Cigar turnarounds......from dogrocket to rockstar: Email of the week.

[El Presidente]

One for you good people. 

How often have you personally seen dogrockets transform into rockstars/good cigars. 

 

" I have some Partagas 898 that were full of amonia in 2014 and now 7 years later they still smoke sour with an unpleasant metallic bite. Will they ever come good Rob? Storage is good at 65% RH and temp is stable. All my other boxes smoke fine. 

Rob have you ever seen dog rockets become rockstars? I am not even looking for a rockstar cigar, I would just settle for them to become smokeable."

[NSXCIGAR]

If the taste is ammonia, that could dissipate. Other than that, a bad cigar typically doesn't become great. A bad cigar might become smokeable but it takes something at least mediocre to start with to become great. 

[Çnote]

5 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

7 years later they still smoke sour with an unpleasant metallic bite

This doesn't sound promising, but I'm full of hope that they'll turn a corner

[Dozerhead]

In my experience, if you have a box of duds, nothing will change that. Not even time. 

[rcarlson]

I've had R&J Churchills and Cohibas that went from "wow, these kind of suck" to "incredible" with a few years.  Maybe not dog rockets, but "key somebody's car" blah.  7 years is way outside the zone of "coming around still possible" though.    

[Tstew75]

A turd is a turd.

[SCgarman]

50 minutes ago, Tstew75 said:

A turd is a turd.

Agreed. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it still remains a pig.

[BrightonCorgi]

Hydroscopic, tannic, or "sick phase" cigars can turn around with time.

[IanMcLean68]

As for the old saying "you can't polish a turd", someone has proved that wrong.



In general though I don't think this applies to cigars any more than it applies to wine or cheese. Cigars maybe smokable after some time, but if it starts out a dog rocket I think you're shooting for at best mediocre. Garbage in, garbage out is more appropriate in most cases.

[cigaraholic]

There are a great many people that get paid very well to polish turds for a living.....even orange turds...but Mother Nature doesn’t waist her time 

[Edicion]

I would take 1-2 cigars to dry out a bit, maybe a few days in the open, get some fresh air. Bring them back to 62% for a week and give one a try. Nothing to lose anyway, but a lot to gain if it works. 

[Fuzz]

A complete dog rocket? Never. But a cigar with some redeeming qualities, however minute, can sometimes come back around.

[Meklown]

I find that most ammonia cases will be fixed by air and time

[99call]

For me its key to discern whether or not this person actually knows they like Party 898's, or this is a box specific issue.    Certain blends translate themselves as 'bad cigars' to some people.    For example someone might think a charcoal or burnt jam flavour in a R&J Cazadore is a bad batch.......but it is just the blend. 

If I were that person,  I would buy a few singles of the 898's in a B&M (if they could even find them).   If they really like those singles, and are convinced they have a dud box,   move them on.   One mans trash is another mans treasure

I don't think any cigars have the ability to change vastly after a 7yr window.   it's all just incremental ups or downs after that point. 

[La_Tigre]

Read somewhere a time long ago (pre-Covid) that freezing for intermittent periods will help remove the ammonia/harshness. Such as freeze for a month (double freezer bagged) and thaw then revisit in 3 months. Anyone else run across this info?

[Notsocleaver]

Some ligero packed NCs can mellow out over time. Some of the old Don Pepin blends got really good after 3-5 years of age to take off the rough edges. With CCs its usually the ammonia. I have some 2016 Punch Punch that took 3 years to really taste right.

[Cairo]

10 hours ago, Notsocleaver said:

Some ligero packed NCs can mellow out over time.

lol.   Some of them are totally unsmokeable without at least a year of rest imho.    I have some ten year plus NCs (strong Nics) that have calmed down and smoke very well right now.     That is why I sometimes laugh when folks around here complain about NCs.

[Hollywood Ninja]

Some ligero packed NCs can mellow out over time. Some of the old Don Pepin blends got really good after 3-5 years of age to take off the rough edges. With CCs its usually the ammonia. I have some 2016 Punch Punch that took 3 years to really taste right.

I had an OG El Centurion that was amazing last year. I haven’t had much of the new Pepin stuff, it I remember that cigar been deep, full and really balanced.


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[joeypots]

Most RASS, imho. I think the '06 cabs taught me the lesson, they need time. Those cigars went from WTF to OMG in five years. I don't smoke many young cigars now so I don't know  how the new ones are smoking. 

 

[Sir Diggamus]

Hydroscopic, tannic, or "sick phase" cigars can turn around with time.

I agree with this. I had a cigar from a box of H. Upmann Majestics about 45 days rest and I thought they were possibly rebanded garbage. No discernible flavors and just tasted terrible, I pitched it. But after about the 90 day mark I tried another and it was smokeable, and after more than a year they are rockstars. This is the only cigar in which I have experienced such a large turnaround, but it can happen.


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