Can you make a flavored cigar humidor a non-flavored cigar humidor?

[Toothpick]

I have a humi dedicated to flavored sticks. Since day one that’s all that has been in there. Going on 3 years. I haven’t touched a flavored stick in probably over a year. Just not in to them anymore. I know someone that enjoys flavored sticks. I’m considering giving him all my flavored stuff and re-using the flavored humidor for non-flavored stuff.

Think that’s a good idea? Or did the flavored sticks ruin it after all this time?

 

[Multum in parvo]

Acrylic or wooden?

Acrylic, not much of an issue.

If wooden I would leave it open to completely dry out, change the humidifier unit, re-season to your preferred % and start we a few cheap sticks to see how they taste after a while.

 

[Toothpick]

Wooden. Ashton Savoy

 

[Columbo]

It's extremely hard to neutralize a cedar humidor once contaminated. Depending on the internal volume, construction, and duration of the offending contaminants, it may have fully permeated most veneers after that long, in which case it's likely a lost cause. On a solid cedar construction, you can sometimes sand out the contaminated layer if it has not penetrated not too deep.

If these flavored ones were dropped into a brand new humidor, that only compounds the contamination, as their odors were present during the original seasoning process (which actually goes on for many months even after the first humidifying steps), when the wood is most absorbent, and it will penetrate more deeply into the grain.

I am not aware of any wood cleaning chemicals that would not leave behind their own contaminating residues in lifting out the flavored elements.

If it's a big enough chest, cabinet or larger style, you could try the very aggressive step of dropping an ozone generator into it, and see what happens.

But for a smaller desktop one, I'd say move on, or confine it to less expensive sticks that you don't mind having slightly ghosted for a long time to come.

You could also try filling it to capacity with very inexpensive sticks to see if they can draw out the offending elements from the cedar over time, and replacing them with the more neutral elements of the new sticks. This is a similar trick to what us pipe smokers sometimes do in sweetening up a sour briar, by jamming them tightly full of a simple Burley blend for several days or weeks. But that may not be as effective with cigars, which are far more demanding of a neutral environment.

Good luck with it.

 

[Toothpick]

I may just end up giving him the humidor too. Sounds like once a flavored humidor always a flavored humidor.

 

[never-stop-learning]

It's extremely hard to neutralize a cedar humidor once contaminated. Depending on the internal volume, construction, and duration of the offending contaminants, it may have fully permeated most veneers after that long, in which case it's likely a lost cause. On a solid cedar construction, you can sometimes sand out the contaminated layer if it has not penetrated not too deep.

If these flavored ones were dropped into a brand new humidor, that only compounds the contamination, as their odors were present during the original seasoning process (which actually goes on for many months even after the first humidifying steps), when the wood is most absorbent, and it will penetrate more deeply into the grain.

I am not aware of any wood cleaning chemicals that would not leave behind their own contaminating residues in lifting out the flavored elements.

If it's a big enough chest, cabinet or larger style, you could try the very aggressive step of dropping an ozone generator into it, and see what happens.

But for a smaller desktop one, I'd say move on, or confine it to less expensive sticks that you don't mind having slightly ghosted for a long time to come.

You could also try filling it to capacity with very inexpensive sticks to see if they can draw out the offending elements from the cedar over time, and replacing them with the more neutral elements of the new sticks. This is a similar trick to what us pipe smokers sometimes do in sweetening up a sour briar, by jamming them tightly full of a simple Burley blend for several days or weeks. But that may not be as effective with cigars, which are far more demanding of a neutral environment.

Good luck with it.

Excellent advice!

 

[never-stop-learning]

I may just end up giving him the humidor too. Sounds like once a flavored humidor always a flavored humidor.

Probably the best course of action.