Your sweet spot.

[El Presidente]

There is a good thread on aged cigars and I have had many crackers over the years. However is a 10 year old Monte 2 better than a 3 year old Monte 2?  Well that depends. It depends on the quality of the sticks being compared, it depends on the storage, your taste/physiology, your smoking technique, your health, your mindset, your experience.  That is not an exhaustive list! 

Step one should never be to go and buy aged cigars only. Step one should be to know your tastes ..to find out what you like.  

Now as a rule, I get more pleasure from a 5 year old Monte 2 than a 10 year old Monte 2.  RASS 3-5 years. D4, 3-5 years, SLR Regio, 2 years.  I will never go out of my way to purchase older boxes in these and similar. 

Sub 46 gauge cigars on the other hand, I love with a little age.  Monte Especial, 8+ (no end) Lancero 8+, Montecarlo same.  Mag 46/Epi1/SLR A/JLS1.....all 5+

Do you have a sweet spot as yet?  It only took 20+ years to know mine 

Do you have a similar experience?

 

[Derboesekoenig]

I've only been smoking for 3 years, so naturally I still have a LOT to learn. However, that is why I love cigars in the first place. The learning curve and experience of trying new sticks is amazing. I am a huge foodie so naturally, I love food, drink, and cigars. Learning about different flavors, pairings, etc. is just a really fun experience. Plus I just love learning new things. I'm glad I found this website as it is definitely going to help facilitate myself in trying every option I can out there. I already have some favorites, but I think it will take many, many more years to feel completely confident in my cigar abilities and preferences.

[El Presidente]

“Life is a journey, not a destination.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Cayman17]

I can certainly echo the 5+ recommendation for Mag 46. I obtained a 5 year old Mag 46 and 5+ Punch SS #1 in a box pass many years ago, and they were the best cigars I have ever tasted.  The Mag was pure bliss while the Punch exhibited an amazing fruitiness the whole way through that I have never experienced since. I still remember them vividly. 

As for specific cigars, I know that 3 years does great things to the D4 (as you stated) and that LGC medaille d’or No. 2 gets exponentially better after 3 years of rest, if you can keep your hands off them.

The rest is fairly unknown, I am still a student of this hobby. 

 

 

 

[BuzzArd]

I picked up two boxes of PSP Monte 2 to do just that:  find out. They’re super dark and oily.  both are in the same humidor cabinet so they’ll endure identical conditions.   Committed to not touch one box for 5 years, the other for 10.  IIRC they’re late ‘15 boxes, same month and factory code. 

Epi 2 have been great at 2+ mark.  Punch punch are great over 1year rest and improve with additional time.  For the life of me can’t get a box of ERDM demi tasse to survive more than a few months, even when I stock 3 boxes ahead of the current one.  They’re too good. 1/2 thru a ‘15 Fonseca box and wish I had half a dozen more boxes.  They’re insane....    

In general though I like 2+ years on pretty much anything.  

[Danimalia]

15 minutes ago, BuzzArd said:

I picked up two boxes of PSP Monte 2 to do just that:  find out. They’re super dark and oily.  both are in the same humidor cabinet so they’ll endure identical conditions.   Committed to not touch one box for 5 years, the other for 10.  IIRC they’re late ‘15 boxes, same month and factory code. 

Epi 2 have been great at 2+ mark.  Punch punch are great over 1year rest and improve with additional time.  For the life of me can’t get a box of ERDM demi tasse to survive more than a few months, even when I stock 3 boxes ahead of the current one.  They’re too good. 1/2 thru a ‘15 Fonseca box and wish I had half a dozen more boxes.  They’re insane....    

In general though I like 2+ years on pretty much anything.  

This is a great idea, and it's something I need to try myself. Based on some very limited experiences with cigars that have a medium amount of aging (e.g. 3-7 years from box date), I've thought of myself as being someone who prefers my cigars on the younger side (~9-36 months from box date). But again, the sample is so small, I really need to do some more investigating. I recently bought two 10 boxes that have 2016 dates, so maybe I should set one aside and sample it over the course of 5-10 years.

[Orion21]

As I type I’m smoking a Montecristo Grand Edmundo from 2010. I loved them young and I love them with 8 years too. 

My tastes have skewed to enjoy cigars really fresh or at the 5+ year mark. However, because I bought so many cigars from 2008-2015 I have not bought many recently due to storage constraints (I smoke far fewer per year than most). A byproduct of this is that most of my cigars are 5-10 years old. 

 

[HDGSN]

Party Shorts - few months

Connie 1s - 5 years

RASS - 3 years

Monte 2s 4-6 years

[cfc1016]

This has changed drastically for me since recently diving into the world of post-2000 production. 

Before the big changes in 2000, I had a few rules of thumb. Anything under 3 years was a crapshoot. They might be sick. They might be monsterously harsh. They might be ok.

3-5 was usually what I referred to as ‘1st maturation’. Most cigars in this period were sure to not be sick. Most would have reasonably developed profiles and flavor journey. Some would be *spectacular*. My first ever habanos was a 1991 hdm dc (a truly epic production line). It was friggin odyssean. I will never have another cigar smoking experience like that. 

A couple of the ‘turn of the century’ ELs were really spectacular too. Psd3 (2001) specifically comes to mind. I never had one that was short of a miracle. 

5-10 years was what I referred to as ‘second maturation’. Flavors became more nuanced. Brutality was all but completely tempered (I’m talking to YOU, BBF). Creaminess began to develop where it had not been found before. Nutty and woody flavors seemed to come more to the forefront in this period. 

10-20 years (I never smoked anything more than 20yo back then) was what I called ‘the final maturation’. Much of the youthful spice gave way to more cedary subtlety. Wood and nuts transformed to soft leather, baking spices, fat, and meatiness. Some of the late 80s lusis and 898s (unvarnished) that i smoked were completely transformed into truly confectionary delights in this period, where they had once presented as intensely spicy brutal beasts. The dom perignons were like a deluge of heavy whipping cream. 

Since delving into the ‘new school’ of post-2000 production last year, after a ~10 year hiatus, I’ve noticed some major changes, although my experience is much more limited. 

A lot of old staples are just completely different, as if they have become caged beasts. BBFs and PSD4s are no longer the powerhouses i once loved. They’re tempered. Mild. Weak. Soft. I can’t smoke them anymore without resenting the fact that they are now a shell of their former selves. 

It would seem now that my favorite ‘new school’ cigars are mostly in the 3-5 year range. The complexity builds. The ‘mongrel’ subsides. There’s chocolate that I never used to taste. 

After 10 years, it seems many of these cigars just lose their ‘oomph’. “Vinegar” (say it with a french accent). 

I can still be surprised though. @jerrybrowne gave me an 09 (correct me if I’m wrong) MDO2 recently, that had all its essence intact. 

TLDR: WTF do I know?!?...

[PapaDisco]

5 hours ago, El Presidente said:

“Life is a journey, not a destination.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ha ha . . . hate to bring everyone down, but there most definitely is a destination . . .  

I'm with Buzzard; a lot of stuff is good ROTT, but it all improves with a bit of time and for me that's 3-5 years for general consumption and 5-10 years for the special stuff.  It would be fun to have enough cigars, and time,  to age longer, but I intend to burn each and every stick before getting to Emerson's "destination!"  

[Derboesekoenig]

13 hours ago, cfc1016 said:

This has changed drastically for me since recently diving into the world of post-2000 production. 

Before the big changes in 2000, I had a few rules of thumb. Anything under 3 years was a crapshoot. They might be sick. They might be monsterously harsh. They might be ok.

3-5 was usually what I referred to as ‘1st maturation’. Most cigars in this period were sure to not be sick. Most would have reasonably developed profiles and flavor journey. Some would be *spectacular*. My first ever habanos was a 1991 hdm dc (a truly epic production line). It was friggin odyssean. I will never have another cigar smoking experience like that. 

A couple of the ‘turn of the century’ ELs were really spectacular too. Psd3 (2001) specifically comes to mind. I never had one that was short of a miracle. 

5-10 years was what I referred to as ‘second maturation’. Flavors became more nuanced. Brutality was all but completely tempered (I’m talking to YOU, BBF). Creaminess began to develop where it had not been found before. Nutty and woody flavors seemed to come more to the forefront in this period. 

10-20 years (I never smoked anything more than 20yo back then) was what I called ‘the final maturation’. Much of the youthful spice gave way to more cedary subtlety. Wood and nuts transformed to soft leather, baking spices, fat, and meatiness. Some of the late 80s lusis and 898s (unvarnished) that i smoked were completely transformed into truly confectionary delights in this period, where they had once presented as intensely spicy brutal beasts. The dom perignons were like a deluge of heavy whipping cream. 

Since delving into the ‘new school’ of post-2000 production last year, after a ~10 year hiatus, I’ve noticed some major changes, although my experience is much more limited. 

A lot of old staples are just completely different, as if they have become caged beasts. BBFs and PSD4s are no longer the powerhouses i once loved. They’re tempered. Mild. Weak. Soft. I can’t smoke them anymore without resenting the fact that they are now a shell of their former selves. 

It would seem now that my favorite ‘new school’ cigars are mostly in the 3-5 year range. The complexity builds. The ‘mongrel’ subsides. There’s chocolate that I never used to taste. 

After 10 years, it seems many of these cigars just lose their ‘oomph’. “Vinegar” (say it with a french accent). 

I can still be surprised though. @jerrybrowne gave me an 09 (correct me if I’m wrong) MDO2 recently, that had all its essence intact. 

TLDR: WTF do I know?!?...

You do know that your taste buds change every 5-7ish years, right? The transitional period tends to be anywhere from a couple months to ~6ish months. Maybe what you experienced is a serious change to the cigar, or it's just that your tastes have changed. Probably a little of both is my guess. Anybody else more knowledgeable in this subject please correct me if I'm wrong

[joeypots]

I'm smoking mostly '13s now. I think individual boxes and cabs can hit my sweet spot at different times despite being the same cigar. March '13  MC#2s are just getting there as are RASS from MUR FEB 13.  PP, GUT ABR 13 have been there for a while.  HU RR from '13 are the bomb. They are right there, exactly what I like. Fully acclimated to my humidor, smooth through the nose but potent flavor and a nice nicotine buzz. I

[KavalanWhisky]

Reading this thread has made me a little depressed...I have quite a few boxes of cigars mentioned and they fall into the 3-5yr or 2yr+ category before they are at their best. So my problem is do I bother smoking them now before they are at their peak or try to buy some aged stock now and leave the current stock to mature or just smoke them as I've run out of space in my wineador..... 

[Ethernut]

Short and "Sweet" - 

For me?

If a cigar can't dance between 3 and 8 years. It wont dance. Ever. I'm full-on in the sweet spot right at the 3 year to 5 year mark. When it starts to dance. Smoke the whole damn box! "Saving" that very good cigar _will_ result in it likely losing something you like about it. 

[Derboesekoenig]

10 hours ago, KavalanWhisky said:

Reading this thread has made me a little depressed...I have quite a few boxes of cigars mentioned and they fall into the 3-5yr or 2yr+ category before they are at their best. So my problem is do I bother smoking them now before they are at their peak or try to buy some aged stock now and leave the current stock to mature or just smoke them as I've run out of space in my wineador..... 

Oh that's an easy fix--get another wineador! Haha peer pressure for the win

[KavalanWhisky]

On 15/06/2018 at 11:04 PM, Derboesekoenig said:

Oh that's an easy fix--get another wineador! Haha peer pressure for the win

Haha, you sound like my friends....

[Wilzc]

I picked up two boxes of PSP Monte 2 to do just that:  find out. They’re super dark and oily.  both are in the same humidor cabinet so they’ll endure identical conditions.   Committed to not touch one box for 5 years, the other for 10.  IIRC they’re late ‘15 boxes, same month and factory code. 
Epi 2 have been great at 2+ mark.  Punch punch are great over 1year rest and improve with additional time.  For the life of me can’t get a box of ERDM demi tasse to survive more than a few months, even when I stock 3 boxes ahead of the current one.  They’re too good. 1/2 thru a ‘15 Fonseca box and wish I had half a dozen more boxes.  They’re insane....    
In general though I like 2+ years on pretty much anything.  

That’s quite an investment of time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ayepatz]

Generally speaking, I prefer most cigars with a bit of age on them.

Had a Sancho Corona Gigante from Nov 99 yesterday, and it was the first from the box that had a meaty, gamey quality as well as the classic salty profile.

 

[BrightonCorgi]

I don't find I have any formula how long any particular Marca or Vitola should age.  That being said, I do find R&J, LGC, and Punch benefit from aging the most.  I don't see a decline with age against their portfolio's in  general.

[BrightonCorgi]

On ‎6‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 11:34 PM, cfc1016 said:

A lot of old staples are just completely different, as if they have become caged beasts. BBFs and PSD4s are no longer the powerhouses i once loved. They’re tempered. Mild. Weak. Soft. I can’t smoke them anymore without resenting the fact that they are now a shell of their former selves. 

Very true.