Plume or Mold (Remake)

[SBugi]

Dear all,

 

May I have your opinion regarding my cigars please?

I have just 2 cigars with soft white powder, which comes away easily and while I rub it off it feels oily, no stains residues after rubbing nor any kind of awkward smell.

I’ve rubed both cigars about 3 to 4 weeks ago and again, that kind of soft white powder started coming up again.

The other cigars are intect without any sign of that white powder for over 1 month from the first time that I’ve noticed it on those 2 cigars in the pictures.

Thank You in Advance for all your help

Kind Regards,

Sergio

[Fuzz]

First off, welcome to FOH. It is considered polite to introduce yourself here, before asking the forum for assistance.

Secondly, you may want to search the forum before asking. We have a current thread on plume/bloom/mould.

Quick answer: you have mould.

[garbandz]

what % are your Bovedas?

what does your Hydrometer register?

[El Presidente]

Mould

[Fatshotbud]

I don't often see this happening but my practice has been to pull them from inventory and smoke them up.
Once I had a couple in a box ... Dang if I didn't just smoke the whole box as a profelactic measure
Guess this quells my paranoia of mold possibly spreading.

If you haven't already done so - read more on RH (relative humidity).
And welcome to FOH!

Bud

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[cmbarton]

It’s mold.  It’s always mold.

Still, smoke ‘em.  After you remove them from the humidor, of course.  You don’t want it to spread.

[wolfain]

It’s 100% mould. I wouldn’t be inhaling it. Your humidity in the box is too high, try reducing the RH.

I use Rubbing alcohol tissue wipes on moldy cigars, and it has not affected the flavor of the cigar whatsoever. All the best


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[SBugi]

Thanks a lot for all your kind replies and sorry for being so late, but I was at work!

I’m Sergio from Malta and I’m a cigar and pipe lover!

I have an adorini Milano Deluxe Humidor with an adorini Cigar Heaven 2nd Generation Hygrometer. 

So, unfortunately they are both effected from mold form your replies, right? Are they still smokable at least or not?

I took off all the upper tray from the humidor this morning so that the others won’t be contaminated, but I noticed a small spot on 1 of my Montecristo No 2 in the lower part of the humidor! 

I tried to use the Boveda 69% to lower the RH, but still, it didn’t got any lower, perhaps, sometimes is higher from the time I had no Boveda in the humidor!

Please, what should I do to lower a bit the RH and keep it stabilized for good? I try to open the humidor for 15min every now and then, but again, it didn’t helped.

 

Right now, the humidor is open and I’ll leave it for about 15min and replaced a new Boveda 69%

 

I Thank You all in Advance for the help

Kind Regards,

Sergio

PS please find attached a photo of my pipes

 

[David88]

Hello Sergio. Yes that is most definitely mould on those cigars. From the pictures you have put up it looks as though your average humidity reading for the last 3 days is 78% that is far too high and likely to cause more mould very quickly. 

While the humidity level people store at can be quite subjective and down to personal preference, many members here prefer to keep their RH below 65% While dropping to 69% is a start I would recommend going lower and having a look on the board at some similar threads about storage conditions. I can’t say I’m an expert on this (there are some very knowledgable people here) but I can say that, keeping my cigars at a lower humidity, I haven’t had mould on my cigars and they smoke great.  Good luck!

[CaptainQuintero]

  The general consensus is that it's totally fine to wipe off bits of white mould and smoke/store again. If you get coloured mould or if it has gotten inside the cigar (visible inside the foot) then personally I would throw 

  Like others have mentioned, a lot of people find that storing between 58-65 gets the best results, with those at the lower end finding sharper flavours and more even burns/no relighting. The 70/70 thing is an old marketing gimmick. But anything 68 and below you shouldn't run into any mould

[Romka]

Your humidifier reads 78% RH. If this is the ambient RH, opening the humidor will make things worse. First, remove it from your humidor and use Bovedas only until you get things stabilised.

My solution to reduce the humidity for free is to open windows, let the room be filled with cool air from outside. Then close the windows and check ambient humidity as the outside air with a definite water content ends up with lower RH when heated inside the room. With the time you will learn how long you need to keep windows open to get a nice 60% inside the room. Then open your humidor and let it stay open for a while. Ambient 60% RH won't hurt cigars inside while  slowly drying extra water in your humidor. After some time close it, wait for half an hour and see where the RH ends up. Repeat this as needed. It works in Istanbul on one end of Mediterranean Sea at this time of the year, so why not for Malta which is in the middle Mediterranean. Try evening or night hours when outside air is cool with low water content.

I heard some poeple put an open can of rice into the humidor to reduce humidity but never tried myself.

 

[Romka]

btw Sergio, you certainly have mold.

[SBugi]

10 minutes ago, Romka said:

Your humidifier reads 78% RH. If this is the ambient RH, opening the humidor will make things worse. First, remove it from your humidor and use Bovedas only until you get things stabilised.

My solution to reduce the humidity for free is to open windows, let the room be filled with cool air from outside. Then close the windows and check ambient humidity as the outside air with a definite water content ends up with lower RH when heated inside the room. With the time you will learn how long you need to keep windows open to get a nice 60% inside the room. Then open your humidor and let it stay open for a while. Ambient 60% RH won't hurt cigars inside while  slowly drying extra water in your humidor. After some time close it, wait for half an hour and see where the RH ends up. Repeat this as needed. It works in Istanbul on one end of Mediterranean Sea at this time of the year, so why not for Malta which is in the middle Mediterranean. Try evening or night hours when outside air is cool with low water content.

I heard some poeple put an open can of rice into the humidor to reduce humidity but never tried myself.

 

Thank You for you message Romka,

The room humidity is around 58 to 60 usually, and it’s quite ventilated.

Do you think a cup of salt or a cup of rice will help?

Thanks again 

 

[Colt45]

Certainly mold. I agree with removing the humidifier, but I'd personally also remove the packs. If I'm trying to reduce humidity in an overly humid environment, there's no point in adding any kind of moisture. Add a desiccant (beads) without adding any water. If / when you need more humidity, add water ( personally, I don't wet the beads, I just add a small container with distilled water to the humidor). My own take on it.

[SBugi]

Sorry to all how was giving me all your kind help, unfortunately I pressed something and the whole topic was canceled or hidden, haven’t understud very well what happened.

Anyway please find attached photos again. 

The room has usually 58 to 60% of humidity and is well ventilated generally.

Do you think if I use cup of salt or rice will that lower the humidor’s humidity please?

Thanks Again,

SBugi

[Martin_F]

Generally, if the humidification device is installed in the lid of you humidor, the top shelve is always going to be "wetter" than the bottom.

Your hygrometer shows 78%, that way too high.

First I'd empty the whole humidor out. Then wipe all interior surfaces with high proof alcohol.

Let the humidor air out for a while. Wipe down all of your cigars and smoke the ones affected most first (after you let them dry out some).

Then put your cigars back in, without any humidification! Check the percentage after a few days. I'f it's still too high, leave the humidor open for a couple of hours and recheck after a while. If it's too low, get some 65% Bovedas, to keep the humidity down. For some reason the 69% are too much for your humidor.

Then check back with us and let us know how it worked out. Might be a good example for others.

[moteyi]

Why have you got an Electronic Humidification system and Boveda's - surely it is either one or the other. It looks to me as if you have your Adorini set too high - try removing the boveda and adjusting the Adorini to 65%

[Fuzz]

On 11/22/2017 at 8:55 AM, SBugi said:

Sorry to all how was giving me all your kind help, unfortunately I pressed something and the whole topic was canceled or hidden, haven’t understud very well what happened.

 

You hid the original thread. I have unhidden the thread and merged your new one into the old.