New memeber with a cigar aging question.

[ggiese]

Hi everyone. I have a general question. I three cigars that are aluminium tubed and wrapped in cedar. I purchased them a while ago from one of JR Cigar's closeouts. I opened them today and there is a slight ammonia smell. The cigars themselves look fine. Before I purchased a proper humidor I stored some cigars in an aluminium lined plastic container with a humidification device. I seem to remember the same faint ammonia smell when I recharged it. Is that a sign the cigar is going bad or do cigars lose ammonia as party of the aging process? I would assume that if they did their taste and aroma would improve hence the reason one ages cigars. Just curious. So to sum up. Ammonia smell=good or ammonia smell=bad?

The ammonia smell is typically from very young cigars that may not have been properly aged. I'd leave them be for a bit and try them later. They may be smokeable now, but I'd venture a guess they will not be as good as when they are aged a bit more. That might be why they were JR closeouts - typically this occurs in lower quality tobacco rolled into lower quality cigars.