Un-Mute Fresh Cigars

[mbrody]

Just curious how you bring out more flavor in a fresh cigar when your smokes seem a little "wet" and have a veiled, muted flavor.

Do you:

dry box for a day?

move it to a lower humidity box (60-62%) for a week or so.

or just shut up and smoke the thing!

Inquiring noobs want to know!

[Jimmy2]

Box dry the single cigar for 1 to 3 days and see what it has to offer.

If you like the flavor than do it to the whole box if not aging it.

If it still sucks after dry boxing it still has the same flavor as before age will not do anything for it even though other might think differant.

Some cigars well just suck period and nothing will ever bring them back from the dead.

Wet cigars will mute the flavor when drying you will see what they have to offer.

I have many boxes that well just suck even with 3 to 5 years of age they still suck and yes they were stored in perfect nappy conditions.

Remember a cigar has to have a foundation young (Flavor) to see what it has to offer for the future as it was blended by the blender.Other wise no one would by cigars if they tasted bland young hell than we could all be cigar blenders.

Hope my view helps...

[Fatshotbud]

#2

Patience - you can't draw out extra humidity in a day. You might get a small percentage of the outer exposed areas drier but the internal moisture will remain.

The wrapper/binder may burn much faster than the filler and leave you with a taste far from what they were meant to exhibit.

Take your time and the results will be worth waiting for

[sounddust]

Great advice from all. I don't smoke cigars that are a bit spongy but continue storing them in the usual conditions(65 F/ 62% ) for at least a couple of weeks but preferably a month. Some cigars take longer than others to be of good smoking condition. Be patient, smoking a cigar that has failed the basic pinch test is unfair to the cigar and yourself.

[Curt]

Assuming that these are recently acquired, I keep them at 65% for at least 30 days in my large humidor then move them to my "on deck" humidor that hovers at 62% for daily smoking. Dry boxing a cigar from high humidity may be too much of a shock especially if the ambient humidity is very low.

[matthew261]

I went through this back when I was new at storing cigars. Turns out, I was keeping them too humid at 70%. I dropped to 65% and then down to a fairly constant 62-63%. It took a couple months to get those sticks regulated, but the flavors really came alive after that. No problems since.

[Mr Peales]

If you like wet, veiled and muted flavors I guess you could just smoke them! Hell, smoke a thousand of them. Everyone has different tastes. And everybody has an opinion, take that into an account when assessing a situation.

As posted above, a dryer cigar might indeed smoke better. If that doesn't work you will need to age them. One month, a year, perhaps even five. I have had many, many boxes with muted flavors that opened-up with time and became spectacular cigars. Don't relegate these young cigars to those that you smoke while doing chores.

That is a waste!

If you get two years down the road with some of these cigars you might notice a change. OMG... they have flavor? But now you only have ten left. You smoke the remaining ten sparingly for another couple of years and each one is better than the last. I have had personal experiences like this with; Patatagas Lusitanias, Coronas, Series D#4, RASS, RAG, Sancho Panzas Non-Plus and Belicosos, R&J Ex#4 and Ex#3, Punch RS#11, and RS#12, SS#2 and SS#1, Bolivar CG and CE. These were most of my initial purchases of CC. While young they had muted/confused flavors. Most of them turned out to be great. The Lusitanias took seven years, and they ended up being some of the best cigars I have smoked. As I recall the Bolivar CGs took five years. The R&J Ex#3 and the Punch SS#1 never did develop.

The above is based on my accumulated experiences, so do take that into account. There is a lot of information out there regarding this subject. More importantly, learn to develop a critical mind and palette.

[mbrody]

As a new collector, thank you everyone for your advice. Tasting notes and memory of some "aged" smokes keep the morale high for what is to come.

I am going to experiment with both methods with the same smoke:

1. Dry box 2 days

2. 10-12 Days in a 60-62% box

Either way, as a Noob, I am screwed. It is IMPOSSIBLE not to smoke and test my stash. Very hard to keep my hands off. I do have second boxes (my only glimmer of hope), and do believe I will be starting another storage project to allow the collection to grow yearly. Not to mention, my fridge runs the humidity for box storage at 68%. Hard time getting it down to 65%.

After I figure out and test this general experiment, I will post my experience. Likely to do this with a shorter cigar like a Siglo I or Partagas Short.