By modern, I mean cigars made in the last couple years. How do you make the decision to keep a cigar in your humi for years. Reading up and down several threads you see where cigars are kept anywhere from 2 to 52 years. How do you know what makes the cut?

Something interesting I’ve experienced regarding aging and how it seems to affect Padron 3000 naturals. I’ve found that they smoke best when aged 4 to 6-months.

It seems that somewhere between 6 and 10-months they seem to start losing flavor and become one-dimensional.

I’ve found this out accidentally by buying singles out of a 10-month old box at a B&M and comparing them to my 4 and 5-month old boxes at home.

In that case I guess I'm wondering how to know which cigars have that "prime" smoke and when that time comes for each of them.

There are many threads on the topic of "aging", but to sum them up, it's really not a science. Even if you read someone else's opinion, their taste might be different from yours, although the consensus is that cigars get milder in terms of strength and more "elegant" with age.

As Bo said this really depends. My advice is to age any smokes that you particularly enjoy, and after a few years you will see a new side to them. In order to find out the when a cigar is coming into its prime a good idea is to buy a box and smoke maybe one/year, this way you can assess their progress. Also as Bo said more full bodied cigars are prime candidates. Most if not all cuban cigars will age very nicely.

^ Aging cigars is NOT an impatient man's pursuit.

I believe all Cubans are worth aging and will benefit from it. But one NC that comes to mind is the Opus X. I've had them from the box and aged anywhere from 3 months to 3 years and the longer they sit the better.
IMHO.

I smoke more Padrons than anything else. They are ready to go and require no additional aging. I have tried in the past to age some 26's and 64's and can tell you they are ready to smoke and do not improve but mellow a bit especially the 26's.

Ashton VSG - I am *just* now hitting some singles with a year+ of age and they are phenomenal cigars. Leather, anise, and chocolate, without any peppery zing - extremely smooth on my palate and in my nose, heady in the last 1/4. I'm VERY impressed compared to the fresh ones I smoked before aging them, which were off. Best aged and smoked at ~65% RH, just like a habano - I can't say enough about the few I've sampled with only one year under their skin. CA says 93, I say 94-95.

My favorite in the Belicoso No.1.

I believe the aging process has multiple parts. First, what some refer to as a "sick" period, this is typical of fresh or young cigars. Most fresh/young cigars are still very tannic and bitter.

Second, what I call the "next-day leftover" theory. As most know, the lasagna, spaghetti, or stew is always better the next day. This is because all the flavors have had a chance to blend together to create the true flavor. I believe this happens to cigars as well. I've found this occurs between 6 months to a year of aging.

Third, I've found the fermentation process continues to mellow and blend as the cigars age. After about 2-3 yrs of box aging most of my cigars have hit a sweet spot in regards to flavor and complexity. I'm not one that can wait 5-10 yrs to smoke a cigar, so your mileage my vary the longer yours age.

Just my .02

The only cigars I'm aging are the ones I no longer like to smoke. Maybe I'll get a wine fridge soon and have enough capacity to think about aging some good ones.

I'm somewhat like yourself Mad Earl. The only way I manage to age any cigars is by buying more than I can smoke. They simply age by default.

aphexafx,

I'm 100% with you on the VSG. I accidentally began aging them, and one day hit a stick that sat for over 8 months. Much more rounded smoke with more dimension and smooth with a nice med/full body. This was also with the Beli #1 When i smoke "fresh" VSG, they are good, but taste a little young.

Agree that Padrons have done little for what I have tried to age (64 and 26), although I am saving a Padron Millenium, 80th and 40th for the heck of it. I have also been sitting on an Opus "A" for over 5 years (i think?). Fuente Hemmingways...like them fresh, no noticeable difference with age. Davidoff Milleniums have me baffled, as I seem to like them fresh too. But the original Milleniums (when first released years ago) were much better and did improve with age. If you find a Millenium in a yellowish cellophane wrapper, pick it up! I still smoke the Davi's, but they don't seem to be close to the originals...

Every smoke I've had was only better the longer it sat around compared to others smoked earlier.

For long term aging I would reccommend fuller-flavored cigars such as Opus X, Partagas Black Label, Ashton VSG etc., as they can sometimes become milder and lighter over time mild cigars may lose too much flavor over a period of several years.

I registered for these forums in order to hopefully find information on exactly this topic. I smoked some Patel Decade Torpedos a few weeks ago and liked them so much, I promptly bought two boxes with the intent of smoking one and saving one. Maybe this is a little prematurely nostalgic. Does anyone have any thoughts on how these smokes might age?

quote:

Originally posted by littoines:
I believe all Cubans are worth aging and will benefit from it. But one NC that comes to mind is the Opus X. I've had them from the box and aged anywhere from 3 months to 3 years and the longer they sit the better.
IMHO.

Totally agree! Opus goes from super premium to sublime