So a while back during a heat wave my peltier of my vinotemp condensed and soaked the back of a cedar tray that was closest to it. The humidity inside the vino remained constant (the one I casually glanced at from time to time), but inside the tray (sealed Chas Tray) it rose to a very high RH. Since I was busy with the wedding and work, this went on for many weeks before I happened to look inside that particular tray.

So fast forward to now. Had a major mold outbreak isolated inside that tray. Sadly it was a large tray and had to toss a good deal of smokes. :-)

However, some I was able to wipe clean... about 15 or so. I quarantined them off in ziplock baggies and have been moving them in and out of the vino trying to stabilize their RH.

The vino is now OFF fyi. So it's acting as just a sealed box.

So the RH inside the baggies is now about 68%. So they're approaching normal after being highly humidified.

The problem is now.. they smell like wet wood. :-)

Any hopes of this going away or are the remaining smokes in the tray just going to be a waste of effort :-) ?
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Not really sure.. Personally, I wouldn't smoke them, but if they are some top notch sticks, I may try and salvage them... Who knows.
Scott
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What ever comes of this and those cigars I am sorry for your loss.
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This happened in an ISOM drawer... which is why I've put so much effort into trying to save them :-)

Totally frustrating...

Thanks for the reply though.



Wonder if putting them in a container with a box of baking soda would work.... Something to absorb odors.. Odds are this is a stupid idea, but I'm trying to think of everything.
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Have you tried one yet? That will be the test. I've smoked some that smelled like mold or crap or whatever, yet the taste was fine.


Last resort, you can let "the love of your life" test them for you. :-)
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I'll wait till the life insurance is finalized :-)
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I can't tell for certain what is likely to happen....but I would think that the cigars smell like wet wood for the same reason that wet wood smells that way.....some form of wet rot is occurring. Be it bacterial of fungal I can't be certain.....but based on the fact that we are never worried about bacteria gobbling up our cigars I am going to guess fungal. Now the fungal could be in or on the cigars, or both. It could be in the hyphal form (which forms the furry plaques) or it could be in yeast/spore form. Since its volatile (you can smell it) I am assuming that it has gone to spore. Fungi will commonly go to spore form if easy life is being challenged (case in point, you corrected the humidity).

That is a whole load of speculation. But if it were me, I would take them slowly down to as low of a humidity as you feel comfortable doing. Then I would freeze them. Then thaw and bring back up to humidity. Things I would consider including in there were be to irradiate them (brief microwave?, ultraviolet light?) and keep them in a fairly well circulated area (blow the spores away), but these steps get a little more extreme and are thus more risky to ruining the cigars themselves.

All that said, once you have the humidity corrected, they are probably safe to store with other cigars, as the worse that will happen is that you may dust the other cigars with spores....I imagine all our cigars are dusted with non-sprouting spores to some extent, otherwise there would be no risk of the fungal furries.

Thats all just my speculation.
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That post was both highly beneficial, but ultimately saddening.

Lots of good advice for me to go ahead with. Thank you.
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Good luck Jordan!
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