What makes over-humidified humidity beads smell?

[Guybrush]

Hi,

I over-humidified my 70% Hertfelt beads. My whole humidor smells like lime oil.

I used distilled water. Apparently I am not the only one wondering about the smell of over-humidified humidity beads.

What makes the beads smell when over-humidified? What chemicals are used and why do they smell?

[PigFish]

You should understand that humidity beads are nothing more than a desiccant of some sort. As such they are hygroscopic and beyond that, a porous material that works something like a sieve or filter.

If you were to look into the industrial usage for desiccants, you would find that they are often used to capture specific materials (in a gas stream for example) and water is not all that they catch. I have often wondered if they catch and hold what is the essence of a great cigar (but that is all just speculation and wildly assumptive thinking)!

So to answer your question, is it the bead that is odorous or something that it has captured? It is my guess that it is something that it has captured and if it has a citrus smell it may be from wood, ammonia or other volatile substances that you have had in your humidor.

If you can smell it, then I would assume that you can remove it, as it is volatile; another assumption. Bake the beads dry and see if the odor goes with it.

Lastly... You should always taste a new supply of distilled water! I have had tainted distilled water and I would have never known it unless I tasted it. I just toss it out and get another bottle.

Best of luck! -Piggy

[Ginseng]

You should understand that humidity beads are nothing more than a desiccant of some sort. As such they are hygroscopic and beyond that, a porous material that works something like a sieve or filter.

If you were to look into the industrial usage for desiccants, you would find that they are often used to capture specific materials (in a gas stream for example) and water is not all that they catch. I have often wondered if they catch and hold what is the essence of a great cigar (but that is all just speculation and wildly assumptive thinking)!

So to answer your question, is it the bead that is odorous or something that it has captured? It is my guess that it is something that it has captured and if it has a citrus smell it may be from wood, ammonia or other volatile substances that you have had in your humidor.

If you can smell it, then I would assume that you can remove it, as it is volatile; another assumption. Bake the beads dry and see if the odor goes with it.

Lastly... You should always taste a new supply of distilled water! I have had tainted distilled water and I would have never known it unless I tasted it. I just toss it out and get another bottle.

Best of luck! -Piggy

There's your daily dose of practical wisdom.

Desiccants, activated charcoal, molecular sieves, zeolite, silica gel...they are all capable of capturing more than just moisture vapor. Organic volatiles, the stuff that makes the humidor smell great are among the collateral capture.

What was wrong with the distilled water? Some sort of bacterial or fungal growth?

Wilkey

[PigFish]

There's your daily dose of practical wisdom.

Desiccants, activated charcoal, molecular sieves, zeolite, silica gel...they are all capable of capturing more than just moisture vapor. Organic volatiles, the stuff that makes the humidor smell great are among the collateral capture.

What was wrong with the distilled water? Some sort of bacterial or fungal growth?

Wilkey

... thank you my friend!

I don't know... It just had a metallic taste.

You know I have not wanted to 'rock' the cigar world with one my comments, one that you just reiterated as "collateral capture." That is a good analogy...

This is why I use an engineered desiccant, one with a uniform pour size, verses unknown and non-engineered desiccants. It has also caused me to rethink using desiccants in my humidors many times.

If cigar "essence" is volatile and free in your humidor, perhaps in an equilibrium state, then controlling air supply (as you do) and reducing other materials that could capture that essence would be a factor.

Now bear in mind that I am wildly speculating and having a little academic fun with the topic. I am not attempting to turn the cigar desiccant using world on its head. I am just spouting off.

I have to tell you, that every time I pick up a box of my desiccant and smell the sweet smell of cigar, I think twice about my decision to use the stuff...!

Cheers, my friend! -R

[tomj]

This is amazing because I was going to ask the same question. My coolidor beads have an citrus smell, and I was wondering why. Thank you for the information I am baking my beads now on low heat now.

[tomj]

Thank you Mr. Piggy I baked my beads for 15 min. at 220F or 105C and the smell is gone. I am now going to let them completly dry out before I but them back. And thank you Guybrush for asking this question.

[ElJefe]

I had the same thing happen to me a while back. Questioning the effectiveness of the beads and their ability to retain and release moisture just as when new, I ended up just throwing them out and using 2 pounds of new 65% RH beads. I tasted the distilled water I had, after the fact and sure enough it tasted odd so it probably was the culprit.

Just to play it safe I would recommend replacing with new beads. I think we all value our cigars and their essential oils, proper aging and development over time more.

Ciao.

[Nedule]

Interesting topic. I've also had some bead start to stink & I pulled them out worried the bad smell was coming from the bead but it makes sense that they were more likely to be absorbing bad smells. In my situation they'er were a few fresh boxes which leads me to believe they were absorbing ammonia bleeding off? I mainly rely on Xikar drymistat tubes for humidity which over time have absorbed a cigar/tobacco smell, no bad or sour smells.

[Guybrush]

Thank you very much.

I was afraid something toxic was leaking out my beads and causing the unusual smell.

[nick2021]

Had this happen to me....turns out the smell had been taken by the sponge. Lesson learned. When I put the beads into an empty humidor the smell seemed to "go away" over time....

[PigFish]

... any cigars you feel are toxic can be sent to Piggy Labs for proper disposal...-LOL

Els accepted for an additional charge!

-the Pig

[earthson]

After numerous years of use, my beads smell like aged tobacco. Of course, I haven't overhumidified them for 4 years or so

[jazzboypro]

Don't know if it makes a difference but i use HCM beads and i dont spray/add DW to them (not recommended by the manufacturer), instead i put the beads in a container with a bowl of DW along with an hygro. I let the beads absorb water vapor until i have the desired RH. Once done i put the beads in the humi. From time to time i had DW to a sponge in the humi but again i never wet the beads. It takes more time to condition the beads this way but the results are acceptable for me.

[PigFish]

Don't know if it makes a difference but i use HCM beads and i dont spray/add DW to them (not recommended by the manufacturer), instead i put the beads in a container with a bowl of DW along with an hygro. I let the beads absorb water vapor until i have the desired RH. Once done i put the beads in the humi. From time to time i had DW to a sponge in the humi but again i never wet the beads. It takes more time to condition the beads this way but the results are acceptable for me.

I have written extensively about desiccants on this site. You are in fact conditioning beads correctly by this method.

One should note that most (I emphasize the word most) silica based desiccants are not designed to withstand direct water contact. Regenerable desiccants are a'd'sorbent and not designed to be a'b'sorbent. There is a huge difference.

There are very few silica desiccants that are really water resistant. Mine are not pure silica and there in lies the difference. I use an engineered industrial desiccant from Europe designed for the refining industry. I take some trade off in surface area (not much) for the sake of water exposure resistance.

Pure silica (the clear beads) need to be low density to provide water tolerance. An investigation of desiccants which you can do on your own will prove this correct. Low density desiccants have a greater mean pour diameter and will catch a lot of things beyond water. With the larger pour diameter they will be less likely to break up under the heat stress of absorption, but it comes at a cost of surface bonding area... This means that they will hold less water.

There is a lot of science in desiccant design and construction. Most people don't really care about all the science. But, they are not all created equal, nor do they all do the same job equally.

Over-humidification should not damage them. Wetting them can damage them on several fronts, the greatest being heat. Adsorption is an exothermic process. The cracking that you hear when you wet beads is water boiling, and or heat fracturing! Chosing the right desiccant is a way to limit the erosion and attrition due to poor handling. I figure that cigar smokers will abuse the beads and not condition them correctly. I therefore buy desiccants that are water tolerant and crush resistant. They cost more, but what the hell...! Humidor space is worth money, and wasting room for 10lbs of cat litter is a poor choice as I see it.

Cheers! -Piggy

[PigFish]

Dear PigFish, You mention using an engineered industrial desiccant from Europe designed for the refining industry.I don't know if you have covered this elsewhere, but would it be possible to obtain some of this desiccant from you,or could you tell me of a source from which I could obtain this desiccant? Thank you very much, and I apologize if this has been covered elsewhere

I blend industrial desiccants and sell them as a part of my humidor kits. That would make your question a commercial one which I keep off the site. Inquiries about items that I sell should me emailed me directly and my email is in my profile. It is unfair to expect our hosts site to support, nor the membership to read through my commercial advertising.

I have written extensively on desiccant use, differences and cigar application all over the site. Frankly, too many times to recollect. Desiccants are complex machine-like substances and I really have to be in the mood to recover a lot of that material. Not that I am against covering it over and over in small snippets, but I don't really have the time to pour all my knowledge of them into one specific reference article to point you too. Look for some key words and you will find them.

While I use the term "beads" quite often, my posts will typically refer to desiccants as such. Narrowing down my posts should be easily done by searching the correct terminology such as the word "adsorbent" verses "absorbent." Most of these threads will have been started by others where I have added some facts and opinions.

Best of luck on your research. -Piggy