Cigar Rescue!

[highdudgeon]

I returned from overseas almost one year ago. I came back with two coolidors and two humidors, all stuffed, and always maintained temp/humidity (70/65). Okay, all is fine.

Here's the thing: in July, my wife and I moved south and we need to use a moving truck. Incredibly, most everything survived, despite temps well into the upper 80s in the coolidors. One box of Partagas D4s was *completely* ruined. Utterly.

Anyway, I kept on top of things and my collection is more or less intact. However, two issues:

We moved YET again and everything went fine. Except that I forgot one humidor. So, three and a half months go by before it is finally shipped. I open it up and humidity is, amazingly at 67% but temp 78. Almost every single cigar was damaged in someway. Wrappers peeled from around the end or end and some with slightly bursting business ends. Sigh.

Two questions: I immediately re-humidified and carefully unpacked the cigars, threw away the hopeless cases, and repacked the rest. I figure they must be somewhat smokeable, or at least worth experimenting.

Am I right? Is the damage salvageable/can it be stopped?

Secondly, for some weird reason the coolidors in our new place keep reading high temps -- mid to high 70s. Our house is always around 68. Bad news? Ideas? I'd love to buy a proper LARGE humidor, but it is not in the budget right now.

 

[wanlail]

Fruit pectin from the grocery store will glue the wrapper back together. It might look like sh*t but it does the job.

If ya keep the cooler open and let it get cooler air in, it should trap the cooler temp instead of the higher temp. It is an insulated vessel so it will maintain temps fairly well when closed. I used to live in W. TX where we got 100+ temps a lot in the summer. It happens, as long as it has been humidified, its smokeable.

 

[Mr Peat]

Take some of the cigar wrappers and use them as patches. Instead of using pectin and what not. Lick the piece of wrapper and place it on the tear or whatever. It works pretty good. I'd do this when you are about to fire up the cigar. I had a Opus X that cracked real back when I used my Xikar on it. The cigar was humidified. There was a nasty stem underneath the wrapper. Since it was one of the HTF cigars, I wasn't going to toss it. I smoked it with no problem. I was told by a B&M shop that technique.

I used pectin before and didn't care for the taste it imported onto the cigar. If I was you, purchase some Gum Arabic and use it instead of Pectin. The pectin I used left a bitter taste to the cigar.