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What is age? Age is time. But why do we age? The more time a cigar has in the right conditions the more the flavors marry within the cigar. The essential oils within the cigar blend and smooth out. This usually leads to a smoother taste, less harshness, and a better burn.
For me there are three stages: fresh, rested, aged.
There is a bit of overlap in these.
Well, not fresh. To me, a fresh cigar is one from the shop or right out of the mail box. 0- 4 weeks.
A rested cigar has spent some time in MY humidor. It is at MY humidity. It isn’t aged but it isn’t brand new or fresh. 2 weeks on up to about a year is rest for me. I will almost never smoke a cigar that is younger than 6 weeks. I find that I enjoy them more with some resting.
Aged... that is a harder question.
This all depends on the fullness or strength of the cigar.
This all depends on the fullness, or strength, of the cigar. A cigar with a Connecticut shade wrapper can have an aged taste as early as one year (or maybe even before) I find for this mild wrapper type any more time ages away the flavor. They become so smooth that it becomes harder to taste. The burn is great though.
A medium strength cigar can take longer to age… but again after a while it’s not going to make much difference.
A full strength cigar can take the longest.
Scratch that. Tubos take the longest. Some say that cigars in tubes can take 10+ years to age. The air tight container makes all the difference.
In theory, a cigar can be good indefinitely if kept up on. In practice, a cigar is a %100 natural (organic in many cases) product. There are no preservatives. This means that from the moment the leaves are picked they begin to break down. How the breaking down process is controlled is up to us and this is what makes a cigar good/bad. This breaking down of the oils in the cigar is what makes it less harsh. Eventually you will get to a point where there is nothing left to break down or it has broken down too far. I don’t know why you would want to, but you can “over age” a cigar.
I am conducting an experiment in aging. I had 5 El Cobres. I smoked one before I started doing my reviews. A few weeks later I smoked and reviewed this one:
http://cigar.ambackforum.com/viewtopic. ... 883#359883
About a year after placing them in my humi I reviewed this one:
http://cigar.ambackforum.com/viewtopic. ... 011#423011
Three or so years from now (5 years from time in humi) I’ll smoke and review the fourth one. Five years from that (ten total years of age) ill smoke the last. I know you guys can’t wait for that. … Better hop in your time machine.
I also have a few in tubes that will see 10+ years.
When I have a kid …er- IF I have a kid I will run out a few days before the birth and buy 3 cigars. One I will smoke on the day of the birth. The others will be shared on their 18th birthday.
But… 18 years? Isn’t that too much age? In Cigar aficionado there is a “connoisseur’s corner” with some damn fine smokes in there. I picked up the one on the floor next to me (Oct 07) and opened up to said corner.
- HDM double corona 1992 (15 years age) rated 99
- Davidoff Château Margaux 1988 (19 years aged) 98
- Cohiba robusto 1991 (16 years aged) 96
Too old you say?
I hope some day to have a 20 year old Cuban.
Personally, I try to smoke most at about the 6 month range. Special ones will last longer.
As for vintage… I like the explanation Vince had.