"Restoring" Cigars

[burrito]

So.. first post on this area of the forum, and I'm starting off with a painful one.

I recently found a humidor that I lost in a move roughly 6 years ago, and many very very good cigars have been severely dried out. When I misplaced it, the humidor was fully sealed with a wetted sponge and tube of beads... which would have been fine for a month or so, but not so great for 72x that length of time. The humidor's seal is still good, but the hygrometer is reading sahara.

Around 30 of the cigars in the humidor are from my cigar review days when I'd frequently receive small quantity samplers from distributors, and it contains some of the best cigars I've ever sampled from Camacho, Davidoff, Avo, Padron, etc. It's also potentially (hoping not!) the last resting place for two 5 packs of Camacho Triple Maduros (my favorite smoke).

I've heard of people sealing brittle cigars in a sealed baggie with a damp paper towel, but I'm nervous that the uncontrolled moisture would soften the wrapper and leave the filler dry. If any of you have had success restoring dried out cigars, I'd really love some advice!

Thanks!

 

[Commander Quan]

They may be too far gone to save, but it's worth a shot. Leave them in the humidor and slowly bring the humidity back up.

 

[Tannhauser]

The only way to really know is to try. Slowly bring the humidity up over a period of several weeks. Most of the time, I've heard that you can't save a cigar that has completely dried. But I've heard others say you can (or, at least, bring it back some of the way).

 

[burrito]

I'll try and start tonight. Here's hoping something positive comes of it.

 

[-dave-]

You'll never bring them back 100%, however it is well worth the exercise. First you must be 100 per cent sure the humidor has no trace of mold in it or else when you bring up the humidity the mold will go crazy, then like others have said very very slowly bring up the humidity. Slowly cannot be overstated here. To fast and the cigar will crack. If it cracks really bad and starts to unwrap you could use the tobacco in a pipe or something, otherwise the cigar is wrecked then. If its only a minor crack, the cigar is still in one piece, you could smoke it, but the cracks may not let you draw, in this case, I've had luck wrapping a cocoon of plumbers Teflon tape around it snugly to seal it, unwrapping as it smokes of course.
best of luck and be patient with your restoration

 

[The Dean]

Cigar Aficionado had an article online with a recommended approach, I think. There are two approaches I believe. Slow and steady and the freezer approach (though I may be thinking of beatles here). No time for me to search today--but you may want to use the Google machine as well as checking with the local experts here.

As has already been noted, there are no guarantees. Depending on how far gone the sticks are you may have a decent chance or a snowball's chance in hell. Nothing to lose, though.

 

[burrito]

As -dave- mentioned, worst case scenario a month or two down the road, I'll have a few new pipe tobaccos to play with. Not such a bad thing, since I haven't used any of the pipes in my collection in well over a year now.

 

[the_edski]

All I can add is good luck, you have great advice to follow. Let us know how it turns out!

 

[Boro62]

I have been trying to restore some cigars that my dad had sitting in his office for so long they became completely dried out. I tossed the whole box into a tupperware and tossed 4 x 84% boveda seasoning pouches in there for about 1.5 months. They have gotten a lot better but still not where they need to be. So now I have tossed in some 70% packs in there and going to give it another couple of months. I have no idea if this is even the right way of doing it, but i figured worst case scenario is i ruin them but not like they were smoke-able to begin with.

 

[Romeolima]

Hi, this is my first post in the Brown Leaf having only found it this morning.

I had a friend who had bought some cigars in Cuba and brought them back assuming they would last, they didn't. I took them off him and put them in my humidor. I did nothing special with them just kept them in there and slowly - over about 6 months they recovered to a nice springy feel.

However one or two had developed splits in the wrapper leaf and these obviously cannot be repaired however this didn't really affect the smoke.

So my advice is that unless the wrapper has disintegrated then just give them time.

Regards Andrew

 

[BigKev77]

6 years is a LONG time. I don't think I would even bother but if you do be sure to let us know.

 

[Commander Quan]

Hi, this is my first post in the Brown Leaf having only found it this morning.

I had a friend who had bought some cigars in Cuba and brought them back assuming they would last, they didn't. I took them off him and put them in my humidor. I did nothing special with them just kept them in there and slowly - over about 6 months they recovered to a nice springy feel.

However one or two had developed splits in the wrapper leaf and these obviously cannot be repaired however this didn't really affect the smoke.

So my advice is that unless the wrapper has disintegrated then just give them time.

Regards Andrew

Andrew Welcome.

Fruit Pectin can be used to repair a split or unraveling cigar.

 

[the_edski]

Andrew Welcome.

Fruit Pectin can be used to repair a split or unraveling cigar.

+1, welcome! Look forward to seeing you around!

 

[jiminyshiznit]

This thread got me remembering that I had a box of cigars somewhere.. A sturdy cigar box with a cheap humidifier inside it. Well, I found it.. probably the newest cigar in there was an Ashton I was given at a wedding.. in 1998. There was also a little brick of Luis Martinez Dominican Whiffs, along with a few more of those loose. Well, I re-saturated the humidifier and closed the box back up last night, but I'm certain these must be way too far gone. But I also unwrapped the 3 loose whiffs last night and put them in a jar with a wet (not dripping) paper towel on the inside of the lid.. the tobacco took on the moisture overnight and I just smoked a half bowl of it.. interesting. It burned perfectly with no relights, so the moisture seems right. Totally different than the pipe tobaccos I've been smoking, but not in a bad way.. I'll try it again, at least. If the other cigars don't come back, I guess I'll unwrap them and see if they're good in a pipe.. fun to play, if nothing else.

 

[Romeolima]

Andrew Welcome.

Fruit Pectin can be used to repair a split or unraveling cigar.

Thanks for the welcome. I'd never heard of this and did a quick look up, interesting but looks complicated. I think the key is not to let this happen in the first place!

 

[Nagano21]

Your looking at at least a 6 mo process. Take your smokes out of the humi (don't worry they are already dry as $hit) and put them in something safe for a day or two. Re-Season the humi with distilled h20 or "cigar juice" or something similar. Proper seasoning is about a 2-3 day process, however I would make sure you do it proper. Your humi will prob now read >70%, wait some more time till it gets closer to 60-65, throw the smokes back in, and keep an eye on the humidity, It will drop and let it, once it bottoms out, say 50% or so since your smokes are bone dry, slowly bring it up with your humid elements (might need more than 1) then let them sit for 6+mo's, however keep a close eye on them to make sure they don't regain moisture too fast, it will bring them back to life, however won't be nearly what they were prior to the debacle. Hope this helps!