TheLiquidGator Posted March 30, 2014 Posted March 30, 2014 I have an Avallo humidor with an Accumonitor system. The wicks in the canisters grow some black looking mold on them after about a month. I understand the wicks should last 3-4 months. Further, i heard you can add just a little bit of bacteriostat to the canisters and the wicks will stay white and last 3-4 with out this issue. Am skeptical about adding a chemical to my humidor. Even a little bit. Just does not seem natural, but it might be am overly careful. Has anyone had any direct experience with this matter? Many thanks, David
BBS Posted March 30, 2014 Posted March 30, 2014 David - I have a Staebell cabinet humidor with active humidification. The only time I've had issues with mold was with a bad batch of distilled water (as far as I can tell). I swap the wicks when they start to look 'funky' but I get almost a year out of them before the change. I use only bottled, distilled water. Not 'drinking' water, not 'filtered' water....distilled water only. I'm with you - NO chemicals, etc, in the humidification water....ever!! I will tell you what I have done is when changing the wicks, I use a bit of 'Everclear' (190 proof grain alcohol) and wipe the inside of the humidifier can with it. I figure if it's OK to drink (well...sort of) it can't hurt long term. I then blow the cans out with a bit of compressed air so they are 100% dry before I put them back into service. Don't know if it helps or not, seemed a reasonable thing to do. I get great service out of wicks, so I'm not going to 'fix' something that seems to work very well. Good luck - B.B.S.
Neuralpath Posted March 31, 2014 Posted March 31, 2014 I have an Avallo humidor with an Accumonitor system. The wicks in the canisters grow some black looking mold on them after about a month. I understand the wicks should last 3-4 months. Further, i heard you can add just a little bit of bacteriostat to the canisters and the wicks will stay white and last 3-4 with out this issue. Am skeptical about adding a chemical to my humidor. Even a little bit. Just does not seem natural, but it might be am overly careful. Has anyone had any direct experience with this matter? Many thanks, David I have an Avallo and other active humidors. I also see the black mold start to grow over time on the filters. It's my understanding that some regions of the country (and I've noticed at certain times of the year) have mold spores in the air that attach themselves and grow in these environments. That being said, I keep my humidity low (about 63%) and have never had a problem (over 15 years) with any mold growing on cigars. Two solutions I've found effective: (1) don't use filters. If you have the circulation fans (and separate settable timer) you can still keep the humidity level constant or (2) just replace the filters move often. Hope this helps.
TheDistrictJP Posted March 31, 2014 Posted March 31, 2014 Maybe the vendor can comment? What is the performance loss if not using the wicks?
TheLiquidGator Posted March 31, 2014 Author Posted March 31, 2014 Thanks for the replies. If anyone else has on hand experience please post your experiences. I cleaned the canister, refilled with new distilled water and added a fresh wick. Will check it in about a weak. All of my cigars are fine and are smoking great.
Bclass1 Posted March 31, 2014 Posted March 31, 2014 David, Use the wicks as they were designed to be used. I have an Avallo Accumonitor myself and I change out the wick in the canister once every 2 months or so. I do not wait until black mold starts to grow at the top of the wick. I do a change when I see the wick start to discolor in it's early stages. To me, you should never, at any point, allow black mold to grow in or around any portion of your cigars and that includes the canister which is humidifying them. What I do is simple: you can purchase a few sheets of the wick material on Amazon or other common websites that sell them for dirt cheap. It is the exact same material that Avallo uses. Cut the sheets into the size you need for your canister. I was able to get around a 2 year supply from an order that cost me $15 I think. Don't buy them from Avallo as you'll just pay more for pre-cut wicks and they only give you a few. Clean the canister and add fresh distiller water whenever you do a wick change. This is the easiest way to keep the canister free of mold. The system might work without the wick but I doubt it's as efficient. Goodluck.
Smallclub Posted March 31, 2014 Posted March 31, 2014 What about a small % of propylen glycol added to the distilled water? PG is a very efficient anti-fungic, and it's not detrimental to the cigars.
TheLiquidGator Posted March 31, 2014 Author Posted March 31, 2014 Thanks Bclass1. Good info on buying by the sheet. Smallclub- I think propylen glycol contains some amount of bacteriostat.
Neuralpath Posted March 31, 2014 Posted March 31, 2014 David, Use the wicks as they were designed to be used. I have an Avallo Accumonitor myself and I change out the wick in the canister once every 2 months or so. I do not wait until black mold starts to grow at the top of the wick. I do a change when I see the wick start to discolor in it's early stages. To me, you should never, at any point, allow black mold to grow in or around any portion of your cigars and that includes the canister which is humidifying them. What I do is simple: you can purchase a few sheets of the wick material on Amazon or other common websites that sell them for dirt cheap. It is the exact same material that Avallo uses. Cut the sheets into the size you need for your canister. I was able to get around a 2 year supply from an order that cost me $15 I think. Don't buy them from Avallo as you'll just pay more for pre-cut wicks and they only give you a few. Clean the canister and add fresh distiller water whenever you do a wick change. This is the easiest way to keep the canister free of mold. The system might work without the wick but I doubt it's as efficient. Goodluck. I think this is good advice, it's what I've ended up doing as well. I've tried not using the wicks, and checked with Avallo about that strategy. It's not as efficient, but I have four of the canisters, so they are well distributed throughout the cabinet. One downside is that it doesn't work so well when the water level drops below about half. Regardless, I agree that using the filters and changing proactively is the best approach.
Cohiba Stevie Posted March 31, 2014 Posted March 31, 2014 What about a small % of propylen glycol added to the distilled water? PG is a very efficient anti-fungic, and it's not detrimental to the cigars. I second this.
TheLiquidGator Posted April 1, 2014 Author Posted April 1, 2014 Found a older link with some good info: http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=108752
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