Curious about aging CC's

[Awesome1]

Aging is subjective depending on your taste of course. Aging will help just about any cigars unless they are plugged or have fireproof wrappers..
Fresh cigars will go through a sick period lasting 6 months to a year. When in this period you will swear you have fakes that smoke like air. Then 6-12 months later you will swear they are amazing cigars again.
in 2002 I bought a box partagas D-4's from a vendor in London.. They were 94's and simply amazing cigars.. Never had a d-4 taste the same again. Different blend in 94.
Most cigars need a minimum of 1 year. Some like the Rass like 25 years minimum. Thats where your personal tastes come in I suppose. I've never had a 25 year old RASS myself so I wouldn't know.

 

[boltman]

Aging is subjective depending on your taste of course. Aging will help just about any cigars unless they are plugged or have fireproof wrappers..
Fresh cigars will go through a sick period lasting 6 months to a year. When in this period you will swear you have fakes that smoke like air. Then 6-12 months later you will swear they are amazing cigars again.
in 2002 I bought a box partagas D-4's from a vendor in London.. They were 94's and simply amazing cigars.. Never had a d-4 taste the same again. Different blend in 94.
Most cigars need a minimum of 1 year. Some like the Rass like 25 years minimum. Thats where your personal tastes come in I suppose. I've never had a 25 year old RASS myself so I wouldn't know.

If it take 25 yrs for a cigar to round into form that might not be the flavor profile you are looking for. RASS are a funny cigar, you either love them or hate them. So for those that hate them maybe waiting 25 years is the answer. Also, if you don’t care for a cigar after 10 yrs of aging, will an additional 15 yrs really make a difference?

 

[Awesome1]

If it take 25 yrs for a cigar to round into form that might not be the flavor profile you are looking for. RASS are a funny cigar, you either love them or hate them. So for those that hate them maybe waiting 25 years is the answer. Also, if you don’t care for a cigar after 10 yrs of aging, will an additional 15 yrs really make a difference?

If you have excellent storage conditions I would say that yes the additional time will make a difference. However, just like wine, not every cigar will get better with that much age. At some point there is probably a limit to aging any cigar and I imagine they only go downhill from there.
I did have a bunch of stuff from 00-02 put away but they were stolen about 3 years ago. Lot's of LE's, Mag 46's and Partagas since they were always my favorites anyway. And of course all the Custom rolled I had acquired from 04-06 on a bunch of trips to the island. Makes me really angry to talk about it though.

 

[multi-useless]

Aging is subjective depending on your taste of course. Aging will help just about any cigars unless they are plugged or have fireproof wrappers..
Fresh cigars will go through a sick period lasting 6 months to a year. When in this period you will swear you have fakes that smoke like air. Then 6-12 months later you will swear they are amazing cigars again.
in 2002 I bought a box partagas D-4's from a vendor in London.. They were 94's and simply amazing cigars.. Never had a d-4 taste the same again. Different blend in 94.
Most cigars need a minimum of 1 year. Some like the Rass like 25 years minimum. Thats where your personal tastes come in I suppose. I've never had a 25 year old RASS myself so I wouldn't know.

I’ve never smoked a 25 year old RASS either, but I did find a bag of weed in my old bedroom at my mom’s place last week, so there’s a good chance I’ve smoked 25 year old grass, which kinda rhymes with RASS. Not sure if they age the same...?

 

[Awesome1]

I’ve never smoked a 25 year old RASS either, but I did find a bag of weed in my old bedroom at my mom’s place last week, so there’s a good chance I’ve smoked 25 year old grass, which kinda rhymes with RASS. Not sure if they age the same...?

If the bag was sealed with a humidipak you might be ok. . I bet it was some smooth smoke regardless.

 

[jwintosh]

and then there's those who actually go to Cuba and bring them back for you to buy.

 

[Awesome1]

and then there's those who actually go to Cuba and bring them back for you to buy.

People used to contact me all the time to bring back custom rolls for them. Back in 04-06 I made a bunch of trips.. Then I screwed up and got caught with 250 customs one trip.. 8500 fine for smuggling. LOL. I never paid it of course.
Back then I don't think there were as many people going though.

 

[maverickdrinker]

Lots of great advice already posted

I still use the same methodology shared with me when I first started getting into CCs

Buy at least two boxes (assuming 25 count boxes) of the same cigar a year

Take 5 cigars out of the first box and smoke them once a year. Put the remaining cigars away

Every 5 years, repeat the process

Over time, you have aged boxes over multiple years of the same cigar. Allows you to do vertical tastings to see the difference between a young version of the vitola vs an aged version. It takes discipline and time but the pay off is well worth it.

Keep in mind, tobacco strains used to grow tobacco changes every couple of years in Cuba. The government supplies the seeds to the farmers to use. This is why wrapper leaf looks very different today vs 80s, 90s etc. As well as strength level, emphasis on certain flavours etc

Hope this helps


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[nefti]

This is my personal experience so take it with a grain of salt. Also, im not the most sophisticated smoker, i dont have one of those palates that detect every single flavor in the smoke. Also, most of my cuban cigars are around 5 years old so i cant comment on anything older than that.

I think after an initial puchase, most if not all cigars smoke much better after letting it "sit" for 3~6 months (i perfer six). Now after that i noticed the sticks getting smoother ever year ( what % i cant say). After 3 years the cigars i had were noticeably smoother then i remembered them. At around 5 years i got velet like smoothness from stock r&j wide churchils, partagas d4, hoyo epi 2.

I have a tuppador full of random tubos picked up at airports on my travels, they tasted young and harsh when i got them. Now they are all hitting the 1~3 year marks. They are noticeably smoother.

Again i am a casual smoker that smokes at most 3 times a week. Im not the type of guy who takes notes while smoking nor do i have a sophisticated palate. Just my experience.

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