Cigars for INFO

**basil** · 08-08-2006, 07:34 PM

Hell yeah - awesome. I'm still waiting to hear back from a friend who may know more about aging.
pm sent

**brian** · 08-09-2006, 11:17 AM

August 1, 2006

by Nick Perdomo

Recently I was asked about my view of the aging process. Keep in mind that humidor aging, or proper storage and humidity for finished cigars, differs from the process of aging tobacco prior to making cigars. Humidor aging is what I'm talking about here.

Well, lets start. The first thing about properly aging your cigars is to ensure your cigars utilize fine tobaccos in the blend, including a high quality binder and wrapper. For instance if you and I were going to cook up some great steaks - bear with me on this explanation - and you had the super duper $4,000 grill, extra virgin olive oil, the very best sea salt, and the finest ground pepper, but you bought a steak at the local supermarket that has been there for who knows how long. But I have my $50 charcoal grill with my trusty Perdomo salt and pepper shaker, yet I buy the finest cut of beef at Stock Yard steaks in Chicago....guess which one is going to be better. Naturally, my steak is going to kick ass. The very same is true on humidor aging of your cigars. If your cigar was made poorly with substandard fillers, binder and a so-so wrapper and you put it in the finest CI humidor with a perfect 65% humidity and you age it in this great humidor for one or two years - you know what you have? That's right: a one to two year old, awful cigar. Garbage in, garbage out.

Nick's personal humidor at work

Make sure your humidor has a nice seal. The inside should be lined with fine Spanish cedar and your humidification unit moistened with distilled water as needed. Now season the humidor. What I mean by that is, dampen a cloth and wipe down all the cedar inside. The cedar will turn a darker color of course because it is wet. Close the humidor for about three hours. When you open it again, the Spanish cedar will have absorbed all of the water and the humidification device will humidify the cigars correctly. Now the kicker: put in good cigars (most of the time Perdomo cigars of course) in your humidor. The best cigars for aging are those with medium to full flavors and a nice aroma. These types of cigars are most receptive for aging, and after six months they are often enhanced dramatically. Personally, I believe if you let them age for over two years they often start to lose their flavor and aroma.

Okay, I must go now my thumbs are sore from typing.

Until next time,
Nick

Link to actual article: http://www.cigarsinternational.com/html/perdomoBlog.asp