Traveling with Boveda: Preventing & Reviving Dry Cigars
Image & Article supplied by Boveda.
By Boveda
Sandwich bags are for carry-on liquids, not cigars. When you’re on-the-go, safeguard your cigars inside a Boveda Humidor Bag. More slim-lined than a travel humidor, the bag fits easily into a backpack, golf bag, ski boot bag or tackle box. If you usually store cigars in a tupperdor, you’ll enjoy the same protection without the bulk. And unlike a food storage bag, a humidor bag is airtight, so you can protect your smokes from the inevitable humidity fluctuations that are so common in travel and so damaging to your premium cigars. No more dry cigars for you, world traveler!
Can You Revive Dry Cigars?
Unfortunately, some cigar smokers learn the hard way why it’s important to use humidity protection with cigars when they travel. Let’s say the damage is done and you think your cigars are toast. If the wrappers are intact, there is a good chance you can “repair” them, according to Cigar Inspector. And Boveda is the safest and easiest way to revive dry, road-weary cigars. Just ask Matt from Michigan, who went searching for a way to revive some abused Cubans and happened upon Boveda.
“As far as cigars go, I am a newbie. On trips to Cuba, I smoked a lot of very good cigars—Cohiba Robustos, Cohiba Siglo Vis and H. Upmann Coronas Majors. I was spoiled right from the get go!”
– Matt from Michigan, cigar lover and Boveda believer
Yep, Matt was hooked. So he brought some Cohiba Siglo VIs stateside. “I had my cigars for about a month with no humidor. I did not know that they needed to be taken care of in that way,” the cigar novice admitted.
“So I tossed two 72% Boveda packets in with 50 cigars WOW! Did the packets work! Saved my cigars in a big way!” Matt also discovered that storing his cigars with Boveda improved the flavor of his Cubans. They were smoother and he could detect nuances, like earthy tones and sweet flavors.
One-Step Way to Revive Dry Cigars with Boveda
While we appreciate Matt’s roll-up-his-sleeves, solve-it-himself approach, here’s Boveda’s official one-step method for reviving dry cigars:
For a month, store your dried cigars in a Boveda Humidor Bag that’s prepacked with a 69% RH packet. Done.
No humidor bag? Pop a Boveda 69% inside a plastic container with your dry cigars for a month. Sterilite® Ultra•Seal™ containers make great tupperdors because they snap closed to create a terrific seal. Zip-to-close plastic bag are popular for cigar storage, too.
Why a month? Cigars lose moisture 4x as fast as they can safely gain moisture. Exposing your cigars to a safe, stable level of perfect humidity with Boveda minimizes the chance of the wrapper cracking as the filler gains moisture and grows. Nothing good happens quickly with cigars, so be patient.
Sure, you can chance reviving dried cigars with wet sponges, crystals and beads. Those one-way methods humidify cigars too quickly and don’t know when to stop. This “flashing” of your cigars with humidity is dangerous any time, but especially when the wrappers are dry and hypersensitive to moisture. Could it work? Sure. But the odds are your wrappers will crack when you finally settle it to smoke those sought-after souvenirs.
Travel lesson? Take a Boveda Humidor Bag along as your travel companion to avoid dead sticks in the first place. Fill it with cigars from home to trade and share with any BOTL/SOTL you meet. As you make your way through your own cigars, replace them with souvenir cigars you discover on your adventure.
Humidity in an airplane’s cabin is extremely low—usually less than 20%.
– World Health Organization
Why Travel is Hard on Cigars
There’s nothing to be embarrassed about having dry cigars. Sooner or later, it happens to everyone—really. Whether it was in a backseat, an overhead bin or a motorcycle saddlebag, many a cigar-loving traveler has dried out their smokes by treating them like common baggage.
Throwing humidity control to the wind even for a few hours can damage your cigars and diminish their flavor.
Think about it. Cigars are born, raised and rolled in humid countries. Take cigars on a plane ride and you’re exposing them to moisture-sucking conditions. Humidity in that airplane’s cabin is extremely low–usually less than 20%, according to the World Health Organization’s website. 20% RH? That’s Death Valley for cigars!
Humidity fluctuation is why many high-end brands, including Arturo Fuente, Matilde and Rocky Patel, nestle a Boveda 69% RH packet in each box to protect their cigars while they’re in transit. Boveda’s patented 2-way humidity control keeps the cigars at an ideal moisture level until they reach your home humidor.
That’s great if you’re globetrotting to the Dominican Republic. But journey to Cuba or other locales that can’t or don’t yet carry Boveda, and you should bring along your own humidity protection.
Cigar aficionados don’t leave home without the travel insurance of a Boveda Humidor Bag, which:
Zips to seal
Takes up next to no space in a suitcase
Provides the same protection as a tupperdor
Works better than food storage bag because of its tough, high-barrier laminated construction
Comes prepacked with Boveda 69% RH to protect a cigar’s flavor
