Let's Talk Ash

[Orion21]

So here I am thinking I might actually know something about Cuban cigars and then I watch a video Ajay from London posted on his YouTube page. In the video he is celebrating the second anniversary of his shop and passes around a box of 1991 PSD4's to the group assembled. A fantastic video, but I noticed some off the cuff comments about how "white" the ash was on the cigars. The way in which it was mentioned made me think the smokers thought that a very good thing. While watching another video, maybe about the Montecristo Millennium Robusto, he makes mention to the white ash again as a sign of excellent aging. So here are my questions:

Does a white (ish/er) ash on a Cuban cigar signify anything associated with the quality of the tobacco and/or how well it was aged? Does the white ash signify the tobacco came from a particularly well thought of region on the island? Is this a very sought after element in a finely aged Cuban cigar?

I appreciate your thoughts.

[riazp]

I've always had a thing for J-Lo's....oh wait you said Ash...nevermind

This reminds me of a video i saw on sucklings website a while back...they talk about ash colour in this video.

http://www.jamessuckling.com/battle-of-the-limitadas.html

[Colt45]

I tend to believe that ash color has more to do with combustion than most else - the more complete the combustion, the lighter the ash color.

[riazp]

Yeah for the record, I dont really care what colour my ash is as long as the cigar tastes good and is enjoyable.

[Tarks]

I'm not sure if I believe the theory having a white ash with aged cigars. It hasn't been my experience anyway. From everything that I have learned from my travels to Cuba and visits to farms it has a lot to do with the minerals in the soil.

[CanuckSARTech]

Ash colour? Claro or maduro????

[Wil]

I tend to believe that ash color has more to do with combustion than most else - the more complete the combustion, the lighter the ash color.

NCs tend to have lighter ash, at least in my limited experience. I always thought it must be due to differences in the physical properties of the leaf. I'm more than likely wrong!

[BonVivant]

Short: Magnesium = ash

My believe is that Wilkey will be able to explain it better than most