Ahhhh mold! Need advice

[Questionablesanity]

So this is a JDN stick I've had in my humidor since 2013.

Nothing else in the try had even a speck on it. I've looked through the treys around it and found nothing. It had nothing on it about 2 months ago when I moved it to its new home.

It sits at the top in the top cedar trey. The humidity has been a little wonky given the size of the fridge. It peaked at 72% and I am slowly getting it down to my preferred 65%. The temp has peaked to 73. All my sticks have been in the freezer so I haven't really worried too much about the temp. I figured as long as it stayed under 75 and doesn't fluctuate wildly I was okay. Could it be the temp that caused this? This has got me thinking about scrapping the fridge experiment and just saving up for a couple of NewAirs. Any thoughts on why this might have happened and why to just that one stick would be appreciated.

 

[boltman]

Is your hygrometer placed in the top where you found the moldy stick? The humidity can vary a lot between the top and bottom. And, when was the last time you calibrated your hygrometer?

 

[Questionablesanity]

Yeah I have a digital one on top of that Monte box and an analog one in the trey under it, I moved the analog one to the top trey

 

[boltman]

In my 28 bottle wineadore the rh can vary as much as 5% rh, if I am not using a fan. I'm guessing that in a larger storage unit like yours the rh could vary 7-8% between the top and bottom without a fan. So if your hygrometer was near the bottom and it registered 72% rh it wouldn't surprise me if the top rh was hovering around 80%.

 

[boltman]

If you trust your hygrometer that was at the top, then it probably was a one off deal, and you are good to go.

 

[Questionablesanity]

I have at least one hygrometer on each shelf. There is usually about a 3% difference from top to bottom. I have a fan that runs every 3 hours for 30mins

 

[boltman]

Have you checked all your other sticks?

 

[boltman]

It sounds like a one off deal. I would be mildly nervous with a temp at 73, but certainly not in panic mode. Especially being that you froze all your sticks.

 

[Questionablesanity]

Yeah, I can't find even a hint on anything else, including the ones that were touching it. I'm going to keep a very close eye on them though.

 

[boltman]

Usually the higher the temp the lower the rh. Because warm air can hold more moisture. Just curious how you are lowering the rh if the temp remains at 73?

 

[Questionablesanity]

I'm really hopping it's just an isolated incident. Maybe too much hassle to try and maintain something that big. I now have about 45lbs of KL in there and that seems to have helped keep everything steady. Also beginning to worry about all your eggs in one basket type of scenario. Plus I really don't need all that space lol

 

[Questionablesanity]

I about 15lbs of baked KL to lower the rh. So far it seems to be working.

 

[Questionablesanity]

I should also add I live in North Alabama where the humidity hovers around 80% and the heat index today was 115

 

[jkittle99]

I've had a random stick or two pop up flat out wet a few times, and the rest of the wino was perfect. It baffled me.

 

[boltman]

Baked kitty litter. Good idea. I'll bet that sucks the moisture out of the air big time.

 

[boltman]

I'm really hopping it's just an isolated incident. Maybe too much hassle to try and maintain something that big. I now have about 45lbs of KL in there and that seems to have helped keep everything steady. Also beginning to worry about all your eggs in one basket type of scenario. Plus I really don't need all that space lol

You can never have too much space. Especially if you stick around this site.

 

[Questionablesanity]

I got the idea from someone on here. I have had to do it with some of my former wineadors. Since the humidity is so high here kitty litter tends to set the rh to high out of the bag. I normally bake it before I put it in one, but I figured with so much space the extra boost in rh would help.

 

[Bruce T.]

Just when I thought I knew all about mold and how it works, this post shows up. I could see one stick being wet inside when you bought it and then the mold starts regardless of the RH in the humidor because the excess moisture is already in the stick. That would also explain why the mold in on the foot and not on the wrapper since the wrapper would dry out first and the excess moisture would be trapped in the interior. But you had that stick for 2 years ! And you checked it 2 months ago !

Just wondering if you have any of the same brand from the same order in you humi and are they OK?

 

[A Huge Nerd]

Just to be extra safe (cause I'm kinda paranoid about losing sticks) I would spend a few hours doing a full cleanup in there. Give each cigar a VERY gentle wipedown with a dry cloth, and wipedown all the shelves and surfaces inside with a light hydrogen peroxide solution. If it was anything other than tobacco, I would recommend a teaspoon of bleach in a quart of warm water for the wipedown, but it just takes too long for the bleach smell to dissipate.

On the bright side, it does look like an isolated incident, and this could be a good time to do a nice rotation/re-org in the humi. Good luck!

 

[Questionablesanity]

Just when I thought I knew all about mold and how it works, this post shows up. I could see one stick being wet inside when you bought it and then the mold starts regardless of the RH in the humidor because the excess moisture is already in the stick. That would also explain why the mold in on the foot and not on the wrapper since the wrapper would dry out first and the excess moisture would be trapped in the interior. But you had that stick for 2 years ! And you checked it 2 months ago !

Just wondering if you have any of the same brand from the same order in you humi and are they OK?

Yeah I have another 4 JDNs in that sam tray bought at the same time. None of them show any signs of mold.

I opened the moldy one and it was only the foot that had mold, the rest seemed mold free.