15 June 2020

Cigar Tips: How To Rehydrate Cigars

CigarsDespite all your efforts and care towards your cigars, they can dry out and that is when you will find yourself in a situation where you’re in need of a quick solution. Therefore, one question you may ask is: How can you rehydrate a cigar?

You may have left the cigar in a car, or even neglected to re-moisturise your humidor. Fear not, these things happen but all you need to think about is that there is a solution. As long as the wrapper hasn’t cracked and the cigars have not become so dry to the point that all the oils have evaporated from the tobaccos, you will be able to solve this issue.

The process of rehydrating a cigar can take anytime between a couple weeks to several months, therefore patience is key and it is extremely important not to rush the process. The reason for this is because if a cigar hasn’t been rejuvenated properly, it will smoke hot and have an unpleasant and bitter taste.

If you have a tabletop humidor first you will need to empty its content. Next step is to take a piece of moist but not wet cloth, and wipe the walls of the humidor down with the cloth. The use of distilled or bottled water is fine, but do not use tap water. This step will alleviate the potential for mold or bugs.

Next you will need to remoisten the humidification element with distilled water. The humidor will gradually return to the optimal 73-74% relative humidity and the cigars will follow suit. Please note: do not over humidify your humidor in the hope of reviving dry cigars quicker. You may ‘shock’ them into expanding too quickly, resulting in cracked wrappers.

It can take anytime between one to three weeks to rehumidify your humidor, but this all depends on the thickness of the ring gauge and how dry the cigar is. It is not enough to simply humidify the wrapper, as the moisture must reach all the way into the innermost leaves of the filler which takes time.

Once the process is complete, you are ready to enjoy smoking your cigar once again, but before you do this be sure to test it. You can test a cigar by gently pushing on it with your fingers. If it feels slightly spongy then it has been successfully rejuvenated.