Bringing old cigars back to life?

[hardrock86]

I'm almost embarrassed to make this post. A few years ago I built up an ok CC collection, but then sold most of it off. I always kept the empty (or so I thought) boxes. I finally went through them today, while cleaning some stuff out, and some were not empty. Bolivar CE from 2010, Diplomaticos #4 from 2001, Bolivar Britanicas and some Bolivar PC.

Is there anyway to bring these back to life? Probably been sitting in the cedar boxes in the basement for 2 years. They smell ok, but are hard. I had 2 Bolivar BBFs from 2010 that I gave to a friend in a sealed ziplock that he also "discovered" in his closet last week that somehow stayed good enough over the last 6 years in there to smoke right away and were pretty good...hoping I can do the same with these.

[kingcohiba]

I have a friend whose neighbor used to smoke cigars and quit in the early 80s. The neighbor had a box of montecristo 2s in his dresser that hadn't been in a Humidor for a little over 30 years. He found out that my buddy smoked cigars and told him about the montes, then my buddy wound up getting them. Looked fine but we're obviously very hard, etc. He slowly introduced them to humidity over the course of a few months and eventually they were pliable again.

He sent me one of these sticks and I  smoked it about 5 years ago and it was absolutely spectacular. One of the top 5 cigars I've ever smoked. I'll send him a link to this thread. He's a member of the forum here so maybe he'll reply.

[TheGiver]

That's a pretty incredible testimony.

[kingcohiba]

[quote author=TheGiver link=topic=40744.msg168066#msg168066 date=1485668151]
That's a pretty incredible testimony.
[/quote]

True story. I remember when he got them. I told him he was wasting his time but he did it anyway. Tough to believe they could be revived like that. Even tougher to believe the flavor of them. 

I'm not a fan of the montecristo 2 at all. Had very few that hit the spot for me. That one did though.

[solomr2]

I've never done it, but have heard cigars can be revived. As stated above, it is apparently wise to rehydrate them slowly. And then wait at least a couple of months for them to acclimate.

[HunterD]

My boss has been working on bringing back a humidor with over 50 cigars in it , ranging from 5+year old short stories and vintage monte #2s, for 2+ years. So far, no luck. I think if you are patient enough then maybe...I doubt they would ever be the same though.
I know the cigars he's been working on are not. Bland, a bit harsh, and no longer have complexity.

[cigar.phil]

I had a customer who "went away" for a number of years and he had an extensive collection that got dried out.  We brought them back and they're now smoking great!

Get a couple of heavy mil Humidor bags or some tupperware and 65% boveda packs.  Put the cigars in with them and seal them up (don't overdo it with multiple humidipaks or rush the process.  You can even start will the smallest size boveda and slowly work up to a bigger size when the cigars start to get softer).  Check on the packs every couple of weeks and replace them as soon as they get firm.  After a couple of months of this, increase up to 69 percent and repeat.  The longer you do this, the more balanced the humidity will get in the cigars and the better they will smoke.  Depending on how dry they got, they'll recover fairly well and maybe not as good as new but still quite good.

Don't put them directly into a humidor.  They will be blasted with too much moisture at once and expand too fast, resulting in physical damage.  The boveda packs in a plastic bag / tupperware are ideal as the bovedas are a slow release system and won't over shock the cigars.  Additionally, there won't be any wood / air competing for the moisture. 

Good luck,
Phil