Expert: Bill Finck Jr. - 4/16/2008

Question
Hi,
I believe you have helped me with some questions in the past-thanks in advance for reading this.
I just bought a travel humidor online that is aluminum on th e outside and spanish cedar on the inside.
I read somewhere that you should prep your humidor before putting cigars in which I did not do. Should I do that now?
Second, I have cigars that are a little stale-how can I speed up the moistening process for them?
Third, is there an optimal place within the humidor to attach the two little humidifier devices?
Lastly, whats the proper way to put out a cigar for reuse and, can I place it back in the humidor?

I know theres alot here-thanks again for the help.

Best,


Answer
Avi,
Lot of questions - I'm going to give you some short, to the point answers:

Wipe out the inside of the new humidor with a damp cloth. This will allow the cedar to absorb a small amount of water and will keep it from absorbing all of the humidity that your humidifier puts out.

There is no fast way to re-humidify cigars. If you try to put too much humidity back in them too fast, the outside wrappers will get moist before the rest of the cigar does and they will wrinkle up and break. Sorry, you're going to have to be patient and let them sit in your humidor until they come back to life.

The humidifier can be attached anywhere in the humidor. Usually they are attached to the lid so that they don't take up any cigar storage space - just make sure that when you close the lid the humidifier doesn't touch any cigars.

There are holders made to snuff out and store cigars for later use (we have one called cigar save-it) but I don't like them. Once a cigar has been smoked, it will never be as good again if you let it go out and re-light it later. You'll find that it will be bitter, stale... Also, I would not suggest you ever put a smoked cigar in your humidor as it will cause all of the cigars in there to absorb a stale-smoke smell.

Hope this helps.
Bill