Mold?

Markwell
Markwell Posts: 1,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Cigar 101
Hey fellas,

I set out to water my humidification devices this evening. Upon examining the two humi care gel sticks from CI, I noticed the one has black spots in the gel. What do you seasoned vets think? Is this mold??? I've only ever used distilled water...

Thanks,
Mark



“Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman – or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.” – George Burns

Comments

  • deadman
    deadman Posts: 8,856 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Better safe than sorry. Leave it out and throw a couple bovedas in there.
  • dirtdude
    dirtdude Posts: 6,263 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I would find something else
    A little dirt never hurt
  • 0patience
    0patience Posts: 10,665 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2017
    Yep. Mold.
    I've had mold start on crystals. 
    Nothing is safe from mold. You have to be watchful and wash everything off.
    Which is why I despise those green foam pieces of garbage.

    While crystals and beads aren't as susceptible to mold, they can still get it.

    Which is why I run my humi at 65%, about 66% seems to be the threshold that keeps it at a minimum. For me, at least.

    In Fumo Pax
    Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.

    Wylaff said:
    Atmospheric pressure and crap.
  • Markwell
    Markwell Posts: 1,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Guess I have a project for tomorrow...been keeping my sticks at 69% RH.

    I watch the Dr. Joe Show pretty religiously on youtube, and he suggests running on 100% boveda. I've been contemplating that for a while; think I'm gonna make the switch.
    “Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman – or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.” – George Burns
  • deadman
    deadman Posts: 8,856 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I had a black ice jar get mold in one of the pieces. Just tossed it and bought another.
  • deadman
    deadman Posts: 8,856 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2017
    Markwell said:
    Guess I have a project for tomorrow...been keeping my sticks at 69% RH.

    I watch the Dr. Joe Show pretty religiously on youtube, and he suggests running on 100% boveda. I've been contemplating that for a while; think I'm gonna make the switch.
    I have black ice jars because they fit nicely in the corners and bovedas. 
  • Markwell
    Markwell Posts: 1,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I have one of those pie jars as well. They live in the corners of my glass top humi along with bovedas. Got them about 6 months ago, haven't had a problem with them.

    The other desktop  (my first) has always been run off those humi-sticks and boveda packs. Never had to replace the bovedas in either because you can actually recharge them!
    “Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman – or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.” – George Burns
  • dirtdude
    dirtdude Posts: 6,263 ✭✭✭✭✭
    0patience said:
    Yep. Mold.
    I've had mold start on crystals. 
    Nothing is safe from mold. You have to be watchful and wash everything off.
    Which is why I despise those green foam pieces of garbage.

    While crystals and beads aren't as susceptible to mold, they can still get it.

    Which is why I run my humi at 65%, about 66% seems to be the threshold that keeps it at a minimum. For me, at least.

    I have a xxxxload of Boveda 69's, seem to come with a lot of shipments. I use them and re charge them. My question is ... How would you even know if they were growing mold as you cannot see through the brown envelope. They obviously exchange moisture back and forth, is there anything there to prohibit mold spores from the same exchange
    A little dirt never hurt
  • 0patience
    0patience Posts: 10,665 ✭✭✭✭✭
    From my understanding of why Bovedas generally don't have problems is because if there were any mold that would want to grow, the packaging is more of an attractant, than the inside. Plus mold, while liking moisture, don't really care to be submerged.
    So I would think that any mold that could get into the Bovedas would die off pretty quickly. 

    Mold tends to like to grow where moisture meets air and usually needs a good substrate that they like, such as paper, wood, leaves or some other moist porous material. While it can grow on glass, it is usually growing on what is on the glass, not the glass itself. Dirt, grime, algae, etc.
    In Fumo Pax
    Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.

    Wylaff said:
    Atmospheric pressure and crap.
  • ElJimbo
    ElJimbo Posts: 657 ✭✭✭
    Markwell said:
    I have one of those pie jars as well. They live in the corners of my glass top humi along with bovedas. Got them about 6 months ago, haven't had a problem with them.

    The other desktop  (my first) has always been run off those humi-sticks and boveda packs. Never had to replace the bovedas in either because you can actually recharge them!
    How does one recharge said Boveda packets?
    ¡Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado! -General Zapata
  • Usaf06
    Usaf06 Posts: 11,904 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Looks like plume
    "I drink a great deal. I sleep a little, and I smoke cigar after cigar. That is why I am in two-hundred-percent form."
    -- Winston Churchill

    "LET'S GO FRANCIS"     Peter

  • Markwell
    Markwell Posts: 1,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ElJimbo said:
    How does one recharge said Boveda packets?
    Through the wonders of the internet, I just figured this out a few months ago. Bovedas work both ways - they put off humidity and they "suck up" excess humidity. So whatcha do is you get yourself a sealable bag. Put the depleted bovedas in said bag, and add a few sponges saturated with distilled water. Those bovedas will detect a very high RH and absorb the moisture, thus recharging.

    29:00 mark:
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xlX9LBkgtP0

    “Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman – or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.” – George Burns
  • ElJimbo
    ElJimbo Posts: 657 ✭✭✭
    Markwell said:
    ElJimbo said:
    How does one recharge said Boveda packets?
    Through the wonders of the internet, I just figured this out a few months ago. Bovedas work both ways - they put off humidity and they "suck up" excess humidity. So whatcha do is you get yourself a sealable bag. Put the depleted bovedas in said bag, and add a few sponges saturated with distilled water. Those bovedas will detect a very high RH and absorb the moisture, thus recharging.

    29:00 mark:
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xlX9LBkgtP0

    Thank you much. :)
    ¡Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado! -General Zapata
  • YankeeMan
    YankeeMan Posts: 2,651 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ElJimbo said:
    Markwell said:
    I have one of those pie jars as well. They live in the corners of my glass top humi along with bovedas. Got them about 6 months ago, haven't had a problem with them.

    The other desktop  (my first) has always been run off those humi-sticks and boveda packs. Never had to replace the bovedas in either because you can actually recharge them!
    How does one recharge said Boveda packets?
    I do something similar.  I have a Tupperware container with a small container of distilled water.  I place the pack in the Tupperware next to the container and seal it for about a week or a little less and it is recharged.
  • Markwell
    Markwell Posts: 1,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yeah I actually did some video surfing last night after posting to see some different ways of doing it. Seems that's the most preferred method out there. Best advice I can offer is to do a little research and develop a system you like best. Sure beats paying out the nose for new packs every 6 months or so!
    “Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman – or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.” – George Burns
  • peter4jc
    peter4jc Posts: 18,179 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I do the Tupperware method, and have something to raise the packets off the bottom, so they're not sitting in the water.

    And I've come to the conclusion that recharging them too long can fully "load" them; they get way more poofy (technical term) after recharging then when they're new.  This would tell me that they will no longer act as a two-way system...  they can give out moisture to dry sticks, but because they're fully loaded, they can't absorb if your humidor is getting too humid.
    "I could've had a Mi Querida!"   Nick Bardis
  • Markwell
    Markwell Posts: 1,616 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yeah you've got to be careful and monitor their recharge progress. Don't want them too puffy  :D
    “Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman – or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.” – George Burns
  • Yakster
    Yakster Posts: 31,702 ✭✭✭✭✭
    When I recharge the Bovedas I weigh them to see when they're about back to normal.
    Join us on Zoom vHerf (Meeting # 2619860114 Password vHerf2020 )
  • Bob_Luken
    Bob_Luken Posts: 11,720 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Screw it! I soak 'em IN the distilled water for a few days. I used to let it happen by osmosis but I heard of so many guys just soaking them so I went ahead and started tossing them in the water too. Heck, there's one guy around here on this forum that boils 'em. 

    And, I might as well say, I reckon I disagree with peter's reckoning that a poofy onewill only give off moisture and won't absorb moisture. If you're lookin at a poofy one, you are lookin at one that has already proven it will continue to gain moisture beyond it's normal capacity. Why assume anything has changed?   
  • deadman
    deadman Posts: 8,856 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Damp paper towels (distilled water), wrapped up in a Ziploc with little to no air. Check on them in two to three days. Puffy again and good for another few months.
  • Bob_Luken
    Bob_Luken Posts: 11,720 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yakster said:
    When I recharge the Bovedas I weigh them to see when they're about back to normal.
    I been meaning to do this and I just found my last new boveda (still in the plastic wrap). So I'll weigh it,........................... 61g. And the one I've most recently re-charged,..... 70g. 

    Well,.............. that was fun. 
  • Patrickbrick
    Patrickbrick Posts: 8,086 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I do what Bob does way faster.  Puffy in the winter for is nothing to worry about due to the low ass humidity here.  Summer, spring and fall I never have to recharge.
    "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give".  Winston Churchill.
    MOW badge received.
  • dirtdude
    dirtdude Posts: 6,263 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Poofier (is that a word Peter) the better, always giving off moisture here, was
    19% RH this morning. Have 3 in a 40 count desktop that I open once a day and they last a week
    A little dirt never hurt
  • 0patience
    0patience Posts: 10,665 ✭✭✭✭✭
    dirtdude said:
    Poofier (is that a word Peter) the better, always giving off moisture here, was
    19% RH this morning. Have 3 in a 40 count desktop that I open once a day and they last a week
    It's 89% here right now. 
    I wish it were 19%
    In Fumo Pax
    Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.

    Wylaff said:
    Atmospheric pressure and crap.
  • dirtdude
    dirtdude Posts: 6,263 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Just knocked them off the shot glass that kept them out of the water
    A little dirt never hurt

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