Used humidor help

[ffemt89]

hey all, newb to the cigar world here. I recently got back from Mexico and bought some fake Romeo Y Julietta's on the beach thinking they were legit but that's besides the point.

I got back to the states and reached out to a guy who I know smoked cigars and asked him if he had any tips for keeping them fresh without a humidor and he basically gave me his for nothing with 30 cigars in it already.

They're all extremely dry and I don't think it had been cared for in some time, I bought a cigar oasis excel (decided to go a size up for the inevitable upgrade I'll make at some point) and it should be here next week. Question is should I even keep the cigars he had in there in hopes they'll recover or should I just ditch them and clear out space in the humidor? It's holding at 57% RH right now according to the xikar hygrometer he had in it. should I recondition the humidor? Sorry for the long post but any help would be great!

 

[BigSkySmoke]

Yes on re-seasoning they humidor. A bowl a distilled water for a couple days to a week and you should be good.

As far as the cigars. You could do a simple Tupperware container with some boveda packs as a fun project...but I wouldn't invest and time or money in them. And if the free humidor is leaky, like a lot of them are...you have a tuppidor ready to go. If the cigars are just cheap yardgars...I would pitch them and and buy some you can enjoy smoking right away...

Hope this helps...

Edit...Check out our site sponsors for some great deals on cigars. Also check out the today's smoke thread to see what a lot of people are smoking.

Also there is tons of info on this site. Start digging thru the older pages and use the search. You can read a ton of great info on here...

 

[Boudie]

All good advice.
Sounds like you have a pretty good idea about what you need to do. Welcome to the jungle

 

[ffemt89]

There's some decent cigars in there so I'll probably go the tupperdoor route until I can get the humidor seasoned up again. Thanks!

 

[ZippoGeek]

There's some decent cigars in there so I'll probably go the tupperdoor route until I can get the humidor seasoned up again. Thanks!

Welcome brother!

FWIW, I'm so done with humidors, seasoning, re-seasoning, etc. The Tupperdor is where it's at. Dirt cheap, virtually airtight, no seasoning, massive storage volume. And with Boveda packs, I rarely bother to check my hygrometer; they're accurate, reliable and idiot-proof. My $.02 -- YMMV!

 

[Cigary43]

We all have our ways of storing cigars and I'm an advocate for tupperadors for storing...coolers as well and wood humidors. All of them serve a purpose.

As far as your query of dried out cigars...depending on how long they were outside of a humidor ( and what RH/Temps they sat in ) the cigars sound like they are so dried out that they will have lost most of their essential oils and that is where the flavor is. Can they be hydrated....yep...but what good are they if they aren't going to taste like they should? It becomes a science experiment to see if once they are rehydrated ( done slowly over a good month or so...1 degree per week to your personal goal of RH ) then try one and see if they are good enough to smoke the rest.

 

[ffemt89]

Thanks all. I have 4 of the big Boveda 68% packs arriving tomorrow so I think I'll get some Tupperware and set that up with those and possibly use the cigar oasis to humidify the humidor for a week or two and see how it holds. I've got my first 5 pack of Atabeys coming in today so I need to figure something out sooner rather than later haha. Thanks for all the help!

 

[ffemt89]

Update: bovedas just got here, first 5 pack showed up yesterday and I got some Tupperware.

The good 5 and all the junk I bought off the beach in Mexico are in one container with 2 large 65% Bovada packs

The ones that came with the humidor are in a separate Tupperware along with the other two 65% boveda packs

And last but not least I got a new sponge sitting in a bowl of distilled water in the humidor until the Cigar Oasis Excel gets here Thursday

Feel free to leave any more tips, tricks or suggestions!

 

[ZippoGeek]

Feel free to leave any more tips, tricks or suggestions!

Brother, I can tell you from first-hand experience that the Cigar Oasis will probably be Major Overkill for that smallish humi! The "XL" in particular is designed for really big cabinet humidors and wineadors. And Cigar Oasis is just a one-way system. In other words, when your humidity gets too high, the C.O. has no way of pulling humidity OUT. I made this mistake with what I ass/u/me/d was a "large enough" chest humidor; everything seemed fine for a while after I dropped in the XL. But in less than 2 weeks, I had 80% humidity and a mold outbreak.

The moral of the story? Now you need a wineador.

 

[BigSkySmoke]

The moral of the story? Now you need a wineador.

Hahaha....this. Those bovedas will be just perfect for your humidor.

It's so sad seeing neglected Padrons!

 

[ffemt89]

@ZippoGeek I knew the excel would be overkill but I also know that once I get in to something, I usually get in deep and I got it for the same price as the small one so I figured why spend the same money twice. The excel says it's good for 4 cubic feet on their website, did you have one in a coolidor?

@BigSkySmoke ive never had one but hear they're pretty good so I hope they bounce back but I don't think it's looking good

 

[sofc]

one of those big bovedas are more than enough for those small tupperwares.

As has been said, the Cigar Oasis is not a two way system and only adds humidity, it does not take away. Many people do not use such a system as a result.

If you're relatively new to this hobby, you might want to ask around before dropping that kind of money on Atabeys (unless you're tried them and really like them.)

 

[ZippoGeek]

@ZippoGeekThe excel says it's good for 4 cubic feet on their website, did you have one in a coolidor?

Yes -- I eventually put it in my full-size wineador, where it worked flawlessly...

 

[ffemt89]

@sofc thanks for the info, the atabeys are for an upcoming addition to a friends family

@ZippoGeek hmm well at least when I get to that point I'll be ready haha

 

[bostoneo]

@sofc

 

[csk415]

If your going to use Tupperware for awhile on some of your sticks I suggest you get some sistema klip it containers. The ones you have will leak RH.

 

[THEMISCHMAN]

https://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-Storage-Container-BPA-free-1777164/dp/B000WEMFGQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1490154140&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=rubbermaid+40+cup&psc=1&smid=A12XCK8UYI4UPE
This. The one I have has had the same 3 Boveda packs in it since 2015.