Expert: Bill Finck Jr. - 2/15/2011

Question
First, thank you for volunteering to answer questions on all experts. I have two kinds of cigars in my humidor, Puros Indios Viejo, and Flor Del Todo (which is suppose to be made of scraps of the Puros Indios brand, they are made in the same factory) anyway. After a month of sitting in my humi, which is sitting at 68/70, the Flor Del Todos tasted like, no joke, throw up! And after two months of sitting the puros indios did the same, just not as strong. This new taste has completely overwhelmed the tasted of the cigars, its so bad. The taste is nothing like cedar which is guess could be picked up from the humi. I do have a pretty nice humi, red wood outside, spanish ceder on the inside, and nothing but cigars is kept in there, no lighters no nothing. Do you think this very bad and strong taste is just due to the aging of the cigars and this is just how these two brands turned out. Or do you think its something pick up from the inside of my humi, and after less than a month can a cigar pick up a taste that strong from the inside of a humidor. I just dont want to go buy a box of cigars and have the same thing happen, i had to throw my sticks away, and i did not want to put anything else in there until i get some help. I hope i gave you all the information that you need, if not, i would be happy too. Thanks much for your time and help, Justin

Answer
Justin,

Sorry about the delay in answering you. I've been out of the office several days.

There are several things that could have happened to your cigars. Just to help narrow the problem down, I'm wondering how long you've had this humidor, and if you've ever stored cigars in it for an extended period before? It could be that the humidor was built with some type of glue or stain that is giving off the offensive taste. Also, I've seen humidors that claim to be lined with Spanish cedar, but are actually built with similar looking wood that is not cedar, and that has a very offensive odor.

Another possibility is that the cigars have become moldy inside. This could happen because the humidity is too high, or because your humidifiers have mold in them and are releasing mold spores. It could also be that the cigars already had some lightly moldy tobacco in them, and the extended storage in a humidified condition allowed the mold to grow.

Hope this helps.

Bill