Far too often, aficionados encounter the dreaded issue of a dry and hard cigar. Instead of just hoping they’re good enough (they won’t be) or getting rid of those dried-out stogies that you purchased with your hard earned money, our 3 step solution will show you how to revive hard and dry cigars.
Recently, my brother-in-law and I flew down to Key West for a mini vacation. I don’t know why my brother-in-law didn’t ask me to bring cigars but he didn’t, nonetheless, he wanted to enjoy a strong premium cigar. So we went to a local shop and picked up eight Camacho American Barrel Aged.
We got unlucky and the cigars were all incredibly dry. Despite it all, we made the best of the situation since he had already paid for them, we smoked the two I found most acceptable and I promised him I’d bring back the rest to their former glory.
It’s a shame when you encounter cigars that are not ready to smoke. A dry cigar will burn too tight and lose a lot of its carefully blended flavors. However, there’s still hope for your stiff cigars! The key is to stay patient and trust in the ever-mighty Mike’s water pillows!
What to Do
First, you must decide whether or not to keep the cellophane on the cigar. In extreme cases (when your cigar is basically a rock), it would be best to start off with the cellophane on to slowly re-hydrate the cigar and remove it once it’s slightly less firm. The cellophane slows down the revival process and a severely dry cigar will need this! An intense increase in humidity can cause the wrapper to split and the ends of the cigar will expand before the rest of it. Any quick spike in moisture will harm the cigar!
Place the cigars in a plastic resealable bag with ONE water pillow. Remember the key is to gradually increase the moisture to avoid ruining the shape of the cigar. I would recommend placing a hygrometer gauge in the bag to help you keep an eye on the humidity.
Once the cigar recovers to a softer state and you can toss in another water pillow to reach the ideal 65-75% humidity range. This process is best for 3-4 cigars at a time. If you have more cigars then you may want to use more pillows.
The best way to know when your cigars are ready to smoke is to feel them. If they are slightly spongy and bounce back when you squeeze them, then they’re plump and ready to light!
Steps
- Place the pillow, cigar(s), and gauge in a plastic bag
- WAIT! This process takes time depending on the severity it could take a few days or a couple of weeks.
- Regularly, check the condition of the cigars and keep an eye on the gauge.
We’ve made it even simpler to fix your cigars! You can buy our Dry Cigar Recovery Kit, which includes everything you’ll need to get your stogies in tip-top shape.
Let us know how our process works out for you and comment below with any tips of your own!
Excellent article Mike! I love that you present a very easy DIY method to revive our beloved cigars. We all know that having dry and hardened cigars is a disaster and it can easily lead to having a tasteless cigar that otherwise would be a masterpiece. I believe your input is great for any level of a smoker and it can help many of us. What I would bring to the discussion is the reason why cigars become dry and hardened. I think that this happens mainly because many smokers don’t have a humidor. I found an article that can help any smoker that doesn’t own a classic humidor: Swisscubancigars.com Blog. I hope you and your readers will find this article useful and it will help you prevent future dry or hardened cigars. Keep up the good work!