Mold in Wineador 911 emergency

[smll2]

Hi Friends,

I need some help and guidance. My first winador has been up and running since the beginning of March. It's a 28 bottle wine enthusast model. Condensation always dripped down the back from the fan...and h2o accumulated on the bottom..not a river...but but spotty water. I have three mesh bags lying at the bottom of the unit. Periodically I would look at them...and they were very wet. No need to recharge these babies. I used only distilled water. I also have Diamond Crown humidifiers that I introduced when the RH got to low. Distilled water in those to. My RH has always been in the 60-69 range...more like 65 on average. Temperature 65 to 68. I have since purchased some smaller vino temp units. Well... I was moving stock around a few days ago...and holy sh.t!!!

The mesh bags on the bottom of the unit had a significant amount of black/very dark and light green mold. The hole at the bottom of the humidor was plugged by a 65 RH pad from Heartfelt. It was infected. Clearly I had to much of a wet environment in the unit...at the bottom. From searching on the internet it appears that you have to take these bags out from time to time. Better yet...moving forward I will keep the beads in tupperware or jars...and out of water.

I always paid attention the my to digital hygrometers. I was diligent in making sure my#'s were cool. My guess is the mold event took place in the last three weeks or so.

I have inspected all my cigars. No visible signs of mold that you see on pictures over the internet. What I do see on all the cigars...15plus boxes...are white legs on the cigars not in patches but unified across the stick. Nothing in the foot. I can only see these when I use a flashlight in the dark. I can't see the fuzz/dust/spors without the flashlight.

I'm wondering if I'm just paranoid...if it's simply dust...or if it's the early stages of mold? I don't think you could see it if I posted pictures which I don't know how to do anyway.

If your not doing anything and you have a moment...go to a dark place...pull out a flashlight and look at a couple of your sticks. Do you see uniform small hairs...or whatever on your sticks?

Do I need to call 911?

Thank you all in advance for your help and comments.

Tom

[sounddust]

As you seem to have done your research, you should be able to discern mould from plume with some certainty. So, if you're not sure, it probably isn't. Perhaps giving your wineador a through cleaning will help ease your mind. I have one at home and I use copious amounts of floral gel for humidification with no problems.

[El Presidente]

I would assume the early stages of mold. They were in an environment of active mold spores so rule on the conservative.

Wipe down all your cigars carefully and dry box them outside of the humidor for 2-3 days. Pull them out of their boxes and check the boxes themselves for any sign of mold.

Open your Wineador, drain all water, wipe down internally with an odourless alcohol. Leave door open for 2-3 days.

Put your cigars back in and try again. Inspect in 2-3 days again....then a week later etc.

[gerem]

I have three mesh bags lying at the bottom of the unit. Periodically I would look at them...and they were very wet. No need to recharge these babies.

Maybe that's the reason. If you use beads, you only need to add a small amount of water (2 to 4 table spoon). The beads just need to change from white to transparent. When they turn back to white, you need to add water again.

Good luck.

[Taino]

I love beads!

[smll2]

I would assume the early stages of mold. They were in an environment of active mold spores so rule on the conservative.

Wipe down all your cigars carefully and dry box them outside of the humidor for 2-3 days. Pull them out of their boxes and check the boxes themselves for any sign of mold.

Open your Wineador, drain all water, wipe down internally with an odourless alcohol. Leave door open for 2-3 days.

Put your cigars back in and try again. Inspect in 2-3 days again....then a week later etc.

Rob,

Thanks for your help I plan on attacking this issue tomorrow....Thursday. Here is my plan...and I have a few additonal questions.

. #1 Wipe down all cigars with...paper towels or micro fiber towels, cloth towels...what's best? The hair on these gars is small...seems to be attached and doesn't readily wipe off like more mature mold if you can imagine. This is early stage stuff...and appears to have attached to the wrapper. The spores are very fine. Do I use distilled water..isoporyl alchol...ethal alchol or just wipe them off without a cleaning/disenfectant agent?

2. Wipe down the boxes I have inspected them...no visible sign of mold. Wipe boxes with distilled water, alchol, or towel only?

3. Wineador. Clean with Baking soda and water. Final wipedown with isoporyl alchol. Let sit for two or three days.

Couple of other questions....

The beads on the bottom of the humidor that showed visible signs of mode were tossed. I have trays of beads that have been used in the subject humidor...and trays in others....where there has been cross contamination from moving product back in forth. No visible sign of mold in any of these. Can the beads that show/ no signs of mold sit out for two or three days..dry out completely and be reused...or do I toss the whole lot of them?

Finally..can I look forward to a complete recovery with no flavor loss/damage to the cigars?

Thanks Rob and others for you help and assistance in advance. This is a pretty big deal to me as we are talking about my entire investment in CC"s.

Thanks again.

Tom

[zuma]

As a caveat, I must say that I am thankful that I have never had such a big problem... and although I am not Rob, here's my opinion:

. #1 Wipe down all cigars with...paper towels or micro fiber towels, cloth towels...what's best? The hair on these gars is small...seems to be attached and doesn't readily wipe off like more mature mold if you can imagine. This is early stage stuff...and appears to have attached to the wrapper. The spores are very fine. Do I use distilled water..isoporyl alchol...ethal alchol or just wipe them off without a cleaning/disenfectant agent?

I would suggest getting a soft brush, sanitise the brush in isopropyl alcohol (ethanol should be fine) and allow it to dry. then gently brush the affected cigars. Please do not dab any stuff on the cigars (alcohols are solvents that will affect the natural oils, phenols and quinones in the tobacco). As suggested by the Prez, dry box 'em afterwards.

2. Wipe down the boxes I have inspected them...no visible sign of mold. Wipe boxes with distilled water, alchol, or towel only?

Wipe them with alcohol (isopropyl, ethanol, etc) and a microfibre cloth.

3. Wineador. Clean with Baking soda and water. Final wipedown with isoporyl alchol. Let sit for two or three days.

Wipe the inside with a mild bleach solution, paying particular attention to the areas where condensation and water accumulation can occur. Then wipe clean with water, and then wipe again with alcohol. As suggested by the prez, leave it open to air.

Couple of other questions....

The beads on the bottom of the humidor that showed visible signs of mode were tossed. I have trays of beads that have been used in the subject humidor...and trays in others....where there has been cross contamination from moving product back in forth. No visible sign of mold in any of these. Can the beads that show/ no signs of mold sit out for two or three days..dry out completely and be reused...or do I toss the whole lot of them?

Whenever I have had signs of mould on my beads, I have been able to recover them by soaking them overnight in a mild bleach solution (I used Milton solution left over from when my monsters where little) , then rinsed several times in clean water and allowed to fully dry in the sun. When soaking them the first time, I use boiled salty distilled water solution (to restore their humidity holding capability)... but then, it is perhaps easier to just buy them in bulk again, as they are quite affordable.

I hope you and your cigars recover well... Cheers!

[smll2]

As a caveat, I must say that I am thankful that I have never had such a big problem... and although I am not Rob, here's my opinion:

I would suggest getting a soft brush, sanitise the brush in isopropyl alcohol (ethanol should be fine) and allow it to dry. then gently brush the affected cigars. Please do not dab any stuff on the cigars (alcohols are solvents that will affect the natural oils, phenols and quinones in the tobacco). As suggested by the Prez, dry box 'em afterwards.

Wipe them with alcohol (isopropyl, ethanol, etc) and a microfibre cloth.

Wipe the inside with a mild bleach solution, paying particular attention to the areas where condensation and water accumulation can occur. Then wipe clean with water, and then wipe again with alcohol. As suggested by the prez, leave it open to air.

Whenever I have had signs of mould on my beads, I have been able to recover them by soaking them overnight in a mild bleach solution (I used Milton solution left over from when my monsters where little) , then rinsed several times in clean water and allowed to fully dry in the sun. When soaking them the first time, I use boiled salty distilled water solution (to restore their humidity holding capability)... but then, it is perhaps easier to just buy them in bulk again, as they are quite affordable.

I hope you and your cigars recover well... Cheers!

Well Now. Before I started to go thru this effort I decided to go to my Local Cigar Shop and speak with the owner who I trust. I had not seen him in month's as I've been buying CC's. So I bring in four boxes...he looks at them all. He says that hair your referring to (me) is the natural aging process of cigars...especially CC's.

So he pulls out some of his CC's and yep....little hairs...and I mean little just like mine.

I had lots of mold on my beads in mesh bags at the bottom of my wineador and I guess I went nutty. If you had told me you needed to send in guys with space suits and breathing apparatuses to torch the house I would have gone for it.

Stupid Me.

The moral of the story is...I think...if you take a flashlight to a CC and look closely you will see very fine and small...what appears to be hair/legs etc...evenly spread over the cigar. If you just saw a major mold birthday party at the bottom of the winedaor shortly before...and you think your cigars are infected take them to the local BM to get an opinion on the issue before you waste everyone's precious time on line.

Thanks for everyone's help.

I'll just be molding along now.

Tom

[El Presidente]

I'll just be molding along now.

Clean out the humifor Tom as you propose. If you have any white substance on the foot of the cigars it will be mould.

Be vigilant

[smll2]

Clean out the humifor Tom as you propose. If you have any white substance on the foot of the cigars it will be mould.

Be vigilant

Rob,

The humifor has been sucking air outside since the day I discovered the mold. Is it mould or mold? I will google that and get back to you. It has been cleaned out....and it will be cleaned out again as suggested on the posts. I appreciate the follow up my friend and I will be vilagent.

Thanks very much to all for your time and help.

Tom