Cigar tobacco humidification question

[veteranvmb]

My Dad was a pipe smoker for about twenty years when I was growing up and I remembered him taking a slice of orange or tangerine peel and putting it into his pouch of tobacco. It alwasy kept his tobacco moist. (whether this was a positive thing or not, I dont know, but the cherry tobacco I can still smell today)
I remember years ago, when I was stationed in the philipines and a cigar smoker, we needed some way to keep our cigars and no one knew about humidors.
The local philipine cigars were the absolute worst pieces of crap in every respect. All they did was make you sick.
The humidity was high and the heat was real bad. Especially out at the stations. So one thing we did was pool our cigars together in an ammo box, with some wet sackcloth around it. But we put orange rind, pinapple rind, and any fruit rind which was soft, and put it in with the cigars, and they kept the cigars in smoking shape.
So what I was wondering, is I have a humidor with a bunch of old cigars in , now for two months waiting for them to rehumidify. Some are still very hard after two months. (Some of these cigars are two or three years old)
Would throwing in some fruit rind help in the rehumidification of these cigars?
And what about in a regular humidor. Could an oragne skin, or an apple piece, infuse your cigars with a nice sweet smell, if thats what you may enjoy?

Much regards Jerry

[ca21455]

I do not know of any reason why the fruit would help restore a dried cigar. A cigar that has not lost its oil content should restore in about 2 weeks in a humidor. If the oils are gone it will never recover.

The use of fruit may impart flavor to a cigar, I would not do it but to each his own.

[Phantom57]

Never put a piece of fruit in a humidor, it will just encourage mould. If the cigars were completely dried, they are toast, just pitch them. You can rehumidify them, but they won't taste like anything.

[Stench]

Considering the oils in citrus rinds (they make solvents out of these!), I could see where it could definitely affect humidity or at least restore/maintain the oils/tar in tobacco. I'm afraid I don't know enough about the chemistry to give you an accurate guess. If you could quarantine these dry cigars in a tupperware setup, what could it hurt to try it? They're trash if you can't rehydrate them anyway.

I would be concerned about mold if doing this with your other good cigars.

[veteranvmb]

Originally Posted by Stench

Considering the oils in citrus rinds (they make solvents out of these!), I could see where it could definitely affect humidity or at least restore/maintain the oils/tar in tobacco. I'm afraid I don't know enough about the chemistry to give you an accurate guess. If you could quarantine these dry cigars in a tupperware setup, what could it hurt to try it? They're trash if you can't rehydrate them anyway.

I would be concerned about mold if doing this with your other good cigars.

I didnt think about the mold problem. You guys are correct. I think I will try a ziplock bag and do an experiment with a few of them.

Much regards Jerry

[e-man]

I've known stoners that tried using orange peels to keep their stash moist. Some tried Lettuce to avoid off flavors. Most never tried it more than once.

Aside from mold issues, the peel releases ammonia as the it breaks down. The tobacco has already gone through that process as it ferments, and the ammonia leaves as the cigars rest. Not sure why you would want to re-introduce more ammonia to the equation...yuck.

As everyone else has stated: Pitch them...they're worthless

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Stench

I would be concerned about mold if doing this with your other good cigars.

Yeah, mold would be a big issue, I've seen it ruin pipe tobacco from that method.
I would just get some RH beads and hope for the best.