So you purchase or are given aged cigars?

[El Presidente]

This is more of a benefit to those newer to the world of aged/vintage cigars as there has been plenty of talk on the forum about them of late.

I have seen plenty of aged/vintage cigars over the years. I have seen some fraudulent ones (young tobacco/old bands) that have been sent to me by concerned members (vintage Davidoff predominantly).

For those that are experienced in vintage cigars, "excluding the packaging" what are the tell tale signs of aged/vintage Cuban cigars?

The physical characteristics and the smoking experience predominantly.

[Bartolomeo]

I am no expert but somethings I have noticed in my brief experience:

-Cigars have shrunk a little bit over time, bands are sometimes looser.....sometimes they are super tight, stuck to the wrapper...seen both

-Certain mustiness to the cigar, in a good way, of aged tobacco and cedar when smelling it cold

-Flavors a lot more sharp if that makes sense, more well defined than freshies

-Had experiences of yellowish smoke

[Habana Mike]

I typically find that with SBN packed cigars there is a definite box press to the point they are molded into a firm square.

Most are very firm, bands are generally tarnished (could be reused though one can tell if they've been separated/reapplied since old bands usually don't separate easily).

In many cases, as cigars age they shrink a bit and the bands become looser and slide up, down and off the cigar - unfortunately one way to harvest old bands for rebanding.....

Musty, dusty, mushroom, iodine cold draw tastes are fairly typical.

Discontinued marcas/vitolas also can signify aged stock since, if they haven't been made for years it is more difficult to recreate suspect cigars. Of course the vitolas must be of the more unusual sizes.

On smoking the ash is more crunchy if you will, tending to be much blacker or whiter than fresher cigars.

Flavors are more refined and blends more true to the marca. Hard to describe but you just 'know' after you've smoked a fair amount of cigars that are 15-20+ years old.

[El Presidente]

They can feel tight to the touch....but are almost always light in the hand.

They tend to burn with a razor edge, the ridges on the ash beautifully defined.

[anacostiakat]

Those Habano wrappers were awesome and produced a lot of that mustiness!

[Smallclub]

-Cigars have shrunk a little bit over time, bands are sometimes looser.....sometimes they are super tight, stuck to the wrapper...seen both

-Certain mustiness to the cigar, in a good way, of aged tobacco and cedar when smelling it cold

This, and I add: vintage cigars (10+ years old) are much less hygroscopic than young cigars. Even stored at a high RH, they rarely become spongious like young cigars can be sometimes. This explains why they're always light in the hand, as mentioned by Rob.

[RijkdeGooier]

The above plus:

- Hardly any draw problems

- No sharp edges

- If you catch them at the right time; optimum taste for the marca vitola

[Duxnutz]

All the above plus delicate wrappers.

[Ryan]

All the above plus delicate wrappers.

+1 to all the wrapper comments. Cigars from the early/mid 90s and before had extremely thin, fine, smooth wrappers. The likes of which I very rarely see on cigars now.

Oddly custom/farm rolls sometimers have them. Maybe it's the love.

Another indicator for me, sometimes, of vintage can be the smell, Two smells in particular. A strong cheese but faint, if that makes sense. That is if you ever get the faintest whiff of what you know is a strong cheese.

Also, tea leaves. Open a tin of loose tea can be like smelling the feet of a 30 year old cabinet.

I would add things like the glassine paper going brown, inside of the bands browning and other things but I know there are exceptions

I've seen a box of cigars from the 1930s with bands that look like they were made yesterday.

[potpest]

They're usually covered in PLUME