Question to Members: Aging "Thick V Thin"

[El Presidente]

I received this email while in the warehouse this week. Over to you 

can you help me out with this question?

Would thinner gauge cigars smoke better quicker than thicker gauged cigars?  I suppose I am asking if they would technically age quicker. I am not sure that makes sense but I hope that you get the idea.  I mean, thinner gauge would mean that the oils would migrate between leaves quicker in a 42 gauge than a 58 gauge?

 

[Viva Vegas]

Wouldn't tobacco age at the same rate (time) thin or thick should not matter.

[PigFish]

... I'll set aside 2 cigars. Ask me again in 10 years!!!

-OR

It don't eff'n matter! Cigars are a crapshoot! (MHO)

Ancillary advice: When it comes to cigars. Live for the day! Tomorrow may never come. No day, is a good day to smoke a bad cigar!  -the Pig

[Wertman]

It is a pretty good question.  I would believe it’s all a matter of taste.  For guys like myself with out the 10+ year stock I guess it would matter.  But since HSA only has but a few small gauge cigars i would buy em up  the smaller gauges especially the fundi.  Just my two cents. 

[Meklown]

Actually I'm curious to know if any research had been done to really identify.. what happens when a cigar has been aged? 

Sure, the result is that the tastes change, but what happens within the cigar that causes the taste to change? Is it the mixing of oils between the leaves? The oxidation of the leaves/oils? Chemical reactions of any other chemical compounds that exist within the leaves? 

I'm generalizing but as I understand with most barrel aged spirits, two things generally happen. 1, the spirit oxidises slowly through the flow of air through the wood, and 2, small chemical reactions between the wood and spirit that "imparts" the tastes (some chemical compounds within the wood) from the wood to the spirit.

Curious to understand if something similar happens for cigars?

[busdriver]

I have gotten much thicker with age, but my tastes still lean towards the thin side of things.  

That was the question right?

[cigaraholic]

  Very difficult to answer. Thinner gauge cigars are typically more intense that than large ring gauge cigars. But their blend is different. All things being equal, as we say in the wine business, the bigger the boat the longer the float. The magnum of 82 Latour will take longer to come around than the half bottle. The Siglo VI should take longer to hit its peak than the Siglo I.

[99call]

This makes 100% sense.   All natural products are in a state of decay or 'off gasing', some faster than others,  and clearly the effects of control we place on them (moisture control etc) can either speed up of slow down the process. 

If one single leaf of tobacco was placed in a warm dry environment, it would be brittle and dry very quickly,  where as if you has a slab of 100 leaves in a stack (left out fro the same period of time)  you'll have a good chance that the leaves in the centre will have retained their moisture, as they have effectively been smothered by the outer leaves. 

As @PigFish stated however, this will not account for whether of not the cigar has 'improved' however, or whether is was any good to begin with. 

[slowsmoke]

I have always thought (at least subconsciously) that that smaller cigars reach their "aging sweet spot" sooner than larger ones.

 

[Fugu]

17 hours ago, PigFish said:

It don't eff'n matter!

What the man sais.

blend, packaging and storage conditions it is

Exercise - get some 3er cardboard Epi2 and some BT3 - check after 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 yrs....

[Colt45]

16 hours ago, cigaraholic said:

  Very difficult to answer. Thinner gauge cigars are typically more intense that than large ring gauge cigars.

I completely agree re intensity, so for me - with quality a given - it becomes very much blend dependent. If a thin to mid gauge cigar has a decent quantity of ligero for example, it will likely take some time to "mellow" out. The fatter the cigar, the more likely we'll find lower primings to fill the gauge, and the less time to "mellow".

I've absolutely no technical idea - just my thoughts.

[clickbangdoh]

I think your much more likely to see the benefits of water-content homogenization sooner in a thinner cigar then in a fatter cigar. That's most likely why some thing thinner cigars "age" quicker; they just get to the desired water-content quicker.