I need some help! A few questions about wet cigars and drying

[CO Smokes]

I came home tonight and dug out my box of Tatuaje TAA's to smoke one. the box felt wet as did some of the other boxes in my humidor. I opened up a few of the boxes and the cigars were SOAKED. Somehow water (or some liquid) leaked all over about 10 of the boxes. Does anyone have any pointers on possibly drying these off the right way so i can maybe save some of the sticks? Some of them were completely destroyed it looked like they'd been soaking in water for a week. I'm so angry right now I could lose my mind. My only box of Tat TAA's are ruined as well as an entire box of Le Verite 2009 churchills. Any suggestions for the cigars that are wet but not completely destroyed would be great. hopefully i can salvage a few... needless to say I'm gonna call up the company that makes the humidor on monday.

THANKS

 

[bdc30]

Damn, that sucks brother. Know exactly how you feel, I had that happen in my last fridge once, water accumulated on the bottom and soaked a box of BHK I had put down there for temporary storage. Hope the boys have some good ideas for you.

 

[hutts]

Damn... that sucks. Why couldn't it have been the yard gars?

 

[CO Smokes]

Damn... that sucks. Why couldn't it have been the yard gars?

I wish it was the yard gars

 

[sonarman]

Just slowly bring them down to RH might want to start at 72% and work your way down. Temp is going to be your biggest problem with mold.

 

[shadowcam]

Holy crap Collin... that sucks ass. No tips for you on this one but I feel your pain. Hope the sticks still smoke well after they dry out.

 

[CO Smokes]

Just slowly bring them down to RH might want to start at 72% and work your way down. Temp is going to be your biggest problem with mold.

I was worried about mold. Hopefully I can pull it off and save a few sticks.

 

[veeref]

That sucks. You mentioned it might be some other liquid. I would first determine if its water or not. If it was something you wouldn't drink, then there might not be any point going forward.

If they just got moist and the wrapper and binder aren't swollen and falling apart, I would loosely put them in maybe an empty humidor that doesn't have humidification like you're dry boxing them.

If you try to step down the humidity over a period of time, I think they might just form mold sooner. Do you have any more pictures of the wet sticks?

 

[CO Smokes]

It's definitely water. I can take photos later of the sticks. Some have split open, others are a little wet but in better shape.

 

[KickinD]

Ouch that's painful. I feel for you bro, but don't have any good advice for you.

 

[Clint]

So sorry for this, man.

I have no experience is restoring water damaged cigars, but there are a lot of folks on this board who have a ton of experience...Bump the thread a few times if you don't get any advice right away.

 

[Rupe]

Thankfully I have not had any experience with something like this but my thought would be to use dry Heartfelt beads or kitty litter to draw out the excess moisture.I would also think that you would want to do it slowly (in steps) to keep them from splittng.

 

[owensaz]

Remove as much excess water as possible then Dry Box those bad boys.

 

[CO Smokes]

Thanks for all the advise guys. So far I wiped off all the excess water and let them air out in my kitchen with the windows open. They are only bad at the caps of the cigars they aren't totally soaked like I thought. Already, most of them are feeling better. Definitely still soft and delicate but better than before. Unfortunately some of them are goners. I was able to salvage about 2 of 20 TAA's (hopefully others will get better with time), a couple of the le verites and pretty much every stick from the cab of tat 7th. Lost some avo LE's and a few other various cigars. I still don't know what caused it though...

 

[Gravity]

Geez, sorry to hear that. I've never had to deal with anything like this, thankfully.

Good luck, bro. Hopefully more of them end up ok.

 

[poservarial]

Wow that's nuts hopefully they dry out and you can enjoy some of them

 

[Cazador]

It's important to remember that when cigars are rolled, they're wet. I wouldn't be so quick to write off your stash as goners. Dry box them for several days, certainly, and isolate them for a good long while after that, maybe in some tupperware, watching for mold. I wouldn't be surprised though if they're completely salvageable, depending on how long they were soaking for.

 

[Monsterdg]

Probably goes without saying, but take the cello off anything that got damp.

 

[ironchefscott]

I know this has all been said before...but I feel for you and wish you the best of luck in saving those smokes....and bump!

 

[MarkJr]

That would drive me crazy, good luck...