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$1000 cigar collection needs reviving...

Nick Fisher

New Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2017
Messages
10
So my humidor got left and slightly forgotten for about 2 years. I recharged the polymer crystals about 3 times in those two years. I ended up deciding to recover what I can today and start enjoying cigars again. I easily have over $700 in cigars so want to do all that I can. I have an extra large Savoy glass top that seals wonderfully. I have two polymer humidifiers inside(one on each level) and 97 cigars inside with a digital thermometer. Last week I found them sitting at 58% humidity. 7-8 of the cigars has some slight mold of them. I removed it with a q tip and vodka. 85 of the cigars were still in their cellophane wrappers, so the mold that was on them got the vodka treatment as well, though most of it was plume. I ended up removing all of the cellophane to help the cigars recover. I recharged the humidifiers, and now I'm sitting at 65% and am going to try holding that for a few weeks. I added a bit of PG to keep the mold issue at bay. Considering that they only got down to 58%,and they still smell fantastic, does anyone have any idea how long it might take till they are good to go? I'm getting married in 10 days, so was hoping to smoke some, but I may just have to buy some new ones for that. Any thoughts or tips are much appreciated. I've heard everything online from putting a glass of water inside(crazy to me), to raising the humidity to 90%(more crazy), to raising the humidity by 2% every few weeks to make sure they don't crack. All of the cigars look in perfect shape, but felt a bit dry when I started last week. They now feel a bit better, but I think they are going to need some more time to get the moisture all the way through, just don't know how long. I read through hundreds of posts yesterday, but didn't see one on cigars that weren't trying to be brought back from a crazy low humidity. Thanks everyone!
 
I agree, but I've had some of these cigars for over 8+ years, and the cellophane was a very very dark brown on some of them due to the age and oils so plume isn't out of the question. I'd show photos, but they all got a light dusting just to be safe. :)
 
If they only got down to 58%, that's not really too far off. Some people long term store their cigars at 60% and a lot of people maintain their humidors at 65%. I'd get your % where you want and leave them, for a few months. They should be fine. If you want something to smoke, in the next 10 days, I'd buy something.

Mold doesn't grow at 58% or 60% or even 70% and like Scap stated, it's very rarely ever plume. I'd wipe them down and separate from the others. What % was this at, prior to you forgetting about it? It had to be pretty high, for mold to grow.
 
I recharged the system every 6-8 months, but didn't check back on it, so that may have been the time when the humidity got higher. I knew I wasn't going to check on them very often(they were in the back room and hard to get to), so maybe I put too much liquid in the crystals thinking it would last longer and this caused a spike? I usually kept my cigars around 65-67%, so that was more than likely what they were at when I left them 2 years ago at the start. I never pulled out any to check on them during those 2 years, and it was mostly the ones on the bottom that had the slight mold. I wish I would have separated them now, but it's too late, and I can't remember which ones had it. I'll have to keep an extra close eye on them. One cigar from cuba(a real Cuban) had a bunch of mold on it(it got thrown out). But it was the only one that I was worried about. Neither cigar next to it had anything, strange.. The other 8 that had it only had 4-5 tiny spots, and only one had any on the foot. I never used PG solution in the past, so didn't have anything to help prevent the mold other than lower humidity and 72 degree Temps.
I think the cellophane wrappers kept me mostly in the green because the mold never got inside any of those. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully they all mostly pull through.
 
When you read about people using water dishes in humidors was it in relation to seasoning them? I have in the winter placed a small dish of water in my humidor with sticks because the heat dries everything up.
 
It was more about people trying to raise the humidity up to get more moisture back into the cigars. But yes, for getting them seasoned it makes much more sense to me. :)
 
If you’re trying to raise humidity in dry gars then yeah a water dish is no bueno. Raise the humidity too fast and you’ll likely get cracks. Slow and steady wins the race in that regard.
 
May I suggest not using PG, picking up Boveda packets, and charging your humidification devices with distilled water/colloidal silver mix (search is your friend).
 
I've been reading up on the boveda packets and all I hear is good things. I think I'll switch in the next month or so. Considering that I own a Savoy humidor and the seal is very good, what percentage of humidity should I look at getting? Right now my polymer crystal things say they do 70%, but they usually stay around 66%. Will the boveda packets be similar? I'm guessing the 75% would be good for me if I'm looking to keep around 72% humidity?
 
I’d get the 65% or 68% humidity if going with bovedas. At 75% you run the risk of mold again. Keep the humidity between 65-68 and the cigars smoke better.

Also rehydrate them slowly, 58% isn’t bad at all and a couple of weeks to a few months the humidity will be where you want it. I prefer mine between 62-65.
 
I've got a question that seems to have been overlooked.... With mold being found on more than one cigar, doesn't he run the risk of the rest of his cigars being contaminated? That seems like a pretty big deal, or am I just overreacting?
 
I agree, how worried should I be? Should I just watch for any issues, and then separate out the problem cigars? What is the best way to separate if I only have one cigar?
 
I've got a question that seems to have been overlooked.... With mold being found on more than one cigar, doesn't he run the risk of the rest of his cigars being contaminated? That seems like a pretty big deal, or am I just overreacting?

Mold spores are everywhere. You're just trying to control them and prevent them from growing on your cigars by keeping the humidity and temperature below what they like. If you keep the temp and humidity down to an acceptable level the risk of it growing back is minimal as long as you have removed it.
 
Wouldn't it be a good idea to wipe down the humi's interior with rubbing alcohol (or something) to try to clean up any residual mold?
 
I would never wipe down a humidor with anything but distilled water that had cigars in it. If the cigars can be moved to a pair of tupperdors (one for mold suspects, one for clean sticks) that would be different, but you'd be looking at a complete reseasoning in that case, IMHO.

58% isn't disastrous. Take them to 64% with Bovedas for awhile (3-4 weeks) and then to 68-72% for a similar amount of time.

~Boar
 
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