For cigar lovers, one of the worst things to discover is that one or several of your cigars can no longer be smoked. This goes double for those who buy premium cigars and invest a significant amount of money in their smokes. But you should know that finding your cigars damp or dried out isn’t necessarily a deal breaker. There are some steps you can take to save your cigars, and while there are no guarantees, these fixes are certainly worth trying.

Saving Dry Cigars

Let’s start with dry cigars, since this is a much more common issue. All it takes is someone without a humidor to forget about a stick they have tucked away, and before they know it their cigar is brittle and dry. The good news is there is a clear and easy fix for this: get it in a humidor.

Even if you don’t consider yourself enough of a smoker to require a humidor, it can easily be worth the investment in this situation. At Best Cigar Prices, we have several humidors under $50, $40, and even under $30. If one of these humidors can keep you from throwing out a few premium cigars, then it’ll pay for itself!

While this is an easy way to save dry cigars, it isn’t exactly fast. A humidor will gently reintroduce your cigar to humidity, and it could easily take weeks to return the stogie to its former glory (sometimes more than a month).

Saving Wet Cigars

The bad news is that saving wet cigars is much trickier. The good news is that having a soaked cigar is also less common. Still, if a cloud opened up while you were on the back nine or…I don’t know…you dropped a stick in the bathtub, don’t worry, we’re here for you.

Believe it or not, the answer to drying out a cigar is the same as the answer to moistening one: a humidor. However, there is one crucial difference between using a humidor to hydrate and dehydrate. In order for a humidor to remove moisture rather than maintain it, you’ll need a brand new one.

The Spanish cedar found in most humidors is sold dry, which is why new humidors have to be seasoned. When you place a damp cigar in a new humidor, the cedar will absorb much of the moisture. It’s like the cigar is doing the seasoning for you. Of course, if you already have a humidor, you probably don’t want to buy a new one just for this purpose. No worries — any box that is lined with cedar will do the trick.

Adjusting Expectations

With all of this said, please note that these fixes are not perfect. While there is a good chance that they’ll make your cigar smokable again, the damage won’t be completely reversed. If you want to truly experience the cigar’s flavor as intended, you might want to cut your losses and buy a new stick.