keeping a stick for years, finally smoking, sucks

[Tariacuri]

Anyone else do this. I have a tendency to keep singles for ages, finally smoking them, disappointment, then kick myself for wasting space. I have several still like this, a couple of cool culebras, some really big pyramids, a couple of other odd shapes.

I never hesitate to polish off a box.

[stargazer14]

Sometimes a few years of anticipation ruins the buzz.

Or, it was just not a good cigar to begin with!

[Tariacuri]

It was a little Boli Petit Corona from the early 00's.

[Colt45]

It was a little Boli Petit Corona from the early 00's.

Did you have more - if so , how were they when they were younger? Obviously, a poor cigar will gain nothing with age, and even good cigars

can / will lose substance if left too long. Sometimes old just means old.

[Nocoins]

I do it too. I have a 125 count desktop full of cigars with over 10 years of age. They're still around because every time I thought about smoking one, I didn't want to be disappointed by an expired smoke, but if it turned out to be great, I didn't want to have less. I've resolved to begin smoking them . . . tomorrow, but several of them will probably never be smoked and end up as souvenirs.

[Tariacuri]

Did you have more - if so , how were they when they were younger? Obviously, a poor cigar will gain nothing with age, and even good cigars

can / will lose substance if left too long. Sometimes old just means old.

I just had a couple of singles so no chance to try when young.

[Jimmy2]

One thing to keep in mind just because you age a cigar does not mean its going to be good same goes for a young cigar.If its ment to be good it will be good with 20 days on it or 5 years on it but some think an aged cigar will be great everytime but some of us know its not true.

Wish you had a better experiance with your Aged cigar better luck next time.

[CigarZen]

... keep singles for ages, finally smoking them, disappointment, ...

It seems like if they are aged in original packaging, particularly SLBs or BN, or other air restricting packaging, I get better results. That said I have smoked singles from the single drawer that have lost it too.

[Tampa1257]

A cigar is just a bunch of leaves bundled together in a shape by humans, sometimes they smoke great, other times they taste like yuck. I have smoked cigars fresh and with over 60 years of age as well as anywhere in-between. I enjoy finding a very good cigar and then placing a full box or so away to age, I have a box of Ramón Allones 898's from April 2002 that I hope live up to my expectations when they have 10 years of aging. I smoked through several boxes of these back in 02-03 thinking they would still be available, Oops, not since they were discontinued. I have other boxes of cigars that I have aging. The one thing that I can say is that they are being stored in a stable environment. So we shall see, it is a crap shoot, just control what you can and hope for the best. I also believe that storing aging cigars in their original packaging is the best method. Aging singles loses the static and stable environment because a single is more vulnerable to temp & rh shifts than a cigar in its original packaging.

Some people believe that cigars are made to be smoked as soon as they are rolled, others believe that a cigar needs time to develop so the tobacco has the opportunity to blend and the subtle nuances that the Master Blender wanted to create.

Sorry your experience was unsatisfactory, Don't give up, the next one may blow the top of your head.

[samb]

Im expecting a handful of 10 yr old NCs that have not been properly stored, for 10 yrs. I was able to partially revive 1. I should be able to partially revive 5 more. I think an aged cigar that is past its prime is better than an old cigar that needs reviving.

[LeafLover]

My patience with cigars don't go past 1 year.

[reg]

Thats dissapointing. One thing thats been bother me lately is how long to actually age. Everyone agrees cigars usually get better with age, but people also say there is a peak point where the cigars start to go downhill after that. No way to know when that time is. Its tough

[smokem]

I have many NCs and even now some CCs approaching 10 years. Some I never have tried, so I'm always hesistant. for me sometimes they aren't great may have to due with the fact that I anticipate something wonderful.

[Colt45]

One thing thats been bother me lately is how long to actually age.

There's no cut and dried rule - to paraphrase Nero Wolfe, one needs to use experience as guided by intelligence. It never hurts to try a cigar from a

box soon after acquisition - a month, two, or three. How does it taste, what are it's characteristics. Not to your liking - try another in half a year or

so - see what, if any progress has been made. Does it show traits that might lead you to believe it has the stuffing to age? And so on.

Not every cigar can handle the long haul. Some cigars start poorly and unfortunately never come around. Some show very little early and can take

a number of years to begin to shine.

[thechenman]

I smoke from both boxes and my singles drawers. However, when my singles drawers start to get close to being overfilled...I usually smoke those before going back to the boxes so most of my singles won't have more than two years of age on them.

[audio1der]

I have learned to go into everything with low expectations so that I won't be dissapointed.

Learned this from :

A) Cigars

Women

I still haven't learned my lesson with either

[MIKA27]

There's no cut and dried rule - to paraphrase Nero Wolfe, one needs to use experience as guided by intelligence. It never hurts to try a cigar from a

box soon after acquisition - a month, two, or three. How does it taste, what are it's characteristics. Not to your liking - try another in half a year or

so - see what, if any progress has been made. Does it show traits that might lead you to believe it has the stuffing to age? And so on.

Not every cigar can handle the long haul. Some cigars start poorly and unfortunately never come around. Some show very little early and can take

a number of years to begin to shine.

Great advice there Colt.

My HDM Epicure Especiales are still average after 6 months but not as bad as they were when I first purchased them.