Using cigar humidors to restore dry cigars
Many people wonder if they can restore their dried out cigars. If the wrapper of the cigar hasn't unraveled or cracked significantly then it can definitely be restored. You need to keep in mind however, that once a cigar has dried out significantly, the flavor has most likely changed and it will not taste the same is it would have originally. There are a few ways to bring your cigars back to life. I'll describe them from my favorite to least favorite methods.
The first is to use a cigar humidor. Make sure that your humidor is not fully charged, otherwise you will ruin your cigars rather than save them! You should start with humidity levels well under 60%. If the humidor is completely dry, add some water to the humidifier to slowly add humidity to the box. Place your cigars in the humidor and close it. After a several days you can go ahead and fully charge the humidor. This will give your cigars the gradual humidification that they need.
If you don't have a free humidor, you could use a plastic container instead. Place a hygrometer and humidifier in the container along with your dry cigars. Add a little bit of water to the humidifier and close the container. For the next couple of days, you should check the hygrometer reading every 8-12 hours and keep adding water to the humidifier so that the humidity gradually increases up to 70%. Once it reaches 70% monitor the levels daily and leave your cigars in there for the next couple of weeks. Then transfer them over to your humidor.
Another option is to find a damp place such as a cellar and place your cigar box in there. Every few days you should go into the cellar and rotate your cigars about a quarter turn. Doing this for 3 weeks will be enough to give the cigars two full rotations and be evenly humidified. Make sure you monitor the humidity levels in the cellar though…you don't want it to be too humid.
Using a Ziploc bag method is also a convenient way. Puncture a Ziploc bag with little holes and then place your cigars in it and seal it. Then place that bag in a larger, non-punctured one. Dampen a sponge and place the sponge in the second, non-punctured bag and seal it. Again, the idea is to slowly humidify your cigars so that you don't inadvertently ruin them. Every couple of days, rotate your cigars so they are evenly humidified. After a couple of weeks, you can put them in a fully charged humidor.
Finally, the easiest but least accurate option is to dampen a towel and wrap the cigar box in that towel. Leave it for a couple of weeks and that should do the trick!
While there are other ways to salvage your cigars, these are the methods that I have used successfully in the past. Good luck!
Humidors And More is a trusted retailer of cigar humidors and cigar accessories. Visit HumidorsAndMore.com for a fantastic selection of quality humidors and cigar related gear at prices that can't be beat!
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com
