Is Everything Smoking Well ROTT (Right Out of the Box) at the Moment?

[Jerryvonkramer]

I've been on a kick buying up 23 stock of late from our host. Maybe 10-15 boxes or even more, I haven't counted. Obviously, the view is to age a lot of these, but I am wondering if the old advice from 2010s era still holds today? My standard practice is to try one ROTT, 90-day lay down, then try another, and then put them away. Thing is almost everything, and I mean everything, has been amazing out of the gate. It's mostly summer 23 stock but some spring and some autumn. The conventional wisdom is that the PLPC needs a few years to lie down, I have not found that, they are delivering caramel right now with zero harshness. FOH lore is also that the Mag46 is unsmokeably strong and "mongrel" until it has 5+ years, but the Mag 46s I tried from 23 had no harshness, were smooth, Upmann profile. The Boli BBF, same, killer right from the bat, I was expecting it to blow my head off, but it didn't.

The sole exception to this has been a box of Monty 4s I got in 22, those were just all ammonia and completely unsmokeable, but recently I tried one and it was back to classic Monty profile, say after 18 months.

Has something changed? Is Cuba making weaker cigars or are they aging them more before constructing? Do CCs in general require less age than they used to?

For context, I've only been smoking since 2017 or so and only buying boxes since 2020, so in cigar terms I still consider myself a noob compared to most here with 20+ years experience. I've bought a few aged boxes with 5+ years on them from Bond Roberts as a basis for comparison but I'm still not seeing a tremendous difference. Generally I'd say the aged ones are tastier, but none of my young cigars feel like they require "mellowing out". I guess I want to see if everyone else is having a similar experience. Thoughts?

[Partyshrts]

Encouraging to hear. I think the resting period requirement is overblown. Enjoy them. You may get hit by a truck tomorrow. I'm smoking more after my heart attack.

[NSXCIGAR]

I can't think of much that I'd rest past a year on the box date. Maybe some Cohiba. 

[Lt4-396]

I believe the bigger question, for me anyway is how will current stock age? Yes, most, if not all are smoking great now. I'm still working through old inventory at the moment but occasionally will pull from a younger box and as you said, none have disappointed.

[MrFolgers]

4 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

I can't think of much that I'd rest past a year on the box date. Maybe some Cohiba. 

Completely agree. Only caveat is a box of ‘22 Siglo VI I just cracked open and was phenomenal. 

[NSXCIGAR]

2 hours ago, MrFolgers said:

Completely agree. Only caveat is a box of ‘22 Siglo VI I just cracked open and was phenomenal. 

Most Siglo and Siglo VI in particular seem to be fine at a year. The Linea Clasica tends to need the time, most notably Lanceros and Esplendidos.