HELP!

My wife's brother went through a messy divorce and lost custody of his coolerdor for a while.

I was able to rescue it last week, but the RH was down to 46%. DRY, DRY, DRY! I transferred the cigars to my coolerdor in an attempt to salvage them.

Any suggestions on reviving them?

How long til I can expect them to fully recover now that they are at 68-70% RH?

I don't want to lose them. I get to keep what I can salvage. There are some nice smokes involved, Monte, Mac, Partagas, Padron, Habano Primero 365, etc.

From most of what I have read, and advice given. Take your time!!! Might even want to start out at a little lower than 70%, and then a couple weeks bump it up gradually to 70. But mostly my understanding is to not try and rush it. Don't fondle them (that's the hard part) and let them rest.

Dave

everyone says go slow...but how exactly do you do that? is it just using less water and more propelyne glycol? or what?

by the way, that is about the crappiest thing ever. At least she could have spared him his cigars.

I revived some Monte 2's and Cohibas by first putting them in a small cooler w/a very slightly damp sponge which was in a plastic bag - I monitored to RH to makes sure it was only around 50-60 left them in there for 3 weeks - picked them up by the head and foot as grabbing them in the middle can easily crack them. Then I moved them to a humidor w/ other sticks placing them at the bottom farthest from the humidifier. After a week I moved them to the middle and then to the top - they felt much better after a month. Lit one up after about 3 months and it was perfect.

What Al'thor said! We're talking cigars here, not sweaty sticks of dynamite! just be cool with them, don't expose them to too much too fast, and give them time! I have some chepo ISOMs that I (shudder) had my humidifier leak on, and they got stained, and a few got a tad mouldy before I caught it. What did I do? Brushed the mouldy ones off, dried them out a bit and was more careful with the %$&*$@^ humidifier after that! 🙂

how long were they in they that low for? If it was too long lots of the flavors may be gone. Its a sad site to see cracked wrappers.

GIG'EM,

Thanks for all the help. I will move them (carefully) to another cooler with less humidity and gradually move it back up. So far, only a couple have been damaged. (thank goodness!)

Oh, the divorce happened about a year and a half ago, so they have been drying out for that long! I hope they still taste OK

As stated before going very slow is the key to reviving them properly.

Since they were @ 45% rh, start them out in a coolidor at 50% rh for two weeks or so. Them bump up the rh to 55% for another two weeks or so. Then up to 60% rh for another two weeks or so. Them bump them u[p to 63-65% rh and let them sit for amonth or two and then try one.

You want to maintain this humidor/coolidor with your isopms at around 63-65% rh, not any higher.

Good luck and let us know how they came out.

Matt

You'll lose some of the oils from the leaves being dry that long. But they're still smokeable once you get the RH back up again. Just do it slowly, or the sticks will swell and bust from the rapid infusion of humidity.

Thanks again, I have now moved them to a coolerdor at about 55% rh and have started the waiting process.

Time passes sooooo slow!

maybe if I bid on something to occupy the time!

Hmmm!