Can you revive cigars?

[TripleF]

My step-son just came in from Fort Hood for the Holidays. He's headed off to Iraq next month for his 4th tour in Iraq, so he came to FL to spend some time with his kin before he is deployed.

He brought his cigars with him and as far as I can tell they've been stored in a humidor at 56% humidity for the last year or so. Some of the cigars look pretty nasty.

I have placed a bowl of distilled water in his humidor, wiped down the sides of the humidor.

Is there anything else I can do?

And more importantly, will this work?

How long might it take?


-

[Cigarcop]

Scott, I would say Yes they can be brought back to life but slowly, with some time. I wouldn't introduce them to alot of humidity all at once for fear of them swelling and cracking. Keep them at a certain level for a few days/weeks then graduate to a bit higher for some time.

[Don Fernando]

Yes and no.

You can revive them up till reasonable to good smokes, but never to fantastic smokes. Go with Keith, don't expose them to a lot of humidity all at once, slowly increase the humidity and give them time, lots of time.

56% isn't that bad though, not good either but it could be much worse.

[DPD6030]

When's he going to Fort Hood? Is there enough time to send some sticks to you for him? That's always an option too!

[Mark C]

Someone gave me a bunch of unhumidified sticks, I tossed 'em in a humi for several months and they seemed to come back to life. Most I hadn't smoked before, not sure if the flavors have changed. To be fair, I think that was last summer, so the ambient humidity may have been 50-60% easily so they weren't too bad off.

But if your buddy has been fine smoking them as-is for the last year, I'm willing to bet he'll be happy with however they turn out after being 'revived'.

How bad do they look? 56% RH certainly aint very bad. Lots of folks go 60% for long term storage so i cant imagine an extra 4% would destroy these sticks\\

~Vitis

[TripleF]

Originally Posted by Vitis

How bad do they look? 56% RH certainly aint very bad. Lots of folks go 60% for long term storage so i cant imagine an extra 4% would destroy these sticks\\

~Vitis

Some look a little rough, well kinda rough.......Most in the cello still look fine.

He hasn't been smoking them for the last year. He couldn't get the humi hygrometer to read right so he didn't smoke.

[bobarian]

Originally Posted by Vitis

How bad do they look? 56% RH certainly aint very bad. Lots of folks go 60% for long term storage so i cant imagine an extra 4% would destroy these sticks\\

~Vitis

56% is not bad at all. They may have been through some variances, but steady 56% is not unsmokable. Try one of the sticks that you know the taste and compare. Dishes of water and cigars dont mix. That will shoot the rh up dramatically and lead to damage. Go slow, if you have 65% beads use them but with only a small amount(25-30%) moistened. Give it at least two weeks before you add more moisture.

[karmaz00]

do it slowly...dont want to shock them, it might case the wrappers the burst or split

[Genetic Defect]

I think for long term storage 56% is acceptable, 65% for smoking.

[md4958]

Originally Posted by TripleF

He brought his cigars with him and as far as I can tell they've been stored in a humidor at 56% humidity for the last year or so. Some of the cigars look pretty nasty.

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Scott, last week I smoked about a dozen sticks coutesy of Joey (ir13) that he keeps at 55%. They smoked beautifuly!!! The draw was perfect and the burn was razor sharp... they did burn a bit faster than normal, so you need to smoke them slower.

Right now everything is at 65% and Im considering keeping a smaller humi at 55% for the sticks I might smoke in the next month.

I dont think that your SILs sticks are not smokeable, but maybe you should try one and find out... you can always replace it.

[TripleF]

Originally Posted by md4958

Scott, last week I smoked about a dozen sticks coutesy of Joey (ir13) that he keeps at 55%. They smoked beautifuly!!! The draw was perfect and the burn was razor sharp... they did burn a bit faster than normal, so you need to smoke them slower.

Right now everything is at 65% and Im considering keeping a smaller humi at 55% for the sticks I might smoke in the next month.

I dont think that your SILs sticks are not smokeable, but maybe you should try one and find out... you can always replace it.

Did you say smoke one? Hmmmmmmm. I think I will.


Thanks for the info Moe!!

Any cigar can be revived from a humidity perspective if it is done slowly and carefully. The issue is if the cigars where underhumidified for long enough that the oils in the tobacco have dried up. It isn't an issue of whether they can be revived it is an issue of if they are worth smoking after they have been revived.

On that one its try and see, I would guess that cigars at 55% would not have dried up near enough to lose any of their base oils and they will be fine.

Normally I would say take it slow but if you are comfortable they where at 55% then bringing them up to 65% isn't a significant enough issue to cause swelling or bursting. I always am concerned when folks wipe down the insides of their humi as I think that it is hard to get it up to RH% and then stop and hold but that is a personal preferance, I would just leave the water dish in (with a sponge in it for faster evaporation) till the RH got up then go from there, you might have to recharge several times as the cigars soak up the RH.

Just my .02

Originally Posted by TripleF

My step-son just came in from Fort Hood for the Holidays.
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I'm actually not too sure about restoring cigars (56 isn't soo bad, I have a few humidors set for aging at ~60%. leaving them at 60-65 for a month should revitalize them) But if he knows Lt Strass, Gallagher, or any other VT grads tell them Verrier says they are horrible horrible officers (this also will probably work for any VT grads a Ft Bliss or Navy nuke school ) before giving them a cigar. Gimme a PM if you need more smokes to give out I've been giving those leachers at VT cigars for the last few years why not extend it a bit.

[TripleF]

I just checked them yesterday and they are still hard as bricks.....

thanks for the help guys, but I think these are history. I think somewhere before I got them the cigars may hagve been under different unstable conditions....

Originally Posted by TripleF

I just checked them yesterday and they are still hard as bricks.....

thanks for the help guys, but I think these are history. I think somewhere before I got them the cigars may hagve been under different unstable conditions....

You wont know if they're gone until they've been smoked! Whats the worst that can happen?