Is This Mold?

[psc109]

I had a problem with my humidor bouncing between 65-70rh from day to night so I bought the Heartfelt 65%. I picked up the 2 oz tube for my 150 count humidor. I poured the distilled water into the tube but I think I oversaturated it so I removed 1/4 of the wet beads and filled it back up with new unactivated beads. the next morning my digital was reading at 70rh. I know my digital is correct because in the same order I bought the Boveda calibrator.

Because of the rise in RH I put a few more unactivated beads in a shot glass and left it un attended for 2 days because I was away. I came back the digital was reading 75rh and the corner of the humidor where the Heartfelt tube had been was wet with a white foamy substance. What the heck do I do? Is this Mold, are the beads faulty? Are my cigars ruined?

I need your help.

 

[Wasch_24]

:welcome:


White and foamy?

Fuzzy, and maybe it could be mold.

Could it just be water saturated with small pieces of beads from the likely shattering of the beads that occured when you poured water on them?

 

[Brian]

It may be mold. I had one of the humi-tubes and I must've put it in the humidor while there was still excess water in it, because a few days later I picked it up and there was white, foamy stuff where it had been sitting.

 

[Wasch_24]

This "white foamy" description seems weird to me. I would describe mold as fuzzy.

 

[Brian]

May be the early stages of mold. It had a weird smell from what I remember, I just took a paper towel and wiped it up then made sure I soaked up all the moisture that was there.

 

[psc109]

More like what Brian said:

I had one of the humi-tubes and I must've put it in the humidor while there was still excess water in it, because a few days later I picked it up and there was white, foamy stuff where it had been sitting.

It was not fuzzy it was less thick than this but as if someone scooped a spoon tip amount of foam off a latte and put it in the corner on the humi.


Bryan did you cigars get ruined?

 

[DocLogic77]

I think its just heartfelt bead plume.

Ok...sorry for making light of your problem. Yes, it's most likely mold if your description is correct. I would pull my cigars and tupperdore em. By the way, you might be a little overly concerned about humidity. I would rather run a little dry than wet anytime of the day. I have run in the high 50's and never batted an eye. I really wouldn't play with it day to day. Get your 65% beads and do your thing. Personally, I feel NC and CC smoke well at 65%.

 

[Headbanger]

:welcome: Try going to http://www.botl.org/community/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=23 place and introduce yourself so we get to know you from the introduction forum.

First thing bro, e-mail the vendor and ask David, he can answer this I am sure. Unless this moisture is from cat piss, never mind, wrong thread.

 

[Headbanger]

Pouring water over beads then placing into a storage unit maybe not the best idea for me even tho their website says it is ok. First thing I would do is dry the beads out using a hair dryer. Then follow the method below to achieve proper RH balance. I would remove and quarantine in a sealed baggie ANY and ALL cigars that were close enough to this mold or high moisture area. You could very lightly sanding this area where you had the potential mold and not add any more beads or additives to this area to allow it to dry out:

Below as copied from Heartfelt site and good luck:


“How do I add distilled water to the beads when they get dry?”

There are a number of ways to do this. You can just pour distilled water on the beads. A lot of folks do it this way but the beads can fracture when it is done this way. One thing to remember, fracturing will not affect the efficiency of the beads or ruin them in any way, they will still do their job. A good rule of thumb is 25ml of distilled water per pound.

My 1/2 ounce humi tube takes 1-2 teaspoons of distilled water,

the 1 ounce humi tube takes 2-3 teaspoons of distilled water,

the 2 ounce humi tube takes 3-4 teaspoons of distilled water,

the four ounce humi tube takes 4-5 teaspoons of distilled water.

You can put a container of distilled water, like a bowl, next to the beads and let them absorb the distilled water in this way. When they have absorbed all they can remove the bowl. This method is effective but takes a while for the beads to absorb the water.

The method I use and prefer is using a spray bottle. I purchased an inexpensive spray bottle at the grocery store and filled it with distilled water. When the beads need water I just spray them until they have absorbed enough distilled water. This method will work well if you have the beads in a bag or dish.

"If my beads are going white, should I add distilled water until

 

[Kingston]

:welcome: Try going to http://www.botl.org/community/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=23 place and introduce yourself so we get to know you from the introduction forum.

First thing bro, e-mail the vendor and ask David, he can answer this I am sure. Unless this moisture is from cat piss, never mind, wrong thread.

I'm with Steve. The first thing I'd do is ask the guys I bought them from.

 

[psc109]

Ok, contacted Heartfelt we'll see what they say. I just don't understand why their beads would cause mold. I bought 65% rh beads. aren't they supposed to keep rh at 65%? If they were working correctly no mold would develop at 65% how by adding their beads did my humi go up to 75%rh.

 

[Wasch_24]

Too much water? :dunno:

 

[Headbanger]

I am sure the beads did not cause the mold by themselves. You say you oversaturated the beads, the excess water the beads could not absorb may have though.

 

[psc109]

There was still some water in the tube when I put it in the humi.

If it's mold don't you have to rub the humi down w/ rubbing alcohol and let it sit for a few days? Sometimes ever sand the inside and re-condition it?

 

[DocLogic77]

If you oversaturate the beads they will not hold at 65%.

 

[psc109]

I am sure the beads did not cause the mold by themselves. You say you oversaturated the beads, the excess water the beads could not absorb may have though.

I hear year, I guess it's all speculation till I hear from the Heartfelt guy but by "water still in the tube" and "over saturation" were talking about minuscule amounts. I MAY have put in more than the required 4 teaspoons but it was not a bananas amount of water.

I also put a shot glass full of dry beads in before I left for the 2 days. More that enough to suck up excess R.H.

 

[Headbanger]

I am not sure of the alcohol issue. I read lightly sanding works. I would try to contact the humidor vendor for that one.

Far as conditioning the humi. Slower is better. I do not advise wiping or splashing water inside the humi ever. If you fix this potential problem and dry the humi out real good, try a small glass or shot glass with distilled water for 3 or 4 days or until a calibrated digital hygrometer is where your comfortable. Most like between 62-68% RH .

 

[Brian]

More like what Brian said:

I had one of the humi-tubes and I must've put it in the humidor while there was still excess water in it, because a few days later I picked it up and there was white, foamy stuff where it had been sitting.

It was not fuzzy it was less thick than this but as if someone scooped a spoon tip amount of foam off a latte and put it in the corner on the humi.


Bryan did you cigars get ruined?

No cigars were ruined. This was a very small amount of the white,foamy stuff. Just underneath the humi-tube. I just wiped it out and close the humidor backup, didn't have any reappearnace of it after that.

 

[Headbanger]

Your also saying after the oversaturated beads went in, the RH went to 70. You removed some of those wet beads and added dryer beads and the RH went to 75%? Are they the same beads or same RH pre set beads?

One last thing, your room air or ambient RH may be well above 65% RH. So if you over wet the beads and the ambient air is also too moist, the beads will try to desorb that excess water. Summertime can be a bitch on too much moisture/RH for cigars. You may just find a need to dry out those beads more often than wetting during this time of year.

 

[psc109]

looks like we have had the same experience Brian. I'll let everone know when I hear from the Heartfelt guy.

I want to thank all of you for your help!

Funny thing is I just pick up a cab of BBF's this morning from the Post Office. lokks like those will go in tuppadore till this gets resolved.