I was just gifted a box of 2015 Toast Across America.....
Considering it's been factory sealed for over 7 years do you think the cigars will be destroyed when I open them? I know I might have to season them in my humidor for a while to "bring them back" but I'm scared the cigar wrapper will be damaged.
Does anyone have any experience with opening older cigars that were sealed air tight in a box for over 7 years with no humidity?
My other option is to re-gift it & let someone else take a chance on them haha.
Thanks in advance!!
Post edited by Padrino24 on
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There is no such thing as "sealed air tight in a box". There is also no such thing as "bringing them back" once they're gone.
That's not to say they're unsmokable; if your palate is like mine, you probably won't even know they're sh!tty cigars.
What I meant about sealed air tight was the fact that not only are they sealed in the coffin box but the box itself is also wrapped with a layer of that tight plastic shrink wrap leading me to believe that the cigars are unable to breathe.
I know that the quality takes a big hit when not aged properly but I've been told time & time again that no cigar is ever unsmokable unless it's literally coming apart. I didn't mean you can bring it back to as good as new but you can bring it back where it isn't worth trashing.
Only one way to find out.
As Peter infers, there are several things in your post that make it difficult to answer.
1. Airtight box?
2. Zero humidity?
3. Stored, where?
4. What temperature?
5. Since new?
6. Or, were they somewhere else for any length of time?
Were they mine, and I wanted to smoke them, I'd start by removing them from the box and putting them in a tupperware container with a hygrometer to find out what their relative humidity truly is. Probably let them sit for a few days without opening.
Next, let's say they're at 58% for no particular reason, I'd start with some 60% boveda packs and give that about a month. Next month 62%, next month more, etc., until they're where I like them.
Don't know if that will work, no guarantee, but that's how I'd do it. Good luck.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
It's my understanding that the plastic shrink-wrap on boxes is meant to protect the box but offers little in the way of protection from humidity changes.
It could be that they were stored correctly somewhere. Do you know for a fact that they weren't?
If you're going to try and "bring them back" to whatever stage of smokeability, my suggestion is to smoke one now so you have a baseline and can then determine if the "bringing back" had any positive effect.
Also, as my friend @Stubble says, "It's only tobacco". They're still making more cigars ;-) .
Are we talking about only two cigars? It's a two cigar sampler box. Right? And did they come from someone who kept them outside of a humidor, on a shelf for 7 years? If that's the case, they are dry now, no matter the plastic wrap seal. I'd throw them in the bottom of my humidor/cooler after taking the outer plastic off, and forget about them for a year and toast them up later and hope for the best. If they were kept in a humidor, by someone who knows how to maintain a humidor, they should be fine to smoke now.
