Trouble with "activator" solution...

[mauied1101]

I'm amazed you're getting the bitter taste. The activator solution contains Glycol which has a sweet taste (which is why animals are so attracted to it). I'm assuming you're talking about the 50/50 solution you buy?

I drink it straight up. Tastes like chicken. Puts hair on my chest.

[guado]

possibly not bitter but it has altered the taste of the cigars.

To me the glycol gives me a slightly bitter after taste. My mistake was slathering the insides of the humidor with activator(not 50/50) and putting my sitcks right back in because RH was around 40%. After much frustration over the next few weeks I realized(when I did the salt test) the hygrometer had become defective.

Every cigar that was in that box has the same distinct "flavor" the ones that never touched the sides/bottom hwoever MUCH less that the others.

[SuperChuck]

If you don't have any particular attachment to your humidor, you might want to just get a new one. If it's small, you can replace it with a cuban crafters for $40 or so.

Better to spend forty bucks than risk hundreds of dollars in sticks.

[guado]

The humidor itself is fine now. It is just the cigars that have retained the "tainted" flavor.

I will mix in good, but not expensive, sticks here in the next few days and then see what happens after a month or two.