Ok, I have a serious question about aging. From reading lots of threads, I've gathered that some, like Capt, age lots and lots of cigars for years and years, and others, like Maddy, don't feel cigars, or at least all cigars, necessarily benefit from aging.
I have a very humble stash in a relatively small humi, and I've been aging some for about two months since I started getting interested. I'm getting anxious to smoke em. Is there a minimum amount of time - like after they've aged for xx months/years, do they peak? Or do they just continue to get better with age? And how do they improve, in what ways do they smoke/taste better? Are there certain brands/types you feel benefit from aging.
Do others agree with Maddy that you don't always have to age? I've picked sticks up from the B&M and smoked them that night, or at least that week. Do others do this?
Sorry for the rambling post with a gazillon questins...
you dont always have to age. no cigar NEEDS to age. some benafit and others dont. what you like aged is up to you. In general though stronger cigars age better.
as far as how they age... most cigars mellow out a bit. this will et flavors that you may not otherwise notice come through. they also tend to smooth out a bunch. a harsh cigar when rolled could end up smooth after a few years of aging.
somewhere around here i outlined my timeline for fresh/rest/age. I cant remember what the thread name was. long story short... the more mild a cigar is the quicker it will age. you could have an anged cigar that is 1 year old if its of a lighter body.
you dont always have to age. no cigar NEEDS to age. some benafit and others dont. what you like aged is up to you. In general though stronger cigars age better.
as far as how they age... most cigars mellow out a bit. this will et flavors that you may not otherwise notice come through. they also tend to smooth out a bunch. a harsh cigar when rolled could end up smooth after a few years of aging.
somewhere around here i outlined my timeline for fresh/rest/age. I cant remember what the thread name was. long story short... the more mild a cigar is the quicker it will age. you could have an anged cigar that is 1 year old if its of a lighter body.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
If you read the first post of this thread you see that my opinion is that you are changing the cigar when you age it, and kuzi agreed. Taste is very personal and you like what you like. I prefer the bite that "young" cigar has, where capt for example gets an acrid taste from some young cigars that I don't pick up on.
I asked about resting a couple months ago. I was new to having a humidor, and while I appreciated the concept of aging, I didn't understand this business of resting... the guys on here helped me out. amd I can say from experience that giving cigars a couple weeks to rest in your humi makes the smoking experience more consistent, predictable, and enjoyable.
see the thread here
I can say from experience that giving cigars a couple weeks to rest in your humi makes the smoking experience more consistent, predictable, and enjoyable.
This is assuming your humi is being consistent and that the enviroment they came from was not. I tend to rest mine a couple weeks as well. Kuzi and some others have strict LONG resting periods.
I can say from experience that giving cigars a couple weeks to rest in your humi makes the smoking experience more consistent, predictable, and enjoyable.
This is assuming your humi is being consistent and that the enviroment they came from was not. I tend to rest mine a couple weeks as well. Kuzi and some others have strict LONG resting periods.
thats true. i wont smoke a cigar that has been in my humi for less than 6 weeks.
in the thread that was linked to a few posts ago is where I outline my fresh/rest/age/overage time frames. they are very different for different cigars. but in general thats about what i consider my standard.
Thanks much for the thoughts. One thing I was really wondering about - from reading other posts it seems Capt (and I don't want to put words in his mouth) seems to age cigars for YEARS. And Kuzi has the six weeks rule. So if you are aging/resting, is there a minimum before any noticeable mellowing or change is going to take place, live 4-6 weeks? Is there a maximum, say like after 1 year, it's achieved it's peak. I guess it's probably fluid and there's not one answer since cigars and tastes vary so much.
Just curious - I get the whole idea that flavor is subjective and to each his own and so on and so forth. I was just wondering if anyone else fires em up on the way home from the B&M or if everyone around here rests them? And what a sensible amount of time is?
I think lots of people here fire 'em up at the B&M or soon after getting them home, in addition to keeping some resting or even aging for a while. It's kind of a 1960s thing: if it feels good, do it.
Luko, if you look around at some of kuzi's older posts, he will list 6 weeks as him minimum "resting" period, it is not so much an aging thing as it is letting the cigar get used to his humidor's climate.
Ah, hadn't really discerned the difference between aging and resting. Thanks...I read the post Duty linked to and whatever else I can find. I am not too lazy, I swear!
Luko, if you look around at some of kuzi's older posts, he will list 6 weeks as him minimum "resting" period, it is not so much an aging thing as it is letting the cigar get used to his humidor's climate.
yup. ive noticed that i like a bit of time on the cigars. i have a humidor that i will not pull anything out of untill it has at least a year on it. I have a few from 06 and a bunch from 07... i may even have an 05 in there --who knows? i havent been diggin in there for a bit.
It's kind of a 1960s thing: if it feels good, do it.
Exactly! Its all personal preference. The only reason I get into this topic so much is that I want to understand it. I hold tightly to the belief that a cigar was blended the way it was to be smoked now! Aging is a changing process. My favorite analogy was aging is like adding water to scotch, sometimes it brings out flavors other times you just ruined a perfectly good scotch. Kuzi and capt have both said there is definetly a peak to aging, capt has even talked about over aging some cigars in his collection. I did hear an interesting opinion last night though. Aging cigars is like aging wine, the higher quality the cigar/wine the longer it ages for, the better it gets. Other wines turn to vinegar at 5, 10, 15 years while the highest quality can sit for hundreds of years.
Comments
Who wants to have THAT thread under their belt???
as far as how they age...
most cigars mellow out a bit. this will et flavors that you may not otherwise notice come through. they also tend to smooth out a bunch. a harsh cigar when rolled could end up smooth after a few years of aging.
somewhere around here i outlined my timeline for fresh/rest/age. I cant remember what the thread name was. long story short... the more mild a cigar is the quicker it will age. you could have an anged cigar that is 1 year old if its of a lighter body.
If you read the first post of this thread you see that my opinion is that you are changing the cigar when you age it, and kuzi agreed. Taste is very personal and you like what you like. I prefer the bite that "young" cigar has, where capt for example gets an acrid taste from some young cigars that I don't pick up on.
in the thread that was linked to a few posts ago is where I outline my fresh/rest/age/overage time frames. they are very different for different cigars. but in general thats about what i consider my standard.