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New guy trying to re-hydrate sticks

Dapper D

New Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2022
Messages
14
Let me first by saying Thanks in advance for any assistance, its greatly appreciated, second, I am new to the cigar world (about 9 months).

I recently received some cigars from a military friend who is deployed and his wife is doing everything for their move. They are putting things in storage until he returns so she called and asked if I wanted the cigars in his humidor, of course I said yes. (its been neglected since he left). Once I received them I realized they were dry and needed to be re-humified. I did the research on how to bring them back, purchased the Boveda packs, a Boveda humidor bag, and even a air tight tupperware container. I first started by calibrating my hygrometer with the Boveda calibration kit, put the sticks in the tupperdor, and started with a 62% pack, it stayed steady at 60% after 2 days and remained there for a couple of weeks. I then moved up to a 69% pack (local shop did not have 65% packs), The hygrometer no reads 58% and has been steady for 3 days. Will the humidity come up? Do I need to do something different? Are the sticks beyond saving?

Thanks again.
 
How many sticks are we talking about. Are they sticks that are worth the time, effort and Boveda packs?
Thanks for the reply. There are only about 20. Financially wise, probable not but I am more about the education and challenge. I would like to succeed in bringing them back, if I can't then I have gained valuable knowledge and experience.
 
Sadly, once the oils in a cigar have dried up you can rehydrate them but they will never taste appropriate again.

These are sticks to give your brother-in-law for Christmas.
Thanks for the reply. If I had a brother-in-law he would most definitely get them LOL. I did read that they will not come back to full flavor. As I said to CBoukal, I am in the learning phase of this journey and the challenge and experience is really what I am looking to gain here not so much the financial aspects.
 
Thanks for the reply. If I had a brother-in-law he would most definitely get them LOL. I did read that they will not come back to full flavor. As I said to CBoukal, I am in the learning phase of this journey and the challenge and experience is really what I am looking to gain here not so much the financial aspects.
Okay, if you slowly bring them back, like you are, you may eventually get a cigar that draws properly, if you cut and draw on one now, it will be too light, or too easy to draw through. When completed, if they draw properly, they will taste like smoking dried leaves ...... but the experiment might be fun.

Enjoy!
 
What Cigarstone said above is correct, they will never be the same. You have lost all the oils.
Got it. How would that affect the humidity in the tuppador? Would the cigar not soak up any moisture with out the oils? Shouldn't the humidity still read what the Boveda pack % is?
 
What Cigarstone said above is correct, they will never be the same. You have lost all the oils.
Well, depends on how long and how low the humidity got. That, and if you like your brother in law or not. 😉
 
Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure how long they were neglected or how low it got, we live in NE Florida so we get big humidity swings. No sucker to pass them to, I mean brother in law. LOL.
 
Hey guys thanks for all the advice on the sticks, I am wondering more about the humidity part of it than the cigars themselves. I tend to think that even though the cigars are not absorbing the moisture at a rapid pace, the air in the tuppador should read what the Boveda pack states or a bit less, unless I am missing something, which is entirely possible too.
 
These are the sticks you bring to a gathering, when you know as soon as you light yours, someone who really doesn’t smoke will ask you for one.

Then you hand them one of these. Fancier looking band the better.
 
Rehydrate slowly, if possible. 63% this week, 65 next week, 67 the week after that. You might get a bunch of split wrappers if you try to jump straight back to where they should be.
 
Be patient. They took a long time to dry out, and they are going to take a long time to rehydrate (at least weeks if not a month or more). Also are your Boveda packs drying out? They will start to crystallize when drying out. You can recharge them by putting them in tupperwear container with a small damp sponge or something similar.
 
Be patient. They took a long time to dry out, and they are going to take a long time to rehydrate (at least weeks if not a month or more). Also are your Boveda packs drying out? They will start to crystallize when drying out. You can recharge them by putting them in tupperwear container with a small damp sponge or something similar.
Thanks, Boveda packs are new.
Rehydrate slowly, if possible. 63% this week, 65 next week, 67 the week after that. You might get a bunch of split wrappers if you try to jump straight back to where they should be.
Thanks, Thats my plan I will keep the thread updated.
 
I had received a box of CAO Criollo that had been dried out to room humidity once. It took gradual steps up to 70 rh over 2 months for them to be smokable again. It was 5 weeks before they held steady 68%. Michigan low humidity winter time is when this was done.
 
Be sure to update with progress (successes or otherwise). Though this topic has been covered in the last. This could prove to be a really useful bit if info for new people to glance over. Best of luck! Welcome to the forum.
 
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