How Long Does it Take for a Cigar to Humidify in a Humidor?
Do cigars expire or dry up? Despite all the effort you might be making to keep your cigars humid and maintain the natural taste, the cigar leaves may dry out if you don’t store it properly. A dry cigar produces an awful and tasteless smoke, and most smokers shy away from this kind of experience.
Even the best quality cigars can dry accidentally in many ways. For example, you can forget your cigars on the office table without a wrapper for hours, or you don’t check the moisture level in the humidor. Whichever the reason your cigars are dry, you can actually rehydrate them on a Spanish cedar humidor and regain its usual taste.
Note that you can only rehydrate your cigar if the wrapper is on and is not damaged. The cigar should also have natural oils intact. It is not possible to retain the natural oils and original taste of the cigar once all the oils evaporate.
Rehydrating a cigar is a process and takes time. Therefore, if you want the best results, you should give it some time in the humidor. Ensure you get a digital hygrometer to check for accurate readings in the humidor.
Rehydrating Cigars with Humidor
Rehydrating your cigar collection in a humidor is a process that takes time but is worth it. A humidor works on the same principle as a refrigerator – dropping the cigar temperature slow by slow. The cigar should be in contact with the humidor cedar lining to rehydrate perfectly with time. Here are the steps you should follow to rehumidify dry cigars in a humidor.
1. Clean the humidor
When you plan to rehydrate premium cigars on a humidor, you should first empty its content and clean it thoroughly to remove any dirt. Take a piece of moist or wet cloth and wipe all the humidor walls. You should only soak the cloth on distilled water. Avoid tap water because it contains chlorine and other chemicals that usually clog on the humidor holes and affect the rehydration process.
2. Rehumidify the humidor
After cleaning the humidor walls, you should proceed to remoisten the humidification element using bottled or distilled water. Cleaning or rehumidifying the humidor helps to maintain the relative humidity to the normal 73-74%. It also helps you meet the optimal conditions for storing your cigars fresh.
After rehumidify the humidor, you should close the larger humidor lid and allow it to rest for at least a day before you can place your dry cigars in it.
When you put your cigar in a humidor with relative humidity, the cigars will follow suit and maintain the same level of humidity. You can set the ideal humidity level to your personal preferences when storing your cigars.
A cigar smoker you should not over-humidify your humidor thinking that it can help to bring your cigars back to life faster. Rehydrating cigar is a gradual process, and you’ll have to be patient to get the right results. It takes at 1-3 weeks to rehydrate dry cigars in a humidor.
Again, how long the cigar stays in a humidor depends on the relative humidity (RH) of the place, how dry the cigar itself was, and how thick the ring gauge is. Allow the humidity in the humidor to reach the innermost filler in the cigars before you can remove the cigars from the humidor.
3. Keep rotating the cigars
It is important to keep rotating your cigars throughout the humidification process while they are still in the humidor for proper humidification. When you rotate the cigars frequently, you keep them away from the humidification source since the cigars are more susceptible to variations in humidity level. Use an analog hygrometer to check levels of humidity in the humidor.
You can move the bottom of the cigars to the top row and keep exposing the smokes to even humidity. This way, you can ensure the smokes regain a natural flavor and taste you desire even under long-term storage.
4. Ensure air supply
You should allow your tabletop humidor to air at least after every two weeks if you intend to store the smokes inside for longer. Ensure air supply in the humidor unless it comes with an in-built ventilator. The humidor should also be kept airtight to maintain constant humidity when storing the smokes.
To ensure the humidor walls are shielded from direct sun-rays, always shop for humidors with seamless joints and thick walls. Most of the modern humidors come with these unique coated interiors and stainless steel doors that do not allow air to escape through the walls.
5. Remove Cigars from the Humidor
After 1-3 weeks of staying in the humidor, your smokes are now ready. You can remove one of the cigars from the humidor and smoke. You should find out if the cigar has the original, natural taste and flavor you expect in a humid smoke.
Note that if you re-humidified the cigar when it was completely dry, it might not have the original taste because the cigar may not have the natural oils to maintain the taste.
Being an avid cigar smoker if you have a dried cigar, you can always try to rehumidify them on a humidor instead of leaving them in the trash for waste. The results may be close to what you anticipate, some near taste of natural tobacco.
How Long Does it Take for Cigars to Dry Out?
When you leave your cigars out in the open without a wrapper, it can take at least three days to for them to dry out excess water completely. The natural oil in the cigar that gives it the natural flavor evaporates into the air, making it difficult to regain the taste even after you rehydrate the smoke using a humidor. When it comes to rehumidifying your cigars, you have to be extra patient, or you lose everything.
The taste may not come back as you anticipate, but at least it’s better than throwing the cigars in the dust bin. The only reason it takes long to rehydrate your cigars in a humidor is that you don’t understand the type of humidor you have or not storing your cigars in the humidor at all.
The ideal relative humidity for storing your cigars in a humidor is about 70%. Still, whenever the summer sets in, the RH may be difficult to achieve as everything dries up in your house, including the tabletop humidor.
That means you should always moisten your humidor and cigar box before storing the cigars in it. However, you should not overdo it to hurry up the humidification process. It doesn’t work that way. Rehumidifying your cigars before you can smoke them is essential whenever they dry out to get the great taste in every puff.
Dry cigars can burn faster than intended and may also taste bitter. Humidifying helps you manage your cigars and keep them ‘fresh’ for the longest time.
Final Thoughts
How long it takes dry cigars to re-humidify in a humidor depends on several factors. For instance, you have to ensure the cigar has a wrapper on, it has the natural oils intact, and the humidor is moist and clean.
You should clean the humidor with a moist cloth to remove all the dirt and allow it to rest for at least one day before you can store the smokes inside. Lastly, you should know how humidor works.
You can check your smokes at least one week after storing them in the humidor. You want to ensure the cigars have the right level of humidity before you can take them. Find out if the cigar feels soft on touch and does not change shape when you press them with your fingers.
Always check that your hygrometer doesn’t read below 65% because it may mean your cigars are almost drying up. Strive to ensure your humidor maintains a relative humidity to keep the original taste of your favorite cigar. With this simple guide, you can always enjoy the original taste of your favorite smoke.
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