aging with cellophane

[daredog4]

Now that i have given several of my cigars a good amount of time to age I have been finding that many of them are now becoming almost too bland for my taste. Maybe when i was first starting out i would have preferred them to be more on the mild side, but I have some that originally i would have put in the med/full category and are now squarely in the mild one. My question is if it really does help the flavor to leave them in the cellophane?

I don't have too many pricy cigars yet, as I have been trying to find a good every day rotation. However, when i do get more i don't want to mess up and ruin them. I have heard that some cigars age better than others. So if that is true then maybe i should leave the ones that i don't want to mellow out in their cellophane. Any help would really be appreciated, thanks.

[Shelby07]

Some say that leaving the cellophane on slows down the aging process. I have never noticed any difference. It's more likely that your tastes have changed.

[basil]

Yeah, what Mark said - I'll bet your nicotine tolerance has gone up. Storing in or out of cellos shouldn't make much difference, if any.

[daredog4]

I suppose it could be a combination of things. Have you guys noticed much difference from box to box. Yesterday i enjoyed a cigar that had only been in the humi for about a week. It had lots of pepper and coffee flavor. A few days before i smoked the exact same cigar only it had been in the humi without cellophane for probably six months. I know for a fact that it was not near as strong.

[ashauler]

Cigars do change with age, this is a fact.

The change that occurs, imho, is not significantly faster or slower with the cellophane on. This is my opinion based on my experience. Since taste/strength, etc....is a personal thing and therefore subjective, all you will get is opinions.

[EGQ]

And you know what they say about opinions...

One of the toughest things to do is to identify when a cigar is at its peak for your tastes. You like the taste, do you wait to see if it gets better, or do you accelerate your smoking of the cigar now and never know what could have been... I've always been a firm believer of smoking what you like -- and I find the things that have been around for an extended period of time don't always get to a point where I like them.

He who hesitates is lost.

[Shelby07]

I suppose it could be a combination of things. Have you guys noticed much difference from box to box. Yesterday i enjoyed a cigar that had only been in the humi for about a week. It had lots of pepper and coffee flavor. A few days before i smoked the exact same cigar only it had been in the humi without cellophane for probably six months. I know for a fact that it was not near as strong.

Sounds like you're convinced that there is a reason for yet another "cello on or cello off" discussion. It's been discussed many times before on this and every other board in existence, and probably on thousands of blogs and in hundreds of magazine articles. It's personal preference, that's all. The biggest thing it will do is protect the wrapper against physical damage and if you plan on aging cigars for several years it MAY slow down the aging process and prevent marrying of flavors in loose sticks (if you believe in such things... I don't.) Six months in or out of cello isn't going to make a bit of difference.

Yes, there may be differences from box to box or even from cigar to cigar within the same box. Tobacco is a plant, so there's no guarantee of consistency from leaf to leaf. Cigars may be rolled by different torcedors or even differently by the same torcedor, you may smoke a cigar in different conditions (hot day, cold day, sunny, shady, windy, calm, dry, humid, raining, inside, outside, etc.) or with a different mindset. Morning or evening seems to make a difference for many folks. A cigar you enjoy in the morning with your coffee may be too mild for you after you've had a big meal in the evening. You may be smoking with a different beverage or none at all, you may have just eaten or not, they may have been stored in different conditions before you received them, they may be wetter or drier, which is what I suspect happened to your cigar - it takes several weeks for the cigar to settle in your humidor (personally, I let mine rest for at least a month.) If you get a cigar that is overly wet or dry from a B&M and smoke it within a week or so it's going to smoke differently than one that's been stabilized for a longer period of time.

I'd suggest that rather than fret over the age-old cello on or cello off question that you start experimenting with different RH's. That is probably going to be the single most thing that will affect how your cigars smoke. Get a small humidor and some beads with a different RH. See if you prefer a slightly wetter or drier cigar. Just let them rest for several weeks to a month before you smoke them. And even if a cigar smokes differently from one to another you will eventually find consistency in which cigars you like and don't like and under what conditions.

Unlike eating, smoking is a hobby where you will discover something new every day. Don't try to pin something down to a single factor, you'll go crazy.

As they say... enjoy the ride.

[DeeDubya]

Shelby07,
What RH do you prefer? Do you dry-box, if so how long before smoking?

[CAJUNBLAZE]

I always try to get two of everything I buy. I will smoke one and let the other sit a while, smoke and compare.
I haven't really aged enough cigars to say anything about the cello on or off. I don't think it would make a big difference. I don't think its as important as the condition in which the cigar is stored.
In my short year of smoking, I have noticed that some cigars are better fresh, and some with age. The hard thing to figure out is it the aging that made the cigar better or is it my taste changing.

Good luck

[ashauler]

I always try to get two of everything I buy. I will smoke one and let the other sit a while, smoke and compare.
I haven't really aged enough cigars to say anything about the cello on or off. I don't think it would make a big difference. I don't think its as important as the condition in which the cigar is stored. In my short year of smoking, I have noticed that some cigars are better fresh, and some with age. The hard thing to figure out is it the aging that made the cigar better or is it my taste changing.

Good luck

Exactary....two very good points.

[denver24]

I always try to get two of everything I buy.

This is a great strategy. I used to buy only one smoke and smoke it and form an opinion of the smoke. I then realized that sampling a single stick made no sense at all based on all of the factors that Mark listed. There is so much that goes into the smoking experience that I now try to buy two or more sticks of something I want to try, hopefully enabling me to form a more rounded opinion.

This cigar smoking thing is confusing!

[Shelby07]

Shelby07,
What RH do you prefer? Do you dry-box, if so how long before smoking?

I like to smoke a cigar at around 64-65% RH. CC's most definitely smoke better when dry boxed for at least a day, but I prefer 2 days for them. NC's I rarely find a need to dry box but as I said before, I rarely smoke anything that hasn't been in my humi for at least a month.

[ashauler]

I like to smoke a cigar at around 64-65% RH. CC's most definitely smoke better when dry boxed for at least a day, but I prefer 2 days for them. NC's I rarely find a need to dry box but as I said before, I rarely smoke anything that hasn't been in my humi for at least a month.

Ditto. I find longer dry-boxing is beneficial, for me, with broadleaf and maduro wrapped cigars than with others. I like less dry-boxing with Cameroon wrappers, I seem to get more flavor at a little higher Rh with these, though I run the risk of the occasional wrapper split but that happens rarely now.

As with all things, YMMV.

[Diesel Grinch]

I like to smoke mine with the cello on! Gives it a nice bite.


DG

[DeeDubya]

I like to smoke mine with the cello on! Gives it a nice bite.


DG

I've noticed that. The El Mejor Emerald's have a nice bite too with that cedar sleeve they have.

[daredog4]

Dang it, you guys! I thought someone was going to say Do this, then do this, then leave them for this long, then you are good to go. Sounds like trial and error mixed with a lot of experience are going to be the keys. I have not tried dry boxing many of mine yet so i will defenitely give that a try. Well i guess the good news is there are plenty of cigars out there to experiment on, and pleny of time to learn. Thanks

[Shelby07]

Dang it, you guys! I thought someone was going to say Do this, then do this, then leave them for this long, then you are good to go. Sounds like trial and error mixed with a lot of experience are going to be the keys. I have not tried dry boxing many of mine yet so i will defenitely give that a try. Well i guess the good news is there are plenty of cigars out there to experiment on, and pleny of time to learn. Thanks

If it were that easy there wouldn't be so many cigars and opinions out there. There's no single recipe. It's a hobby that you learn to apply your own personal taste to. Learning is more than just asking questions on a bulletin board. There are some things that are pretty straight forward, but how and what you store, age, smoke, etc., isn't one of them. It's a personal journey... enjoy it.