Expert: James Yee - 4/14/2007

Question
Hi James-I have owned a Elie Bleu humidor for a few years. Now based in HK
and added distilled water to hygrometer 2 weeks ago.  Reading in humidor
60-65%ish but opened yest and cigars moist but my hygrometer has several
noticable mold growths. I took it out immediatedly and let humidor "dry out"
for last 24 hrs.  How do i clean and "reset" the hygrometer? How do i get rid
of mold.  Thusfar all cigars and humidor show no signs of mold but I have 30
or so fine cubans and a bit worried about next step ..any help?suggestions?
thanks chris

Answer
Hi Chris,

To remove mold from your humidor, first remove your cigars and store them in a safe container such as a clean, plastic Tupperware container.  Let your humidor air out with the lid/door open for at least 24 hours so that all the mold particles have dried out.  After 24 hours, gently brush out and vacuum all the mold from your humidor.  Be sure to thoroughly vacuum the entire humidor interior including trays, drawers or compartments.  After the humidor has been cleaned, gently wipe the entire interior with isopropyl alcohol.  Use a tiny bit of alcohol and wipe the interior lightly so that you don’t saturate the wood (but use just enough mold to kill any mold).  Let your humidor air out for a few hours.  

Your humidor is now clean of mold now but now you will need to re-season your humidor again before you use it.  (If you need to know how to season a humidor, just let me know.)

To reset your hygrometer (I’m guessing you have a regular analog hygrometer and not a digital one), simply pour a bit of regular salt (one tablespoon should be enough.) into a small dish.  Add a few drops of water to make the salt a little wet (tap water is fine) and place both the hygrometer and dish of salt next to each other in a sealable plastic bag or container (don’t let the salt touch the hygrometer!)  Let the hygrometer sit with dish of salt inside a bag or container for at least 5 hours.  After five hours, the hygrometer should display the humidity as being exactly 75%.  If it isn’t 75%, you will need to calibrate the hygrometer to make it read 75%.  The back of the hygrometer should have a calibration pin that you can turn to adjust the calibration needle.  Hygrometers vary by manufacturer so check your hygrometer instructions on calibrating the needle.  If you have a digital hygrometer, calibration may not be necessary but check the hygrometer instructions as to if it needs calibration or not.  If you don’t own a digital hygrometer, you may want to consider purchasing one as they provide much more accurate readings and some models can even read temperature as well.

HK has a lot of natural humidity so sometimes it's absolutely not necessary to add humidity into your humidor.  (In fact, if you visit some HK tobacconists such as the La Casa del Habanos or Cigar Divan shops, you'll notice that the cigars can safely be left out of the humidors all day.  If you’re still having problems maintaining proper humidity in your humidor, what you can do is add a 50/50 mixture of propylene glycol and distilled water.  Add this mixture to your humidification device only once. (Propylene Glycol lasts a long time) and afterwards, just add distilled water whenever your humidification device needs to be refilled.  Propylene Glycol will automatically limit your humidity to 70% but it may take up to a week after you added the mixture for the humidity to stabilize.  During this time, the humidity may dip and peak to extreme levels but don’t worry, it will level out and be perfect in a week or two.

Propylene Glycol is available at most pharmacies and reputable tobacconists/cigar shops.

Hopes this answers your question.  If you have any more questions, please feel free to just ask.

Regards,
James