Need an ending to this story........

[kevinfj]

Like most stories, mine has an introduction, body, and ending. I am wondering about the end of mine.

Here is the begining:

I have a cigar collection that is smaller than some but bigger than others. I have been smoking cigars for about 15 years. About 5 years ago I purchased a cabinet humidor from a well known maker (I would consider him an artist) in the States. Never had a problem with the humidor, I set it and forget about it. The digital reading has read 64% RH and 65 degrees (give or take) for all of those 5 years. Approx 4 weeks ago I went to humidor to get a VR Unicos and noticed that the cigars were moist......weird I thought. The digital readings were the same. I went away for work and came back 2 weeks ago. I immediately went to my cigars..........

Here is the middle:

The VR's were now covered in mold. ****!!!!!!!!! And worse, others in the collection were covered in mold. I removed everthing and shut off the humidification system. One out of every 10 boxes had mold. My wife helped me inspect the collection fully. Then came the question of the year "What are these little bugs on the cigars?" DOUBLE ****!!!!!!!! You got it, cigar beetles on probably half of the cigars. But no tell-tale holes in the wrappers. All of the emotions came out, panic, fear, anger.

Here is what happened next.

I removed all visible mold and froze the cigars appropriately. I went to my local B&M and purchased a digital hygrometer and placed it in the humidor and it read 90%. Thats right, I had been unknowingly over-humidifying my cigars for god knows how long. I contacted the humidor maker and have replaced the humidification system. But I don't want to talk about that.........

Today I removed the cigars from my refridgerator (they were in freezer for 3 days) and inspected them. All looks okay. But now the questions come. I am assuming I avoided a cigar beetle disaster but am I naive? And what about the mold? Are my cigars now ruined? All of them? Some of them? If there is no visible mold anywhere, am I in the clear or am I screwed? Should I throw some away or all of them?

Sorry for sounding desperate but I am and I could use some good advice and the folks here definitely know what they are talking about.

Thanks

FJ

[Colt45]

Sorry to hear it. Regarding the bugs - dark or whitish? If they are light in color, they are mites and simply "feeding" on the moisture.

If dark, I'm surprised there are no holes.

As for the mold, if it hasn't intruded into the inner tobacco (check the feet), just wipe it off. I can't comment on your system, but I'm

not a big fan of the reservoir type unless there is a way to decrease humidity within the cabinet as well.

Keep us informed.

[traded]

Sorry about this bro. Sounds terrible. If I were you, I would sacrifice a unicos to see what it looks like inside. I would worry that you have mold inside the cigars. hopefully you dont, but if you do...........sadness.

d

[cigcars]

*DEFINITELY a case of over humidification. Having been through the very thing you've spoken of in the 26 years of cigar purchase and storage (always through desk top humidors), AND freezing the bugs out, AND going through mold and such...I've found that even if you don't suffer mold or beetles it's still terribly bad for the cigars to get overhumidified moist. There was never a problem with flavor or enjoyment with my non-Cuban cigars when this happened. In fact I thought it better for the cigars to be moist and springy to the touch than not. But this is not the case with Cubans. They have a particular flavor and aroma that is better even if a little dried than over humidified.

I had to consult the experts on this forum about what to do about my overhumidified havanas. They weren't molded or fuzzed, and there were no beetles. But there was NO havana flavor anymore, which sent me to the floor (so to speak) in grief. And the guys advised just dry boxing for awhile and the good ole' flavor should return, which it did...THANK THE LORD!! I'm no expert on the type of system you have and can't really advise anything about the regulated hydrogenation and so on, yet I would think just letting the humidification system be on "Off" if there is such a switch, and leaving them inside as is for 3 weeks at a time, then humidify, turn off again. The moisture inside should suffice for the little time it's on. As the others who know more about this than I would probably say, "No, it will regulate itself - leave it on..." I'm just saying what I do through NUMEROUS undesirable incidences.

[bc8436]

Oh dear, I'm so sorry to hear about this.

I would suggest you clean out the humidor to get rid of any mold that may be inside. Take some isopropyl alcohol, add a little distilled water and then wipe down the interior. That should kill the mold. Also, you might want to consider separating the sticks after taking them out of the freezer because mold can survive the freezing process.

Hopefully your cigars will survive this episode. By the way, I have one of these and they are very accurate. Wouldn't be a bad idea to place one in your humidor: http://vwrlabshop.com/vwr-humidity-tempera...mory/p/0009327/

[Holysmokes]

Wow, I think you just described my biggest nightmare. I will leave the advice to people who are a bit more experienced than I am regarding cigars, but I just wanted to wish you luck. Hopefully you can bring some of those cigars back to life.

Luc

[aes8]

Did you buy all the ice cream before or after this happened?

Sorry couldn't resist.

I all seriousness you should check the specification temperature of your frezzer. I'm not sure what it goes down to but I have heard it is not low enough to kill the beetle eggs.

With that said I think you will be ok. You might want to give a serious thought to just using beads and moving away from the active humidification system. I have three coolidors all with beads and I have never had any humidity problems.

One quesiton, was all your stock CC? I have never had a bug problem with CC.

Best of luck

[kevinfj]

Thanks for all of the advice and condolences.

To answer the question, all of the little bugs were white. I have never heard of "mites" before so that is good information. Different from tobacco beatles?

aes9

All of my cigars are CC's. But the Unicos that I tossed had cigar beatle holes in the wrapper but they were the only ones.

I didn't know that others had problems with the active humidification systems. Which I have.

So far no new news from the world of soggy cigars........thanks all for the advice.

FJ

[SandmanTR]

Thanks for all of the advice and condolences.

To answer the question, all of the little bugs were white. I have never heard of "mites" before so that is good information. Different from tobacco beatles?

FJ

FJ. Sorry to hear about the problems. I also have a set it and forget it system. I use the Honeywell TM005X with multiple Honeywell TS33C remote sensors placed throughout my humidor so I always know the temp and humidity without opening the doors to check on the set it and forget it system.

On another note, check out this past post about mites.

http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/inde...showtopic=86431

[kevinfj]

Just read that link. Thanks for the advice Sandman.

[Colt45]

To answer the question, all of the little bugs were white. I have never heard of "mites" before so that is good information. Different from tobacco beatles?

As Sandman's link shows (there are some other threads as well), mites differ from beetles. Mites don't feed on tobacco, but are attracted to moisture.

You will need to clean your humidor (some have used a vacuum), and definitely check any humidification devices.

[thechenman]

Good luck with this...I'm sure things will work out...