Emergency - Cigar recovery advice needed

[StingMeadery]

Guys, I need some serious and excellent BOTL advice...pronto.

Okay, short version.

Air hostess bought me a box of Montecristo 520 EL 2012 from Dubai.

Told her to zip lock bag the box at LCDH and add a humidity pack.

She gives them to her brother who is travelling to NZ to deliver them.

As LCDH didn't have any humidity packs, he "decides to use his initiative" and puts a full size wet cotton hand towel into the bag...and I mean dripping wet, then doesn't bother to tell me he has them...for 10 days!!!

Box exterior is mouldy, cigars so wet the bands ink is running...

I'm concerned

"HELP"

Are they recoverable?

Just threw them into an empty Cohiba Piramides box and into a new ziplock bag with a handful of paper towels...

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[NJP]

Long story short I had a couple get wet (about as bad as the third from the bottom up but all over) I put them in rice for about ten hours, keep an eye on them the moisture leaves pretty quick. Then into the freezer to stabilise the moisture that was left for a day and a bit. Then a dryer desk top Humi I have until they were how I like them. But all this said they were smokable but the magic was gone, kinda like NC.

[AndrewNR]

Man... Heart goes out to you I lost a few to mold while i was AWOL.. life goes on.

[Cisco]

I think if you can stabilize the cigars and bring down the RH gradually, the cigars should be salvageable. There was no mould, which would be my main concern, along with spitting of the binder due to excess moisture. Boveda packs in a tupperware container or ziplock bag should work. Perhaps starting with 69%, then 65%,etc.. The packs will absorb the excess moisture.

If you want to bring down the RH quickly, then diapers do a great job of absorbing excess moisture rapidly. Throw one in a ziplock bag with the cigars and it will bring down the RH quickly. Don't leave it in there for too long. I have small kids so I have access to diapers and I use them to soak up excess moisture when my coolerdor with KL goes above 65% in the summer.

Good luck saving the cigars.

[Maplepie]

tupperdore with a used Boveda pack.

if you don't have a used Boveda pack, ask around for a half used Boveda pack....

they absorb moisture as well as release so they'd be better than any dessicant like rice and especially silica gel

[oliverdst]

I agree that Bovedas work great but they are slow. In this case maybe diapers or rice work better.

They are overhumidified. They never get direct contact with water. There is hope.

[Maplepie]

I agree that Bovedas work great but they are slow. In this case maybe diapers or rice work better.

They are overhumidified.

actually, the rice idea may work. only flaw is that they might desiccate too quickly.

Try this on for size:

with rice, what i would do is slightly hydrate 100 grammes and leave another 100 grammes unhydrated. introduce that into the tupperdore. monitor the hygrometer for a slight descent. every 12 hours, add more unhydrated rice to a steady drop rate.

don't want to suck the moisture out too quickly, now. these are precious little weak things... Keep us informed on their status!

[StingMeadery]

Thanks guys, appreciate your advice.

It's like rescuing drowning puppies...just has to be done

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[Maplepie]

Thanks guys, appreciate your advice.

It's like rescuing drowning puppies...just has to be done

dry them off and then light them on fire?

Wo-ho! Too far!!

[StingMeadery]

Okay I have dry boxed them with 50g of dry rice wrapped in a paper towel.

Will keep an eye on them and proceed slowly, will let you know how it goes.

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[Colt45]

Were they mine (my own personal opinion) -

Remove the bands.

Put in a an empty wood box / humidor with enough room so they are not on top of each other with good circulation - side by side, but with room. NO added moisture of any kind. No paper towels, no zip lock bags - were I to use a desiccant, not in direct contact with the cigars.

Best luck.

[MrGinger]

Did you slap the brother at least?

[Maplepie]

Did you slap the brother at least?

now now, Herr Ging... he didn't mean to do anything wrong!

Hanlon's razor and what now!

[StingMeadery]

Did you slap the brother at least?

"Close...but no Cigar"

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[MrGinger]

now now, Herr Ging... he didn't mean to do anything wrong!

Hanlon's razor and what now!

I know. I should have put in

[StingMeadery]

Gents, the 520's are responding well to being dry boxed with a small amount of rice wrapped up in a paper towel inside the closed box.

I placed the box in a zip lock bag, with another 50g rice loose in the bag.

After 24 hours most are now only just slightly damp to the touch and only a little spongy.

The very worst ones I dry boxed alone with one or two in another box by themselves and replaced these back into the main box once they didn't feel completely sodden.

So far so good !

Once I feel they have really recovered I will put a pack of CGM 65rh cigar beads in the box and leave them to percolate for another couple of weeks before trying one.

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[santela]

Rice may be smart, sucks the moist right out. Then you can improvise from there.

[SaintLuis]

Not good.

You may get them to a smokable condition, but they definitely won't deliver the experience they were going to. Sorry bud.

[El Presidente]

Box exterior is mouldy, cigars so wet the bands ink is running...

Glad to her that they are responding well. Just be a little bit careful mate. If they were soaked through they may have commenced rotting. Even when dry, they won't smell like a cigar. When you think they are ready for a taste test, look for any signs of green/blue mold, smell them...really smell them and if you pick up any acrid/rancid aroma at all....pass.

[chris12381]

If you do find some damage to the cigars, I've had good luck repairing some damaged wrappers with vegetable glue.

Chris

[tippexx]

Were they mine (my own personal opinion) -

Remove the bands.

Put in a an empty wood box / humidor with enough room so they are not on top of each other with good circulation - side by side, but with room. NO added moisture of any kind. No paper towels, no zip lock bags - were I to use a desiccant, not in direct contact with the cigars.

Best luck.

I would do as Colt45 has suggested which is basically nothing. No towels, no rice, no Bovida packs. Just a big, dry airy box and keep rotating the cigars one quarter turn every day to dry them evenly. Don't worry about humidity, Coromandel has more than enough.

Cigars are a lot tougher than we sometimes give them credit for, and from your description we're all assuming that they are soaked through, this may not actually be the case. The wrapper may be very wet but the core may not.

I would agree with Rob, mould is now something you must look out for. The clean box, air and rotating the smokes will help, but once cigars, or anything for that matter, have been in proximity to mould the chances of it not reoccurring aren't good.

[StingMeadery]

Box exterior is mouldy, cigars so wet the bands ink is running...

Glad to her that they are responding well. Just be a little bit careful mate. If they were soaked through they may have commenced rotting. Even when dry, they won't smell like a cigar. When you think they are ready for a taste test, look for any signs of green/blue mold, smell them...really smell them and if you pick up any acrid/rancid aroma at all....pass.

Thanks Rob, really appreciate the input.

I actually removed the rice and debagged them today just leaving in the dry box with room and rotating daily.

I explored the construction gently squeezing and they are really spongy, like a badly under filled stick...the reality is they will most likely be flavourless wind tunnels.

To be honest guys, even if they get back to a smokeable condition I just think the love ran out of these sticks...

The only good news is I already had one in my travel humidor purchased as a single, so can at least taste one unadulterated and perfectly stored 520 LE to truly appreciate my loss

"Sucking it up, like a boss" !

...although the tear welling in my eye might just give it away.

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