How long is too long?

I know this can vary a lot, but how much time is too much time to age a cigar? I know it varies from stick to stick, but what would you say the generally accepted maximum time to age a cigar?

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

bigharpoon

There is no generally accepted maximum time for aging a cigar, at least none that can be stated with security. What most people who age their cigars will do is try one a year until they feel they have reached their peak and then smoke the rest while they're peaking. It totally depends.

Rhamlin

Just remember your sticks will mellow with age from what I've read. So I would assume you wouldn't want to age your mild sticks for to long. And your full bodied sticks that punch you in the gut might lose a bit of that punch. But that's just theory on my part the oldest stick I've had was a year old and it was a a totally different cigar than the ones I had with just a couple weeks on them.

Shaun.Harrison87

I haven't been able to have many with more than a year on them, then ones I do have like that I am continuing to age and am saving for a special occasion. I have one from 1997 and a few from 2001-2006, but not a lot older than 2010 relative to the rest of my sticks

Vulchor

Well this thread certainly isnt what I thought it was about.

The Sniper

Vulchor:
Well this thread certainly isnt what I thought it was about.

Wow - not too often that somebody around here beats Lassie to a punchline! LOL Well done me bruddah...

As far as the aging issue goes, Im of an opinion that there IS no limit. I agree on the milds to a point, although I have recently revisited some Sol Cubano Cuban Cabinets that I lost at the bottom of the humi... got better than a year on them now and the time took a good stick and made it great. Which is exactly the change Ive noticed in EVERY stick that Ive gotten a year plus on so far.

One of our BOTL from the Great White North (I believe it was Diamondog but Im not sure) recently posted of an experience he had with some sticks with some SERIOUS age (20+ years if Im not mistaken) on them, and he just went on and on about them as if he had found Avalon or Valhalla. Can anybody put up a link to that here for our original poster? Would hunt it down and do it myself, but if I dont get some work done soon my boss is gonna shoot me!

kuzi16

there IS such a thing of too much age.
at some point, there will be npo flavor left. because of a the way the oils break down in this natural product with no preservatives, it is inevitable that they will loose flavor. how long that it takes all depends on many factors.

laker1963

kuzi16:
there IS such a thing of too much age.
at some point, there will be npo flavor left. because of a the way the oils break down in this natural product with no preservatives, it is inevitable that they will loose flavor. how long that it takes all depends on many factors.

On that note, I am surprised that nobody in the cigar world has come up with an aging chart which would try to categorize different cigars or even tobacco from different countries and how well they age.

Obviously this would be a general information type or chart, but it would be kinda' KEWL to have as something to refer to from time to time, when deciding which cigars to age and for how long.

kuzi16

laker1963:
kuzi16:
there IS such a thing of too much age.
at some point, there will be npo flavor left. because of a the way the oils break down in this natural product with no preservatives, it is inevitable that they will loose flavor. how long that it takes all depends on many factors.
On that note, I am surprised that nobody in the cigar world has come up with an aging chart which would try to categorize different cigars or even tobacco from different countries and how well they age.

Obviously this would be a general information type or chart, but it would be kinda' KEWL to have as something to refer to from time to time, when deciding which cigars to age and for how long.

that is a serious undertaking right there.
in general though, i have found that it is just a mellower, less harsh version of itself. depending on fermentation, it could get sweeter, or woodier, or earthier, or any combination of those. im not sure i could come close to tackling that head on.

i have thought of this on my own though. the problem is when we talk about aging tobacco vs. aging a cigar we are talking very different animals.

camgfs

kuzi16:
in general though, i have found that it is just a mellower, less harsh version of itself. depending on fermentation, it could get sweeter, or woodier, or earthier, or any combination of those. im not sure i could come close to tackling that head on.

i have thought of this on my own though. the problem is when we talk about aging tobacco vs. aging a cigar we are talking very different animals.

I have a range of age in my humidor, from 2001 up to 2010. I have to agree with kuzi that aging tobacco is very different from aging the rolled cigar.

Since none of us have the exact same conditions in our humidors (varying temps and humidity), it would be impossible to predict the proper time to age a cigar. Cigars outside of cuba are often made with aged tobacco, so they may reach their peak quite early on. Cigars from Cuba don't ofter use aged tobacco, so the rolled product will mature much slower. A rule of thumb for those sticks is 5 years of aging to reach their peak, and that's very general. I have Esplendidos from early 2008 that are fantastic already (could they get better? probably will in another year or 2).

In my opinion, the average cigar smoker rarely gets the chance to smoke a stick with 10+ years on it. Unless they smoked a stick from that same box 10 years ago, AND they remember what it was like, it's very hard to know if it got better or not. I just know I like cigars with AT LEAST 1 year on them, and the 4 to 5 year range makes for a great stick, every time.

laker1963

kuzi16:
laker1963:
kuzi16:
there IS such a thing of too much age.
at some point, there will be npo flavor left. because of a the way the oils break down in this natural product with no preservatives, it is inevitable that they will loose flavor. how long that it takes all depends on many factors.
On that note, I am surprised that nobody in the cigar world has come up with an aging chart which would try to categorize different cigars or even tobacco from different countries and how well they age.

Obviously this would be a general information type or chart, but it would be kinda' KEWL to have as something to refer to from time to time, when deciding which cigars to age and for how long.
that is a serious undertaking right there.
in general though, i have found that it is just a mellower, less harsh version of itself. depending on fermentation, it could get sweeter, or woodier, or earthier, or any combination of those. im not sure i could come close to tackling that head on.

i have thought of this on my own though. the problem is when we talk about aging tobacco vs. aging a cigar we are talking very different animals.

Just for clarification here, when I spoke of Tobacco, I meant cigars of different types of Tobacco. In other words the chart might refer to the minimum and maximum times for a Nicaraguan Puro. Or you may just have a subchart for the aging qualities of differing tobacco over a timeline. SAy 1 to 10 years. This chart would not have to be looked upon as a bible or anything. Just a useful chart to give a person an idea of what the sticks they are considering purchasing might be like in a few years time.

I agree that it would be a big task, but it would not have to be all inclusive. It would just act as a general knowledge thing that would be useful to people who wanted to age a cigar to give them some idea of whether what they want to age is worth aging in the first place and maybe when that stick could be considered to be reaching it peak. Not much sense in aging a stick for 10 years if it peaks and then starts to drop off after 5... ya' know?

drpepperdude

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbh8fn_BeZU

kaspera79

Thanks Dr.P. Love that song !