The Sick Period

[havanaclub7]

Rob,

I've seen you write about the 30 day sick period. Even if my cigars only take 4 or 5 days to get here, does it really take 30 days for them to return to their peak? I'm not sure I can wait that long! :-D

[Colt45]

I'm not Rob, but I'll throw in my two bits anyway....

The thirty day period after receipt is not really a sick period, but an acclimation

period. If you think about what environmental changes might occur during travel, it

is reasonable to give the cigars time to acclimate / stabilize in you home humidor.

I hope this helps.

[havanaclub7]

» I'm not Rob, but I'll throw in my two bits anyway....

» The thirty day period after receipt is not really a sick period, but an

» acclimation

» period. If you think about what environmental changes might occur during

» travel, it

» is reasonable to give the cigars time to acclimate / stabilize in you home

» humidor.

» I hope this helps.

Colt,

Do you wait 30 days yourself? Or how long do you try to wait?

[Colt45]

» Colt,

»

» Do you wait 30 days yourself? Or how long do you try to wait?

Usually at least, and often much longer. I tend to put them away and "forget" them

for a bit, while smoking others. But now and then, I smoke a new arrival sooner.

But, to borrow a Mel-ism, they are your cigars - do as you see fit. There is no

harm in trying one now for comparison - just don't be surprised if it is muted, with a

poor burn, etc. Of course, it might be dynamite :-)

[El Presidente]

Colts right. The 30 days is an acclimatisation period.

You can do whatever you like.....your cigars......but if the burn is way off or the cigars has few flavours....you know why ;-)

That is aslo why you should purchase a minimum of 2 singles of what you want to try. Try one when it arrives and one in 30+ days. You will notice the difference.

[genevapics]

havanaclub7,

You sound like I did about two years ago. I didn't understand this whole "acclimation period." I hadn't smoked a cuban cigar in well over ten years. When I got my first singles from Rob, I fired up a few, right off the truck (ROTT). I didn't really know better, and to me, the cigar tasted good... mind you, it had been ten years since I last smoked a cuban cigar. Well, 30-45 days later, I smoked a few more and to my surprise, they were even better.

Now, here is the thing: If you don't have many cigars in your humidor (when I started with Rob, I had NONE), then you will be eager to smoke a few ROTT. Here's a piece of advice: Go ahead and enjoy one or two of your new cigars... ROTT. Like a few have already said, "They are YOUR cigars." If you purchased say, a bakers dozen (13), then smoke one or two when they arrive; hey, you bought them to smoke, so don't be afraid to enjoy them! But do yourself a favor and take the others and place them in your humidor or Tupperware and put them to bed for AT LEAST 30 days.

Once you build up a little inventory, you will be able to put new arrivals away for 30, 60 or even 90 days without any problems, because you will have cigars already in your humidor ready to smoke. And once you have smoked a few well rested cigars, you too will notice the difference between a well rested cigar and one ROTT.

Final piece of information: Just about all of us, once in awhile will order a box of something that we really enjoy, and completely ignore the 30 day rule and fire one up ROTT. We will all say, "Hey, I wanted to see the progression from ROTT to 30 days to 90 days on out through a year." Why we do this, I don't know, but on occasion we all do. Call it a temporary brain fart, whatever. But one thing we all realize is this: if, when you light up that cigar, it brings you pleasure and a smile to your face, then it wasn't too soon to smoke it. They are YOUR cigars, enjoy them as you see fit.

Hope this helps.

[havanaclub7]

I totally agree that the longer you keep a cigar in your humidor, the more the profile changes. I have a couple of Monte 'A's in my humidor that I've had for a decade. I have a few Millenium Cohiba piramides that I've had for seven years. It's really amazing to see the difference in age and I'm especially looking forward to laying down a couple of the Ramon Allones Estupendos for the same reason.

I'm just curious how much the 30 day rule has to do with travel and acclimation versus pure cigar aging. I look forward to finding out and posting my thoughts later!

Thanks guys for the great suggestions!