Cigars gone bad?

Hi Gents,

I recently undertook the task of trying to reconstituting some cigars a colleague of mine gave up on as they had gone very dry.

What I did was to simply put them in a tupperware with a small ceramic cup containg a damp cotton swab .

I only remembered these cigars recently. When I opened up the tupperware, all the cigars were soft again,but with some green mildew?) cirles. As when bread just starts to go bad in the fridge.

Any pointers?

and thank you all in advance.

That mold could be any number of things, both positive and negative. Can you post pictures?

Some vintage cigars have a fine dust (called "bloom") on them that aficionados say adds to the flavor.

It could also be something mildly toxic ... it will detract from the taste, but its unlikely to be fatal.

Best advice I can give you is to fire one up and taste it, mold and all. You'll be able to tell pretty quickly whether or not you want to continue smoking that particular batch of stogies.

next time use distilled water, I made the mistake of using tap water and it ruined my humidor and all cigars.

AKady said:

next time use distilled water, I made the mistake of using tap water and it ruined my humidor and all cigars.

Click to expand...

it was distilled...

Hmm, I guess your cigars are now cigars + Be careful not to smoke too many at once though

If its "bloom", it should easily wipe off and the cigars are fine. If its "mold" then it would be much harder to wipe of and, personally, I'd throw them away.

I don't think that your problem was necessarily the type of water used, but the fact that the humidity was probably too high and possibly the ambient temperature.

If you want to be anal about it, the ideal is 70 degrees F. and 70% humidity.

Also, you should open the tupperware every week or so to allow a change of air.

momo360 said:

Hi Gents,

I recently undertook the task of trying to reconstituting some cigars a colleague of mine gave up on as they had gone very dry.

What I did was to simply put them in a Tupperware with a small ceramic cup contain a damp cotton swab .

I only remembered these cigars recently. When I opened up the tupperware, all the cigars were soft again,but with some green mildew?) cirles. As when bread just starts to go bad in the fridge.

Any pointers?

and thank you all in advance.

Click to expand...

Hi,

Just using water in a cotton swab probably made the environment inside the Tupperware too humid. Use a mixture of distilled H2O and propylene glycol to control relative humidity.

The high humidity, locked up in container, along with normal room temps (nearly everyone's home is higher than the ideal 70 degrees) will cause problems.

tim8557 said:

If its "bloom", it should easily wipe off and the cigars are fine. If its "mold" then it would be much harder to wipe of and, personally, I'd throw them away.

I don't think that your problem was necessarily the type of water used, but the fact that the humidity was probably too high and possibly the ambient temperature.

If you want to be anal about it, the ideal is 70 degrees F. and 70% humidity.

Also, you should open the tupperware every week or so to allow a change of air.

Click to expand...

got_flute said:

Hi,

Just using water in a cotton swab probably made the environment inside the Tupperware too humid. Use a mixture of distilled H2O and propylene glycol to control relative humidity.

The high humidity, locked up in container, along with normal room temps (nearly everyone's home is higher than the ideal 70 degrees) will cause problems.

Click to expand...

Exactly. Using just plain water in an airtight (tupperware) container allowed for no humidity control. The default range for storing cigars is 70*F and 70% relative humidity. There is wiggle room, of course, but usually on the decline from those numbers. I prefer 65% RH as I find anything much higher gives me a cigar that's is too moist and will smoke with poor burn and worse (acrid) flavor. YMMV.

Based on what you've told us, I'd say that they are moldy due to conditions that were too hot and too humid. If they were being brought back from the dead, it should have been done very slowly with slow, incremental increases in humidity.

My advice would be to chuck them, unfortunately.

Lynchmeister said:

Based on what you've told us, I'd say that they are moldy due to conditions that were too hot and too humid. If they were being brought back from the dead, it should have been done very slowly with slow, incremental increases in humidity.

My advice would be to chuck them, unfortunately.

Click to expand...

Bravo Sir, spot on. I could not said it better nor more simple than that....

Lynchmeister said:

My advice would be to chuck them, unfortunately.

Click to expand...

+1 Hopefully they weren't Montecristo #2s or OpusXs.

Don't put moist sponges in sealed containers with cigars
use a drymistat

I would say it is mold, since you said it is green. If they are good cigars, I would smoke them. If they are cheap, I would chunk them and buy new ones.

Not sure if this will bring them back... BUT when I smoked cigars I would store some in my refrigerator in a large ziploc bag, the skin from one orange wrapped in three moist paper towels.... They stayed frsh for months

Toss. They're toast.

With a tupperdor in particular, since there's generally no Spanish cedar to act as a buffer, calibrated beads are the best way to go:

http://www.heartfeltindustries.com/products.asp?cat=14

Heartfelt has great service and a broad range of bead products . . . I linked to the 65% ones, as that's what most people use, including me.

NANP™

awesome advice fellas, thanks very much!

Here is a link to
THE CIGAR SMOKER's FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions)
This should answer all of your questions. Be sure to read about making an oasis and charging it with PG.
http://www.cigargroup.com/faq/

momo360 said:

Hi Gents,

I recently undertook the task of trying to reconstituting some cigars a colleague of mine gave up on as they had gone very dry.

What I did was to simply put them in a tupperware with a small ceramic cup containg a damp cotton swab .

I only remembered these cigars recently. When I opened up the tupperware, all the cigars were soft again,but with some green mildew?) cirles. As when bread just starts to go bad in the fridge.

Any pointers?

and thank you all in advance.

Click to expand...

Bloom is white. Green = bad!!