Mold disappearing by itself with lower RH

[Uwiik]

I just gave myself Christmas and New Year gift, namely a Habanos shopping spree in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and a local vendor and bought loads of Cuban, about 30 boxes altogether with many proper vintage (2013-2021) among the boxes. Some of the boxes were slightly moldy due to overly humid storage condition from the vendors. Nine boxes of 2015 Cohiba Panatelas, 1 box of 2016 Trinidad Fundadores and 2 cabs of 50 of 2019 Partagas Lusitanias were all affected by light specks of mold. I did not brush off the mold before freezing and didn’t bother to check again after freezing due to the many boxes I had to handle at one time. Since all three of my electric humidors are already filled to the brim I just immediately chucked these inside several Tupperdores and separated the ones with mold into one separated Tupperdore, all with 62% Boveda @ 18-19C. That was about 10 days ago and today I had a chance to re-inspect  the moldy ones thinking about brushing off the mold. To my surprise, none of the previously moldy sticks has any speck of mold anymore, all are squeaky clean with no trace of white specks anymore. Is it possible that drier storage at 62% can eradicate mold just like that? I find it hard to believe but off course I am ecstatic if that is the case, I have been worried sick about the moldy one for the last couple of days. 
 

thanks all!! 

[BrightonCorgi]

Where did you find a good selection in Abu Dhabi?

[Kaips1]

Since mold requires certain levels of moisture, white being one of the most sensitive, the reason its considered no biggie if it wipes off. So by lowering humidity you are also drying the air which in turn will always make the mold shrink, if I were you I'd still wipe them down to get any remaing traces off the cigars.

[Uwiik]

14 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

Where did you find a good selection in Abu Dhabi?

Just got the Panatelas, Epi.2 and Siglo IV from Abu Dhabi LCDH inside Abu Dhabi mall, bought the rest in Dubai LCDH and Le Tabac. They open up their enclosed drawers and pick boxes at their discretion to offer to you after you spent quite a load of money on hard-to-sell displayed items. Truly some gems they have hidden down there but I am not privileged enough to open up that drawer myself yet 😂 

 

13 hours ago, Kaips1 said:

Since mold requires certain levels of moisture, white being one of the most sensitive, the reason its considered no biggie if it wipes off. So by lowering humidity you are also drying the air which in turn will always make the mold shrink, if I were you I'd still wipe them down to get any remaing traces off the cigars.

I decided to inspect all the sticks, one by one. While I can confirm there is no more actively growing mold, apparently there were quite a lot of white trace on the sticks that’s buried in the middle on cab of 50s Lusitania. Should I use iso alcohol or h2o2 to wipe it down or just use plain brush? 

[BrightonCorgi]

21 minutes ago, Uwiik said:

. Should I use iso alcohol or h2o2 to wipe it down or just use plain brush? 

Wipe with clean cotton cloth is all.  No alcohol or water needed.

[Li Bai]

On 1/12/2024 at 12:09 AM, Kaips1 said:

Since mold requires certain levels of moisture, white being one of the most sensitive, the reason its considered no biggie if it wipes off. So by lowering humidity you are also drying the air which in turn will always make the mold shrink, if I were you I'd still wipe them down to get any remaing traces off the cigars.

That's what I'd do too.

On 1/12/2024 at 2:31 AM, Uwiik said:

decided to inspect all the sticks, one by one. While I can confirm there is no more actively growing mold, apparently there were quite a lot of white trace on the sticks that’s buried in the middle on cab of 50s Lusitania. Should I use iso alcohol or h2o2 to wipe it down or just use plain brush? 

I do wipe it with a little brush when needed. But if I may... it's a huge catch (30 boxes 👍) and of course inspecting that much boxes is very complicated, just know that when the mold has just appeared it doesn't matter but if those boxes have been stored at high HR for years they could have lost something. Time will tell so 🤞

If I were you I would check those boxes regularly, sticks that grew mold once tend to do it again 👍