Aging

[Kruz]

I have never had a cuban cigar with more than a year on it and was wondering what exactly aging does to the flavour profile. Can aging turn a cigar that is just meh to something great?

[Troels]

I've only smoked cubans for a couple of years, so my two cents is accordingly: i've had cigars that didnt taste well when I'd just bought them, but turned into a stellar smoke after half a year or so i the humi. As well I find that the cigars i've bought with a few years om them has had less rough edges, often tasted bitter in the last third (didnt go bitter) and at times change caracter. Still I remember the cigars i've bought fresh on Cuba as some of the best i've had.

Theres a lot on the subject elsewhere on the forum to be found. As well if you Google "min Ron nee aging" youll find a few very interesting pages on the subject from his book - its a whole science it seems

[Puros Y Vino]

I can't tell you what aging does to a particular cigar. I've only been smoking about five years so I haven't had the pleasure of sampling a particular box over the ages. I can't say if something "meh" became great but I had some cigars that were already great become better over 1-2 years. Such as the Cohiba 1966 and RACF. However, I do have some very old cigars. Aging over 10+ years yields some subtle changes in what I expect to taste. I've recently had a Clear Havana from 1926 and it was exquisite. Still packed with lots of flavour, some of which I was not very familiar with. The burn was razor sharp and the ash nearly white as snow. I've had 20/30/40+ year old cigars that were very interesting and worth the trouble of procuring. I haven't had an aged stick that was "dead" yet. Definitely look into MRN's aging notes.

[Orion21]

My experience with aging is limited, but I will take a different approach to explaining why time improves cigars...

If you have only smoked cigars out of new boxes you may be missing out if you don't let them lay down for some time. My experience with new cigars is that they can be excellent within 6 months to a year of being rolled and then many shut down. Some call this a "sick period" and I agree that it affects cigars between 1-3 years old. Like wine, I believe many cigars smoke well after being rolled and then get "sick" for a time before coming back to life. I see this all the time in wines.

Example:

I bought some custom rolled Sublimes a couple of years ago that when received smoked exceptionally well. A little harsh, but very tasty, but within 6 months were dull. This wasn't just one cigar either - it was 4-5 of them. So I forgot about them until about 3 months ago and pulled one out to try ( 18-24 months since my last) and the cigar was amazing. Time had allowed these cigars to come together and provide a much smoother and richer smoking experience than when first released. Another cigar is the Ramon Allones Celestiales Finos. When Rob reviewed these after they were released he said they were almost too strong/young to smoked and that 12-18 months would do them wonders. He was right, those cigars are now smooth, creaming graham cracker bombs and some of the best cigars in my humidor. I think you get my point? So my experience has been that some cigars may be best when first released and then shut down until they are 1.5-3 years old. After that I can't say how they change at 5, 10 or 15 years old because I haven't been smoking long enough to know. But if it's like wine the character of the cigars should change in magical ways.

[canadianbeaver]

This is an excellent question and one I have been thinking about for a long time. When I see a post that says a cigar will be great in about 10 years, I have the most respect for it. But the way I am going I might not be around for the next 10 weeks, (might get hit by a bus) never mind 10 years. I also have the patience of a 16 year old.

So my only hope of aging is to buy a 2005 and smoking it by 2015 or something like that. Does that count?

[CanuckSARTech]

It's funny, especially after reading Frank's post....

I've been smoking cigars since 1997. But....I haven't had one older than 1995 or so. LOL.

Oldest age gap so far was a Montecristo Especial from 1998, courtesy of Rob Fox when the group of us were down in Havana last November. Once a cigar goes past about 5 to 7 years in age (depending on the cigar profile), some really wonderful things start to happen. A finesse and refinement starts to show up.

[ramon_cojones]

Subtle flavors become more intense, new notes are introduced sometimes after several years that were never there before, body may increase or decrease, what was once acrid on the back end has sweetened, flavors that were in the background come to the forefront, may lose its initial brightness, flavor becomes more consistent all the way through instead of losing it, even burn, more smoke volume as the internal rh of the cigar itself equalizes, etc.

[Kruz]

Thank you for all of the input. I look forward to getting some boxes and experiencing what aging does to a cigar. Most of my current experience is with NC.

[stogieluver]

Someone commented that all non CC's use aged tobacco while CC's use "fresh" tobacco. I'm not sure that's true, at least as far as CC's are concerned. Don't all CC's start with tobacco that's been aged two to three years prior to rolling?

That notwithstanding, I know from my experience that most I've received benefit greatly from a minimum rest/acclimation in humi of two to three months from the time I receive them.

[mm12]

I think in general, it depends on how a cigar is "meh". If the smoke is rich and heavy, and there is a lot of flavor, but's all kind muddled together, then I think aging will often show a significant improvement. Likewise if a cigar is overwhelmingly powerful or tannic, but you can tell there is something going on in the background flavor-wise. If a cigar is flat, or boring, or maybe just tastes kind of "off", then I wouldn't be all that hopeful.