Light/Dark Ash

[semery74]

A few friends of mine were enjoying life in Vegas this past weekend. I handed out a few Monte. Esp. No. 1's all from the same box. I noticed that two of them had a light grey ash and the other two had a dark peppered ash. Now, I always believed what I read years ago about a light grey ash being an attribute of an aged cigar. The born on date from this box is '01. Is it legitimately possible that all the cigars are not of the same age in a box? Or am I wrong about a light grey ash being only a quality of aged tobacco? The one I was smoking had the dark peppered effect and it tasted like a well aged true Monte. The visual effect is the only reason I question it's vintage.

[Colt45]

We've had some discussions on ash color here. It seems that combustion plays the biggest role.

If you do a search, you should be able to find the threads - happy reading :-)

P.S. Here are links to the threads I was thinking of:

[link=http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/board_entry.php?id=37113#p37328.tld/]Link1[/link]

And the follow up:

[link=http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/board_entry.php?id=37373#p37373.tld/]Link2[/link]

[havanaclub7]

I'm not an expert in this area by any means. But in my experience, cigars from countries like Honduras and the Dominican Republic have a lighter colored ash than Cuban Cigars. I'm not trying to cast doubt on the authenticity of your sticks, because it's all a matter of degree. Without pics, it's hard to tell how much lighter the ash was on your cigars.

[tigger]

My understanding (and only my understanding) is there are at least three things that can affect ash color: Soil composition/fertilization (magnesium levels, perhaps), age and humidity.

It's conceivable that humidity might differ from cigar to cigar enough to show a variance in ash color. Might even be that wrappers from different fields made their way into the same box.

[Tampa1257]

One of the first things to know is that it would be rare to have all 25 cigars from a box be rolled by the same roller. Along that same thought, the stridents of darker color in the ash in my experience have no correlation to the aged of the cigar. I have smoked Habanos from the 1970's that had an ash as dark as coal and been some of the best tasting Partagas I have ever smoked. I have also smoked Habanos with over 20 years on them that had nearly white colored ash that were also fantastic. In over 27 years of cigar smoking, I have never found the ash color to indicate anything other than an interesting subject to talk about while smoking. I am more concerned about the quality of the ash, I have noticed that younger Habanos tend to have a flakey ash while a more mature Habanos tend to have a ash that is not flakey, where you can tell where the oil pockets in the wrapper were by the little specks or dots in the tight ash. The combustion also plays a part in the ash; the moisture level of the cigar, no matter the age will have a direct affect on the ash. The wetter the cigar, the flakier the ash will be.

I would not be a bit surprised to find cigars from 2001 in the same box with ash color that is both white and with color. If you know where your cigars came from and trust your vendor and the cigars taste like they should, then no problem mate!

[El Presidente]

Some great points raised and yes there are several factors affecting ash colour that have already been covered.

In relation to your Montecristo Especiales from the same box burning differing ash colours/shades I think you will find that the factor here influencing it is combustion. The lighter the draw the hotter the combustion the lighter the ash. This vitola is difficult to roll consistently and you will find perceptible differences in the draw of many from the same box.

[semery74]

El Prez,

Did you ever continue your experiment after this thread? If so, can you provide a link?

http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/board_entr...id=37373#p37389

[Mel]

Since the science of ash color has been discussed I will only give a more subjective comment. I do consider my self some authority on ash. I like a light ash outlined with bikini markings.;-)

[El Presidente]

» El Prez,

»

» Did you ever continue your experiment after this thread? If so, can you

» provide a link?

» http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/board_entr...id=37373#p37389

We haven't done any further testing but since then I have paid attention to ash colour particularly where I have loose rolled sample and a normal sample from the same box (Say Party Shorts).

The loose rolled has always had the lighter/whiter ash.

As for you Mel......I like the way you think