Reviving Tubed Cigars

[yippeeyo]

Hi all,

This is my first post, having lurked for a while now!

I picked a triple pack of Montecristo Petit Tubos from the airport (UK) going out to the Greek Islands. At ?25 the price seemed quite reasonable to me.

When I got to the hotel and opended the sealed pack, the first thing I noticed was that Caps on two of the tubes had not been screwed down properly (quality control?), and to my horror, the Cigars had dried out, the rich spice/chocolate smell I love was almost non existant.

The remaining one was fine, a few green spots, but turned out to be a great smoke.

My question is, can the dried Cigars be revived? - not owning a humidor, I am tempted to put a few drops of water in the bottom of the tubes and leave them sealed in the airing cupboard.

What do you guys think?

Kind Regards,
YYo

[cj121]

Reviving old sticks is a slow process (sometimes taking months and requiring a stable environment with ideally rotation of the cigars) whereby you'll need the environment of a humi type thing YYo. Putting water in the bottom of the tube will bugger them. I guess at a push, you could leave them in the tubes, possibly caps off, store them in a tupperware box with a dampened (only v. slightly damp) little cloth/sponge and let them sit for long rest somewhere cool in your house. Check the 'dampness' from time to time, which will also allow the cigars a little breathing. Turn the sticks in the tubes now and again, but TBH they will propbably never taste like they oughta.

Another method could be to take them out the tubes, keep them in a tupperware box and when you have a shower (and it gets steamy in the shower/bathroom) take the lid off and expose your goods to the humidity. Get the lid on afterwards and maybe do it again in a few days.

All the advice is taken at your own risk and I can't be held responsible for the outcome mate as there are too many variables. Check the topic out on the 'net, but you'll have to improvise without a humidor.
Chris

[yippeeyo]

Thanks Chris,

I suspected that watr in the tube was not a good idea.

So I think I am going to go for the makeshift Humidor idea (tupperware box and sponge), taking them out of the tubes.

Should I leave the wood (cedar?), from the tube, wrapped around them? will this improve the flavour?

Kind Regards,
YYo

[Stevieboy]

As CJ says!

Even if successfully revived, the big problem will be if the oils have evaporated then the smokes might be fairly flavourless

PS Welcome to the gang mate....introduce yourself in the newbie lounge if you get the chance

[cj121]

I'd leave them in the tubes YYo, to offer some protection. If they get over humidified, they'll split the wrappers. You can always turn them around after a wee while. Face them away from the source of moisture. Don't over wet the little bit of sponge though. There are debates about the cedar, but it does probably impart something.

If you think about the tolerances that storage stipulates and the kit needed to do this, any method otherwise is going to be a bit haphazard mate. Good luck, and don't overdo things.

Don't forget to have a read around too.

[Stogiedog]

Yippeeyo once funds permit, get a digital Hygrometer (make sure you salt test it though to establish its correct settings plenty of information on the net if you do not know what that is) plenty of reasonable priced ones knocking around, still use the tupperware box or get a big plastic bread \ cake tub with a good seal. You can still use a small sponge just cut a bit off a large one, place the small piece of sponge on a small tray\ dish do not use tap water though!!! try and get some distilled water for the sponge it has no impurities in it do not load the sponge so its dripping though. Thats all you need to get started. Regulate the humidity by taking in and out the sponge on the tray \ saucer ideal humidity 65 -70% what ever you use to get the humidity into your makeshift humidor, unless you know what the humidity is your almost wasting your time mate. Hope this helps. Ebay is a cheap way to pick up a used humidor.

[whisky77]

Calibrate.

As Stogiedog has already stated, you need to be able to correctly calibrate the amount of humidity in the storage atmosphere, or you will end up with mold.

It`s a lot of work and the results are far from definate.