Quote Originally Posted by badwhale View Post
They're supposedly already made with umteen years aged tobacco. I've also heard that the '26s for example, don't age well, not that I tried it.
I would say that the '26's have a great flavor straight from the factory - very difficult to improve upon. But - I do find they mellow somewhat with age. They're still a very nice cigar after they've laid around for a while, but not a significant change from when they are young. Honestly, though, there are only a few "domestic" cigars I would say benefit from aging. Generally - "domestic" cigar manufacturers age the tobacco well before they create the cigars, making them very nice straight out of the box.

Cuban's, on the other hand, were typically rolled "fresh" and left to the consumer (or retailer) to age. In recent mind, I've not seen many of the boxes coming with that telltale ammonia smell that used to be fairly common with their young cigars. Cuban manufacturers have made great progress in recent years to better age their cigars before they hit retailers shelves - so they're much more smokeable straight from the box.