Posted: 5/30/2011 7:45:02 PM EDT
ok so how do you guys age your smokes ? since i got started on this kick i have been smoking 1 to 3 cigars a day. i have discovered through generous brothers here that aged cigars are indeed better. so how do you guys leave them alone long enough to age ? i ordered 50 of the don elias lonsdales to use as daily smokes in an attempt to leave the others but its just so hard to ignore the tasty smokes i know i have. 
also does anyone age infused smokes ? or is this just a non infused thing ? also on a side note, where is the cheapest place to find the fuente work of art ? thus far this is my absolute favorite non infused. for infused its the kuba kuba and tatiana mocha. they are at a tie. |
|
You bring up some very good points.
Here is the deal...most cigars you buy online or in your local shop are good to go. Aging cigars is a matter of preference. Not all cigars need age to get better. But once you do this for a while, your tastes change (or for a better answer...you get to a point where you like things better than others). If you can be patient, some of those cigars you picked up just taste better to you after they sit for a while...it is a "me" thing. Me...I like a lot of them off the shelf...but...some just get better after a nap. And honestly, maybe some of it is all in my head. As for the ones you mentioned...if you like them now, smoke them now. Infused cigars are a different animal all together. I don't like many but I cannot see how age would make them better as they are designed with a specific flavor in mind. I hope that this helps..... |
|
Quoted:
You bring up some very good points. Here is the deal...most cigars you buy online or in your local shop are good to go. Aging cigars is a matter of preference. Not all cigars need age to get better. But once you do this for a while, your tastes change (or for a better answer...you get to a point where you like things better than others). If you can be patient, some of those cigars you picked up just taste better to you after they sit for a while...it is a "me" thing. Me...I like a lot of them off the shelf...but...some just get better after a nap. And honestly, maybe some of it is all in my head. As for the ones you mentioned...if you like them now, smoke them now. Infused cigars are a different animal all together. I don't like many but I cannot see how age would make them better as they are designed with a specific flavor in mind. I hope that this helps..... the infused thing does make sense. as for aging i can tell you IMO the soprano, is DEFINITLEY better aged. good either way but better aged. the work of art never smoked a fresh one. the one i recieved was aged 6 years. so im assuming aged is better. |
|
I haven't seen cigars get WORSE with age, however I have seem some truly dog rockets turn into damn fine smokes with a year on them.
Aging some cigars is pointless (Padron Anni's for example). Aging something like a Famous Nic 3000 or Boli Gold Medal is vital as without aging, they taste like the south bound end of a north bound cow. |
|
Quoted:
I haven't seen cigars get WORSE with age, however I have seem some truly dog rockets turn into damn fine smokes with a year on them. Aging some cigars is pointless (Padron Anni's for example). Aging something like a Famous Nic 3000 or Boli Gold Medal is vital as without aging, they taste like the south bound end of a north bound cow. I actually liked the gold metals without aging. Guess I need to buy another box and try them aged. Fammy I buy two boxes when I decide to age. One to smoke as time goes on and the other for actual aging. |
|
All ISOM requires aging to be smokable, ISOM factory ship the cigar out as soon as they are rolled, no aging. That is the primary reason why ISOM cigars have hard draw or plugged. Wait at least 3 months to a year to smoke ISOM. One efect on aging cigar is the tobacco (filler s and binders) shrink, improves the draw.
On the other hand, most non-ISOM are aged at the factory, but they all improve with aging. Fuentes improve alot with aging, a 2 to 3 year old Opus, Anejo, and even Don Carlos and their regular line taste totally different from a cigar less than 1 year old, same goes for the Double Crown Maximist (sp?). It is one of those things you need to experienced, it is difficult to explain. With only a few exceptions, like in the cigar lounge, I only smoke aged (3+ years) cigars. Through out the years of aging, I have found: Maduro age faster than natural cigars, Candala (green) do not age A good sign of aging is to look at the band and the cellophane. The cellophane turns yellowish and brown, the band become loose (cigar shrinks in ring gauge), and the white on the band turns yellow. 7 to 10 years is almost the optimum age, maduro requires less. If the cigar plums, white powder on the cigar, do not age them anyore, it is when the flavor start to decline. I use a wine fridge as my aging humidor, set her at 65 F, 65%, with "tons" of crystal as buffer,and age them in their own boxes. Twice a year, I inspect them, and turn them over. While aging, be aware of two pitfalls, molds and bettles. Molds can be control with a small amount of PG in the humidifier, and bettles are controlled by keeping the cigars below 70F. I put in the largest UPS I can find at Frys behind the wine fridge just in case power fails, enough to keep her powered for 10 hours. Experience: I had the joy of the owner of a box of 7 year old ISOM Monticristo #2, cannot believe the flavors, I mean the hint of honey and sweetness, with none of to tobacco harshness (like drying your mouth, or the bitter after taste). A 5 year old box of 50 count box of HdM double corona, so good, they are my weekend morning smoke, until the box is empty. Opus X "A" 2007, beautiful cigar, major difference betheen the aged and the "new" cigar, all the pepper spicy "numbing" are gone, and the leathery and expresso comes out. I hate Partigus D4 and P2, but I was given a 4 year old Ps, and that changed my mind. Now I have a box of D4 and P2 in my aging humidor. Smoke an aged VSG or ESG and compare that with a current production, so much difference. Cororado by LFD are excellent aging cigars, I started with 9 boxes and buy 3 boxes every 6 months and rotate the older stock out, and let them age. Amazing what 1-1/2 years does to the Coronado. Last week, I smoked a plumming Davidoff Millenium figurado, and found that annoying overwhelming balck and red peeer flavor are allmost all gone leaving a minor himt, and other flavors start to appear, wonderful smoke with a Remy Martinin XO. I even aged JR Alternatives, from dog turd when new, to very smokable after 3 years. I agree, seems like the Padron lines do not do much when aged... Aging infused cigars are a waste of time, the "flavor" is not part of the natural taste of the tobacco. |
|
Quoted:
All ISOM requires aging to be smokable, ISOM factory ship the cigar out as soon as they are rolled, no aging. That is the primary reason why ISOM cigars have hard draw or plugged. Wait at least 3 months to a year to smoke ISOM. One efect on aging cigar is the tobacco (filler s and binders) shrink, improves the draw. On the other hand, most non-ISOM are aged at the factory, but they all improve with aging. Fuentes improve alot with aging, a 2 to 3 year old Opus, Anejo, and even Don Carlos and their regular line taste totally different from a cigar less than 1 year old, same goes for the Double Crown Maximist (sp?). It is one of those things you need to experienced, it is difficult to explain. With only a few exceptions, like in the cigar lounge, I only smoke aged (3+ years) cigars. Through out the years of aging, I have found: Maduro age faster than natural cigars, Candala (green) do not age A good sign of aging is to look at the band and the cellophane. The cellophane turns yellowish and brown, the band become loose (cigar shrinks in ring gauge), and the white on the band turns yellow. 7 to 10 years is almost the optimum age, maduro requires less. If the cigar plums, white powder on the cigar, do not age them anyore, it is when the flavor start to decline. I use a wine fridge as my aging humidor, set her at 65 F, 65%, with "tons" of crystal as buffer,and age them in their own boxes. Twice a year, I inspect them, and turn them over. While aging, be aware of two pitfalls, molds and bettles. Molds can be control with a small amount of PG in the humidifier, and bettles are controlled by keeping the cigars below 70F. I put in the largest UPS I can find at Frys behind the wine fridge just in case power fails, enough to keep her powered for 10 hours. Experience: I had the joy of the owner of a box of 7 year old ISOM Monticristo #2, cannot believe the flavors, I mean the hint of honey and sweetness, with none of to tobacco harshness (like drying your mouth, or the bitter after taste). A 5 year old box of 50 count box of HdM double corona, so good, they are my weekend morning smoke, until the box is empty. Opus X "A" 2007, beautiful cigar, major difference betheen the aged and the "new" cigar, all the pepper spicy "numbing" are gone, and the leathery and expresso comes out. I hate Partigus D4 and P2, but I was given a 4 year old Ps, and that changed my mind. Now I have a box of D4 and P2 in my aging humidor. Smoke an aged VSG or ESG and compare that with a current production, so much difference. Cororado by LFD are excellent aging cigars, I started with 9 boxes and buy 3 boxes every 6 months and rotate the older stock out, and let them age. Amazing what 1-1/2 years does to the Coronado. Last week, I smoked a plumming Davidoff Millenium figurado, and found that annoying overwhelming balck and red peeer flavor are allmost all gone leaving a minor himt, and other flavors start to appear, wonderful smoke with a Remy Martinin XO. I even aged JR Alternatives, from dog turd when new, to very smokable after 3 years. I agree, seems like the Padron lines do not do much when aged... Aging infused cigars are a waste of time, the "flavor" is not part of the natural taste of the tobacco. To be blunt...the red part is not 100% accurate. Do most ISOM benefit from aging, resounding the answer is yes. Do all ISOM require aging to be smokable...no. Most ISOM tend to go through what has been termed a "sick period", were they taste like ammonia or hot tar. Its not true of all ISOM and some have smoked well fresh, mostly the ELs and REs. PSD4, RASS etc...turn into great smokes with enough down time but pretty much suck out of the box. The part I really disagree with is the part about that being the reason they are plugged. They are plugged because QC sucks in Cuba. Bottom line. If you do a search on the subject you will see that from the mid to late 90's and early 2000's plugged cigars almost seemed to be the norm. The long and short of it is, most of the best rollers left Cuba for greener pastures and the years following resulted in their being a serious lack of experienced rollers when the cigar boom hit. A tight Cuban my benefit form dry boxing, but that is true of a lot of cigars. However, there have been an large numbers of cigars from that were just out and out unsmokable even after the drill bit treatment. As to older cigars vs newer...its a hand made product even though "the blend" is the same. The tobacco comes from different years and areas so no 2 years productions will ever be exactly the same. An interesting note on the VSG's around 05 the band changed and "cabinet" was removed the bottom center. (I'll post pics later if need be.) |
|
Molds can be control with a small amount of PG in the humidifier,
Parental guidance? What is PG? Polypropolene glycol? What ratio of that to water do you recommend? I had to pitch out a nylon of beads because I saw black speckeling occuring on it.  This was in my frigerador. Any other suggestions for keeping the vegetation under control? I just purchased a humidor to transition my future smokes for usage because they get too dry in the frigerador. I was storing whatever I was going to smoke in a ziplock bag with a damp paper towel (separate) to rehydrate the thing for a few days on my computer prior to ignition. It definately helped, as I wasn't getting the nasty ashtray harshness I was getting before.
|
|
Quoted:
Molds can be control with a small amount of PG in the humidifier, Parental guidance? What is PG? Polypropolene glycol? What ratio of that to water do you recommend? I had to pitch out a nylon of beads because I saw black speckeling occuring on it. This was in my frigerador. Any other suggestions for keeping the vegetation under control? I just purchased a humidor to transition my future smokes for usage because they get too dry in the frigerador. I was storing whatever I was going to smoke in a ziplock bag with a damp paper towel (separate) to rehydrate the thing for a few days on my computer prior to ignition. It definately helped, as I wasn't getting the nasty ashtray harshness I was getting before.Just for you....Answers I also bumped the thread back to the living... |
|
Buy way more than you can smoke. I always buy boxes of cigars (not singles), put a few in the humidor for smoking soon and put the rest of the box away in a coolerdor, repeat that enough times and you'll be amazed at how many aged cigars you have down the road, the trick is to buy them faster than you can smoke them. If I smoke one box of cigars a month, I'll buy at least 3, 1 box for now, 2 for later. I pulled out a nearly full box of Ashton VSG Illusions last night from the bottom of the coolerdor that I didn't even remember having, at 8 years old they are outstanding. I've never had a cigar go bad with age, they just keep getting better (as long as they are kept properly).
|
|
Quoted:
Buy way more than you can smoke. I always buy boxes of cigars (not singles), put a few in the humidor for smoking soon and put the rest of the box away in a coolerdor, repeat that enough times and you'll be amazed at how many aged cigars you have down the road, the trick is to buy them faster than you can smoke them. If I smoke one box of cigars a month, I'll buy at least 3, 1 box for now, 2 for later. I pulled out a nearly full box of Ashton VSG Illusions last night from the bottom of the coolerdor that I didn't even remember having, at 8 years old they are outstanding. I've never had a cigar go bad with age, they just keep getting better (as long as they are kept properly). I've got 2 VSG Illusions left from an '04 box. Makes me wish I would have stocked up on more. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Buy way more than you can smoke. I always buy boxes of cigars (not singles), put a few in the humidor for smoking soon and put the rest of the box away in a coolerdor, repeat that enough times and you'll be amazed at how many aged cigars you have down the road, the trick is to buy them faster than you can smoke them. If I smoke one box of cigars a month, I'll buy at least 3, 1 box for now, 2 for later. I pulled out a nearly full box of Ashton VSG Illusions last night from the bottom of the coolerdor that I didn't even remember having, at 8 years old they are outstanding. I've never had a cigar go bad with age, they just keep getting better (as long as they are kept properly). I've got 2 VSG Illusions left from an '04 box. Makes me wish I would have stocked up on more. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Fucking lights out cigar that one was. I'm sitting on a box of Sorc's. right now that are just coming into their own. I was also given a handful of ESG's ($30+ a stick). Smoked one OOTB and it was horrible. Gave them a year and oh man. Reminds me of the Opus story. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Just buried two Opus X's in the bottom of the humi to enjoy in a year or three.  Smart guy. Forget they're there and in a year or so spark up one. It really does make a mediocre OOTB cigar into a damn fine smoke. WORD....even better after two....AWESOME after three....that is all.... |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Just buried two Opus X's in the bottom of the humi to enjoy in a year or three. Smart guy. Forget they're there and in a year or so spark up one. It really does make a mediocre OOTB cigar into a damn fine smoke. WORD....even better after two....AWESOME after three....that is all.... Should try one after 7 or 10 years.
|
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Just buried two Opus X's in the bottom of the humi to enjoy in a year or three. Smart guy. Forget they're there and in a year or so spark up one. It really does make a mediocre OOTB cigar into a damn fine smoke. WORD....even better after two....AWESOME after three....that is all.... Should try one after 7 or 10 years. I smoked a 10 year old Opus X a while back, it was one of the best cigars I've ever had if not the best, and I've had alot of great cigars over the years including well aged Esplendidos. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Just buried two Opus X's in the bottom of the humi to enjoy in a year or three. Smart guy. Forget they're there and in a year or so spark up one. It really does make a mediocre OOTB cigar into a damn fine smoke. WORD....even better after two....AWESOME after three....that is all.... Should try one after 7 or 10 years. I smoked a 10 year old Opus X a while back, it was one of the best cigars I've ever had if not the best, and I've had alot of great cigars over the years including well aged Esplendidos. I was trying to give the guy a glimmer of hope....I have OLD...OLD...ones in my box....in fact I shared a few from 1996 with a few members here....oh they were good!! |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Just buried two Opus X's in the bottom of the humi to enjoy in a year or three. Smart guy. Forget they're there and in a year or so spark up one. It really does make a mediocre OOTB cigar into a damn fine smoke. WORD....even better after two....AWESOME after three....that is all.... Should try one after 7 or 10 years. I smoked a 10 year old Opus X a while back, it was one of the best cigars I've ever had if not the best, and I've had alot of great cigars over the years including well aged Esplendidos. I was trying to give the guy a glimmer of hope....I have OLD...OLD...ones in my box....in fact I shared a few from 1996 with a few members here....oh they were good!! They are beyond Good,  THEY ARE GREAT!
|
|
Quoted:
I've got a beauty of an Opus that I bought in........1997. It's so old now I'm afraid to smoke it because then it will be gone! You just have to forget about them and leave them alone. It is over 10 years old, time to enjoy the award for your patience. There is such thing as over aging. Age it longer, and the cigar will become very mild and mellow, with lots of its complex flavor fade away, or else, the beetle or mold will get to it eventually, just like my box of 8 years old Sanchos Sanchos. 
|