Cigar Flavor and Age???

jkallen83

ok, being new to cigars, i dont understand this YET. the Olive Serie 0 cigars i can smoke as soon as i get them and they are amazing. Rocky Patel vintage 1990 was great. couple others ive had a couple of and fresh they have a bitterish harsh flavor, but after sitting a couple weeks they are better.....so is there a way of choosing cigars that already have some age and ready to smoke? like the RP vintage 1990, does that mean its already been aged??? i want to age some cigars on my own, but what if i just wanna buy one and smoke it right away, is there a way to tell if its ready to smoke? i know its all personal preference but im sure yall all know what im talking about with a fresh bought cigar being bitterish and harsh. anyone got any "rules" they use to choose a cigar to smoke right away??? like as of now i KNOW i can walk into any store and buy an Oliva serie 0 and smoke it. but what i dont know is, why it is smokeable right away and others are not.......

Marker

Some cigars have age on the tobacco before you get it and the manufacturer makes sure to not release it until it is ready OTT. Other companies will pound out cigars and age them a certain time (if at all) but they are still not ready and OTT are harsh.

I was lucky enough to get some Oliva O with 4 years on them. They have almost a black wrapper (maddies) and smoke AWESOME. They only get better with age. Ideally you want to buy cigars to smoke right away and buy a whole bunch of others that age well you will not touch for a year or more. That is a big ideally when you are starting out. I have been smoking cigars for 6 months. I already have almost 300 cigars and prepared myself for a steady aging/smoking process. Long term it is the way to go.

In the meantime do some trades. You will get some cigars that have age on them and really see the light. Buy a long term storage (300ct + sized humidor or cooler) and READ READ READ. Learn as much as fast as you can. Ask questions and use the search function here.

jkallen83

i didnt know if while reading the info on each cigar on here if there was something i should be looking for. like some says it has a 5 year old wrapper and so many year filler, didnt know if there was something in the descriptions that are a key of ROTT smokeability .....yeah i bought a 120-150 count humidor waiting on it to arrive because my 20 count is more than enough for me to smoke, BUT, if the gotta age then its almost useless.....so gotta get the 120-150 humidor filled and get some aging started lol..............kinda like i like a sweetness to my cigars sometimes, some have it and not sure what it is that they all have in common yet to look for in other brands that might have what i like..........

Marker

Cigars are purely off your taste and your taste alone. There are good recommendations but end of the day you have to decide what is good OTT and what you like. Don't buy cigars that people say 'Well they suck now but in 3 years they are good.' You want cigars that are good now and only get better imo. A crappy cigar OTT might be crappy in a year. If you like the Oliva O, and I think 90% of the people here do, buy a box. Smoke 5 from the box now and age 15 of them. If you have not defined your tastes at all then keep getting samplers to see what you like. Only buy a box of cigars that you know you like at the time you buy them is my best advice.

First box I bought was Oliva V maduro 2009. Diesel d.x was my second. Both are a top 5 cigar for me.

camgfs

From my experience (30+ years), I have found that a few years of rest make an increadible differentce...that being said, a few months make a big difference and 10 or more years is like WOW++.The oldest cigars in my humidor currently have 10 year of aging on them. By that, I don't mean a 10 year old wrapper or 1 leaf of 10 year old fille, I mean thay were made 10 years ago. They are soooooooooooo different and so much better than they were 10 years ago.
It's hard to explain, but those BOTL that have experienced well aged cigars will back me up on this.(I hope)...some cigars are good ROTT, but almost every cigar will benefit from some age, most will be better after a couple years, and some will be great after 5, 10 or even 30 years. It takes time and experience to know the difference.

Marker

I have some ISO that are 10+ years old. Not sure when I will light one up but the person that I got them from said they are absolutely amazing an should not be compared to the current production of the same cigar. It would only make you dream of more aged cigars and wonder what is wrong with the current version.

jkallen83

Right now I just know if its good. When I am enjoying it so much that its disappointing when it ends, that's a good cigar...so far only 3 have done that to me......the oliva 0, the rp vintage 1990, and Cain. Rp decade was good also...as was the Gurkha centurian....others were OK but didn't have that wow effect as the oliva 0 and rp vintage 1990 had on me. ,.........and those r not aged just fresh within a week of buying so can't wait to age some, gotta get more of the rp vintage 1990 tho, don't have any right now....,....I was just curious as to if there was something particular to look for...........just being curious and learning and searching for good cigars lol.

The Kid

I personally like to age some of the fuller body sticks, a wrapper with a lot of oil like a maduro ages well, corojo and ecuadorian habano wrappers age well too.. one suggestion would be maybe pickin up some cuba libre ones and trying that, not too expensive of a stick.

ThinBluLine06

I know this probably varies by brand, etc...but I wonder on average how long a stick sits in the ccom warehous before it is purchased by a consumer...

ThinBluLine06

ThinBluLine06:

I know this probably varies by brand, etc...but I wonder on average how long a stick sits in the ccom warehous before it is purchased by a consumer...

Hypothetically, if I purchased a 5 Vegas classic, is there a chance I may be getting one that was rolled in 2011 and has only been in the warehouse for 3 months....or the chance I may get one that was rolled in 2009 and been sitting in the warehouse shelves for almost 3 years???

if the 2nd scenario is the case, then since the warehouse is technically a giant humidor, wouldn't the cigar be aged 2 years already???

BigT06

ThinBluLine06:

ThinBluLine06:

I know this probably varies by brand, etc...but I wonder on average how long a stick sits in the ccom warehous before it is purchased by a consumer...

Hypothetically, if I purchased a 5 Vegas classic, is there a chance I may be getting one that was rolled in 2011 and has only been in the warehouse for 3 months....or the chance I may get one that was rolled in 2009 and been sitting in the warehouse shelves for almost 3 years???

if the 2nd scenario is the case, then since the warehouse is technically a giant humidor, wouldn't the cigar be aged 2 years already???

if that did happen, then yes, it would be aged already. That's why you should always check box dates! Could get lucky... but prob not with a high volume seller like 5V.

Amos Umwhat

I find that one of the best strategies seems to be to try one ROTT, see where they are. There are too many variables to say "Always do such & such with...whatever cigar". Some tend to follow a path, though. Sol Cubano Cuban Cabinet is almost always harsh and dry on arrival, gets good after about 4 weeks humi time, and seems to peak at about 4 - 5 months, in my experience. On the other hand, 5-Vegas Relic nearly always needs at least 6 months, unless it's been sitting around somewhere else. Experiment, find out what works for you, that's half the fun!

kaspera79

I would think something like a 5 Vegas has a high turnover rate so they would be fresher. I always asueme that cigars I get are not aged by years. I do the aging myself. With the tons of deals on that brand, I guess they keep the inventory to a point of a rapid turnover.

robbyras

Oliva O is on the DD... 10 for $28... not sure that can be beaten... just sayin... if you like em, stock up...

Heavy

Another thing which is slightly different than what has been discussed so far, is allowing a cigar to 'rest', especially if it has been shipped through the mail. Even though c.com uses humi pillows to keep them from drying out, they undoubtably have had some humidity fluctuations and definitely some temperature fluctuations. I like to give mine at least 4-6 weeks to stabilize in my humidor. But then again, that's just me - everyone is different. I'm sure some sticks are fine ROTT, I just don't take a chance with it.