use too much as alcohol can ruin your humidor. (However, in a situation like this, you need to clean your humidor thoroughly and ensure that it's free of mold so you'll have to use alcohol.)
Replace or disinfect your humidifiers thoroughly (replacing them entirely is often the best option) and let your humidor sit on its own for a week with a fully charged humidifier. After a week, check if any mold has come back. If there's no mold, you can safely return all the uninfected cigars back to the humidor.
There's also this advice from http://www.lsrlifestyle.com/blog/?p=247
Mold!
Keep an eye on your humidor. Check on it every day. One day, however, you might see some greenish, bluish, or some kind of color of the rainbow. Bad news is, you have a mold problem. The good news is, however, you can deal with it, and will most likely salvage your cigars.
Mold is caused by too much humidification (and too high a temperature as well, hence the 70/70 rule). You go over 80%, you are asking for trouble. And the longer you allow that humidity to stay higher, the more like you are to find those furry little substances that are not your friends.
The good news, again, is that your cigars will most likely be okay, just as long as you catch this problem early enough. Here is how you should properly get rid of your mold:
Wash your hands and immediately remove your cigars from the humidor. Inspect each and every cigar, checking for mold. Isolate any cigars you find that are compromised, and place the rest in zip-lock airtight bags.
Remove the humidifier so that the box is completely empty, and rinse the humidifier in distilled water to clean it.
Repeat the calibration process for the hygrometer.
Take some sandpaper and sand out the really gritty mold first. This will help remove any mold spores that are on their way to making you cigars nothing but a fond memory. Take the hose extension of your vacuum cleaner and suck out as much mold as you can from the humidor.
Take some isopropyl alcohol and wipe down the interior of your humidor completely with a paper towel. This is to make sure that any microscopic mold spores you cant see have been eliminated. Apply more alcohol to the cloth as needed, but dont over do it.
Wipe down your humidor once more, this time with 100% steamed distilled water on a paper towel (not the usual distilled water; using that will dilute the alcohol that has seeped into the wood). Be sure not to overdo it, just give it a once over.
Keep your humidor open for about 5 minutes or so, or until the wood is dry, just like you did before preparing your humidor, before putting your cigars back in.