Musty Humidifier

[Vette77J]

In my primary humidor I am currently using the 4 rectangular shaped pieces of florist foam type material that came with the humidor. The humidor is only about halfway full and so I don't really need all 4 of them in there but I store two of them in there dry and only refill the other two when my humidity gets to around 64%.

This had been working great until yesterday I noticed that the casing which houses the florist foam looked a little white and fuzzy. Upon opening the casing I saw that the green florist foam had an outline of a light brown color where I had added some distilled water drops. The foam also smelled like a damp, musty basement. I checked some of my cigars, especially those not in the cello wrappers and saw no ill affects on them.

However, about 2 weeks ago I smoked a Plasencia Reserva Organica which was wrapped in a cedar sleeve and still in its cello wrapper. Upon pulling the cigar out of its wrapper I noticed a little bit of white mold near the foot of the cigar and I brushed it off and smoked the cigar anyway. It definitely had a "natural" taste to it, whether this was from the mold or it being grown organically I'm not sure. Anyway I'm just hoping that my other cigars are fine.

I have pulled all four foam humidifiers from my humidor and am using two humi-care pillows and a shot glass of distilled water to keep the humidity until I decided what to do. I have washed the casings with anti-bacterial soap and am letting them air dry. Is there anyway to salvage my florist foam? If I get some propelyne glycol solution and add it will that stop the mold? Or should I look into another solution? I've heard good things about drymistat tubes (use one in my desktop) and heartfelt beads. I even considered an Oasis but I'd like to keep this as cheap as possible without ruining my cigars. Thanks for your help guys!

[AspiringGent]

Florists' foam is super cheap, so you're better off starting from scratch if that's the way you want to go. I definitely recommend switching to beads. Mold isn't something to be taken lightly. You'll probably want to wipe your humidor out with a light alcohol solution and let it air out a bit.

[Vette77J]

Does anyone have any recommendations for retailers with a good price on humidification elements? I looked into purchasing some drymistat tubes from JR's but they charge $2.50 per item for shipping so I'd like to find a retailer with a flat shipping rate.

[Buddha024]

Originally Posted by Vette77J

Does anyone have any recommendations for retailers with a good price on humidification elements?

I assume you are talking about an "active" system (which you can get at any major retailer). If you are looking to keep your cost down, that is not the way to go. I would seriously look into getting beads. You can get a pound of beads for half of what an active system costs. Then there are no further costs for you down the road, unlike with the active system.

[Vette77J]

Thank you all for your valuable insight. I have decided to trash the foam and I am going with the 65% beads from heartfelt. I've heard many great things about their products and it just made sense to go with them. Plus this turned out to be more cost effective than other options that I previously explored.

[Acesfull]

Thats probably your best bet.. the beads work awesome... when I was in Iraq a pound of beads maintained my cabinet humi solidly at 65%