Cigars smell: the sniff test

[Lunettesman]

Hi everyone,

 

Hope you guys are fine. 

Let's start with some context. I own around 150 boxes of cigars, as old as 1990s and as recent as 2023. I store them in different location for safety. They rest either in a climate controlled humidor or a plastic jumbo box with cedar and boveda, being regularly open to change the air. 

I recently bought a new climate controlled humidor, 450l which I will review anytime soon in another post. So I thought it was the moment to reorganize my storage. I'm very diligent and have an excel spreadsheet with all the infos on all cigars I have: quantity, vitolas, where I purchased them, codes, factory name, price, etc. I know to the unit what I own. 

I took a Friday off while the kids and the wife where not home and brought all my babies home. Having switched on the new humidor it felt like a first date. Some apprehension, some excitement and some fears, will I manage the Tetris game ahead! But first and foremost a feeling of gratitude being heathy, being blessed by quality friends, an extraordinary family and a great collection. What a joy to inspect all those boxes. 

I figured out I'd make 2 tests. A feeling test and a sniff test. The goal was to see if I see any difference with the boxes that had been in the climate control unit and the ones in the jumbo box. To be impartial, I had note ahead which boxes was were. Then, stacked everything on a table and went on picking boxes at random. I'd rate the overall quality and the smell, which I call the sniff test. Here are my results. 

Across all boxes, there was a slight difference between the boxes stored in the climate controlled humidor and the jumbo box. The ones that had been in the humidor seemed a bit more fresh, more tobacco, more oil. I did compare boxes that had the same box code and were in different unit. I suspect that the fresh air in a climate controlled humidor made the difference. It's just my 2 cents though. I can't confirm if it's a fact. 

Now with the smell... there were a series of boxes, that would come from the humidor and the jumbo box that would smell like old shoes. Or a clean fresh shirt you forgot for years in a closet and when you try it again you're like: it's clean but it stinks. I went on to compare the box codes. To my surprise... almost all the boxes that had that bad smell came from one single factory. I let you guess which one?...

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sad to announce that it was the Partagas factory. I was blown away. And I'm not talking about 2 boxes but 15... all from 2021-2023. So I wondered why? Have they rushed production, didn't fermented the leaves long enough? What's Happening?... it's not a complaint, just curious what everyone has to say about the subject.

 

 

[Rhinoww]

Hmmmm. Time to go check some date codes ……

[RDB]

🍿

[Adisaputra]

I have bunch pf boxes of UBL factory code, and haven’t noticed those smell. I keep my collection in a walk in humidor, with controlled humidity and temperature. You said most of them came from Partagas factory. How about the other one that also have the same unpleasant smell? Curious to know the box code as well.