Rejuvenating dried cigars, just found a bunch..

Hi- This is my first post here but it's an important one. I just came into possession of about 100 high end cigars. MOstly a mix of Cuban, Jamaican and Dominicans. One unopened box of Partagas Sabroso (still wrapped in plastic), 1/2 box of Punch Madura Presidentes and then a mix of Cifuente Partagas, Upmans, Romeo & Julietas etc... Mostly all cigars I've tried before and pretty much all cigars that I enjoy.

Unfortunately, they haven't been cared for for several years and they are dry as tinder. Is there any way of bringing them back? I just added water to the box humidor, but I'm skeptical that that will do much.

You can put them in the humidor but start at a lower humidity level and work up to the 70% zone where they will be stored. The reason for starting low is that if you add to much humidity too soon the filler closer to the wrapper could absorb water at such a rate that they could swell and split the wrapper. An easy way to do this is by using a pipe tobacco tin humidifier. What these are small plastic tubes that you fill with water. At one end there is a patch of what looks like cotton. The end cap works muck like a salt/pepper shaker where you can twist the cap to either cover or uncover little holes over the cotton, which in turn lets out more or less moisture. So if you slowly work your way up from around 50% humidity to 70%, and do it over a month or more, then store them for another month or two at 70% you should be all set.

Hope this helps.

Actually I have read/heard that if cigars have gone too long without proper humidification and stored in dry places they lose their important oils. You may be able to get them back in to a proper environment like nhcigarfan said but from what I have heard the smokes will never be the same and have little if no flavor due to the loss of oils. :smiley19:

any cigar that's been dried out for that long is hopeless.

You can certainly try, but I can promise you that they will be bland and tasteless.

It will take a couple of months for them to stabilze in your humidor.

Give it a shot, but don't get your hopes up.

Sorry! :smiley19: