Originally Posted by CptnBlues63 :
As much as I'd like to have some 5 year old
Cuban's in my stash, that's not going to
happen until I can afford to stock up with
enough to actually have them last that
long.........LOL
(end quote)

FWIW, I don't think properly aged cigars are 'better' - but the flavours are different, and some people prefer those flavours. For example, I am not convinced that Padron 1926's are better with years of age. OTOH, I like to see at least a year (from rolling) on pretty much any cigar.

The thing I have found with the ISOMs that I have had is there is one pretty good taste for fairly young cigars, and then there is a period that they aren't that great, then they come back awesome for a while, then they start to dissipate, and then, people say, the cycle repeats, but over a longer time frame.

So the idea is to buy two boxes at the same time, and sample from one until the flavour is where you want it. That's obviously pricey if you go with the main brands. However, I stayed playing with aging with two cardboard 5-packs of JLP's - smoking from one pack every six months or so and seeing how the flavour changed over a couple of years. (Due to their construction, JLP's are going to be pretty consistent within a box, and age relatively quickly. Consistency between years is another story. :-)