EAR: High Humidity and Temp

[El Presidente]

EAR = Email Assistance Required. 

 

" 18 months ago I came into a fantastic collection of Cuban cigars as part of a deceased estate. I know the cigars were subjected to 6 months of high humidity (80-85 RH) and high temps (90f) and I have taken 12 months to  slowly bring the humidity back down. They are now back to what I would call pristine condition and are smoking very well. There are no split wrappers or obvious physical damage. The problem is that for most of these cigars, I don't have a reference point to compare against, and likely never will given the rareity of some of the boxes.  I know that cigars that have dried out for an extended period of time can lose their oils and never recover even when rehumidified. The question I have is can cigars that have been stored at high humidity and high temperature be brought back to eventually smoke true to form?"

 

Over to you good people. 

[NSXCIGAR]

As long as the rH was that high in those high temps I don't think much damage has been done, particularly in only 6 months. Shouldn't be too much of a problem assuming beetles didn't go hog wild. 

[Lamboinee]

I venture to guess that a cigar exposed to high humidity should be able to return to original form provided that the high humidity has not caused mold or something else to develop or altered the structure of the tobacco.  With respect to temperature, I would guess things should be ok provided that the temps didn't get high enough to cause a chemical change in the tobacco (or ignite for that matter). It sounds like the issues were temporary (I. E. 6 months) which I think might be your saving grace. I wonder what's worse by itself, an increase to 90f or and increase to 85 rh..... I really have no idea and there's probably a lot of variables. 

Perhaps you could run a benchmark test using other cigars in your collection that have not been stored improperly. Take a few cigars, store them at bonkers rh and temp and then bring them back to proper conditions over 12 months. Then, smoke the properly stored cigar and compare it to ones subjected to the increases. It might provide some added perspective at the very least. 

[Ford2112]

Tell him no, it's over, I'll take them off his hands.

[nKostyan]

12 hours ago, El Presidente said:

EAR = Email Assistance Required. 
 
" The question I have is can cigars that have been stored at high humidity and high temperature be brought back to eventually smoke true to form?"

 

Answer: unfortunately not, but you can give them to those in need

 

[NSXCIGAR]

9 hours ago, Lamboinee said:

I wonder what's worse by itself, an increase to 90f or and increase to 85 rh..... I really have no idea and there's probably a lot of variables

I would think the temperature would be the main enemy here. In fact the rH needs to be extremely high to offset the moisture loss at those high temps. Tobacco is fairly resilient to moisture. Leaf is almost always quite moist for considerable periods of time prior to rolling. At high temps I doubt rH could be high enough to cause problems by itself but I wouldn't want high rH at normal temps for extended periods. 

Temperature is another story. High temps almost certainly cause unwanted chemical changes over time. The higher rH may help reduce that damage but long term I wouldn't want cigars in 90° heat. 6 mos is probably minor in terms of impact but not insignificant. More than that I would think could certainly result in permanent changes.