It happens to everyone to forget a good cigar and that it dried out, or a box or even the whole humidor.
Cigars need attention but sometimes our busy life make us concentrate on something else and let us forget about life's pleasure.
Do not worry if the wrapper didn't crack then the cigars are not ruined, but yes, their quality aromatic decreased.
When a cigar drying out, the oils contained in the leaves that makes the cigar so aromatic are evaporating and the moisture will go with it. Once the oils are gone, the aromas are reduced or sometimes will totally disappear.
There are few methods to revive a cigar but every methods will need patience and time.
1) The Tupperware Method :
Take a plastic container big enough (cigars need to occupy not more than 25% of the space) and put inside your dried cigars and a hygrometer. make sure you can read the hygrometer without opening the box. Seal the container and wait a few hours to read the hygrometer. So it already gives you an idea at which Relative Humidity (RH) you start.
Take a humidifier device and add a very small quantity of water and seal the container again. Wait for a while and check again. the RH should have raise a bit.
Add water once everyday until you reach a RH of 70%. It can take a week, sometimes more.
Once you reached 70%, make sure to maintain this level. Do not go back lower than 65% or higher than 75%.
After couple of weeks at 70%, the cigars should be ready to be transferred back in your humidor.
Please note that you will need to wait at least a month, maybe more before you can smoke it because the humidity needs to stabilize thru the different layers in the cigar. Some people say that you need to wait 6 to 12 months before you can smoke them, but i do think it depends on how dry the cigars were before reviving them.
Make sure to keep the container away from the light and the heat.
2) The Zip-Lock Bag Method:
Take your box of dried cigars, open it and put it in a large zip-lock bag. Make sure that you have small holes made in advance in the zip-lock. Then put the bag in a larger zip-lock bag.
Before you air-tight seal the larger bag, put inside a slightly damp towels, sponge or humidifier device.
You will have to give a quarter of turn to the cigars in the box, once every two days. You also need to make sure that the towel/sponge/humidifier is always slightly humid. After 2-3 weeks, you can put back the cigars in your humidor. Wait few weeks before smoking them.
3) The Damp Towel Method:
If the cigars are not too dried, just roll a damp towel around the cigar box for two weeks. Make sure the towel is not wet as you do not want the water to be absorbed by the cedar box.
4) The Sauna Method :
It is winter and when you take your shower the bathroom feel like a sauna? Then use the humid environment to revive your cigars.
Every time you take a shower, open your box of cigars (if cigars are very dried, leave the box closed), then after your shower close the box, it will trap the moisture inside. Rotate the cigars every couple of days. After two to three weeks left in the bathroom, you may put back the cigars in your humidor.
5) The Classic Method.
Take an empty humidor that didn't contain cigars for a while and put your dried cigars in it. let them there for few days. Then add a humidifier device that you fill up partially. Let at rest for one week.
You can then fill up fully the humidifier and wait one more week.
NOTES :
- The humidity in the cigars has to be restored slowly as if too quick, the wrapper will split.
- It is a better option to do not store your Cubans cigars with non-Cubans cigars.
- During the process 1 & 5, make sure to do not charge the box/humidor more than 25%
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