Expert: James Yee - 10/17/2008

Question
Ok, so a buddy of mine who is a novice cigar smoker,
decided to save a half smoked cigar for the following day.
Without my knowledge, he placed it in my humidor. the next
day, i open it to retrieve a cigar and my humidor smells
like the familiar foul smell of the day-old tobacco.  How
would you go about eliminating this smell and returning to
the usual wonderful smell?

Answer
Hi Adam,

The easiest method to eliminate that half-smoked cigar smell from your humidor is to use an Ozone-based air purifier on it.  First, temporarily relocate all your cigars to another humidor or storage container (ie: humi-pouch or tupperware container) for now.  After your humidor is back to normal, you can return the cigars to it.  Next, leave your opened humidor in a room or closet with a running Ozone air purifier and let it sit overnight.  The next day, your humidor should smell perfectly normal again and the smell should be completely gone.  If not, let the air purifier run a little bit longer.  (You will definitely need to re-season your humidor again after this so don't worry about letting your humidor go dry during this process.)

Be sure to use an Ozone-based air purifier and NOT an Ion-based air purifier.  Ion air purifiers will remove particulates in the air (such as dust or mold) but cannot fully remove scent particles.  If your cigars also smell from that half-smoked cigar, you should also let them sit with the air purifier.  (You will have to rehydrate the cigars after the smell is removed from them.)

If you don't have access to an ozone-based air purifier, what you can do as an alternative is just leave your humidor open and let it thoroughly air out.  This will definitely take longer and the smell may not fully be purged.  You can also leave a box/dish of baking soda (be careful not to spill it in your humidor) or a commercial charcoal pillow/filter to absorb much of the odor.  An ozone-based air purifier however, is your best and most effective option.

After the odor has been completely purged from your humidor, re-season it and return your cigars to it.  To restore that natural cedar smell (in case it's faded from the air purifier), use a piece of fine sand paper and lightly sand the interior of your humidor and this will revitalize the cedar smell.  Be sure to vacuum or shake out the cedar dust afterwards.

Hopes this answers your question.  If you have any more questions, please feel free to just ask and I will be happy to help.

Regards,
James