Expert: James Yee - 1/28/2010

Question
I started getting into cigars 3 years ago and bought a few sampler packs and one came with a box.  I had everything set up, 70/70 running great.  I was in Iraq and upon return our bags went missing and my humidor was MIA, but I recently recovered it (miraculously)!  I had 15 or so cigars in the humidor, and another 25 to 30 in 2 to 3 layers of ziploc bags outside the humidor.  The crystals in the humidor were all dried up and I have no idea what the condition of the cigars are.  When I get the humidor back up and running, are there any chances of me saving the cigars that have been out of the proper environment for roughly 18 months?  From what I have read on your guys' forum it looks like I may be able to keep them in there for roughly 4 months to get them back in shape, or am I wrong?  I would really love to save what I had, but sometimes I guess you just have to bite the bullet.
Thanks for the help

Answer
Hi Alex,

Dried out cigars - even cigars that have been dried out for years - can indeed be saved simply by returning them to a properly maintained humidor (70% humidity & 70 degrees Fahrenheit) and letting them naturally rejuvenate with humidity.  Because your humidor and humidification device has dried out, you will need to re-season your humidor and recharge the humidification device with distilled water.  (If you need detailed step-by-step instructions on how to season a humidor, search my question archive here at allexperts.com or feel free to just ask me and I will gladly repost the instructions for you.)

Once your humidor is up and running, you should leave your cigars in it for at least 4 months before you attempt to smoke the cigar(s).  (In fact, the longer you leave your cigars in your humidor, the better.)  Because your cigars have been dried out for such a long period of time, they may taste a bit bland at first.  If you let your cigars sit and age in your humidor, they may develop more defined flavours over time.

Also, your cigars may be extremely brittle now so it's important that you handle them as delicately as possible while they re-hydrate.  Be sure to rotate your cigars (move bottom cigars to the top of the pile, top cigars to the bottom of the pile) at least once a month to ensure that all your cigars are receiving a proper exposure to humidity.

As an alternative, you can also store your cigars in humi-pouches and these will automatically restore your cigars to an ideal smoking condition with mininum maintenance and supervision.  Humi-pouches are Ziploc-style bags with a humidified lining built into the membrane of the plastic.  They're designed for short-term cigar storage/travel and can properly and automatically humidify cigars for 3 months.  (After 3 months, you would need to replace the bags or move your cigars to a properly maintained humidor.)

Humi-pouches are available in a variety of sizes and can accomodate everything from a few single cigars to whole boxes.  They can be purchase at most cigar stores and depending on the size of the bag, will cost between $5-$15 per bag.

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

Regards,
James