How to Rehydrate Your Dry Tobacco

For the hand-rollers and the pipe smokers, you will surely have experience with your loose tobacco tending to begin drying up the moment you open its packaging. This will often happen if you do not store your loose tobacco properly—a mistake that many of us make initially. Or maybe you’ve just had your tobacco for a while and time has indeed left its mark on your stash.

Dried tobacco can be a huge bummer because it is not as pleasant to smoke. It burns quickly and harshly and makes your smoking experience way less enjoyable and way more of a hassle than it should be. Your tobacco could also come off with zero flavors or aroma when you smoke it dry.

If you want to know whether your tobacco is dry, pinch some of it into your fingers and set it down on a clean surface. If it stays together in a clump, then your tobacco is hydrated. But if it crumbles in loose, scattered singles, then your tobacco is certainly dry. Also, another way to tell is if you pinch some tobacco between your fingers, press on it, and it makes a crunchy sound. That crunch—like the sound of potato chips getting crushed—signifies that your tobacco is most likely dry.

However, not worry. All hope isn’t lost because there are a couple of handy methods that you can employ to return moisture to your tobacco whenever it gets dry so you never ever have to deal with unpleasant smoke. I will be sharing these methods with you in this post so that you can make use of the most suitable one for you anytime you need to rehydrate your tobacco.

Note that these methods will only work for loose tobacco. They won’t work for already-made cigars and cigarettes.

Method 1: The paper towel method

Tools required:

• A standard Ziploc bag.
• A wet paper towel.

All you have to do here is take a paper towel and wet it, but only slightly. You do not want it dripping wet because you’re only looking to hydrate the tobacco, not soak it. Take some tobacco and drop it into the Ziploc bag. Then take the wet paper towel and place it in the bag. The tobacco and paper towel should not be in contact. Seal the Ziploc bag closed and leave it for 24-48 hours.

The wet paper towel will act as a humidifier and balance out the dry tobacco so that the tobacco collects moisture from the wet towel and rehydrates using that moisture. The tobacco will rehydrate completely if you work this with smaller amounts of tobacco at a time. The larger the amount of tobacco you work with within this method, the more times you might have to repeat the process for the entire tobacco to rehydrate.

Method 2: The teapot method

Tools required:

• An old-fashioned teapot that uses a basket to hold the tea leaves.

Fill the pot halfway with boiling water and then put the dried-out tobacco into the basket and let it sit for half an hour. Ensure that the tobacco and the hot water are not in contact because, again, the goal is not to soak your tobacco. After the 30-minute mark, check the tobacco to see if it is sufficiently moist. If it is not, repeat the process.

With this process as well, it will be easier if you work with small amounts of tobacco at a time. Furthermore, you can also pull this method off with a regular pot and a sieve (yes, we love innovative improvisation here).

Method 3: The sponge method

Tools required:

• A standard Ziploc bag.
• A brand new sponge.

This is the same as the paper towel method, but instead of a paper towel, you’ll be using a sponge. Take a brand-new sponge and cut a square piece out of it. Moisten the small sponge square and then place it in the Ziploc bag with the dried-out tobacco. The sponge will act as a humidifier with the tobacco soaking up the moisture. Again, work with small amounts of tobacco for the best results.

Method 4: The steam iron method

Tools required:

• A steam iron.
• A newspaper.
• A spray bottle.

This is a quick way to rehydrate your dry tobacco. Preheat the steam iron to its maximum setting. Place the newspaper on a heat-resistant surface and spread out your tobacco on it. Fill the spray bottle with distilled water and spray the tobacco lightly. Shuffle it around a bit and spray it lightly one more time. Hold the iron above the tobacco and let it steam for 10 seconds. Be careful not to touch the iron to the tobacco. Assess the results and repeat the process if necessary.

Method 5: The spray method

Tools required:

• A spray bottle.
• A Tupperware container.

This is the steam iron method without the steam iron. Moisten your tobacco thoroughly with distilled water in the spray bottle but be careful not to get excessive with it. Next, place your tobacco in Tupperware or a similar container that will seal it ineffectively. Leave the tobacco in there for a couple of days and your tobacco should be rehydrated and good to go.

Method 6: The food method

Tools required:

• A standard Ziploc bag.
• A quarter of an orange peel, or a piece of raw potato, or a piece of bread.

Again, this is the paper towel method but with food products instead. Place your tobacco in the Ziploc bag and add a quarter of an orange peel, or piece of raw potato, or a piece of bread. Seal the bag and check the tobacco every few hours as using this process gets the tobacco moist fairly quickly.

It is important to mention that with any of these processes that require water, you should only use distilled water. This will ensure that nothing interferes with the restoration of the tobacco’s true flavor. In addition, be careful not to go overboard with any of the restoration processes above. This is because too much moisture in tobacco can be just as bad as too little of it. However, if your tobacco does end up getting too moist, there’s a quick fix for that. Get a small amount of tobacco that is still dry (you may want to set aside some dry tobacco beforehand just in case) and mix it into the over-moist tobacco to even it out.

A lot of people give up on their tobacco when it gets dry whereas they may not actually need to. Just as you can restore old cigars and old smoking pipes, you can, in most cases, also breathe new life (or in this case, new moisture) into old and/or dried-out tobacco. By employing any of these methods provided above and with a smidgen of patience, you can easily rehydrate your favorite blends once more for some more hours of refined relaxation.

The Proper Way to Store Your Tobacco.

No one ever wants to ruin their tobacco, especially when it’s a premium blend or their favorite one. So the next time you buy tobacco, make sure you are following these tips to keep it fresh, moist, and tasty, and most importantly, to keep it from getting dry.

First, make sure you are keeping the tobacco in an unopened tin or even a jar that is sealed. This is very important to keep the freshness in. Also, make sure to store your tobacco in a dark place. Light can easily warp your tobacco.

The temperature and humidity of where you store it will also impact your tobacco. Try to store your tobacco in temperatures that range from 60 degrees to 70 degrees. Heat can spoil your tobacco, but if you store it in a place that is too cold, it can also impact the aging process of the tobacco.

Remember to try and keep your tobacco in low humidity. This is why storing your tobacco in a proper container is so important. Always check to ensure the seal isn’t broken!

When it comes to storing your tobacco with other tobacco products, you should probably avoid it. This specifically applies to cigars. Never store your tobacco with cigars as they can mix and mess up the tastes of one another.

Another good tip is to never store your tobacco in a plastic bag. After purchasing your tobacco, remove it from the plastic bag and store it in a properly sealed container. The chemicals in the tobacco could possibly erode the plastic after a while and then the plastic will be absorbed into the tobacco. This erodes the purity of your tobacco and that is certainly something you want to avoid.

Finally, if your tobacco isn’t dry, never try to add more moisture to it. This will ruin it and your tobacco won’t end up lasting long because it will become moldy. The tobacco is sold and stored at the correct level of moisture. It is best to never try to intervene and change the way your tobacco is made unless where absolutely necessary.