Aging cigars

[njsarge54]

How long do you guys leave a cigar in your humi before smoking it? It seems the smokes that have been in my humi for a few months burn evenly and have much better flavor.

[guado]

I like to age all of them. Alot of cigars are WAY better after they "stabalize." Others are just better with a few years on them.

[nhcigarfan]

I agree. I find all cigars do better after some time. Most B&M's seem to run a little wet for my tastes.

[drew_goring]

I age them as long as I can. I really don't pay too much attention to it. I smoke what I want, when I want.

Although aging does greatly benefit the sticks IMO. I realized this after smoking a few sticks from 2001 back to back with their 2005/6 counterparts.

[rpb67]

It takes some time to build up your collection to do this.

I usually don't smoke anything without 4 years on it. However I have been collecting and aging cigars for the past 10 years now.

Just buy two boxes at a time. That is one to age and one to smoke. Do this for a while and you will see you will be on your way to a great collection of aged cigars.

[BunkyX]

I have found that different cigars respond differently to aging. Some seem to come to a flavor peak, while others mellow, some lose it. I had some Camacho SLR Maduros that were a year old when I bought the box, but they didn't come to perfectness (okay it's not a real word) till the last few that had sat in my humidor for 14 months. Some of the milder ones like Lusitania need at least three months in the humi to develope a decent potential. It is my experience that stronger tobaccos like Nicaraguan or Honduran just get better the longer you give them.
I usually buy two or three of a new cigar to age them as I smoke them. The first within a week or two. The second a couple months later. And the third (if I bought three) at about the six month time line. I have bought some cigars that were a really good deal only to find they tasted awfull the next day, but a yaer later - a decent smoke.

[stjohnroe]

For me it is generally a question of when i get around to them, it is not unusual for cigars to sit in my humi for 2-3 years before I try one.

[heftysmokes]

While I label all the cigars going into the humidor, I don't necessarily choose what I'm going to smoke by the date attached to the cigar. If I see something I want to smoke, I'll smoke it.

[Shelby07]

If you want to stabilize the cigar for better burning characterists, usually 2-4 weeks is sufficient depending on what condition you got the cigar in. You want the moisture content to become even throughout the cigar. It takes longer for the core of the cigar to dry or pick up moisture. After a while you will recognize the right "feel" and "sound" of the cigar when it is gently squeezed.

If you want to age for taste, most cigars do get better with age, but some don't age well, even afte a few months, and ought to be smoked as soon as they are smokable, In my experience, the Partagas Black Label is one of these cigars. I have also heard some say that the Padron Anniversary loses something after a year or so.

[cigar no baka]

When I buy cigars at my B&M, no aging is necessary, they take excellent care of the cigars there.

When I buy online, I keep them in a completely seperate humidibag to quarantine and dry them out a bit. Online suppliers keep them a little wet so when they ship they don't dry out in the delivery truck. Plus, I am quarantining them just in case of beetles. I have 400+ cigars at risk, and all it takes is one infestation and you are fucked.

As for aging for taste - I have some very fine cigars, and some Cubans, aging in my small 70 ct humidor. I am aging those, have been for about a year. I try a few once in a while to see how things are going, and I believe most of them are improving with age. Once i figure out which ones age well, I will start using a larger humidor and see what 1-3 years of age do to my favorite cigars. And i age Cubans because more often than not, they drastically improve with age.

[tx_tuff]

Same with my B&M I can smoke anything from there right away and really enjoy going there for that purpose, to sit there and smoke a stick. Mostly the ones aging in my humi are ones that are either hard to come by or just expensive so I like to have at least 2 so I can smoke one and save one. But if you do smoke something that is harsh try it again in a few months, promise it will be better!

[cinda]

If you want to stabilize the cigar for better burning characterists, usually 2-4 weeks is sufficient depending on what condition you got the cigar in. You want the moisture content to become even throughout the cigar. It takes longer for the core of the cigar to dry or pick up moisture. After a while you will recognize the right "feel" and "sound" of the cigar when it is gently squeezed.

If you want to age for taste, most cigars do get better with age, but some don't age well, even after a few months, and ought to be smoked as soon as they are smokable, In my experience, the Partagas Black Label is one of these cigars. I have also heard some say that the Padron Anniversary loses something after a year or so.

I may not smoke them but I have done a lot of reading about cigars. The Padron Anniversary's are one cigar that everyone complains about after they age it. What I would do is put the name of the cigar into google and research what people are saying about aging it.

[njsarge54]

Like shelby said, I noticed a difference after letting the smokes sit for about a month after purchasing them online. They burn and flavor was much better. I made the mistake of smoking an H. Upmann Vintage Cameroon a couple of days after it was delivered and it burned unevenly and tasted very bitter.