Desnudo/MOFOH Resting Query

[AusDyer]

I've tried a few of the Nudies and the MOFOH Trinity now and see folk saying how they need resting for a month or two before the richness starts to come through properly, but nobody knows why.

I've noticed when trying a couple immediately after receiving them that that richness and sweetness, while not as pronounced or complex, are definitely there in the last third when the strength picks up. Is this not simply because the cigars are blended with stronger leaf in the back end, and therefore require some time for the oils from the richer leaves to spread out further into the rest of the cigar and thereby help bring out the subtleties of the rest of the blend (including that sweetness aspect)? This along with the other more subtle elements of change that take place in the tobaccos is surely the reason they don't show their full sweetness and complexity until rested for some time?

The Carlota seems to need less rest before this richer sweetness etc comes through early in the cigar, while the Trinity robusto seems to definitely need a good rest first. This also seems like possibly the Carlota has some stronger leaf in the front of the blend already, while the Trinity has most of the strength in the last couple of inches, so will naturally require more time for those richer oils to migrate. I've noticed in the two Trinitys I've tried early from a sample that the first half of the cigar seems very bland with that very Honduran powdered potato and pencil graphite type taste in it, while the back end then picks up in stronger tasting leaf that has more nuanced spice, saltiness, earth and rich sweetness. I'd imagine that it's these oils in the back end that slowly spread further into the front half of the blend which start to produce the sweet richness, delicate spices and complexity that elevate the blander part of the blend, at the same time mellowing out the back end and increasing complexity and creaminess there also.

I may be completely wrong on this, but it seems very likely?

[CaptainQuintero]

  I think before you get into any blend reasons, there's always been a pretty solid guide that any cigar needs 2-3 months rest after a shipping journey. Just for them to settle down and acclimatise.

[MagicalBikeRide]

I’ve always assumed it was simply to get the sticks back to an appropriate humidity. And that the lack of clarity around timelines, reasons, etc., was largely due to the fact that each shipping journey is different in respect of time, temperature and relative humidity. 

[Ford2112]

My desnudos are excellent after 30 days. That's when I'd start smoking them. See if they evolve from there.

[AusDyer]

12 hours ago, CaptainQuintero said:

  I think before you get into any blend reasons, there's always been a pretty solid guide that any cigar needs 2-3 months rest after a shipping journey. Just for them to settle down and acclimatise.

But what does that mean? I've smoked the same cigars before that were over humidified and also quite dry, it doesn't actually change the flavour all that much. You can tell it's smoking a bit "wet" with subtly less clarity of flavours when over humidified, but it doesn't somehow stop an entire sweetness or change the profile. Not sure, just in all my experience with cigars, the humidity regulation has never affected the flavour all that much. It mostly affects the burn and a few subtleties of taste, nothing more. I also find that a lot of people assume massive differences in flavour due to small adjustments of this that or the other, yet in reality they have just been smoking different cigars. 2 Partagas D4s will often taste very different by their very nature, nothing to do with a few percent higher humidity or something (kind of like how so many folk still review cigars as if on behalf of an entire marca or vitola based on one or two bad or good examples).

This issue, on the other hand, is that a whole aspect of the flavour in the blend seems to not be there until 1-2 months correct storage. Maybe it's as the excess moisture is drawn out when the cigars are put into a correctly calibrated humidor, that moisture draws the oils out with it too, which would alter the flavour throughout the cigar a lot more than just losing some moisture. This would maybe be a thing with freshly rolled cigars and that might account for why this "rest" alters the flavour so dramatically.

[CaptainQuintero]

1 hour ago, AusDyer said:

But what does that mean? I've smoked the same cigars before that were over humidified and also quite dry, it doesn't actually change the flavour all that much. You can tell it's smoking a bit "wet" with subtly less clarity of flavours when over humidified, but it doesn't somehow stop an entire sweetness or change the profile. Not sure, just in all my experience with cigars, the humidity regulation has never affected the flavour all that much. It mostly affects the burn and a few subtleties of taste, nothing more. I also find that a lot of people assume massive differences in flavour due to small adjustments of this that or the other, yet in reality they have just been smoking different cigars. 2 Partagas D4s will often taste very different by their very nature, nothing to do with a few percent higher humidity or something (kind of like how so many folk still review cigars as if on behalf of an entire marca or vitola based on one or two bad or good examples).

This issue, on the other hand, is that a whole aspect of the flavour in the blend seems to not be there until 1-2 months correct storage. Maybe it's as the excess moisture is drawn out when the cigars are put into a correctly calibrated humidor, that moisture draws the oils out with it too, which would alter the flavour throughout the cigar a lot more than just losing some moisture. This would maybe be a thing with freshly rolled cigars and that might account for why this "rest" alters the flavour so dramatically.

 Personal experience is a huge thing with this at the end of the day, it's still down to a subjective taste and we can't get away from that, only really give generalisations that on the whole ring true for most

  For me, humidity is one factor that hugely affects taste, not a single digit here and there but high 60s gives me a completely different experience to mid 60s, to the point where I'll just not smoke something near to or above 70% as it's a waste of time and money to me, I just don't enjoy the hot and grubby/muddy flavours that come in at higher rh, not to mention re-lights. I prefer as close to 60% as I can. A decade or so ago I took one humidor down to 54% to find my sweet spot and flavours got progressively more pronounced, I only stopped as the wrappers became more fragile.

 In terms of the shipping rest time, I'd simply guess that due to the vast differences going from the wildly different locations and their climates along a journey, that cigars may not have a consistent rh through the tobacco? Or some derivative of that. Whatever the science, it's enough of a difference for me that I use 3-6 months to let cigars settle down and then acclimatise to my preferred rh.

 

Edit---

I seem to remember some threads years back showing the volatility of flavour compounds changing with how many/much water molecules were present, but I haven't the foh Google fu to delve that out, @PigFishmay have to jedi powers to snatch out of the ether though 

 

And back to the topic, NC seem to be generally accepted to tolerate, or even perform better at closer to 70%, but how much of that strays into subjectivity again, it's probably up in the air and come down to personal preference.