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The rescue mission

louich

louich

The evil snowman
Joined
Feb 29, 2012
Messages
1,587
I was pondering the title of this thread and I was hesitating between 'The rescues mission' and 'A Darwin award nominee'.

So here's the story: I have a coworker who went to Cuba with her BF and brought back some cicars. They came back about a month and a half with me being curious on what he brought back I inquired and gave advice on how to store them so he could keep them for the long term. Unfortunately he did not understand/ take me seriously. He brought back a cigar box (not a humidor) from Cuba and proceeded to store the stick into the said box with out trying to seasonning it (clearly).


Now a few weeks later she tells me that the cigars are drying up and he is unable to keep them in a usable state/humidified. So I proceeded to offer her to lend them to me so I could try to revive them (35% rh currently). So today she brings me the cigar box, with a 35 % RH (had a digital hygro). What's sad about the story there are a about 10 unbanded cigars (not even tripple capped) and some tubos (RyJ, Partagas, Hoyo and Monte).

I fear the unbanded cigar are done (they look on the verge of unwraping/breaking). So here's my plan (after searching on the subject):

-put the unbanded cigar into a ziplock
-put the tubos in an other ziplock
-put both bag into a bigger zip lock and keep a small opening (1\4 inch)
-rebag the whole thing with an other ziplock, put in a humidification device and a hygrometer and seal the bag
-put the bag into my cooler and wait for the magic to happen.


What do you guys think about the procedure ?
Any advice would be more than welcome!
 
Hopefully they're real to go through all the trouble. If they didn't know what they were doing, which obviously they weren't, they could have been ripped off.
 
Get a large freezer zip lock bag and 1 sheet of paper towel. Dampen the paper towel with distilled water, so that it's saturated but not dripping. Place the box of cigars into the baggie on one side, and the damp paper towel on the other side of the bag. Zip it up and allow to sit for a few days.

Once the cigars are semi spongy again, return the box to your friend. Leave the box in the ziplock bag to maintain humidity.

Sounds to me the cigars are likely candidates for fakes. Also, if there was any oil in the tobacco, most of it is probably all gone now. Regardless, it doesn't sound like he knows much about cigars, so as long as you can get them re-hydrated again, I'm sure you'll make him happy...

Good luck.
 
In addition to the ziplock bag I'd put the whole think into a Tupperware container because zip-lock bags will exchange some air.
 
Thanks for the advices! I'll put them in a tupperware 2morow! (now they are in one of my cigar box I brought back plus all the ziplocks layers and a damp towel)

As far as the smokes being authentic:

The unbanded look like dog poops (way uglier than the peso cigar I have), so even if they dont live thru it I think I'll be doing the guy a favor.
The tubos look authentic (triple capped and the correct band). Now I feel sad for the Hoyo de Monterry epicure No2 who did not have a tube (it has many spots on the wrapper...sad sight)

JH, as far as replacing the smokes lost he can always dream ! While I like the the coworker the guy seems like a French prick (I might have donated some if he did listen at first but now I wont send any to the goulags! )

SO the process is underway we'll see what happens in the next few days...I'll keep you guy posted !

Once again thank you for the answers it is appreciated! (and keep em comming if you have more :-)

(sorry for the poor grammar: not my first language)
 
Make sure you don't bring them back to RH too quick. If you bring them back to fast, they can (and probably will) crack/split. This is probably going to be a very slow process...

If he is a prick, then don't spend much time trying to fix his F'up. If he listened to you in the first place, he wouldn't have F'ed up sticks at this point.
 
2K6TBSS said:
Make sure you don't bring them back to RH too quick.  If you bring them back to fast, they can (and probably will) crack/split.  This is probably going to be a very slow process...

If he is a prick, then don't spend much time trying to fix his F'up.  If he listened to you in the first place, he wouldn't have F'ed up sticks at this point.
Click to expand...

Your right about not spending too much time /effort into reviving his stick but I guess it's just my helpful nature taking over...There is also an hidden agenda on my part! My GF best friend donated some cuban cigars to her dad (who does not smoke anymore)years ago. He put them in the fridge without any proper protection so most of them are already dead but there was one Cohiba Lancero (about 7 yrs old if I look at the band) that grabbed my attention. She told me I could have it if her dad was okay with it (wich most likely he is). So I am 'experimenting' with the unbanded and tubos and if it works then the Lancero is next on my list of saving projet.The RH is rising slowly (5% max per day) so I guess I'll have a suceesful operation ;-)
 
Why do people seem to believe that storing cigars in a refrigerator will keep them fresh? I never understood this. Modern refrigerators act as a de-humidification unit in addition to keeping food cold. Perhaps in the old days refrigerators provided humidity? I doubt it.
 
Haha I bought a box of AF at the local B&M (guess guy doesn't get box buyers) and he said "you have a humidor right?" I said yea of course. He said "good cause I didn't want you to go stick them in your freezer"
 
I can understand the principle most people believe in : 'Well if I put them in a cold place they should loose their humidity slower'.Now that I read about it, it makes perfect sense to keep cigar far away form he fridge !

Now to season my 2nd humidor I just got (this place create some bad habits ! :-)Edited: lousy spelling
 
Rod said:
Why do people seem to believe that storing cigars in a refrigerator will keep them fresh? I never understood this. Modern refrigerators act as a de-humidification unit in addition to keeping food cold. Perhaps in the old days refrigerators provided humidity? I doubt it.
Click to expand...
Working at the cigar shop you wouldn't beleive the number of people that think storing in the refridgerator is the right thing to do. I even had one guy get a little heated up and start arguing. Aside from that most customers end up understanding the logic about NOT storing in the fridge.
Rod said:
Also, if there was any oil in the tobacco, most of it is probably all gone now. Regardless, it doesn't sound like he knows much about cigars, so as long as you can get them re-hydrated again, I'm sure you'll make him happy...
Click to expand...
I agree with this too. Having rehydrated numerous cigars in the past year I can say from experience that they will smoke fine but the distinct tastes are gone. A strong cigar is still strong and a mild cigar is still mild. Other than that, I will only add that the quality difference between cigars remains after rehydration. A Padron Anniv is still way better than a Padron 7000 but the ranking on both is reduced due to the loss of essential oils.
 
Rod, the OLD refrig Used blocks of ice to cool the items, hence the humidity function, and that is going back to before me.
 
Well these are on their way to their owner.

The reviving procedure is over. Everything went ok for the bunch except for two hand rolled sticks who were shot from the begginning.

So now I have one more friend to smoke with. Thing is I'll have to find a good source becauce my CC are flying off the humidor like hell since I found this place ! :-)


Now to my next project. The revival of a Cohiba Lancero that was gifted to me.

The Lancero was held in a fridge for a loooong time but the wrapper still seems in pretty good shape.

Since that Cigar is from around 2003-4 I'l think it done but I'll try nonetheless.

Now a quick Q for you guys. Did the band changed change since 2003-4? (as it dont ressemble the ones I brought back from my trip to Cuba and bought in LCDH.

I'll post a pcik of the new patient tonight to help the 'authentification' efforts.
 
Rod said:
Why do people seem to believe that storing cigars in a refrigerator will keep them fresh? I never understood this. Modern refrigerators act as a de-humidification unit in addition to keeping food cold. Perhaps in the old days refrigerators provided humidity? I doubt it.
Click to expand...

Not to thread jack to bad but this has always concerned me about people freezing their smokes- talk about a dry environment.

All the majors freeze them before they go out but this is when they are really fresh.
 
kona1000 said:
Rod said:
Why do people seem to believe that storing cigars in a refrigerator will keep them fresh? I never understood this. Modern refrigerators act as a de-humidification unit in addition to keeping food cold. Perhaps in the old days refrigerators provided humidity? I doubt it.
Click to expand...

Not to thread jack to bad but this has always concerned me about people freezing their smokes- talk about a dry environment.

All the majors freeze them before they go out but this is when they are really fresh.
Click to expand...

The difference is people who freeze them don't do it (normally) as a long term storage method. Its done over a two or three day period of time to prevent cigar beetles. I think those who tend to store them in the refrigerator do it long term and that is where the trouble starts.
 
kona1000 said:
Rod said:
Why do people seem to believe that storing cigars in a refrigerator will keep them fresh? I never understood this. Modern refrigerators act as a de-humidification unit in addition to keeping food cold. Perhaps in the old days refrigerators provided humidity? I doubt it.
Click to expand...

Not to thread jack to bad but this has always concerned me about people freezing their smokes- talk about a dry environment.

All the majors freeze them before they go out but this is when they are really fresh.
Click to expand...

Thread jacker ! ;-)

I can umderstand why someone would think it's a good idea but now I know better . Hehehehe
 
louich said:
Now a quick Q for you guys. Did the band changed change since 2003-4? (as it dont ressemble the ones I brought back from my trip to Cuba and bought in LCDH.

I'll post a pcik of the new patient tonight to help the 'authentification' efforts.
Click to expand...

You can see images of the different bands, and the years they were in use, here: http://cubancigarwebsite.com/
 
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