Jim;
The first thing to do is make sure it's dried out from it's stay in the basement. Leave it out of the case and sock in the driest part of the house ou can find for a week or so, then clean the ferrules and try the fit. If it's still too tight then do the things the other guys have said. I do the final fitting on my ferrules with 2,000 grit wet/dry, you could use strips of that to tune the fit on yours.
john