stale cigars

[ibetuwin]

Hi All, new to the forums here, but have been lurking for a while. I was given 2 beautiful box of Montecristo No. 2 cigars which were brought back from cuba some time ago. However they are hard and appear stale , i was wondering if there was anything that i could do to these cigars to bring them back to life? any help would be appreciated.

PS anything short of buying a humidor as i usually buy my cigars 2 or 3 at a time, thank you

Pat

[Cheeze]

Are they real would be my first question? And if you don't want to buy a humi get yourself a cooler and put your smokes in it. Do a search for a coolerdor and it will explain how to make one.

[stjohnroe]

The only way to recover them is very slow and gentle re-humidification in a humidor or cooler. They will never be at their best again, but they should become palatable.

[nhcigarfan]

3 months at 70% then bring them down for another 3 months at 65%. continue at 65%

[F.T. Pulver]

Hi All, new to the forums here, but have been lurking for a while. I was given 2 beautiful box of Montecristo No. 2 cigars which were brought back from cuba some time ago. However they are hard and appear stale , i was wondering if there was anything that i could do to these cigars to bring them back to life? any help would be appreciated.

PS anything short of buying a humidor as i usually buy my cigars 2 or 3 at a time, thank you

Pat

It depends on what you mean by "some time ago"

A few weeks, a few months, a few years? If you are going to try to make them smokeable the key is to do it slowly. Even if you don't want to buy a humidor I would suggest you get a hydrometer so you can see where your humdity levels are at in whatever environment you choose to create. I would make a tuppurdore. Too much humidity too fast will split the wrappers.

[bigpoppapuff]

go to your local tobacconist and get a humidipak...or a couple water pillows and use them in a plastic bag....bring 'em back to life slowly....

[Kenyth]

Man! What a waste!


How long is long? If you're gonna keep cigars you have to use proper storage! If they're totally dry, It will take a long time in a properly humidified environment to make them smokable again. Since you don't have an actual humidor/coolerdor, and I'm assuming no hygrometer, this will be challenging. You'll probably lose some to wrapper splits. Don't handle the cigars any more than absolutely necessary when they're dry. The wrappers become very brittle.


Being what they are, I wouldn't fool around. Find someone (another trustworthy cigar smoker or tobacconist) in the area to store them for you. Keep the boxes closed tight and leave them in the humi for 4-6 months. An offer of a couple sticks should suffice as proper incentive.