Project aging cigar: COHIBA Behilke 52, 54 and 56

I have taken a new project to age certain cigars. We all know that to enjoy a cigar's optimum taste, aging is a great way to go. Today, I have decided to start with Cohiba Behike 52 and 54. The goal is smoke once a month the same cigar from the same box and take notes of the changing flavor, aroma and strength of a cigar

Cohiba Behike 52, number one cigar of 2010. I do not always go with Cigar Afiocinado or other rating organizations top chart but Cohiba Behike is truly one of the top cigar in the world. I will add/edit more information later about the Behike at this section because I left some information in my office

Remember my post "He-Man: The Master of the Cuban cigar"? He is the one who just dropped 4 boxes of Cohiba BHK 52 and one box of BHK 54 this evening. I am still waiting for a box of BHK 56.

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Comments

scarlin

I want one..

danielzreyes

scarlin:
I want one..

+1 or even 2 XX

Steve2010

I rarely drool, but this is an exception.

big chunks

Man let me know what you think I'm gonna buy all 3 boxes by the end of summer

rzaman

I am seriously taking this project to identify about the myth of aging cigar. I do know certain cigars(not all) simply get better with aging. However, my question is how worth it is when people spend a fortune for aged cigars. I picked up Cohiba Behike first because somehow top Cuban, Fuente(Opus X, Don Carlos Anniversary, Hemingway), Viaje Oro, Some Pepin's cigar with Pelo de Oro tobacco, Armada, Partagas 150, 160 many more have huge potential to get better. As a wrapper Cameroon age very well, as well as the Habano 2000, San Andres , Shade grown Dominican Rosado etc. Also the ligero fillers good for long term aging. I don't know what I am getting into but I want to do this experiment for my personal curiosity. Sometime curiocity jumps starts our pernonal brillance to discover the best solution.

rzaman

I have already smoked couple boxes of Behike 52 and I loved them. This lot is going to be an experiment. I will share the result regularly.

big chunks:
Man let me know what you think I'm gonna buy all 3 boxes by the end of summer

danielzreyes

big chunks:
Man let me know what you think I'm gonna buy all 3 boxes by the end of summer

hmmm. I'll remember that. I know you live close to me. Hehe

rzaman

LOL...you are in big trouble Jesus.

danielzreyes:
big chunks:
Man let me know what you think I'm gonna buy all 3 boxes by the end of summer
hmmm. I'll remember that. I know you live close to me. Hehe

big chunks

danielzreyes:
big chunks:
Man let me know what you think I'm gonna buy all 3 boxes by the end of summer
hmmm. I'll remember that. I know you live close to me. Hehe

Lol, if you hear a scream of joy from Rancho then you know they came in the mail

ndhaon91

rzaman:
I am seriously taking this project to identify about the myth of aging cigar. I do know certain cigars(not all) simply get better with aging. However, my question is how worth it is when people spend a fortune for aged cigars. I picked up Cohiba Behike first because somehow top Cuban, Fuente(Opus X, Don Carlos Anniversary, Hemingway), Viaje Oro, Some Pepin's cigar with Pelo de Oro tobacco, Armada, Partagas 150, 160 many more have huge potential to get better. As a wrapper Cameroon age very well, as well as the Habano 2000, San Andres , Shade grown Dominican Rosado etc. Also the ligero fillers good for long term aging. I don't know what I am getting into but I want to do this experiment for my personal curiosity. Sometime curiocity jumps starts our pernonal brillance to discover the best solution.

Rip, do you happen to know if the DPG Series JJ has Pelo de Oro in it? I smoked a few that had several years of age, and they were simply phenomenal. One of those complete unique cigar experiences unlike anything else I've ever had.

zeebra

I don't think once a month will have that much change in taste as opposed to once every 6 months. Thats what I did with the Behikes before, and the rest that I have are going to be smoked once a year. But I think your supply is good enough to smoke once a month. Enjoy em as they are a fantastic smoke!!!

rzaman

DPG Series JJ fillers are Esteli and Japlapa ligeros and seco. DPG uses Pelo de Oro only for his top lines.

ndhaon91:
rzaman:
I am seriously taking this project to identify about the myth of aging cigar. I do know certain cigars(not all) simply get better with aging. However, my question is how worth it is when people spend a fortune for aged cigars. I picked up Cohiba Behike first because somehow top Cuban, Fuente(Opus X, Don Carlos Anniversary, Hemingway), Viaje Oro, Some Pepin's cigar with Pelo de Oro tobacco, Armada, Partagas 150, 160 many more have huge potential to get better. As a wrapper Cameroon age very well, as well as the Habano 2000, San Andres , Shade grown Dominican Rosado etc. Also the ligero fillers good for long term aging. I don't know what I am getting into but I want to do this experiment for my personal curiosity. Sometime curiocity jumps starts our pernonal brillance to discover the best solution.
Rip, do you happen to know if the DPG Series JJ has Pelo de Oro in it? I smoked a few that had several years of age, and they were simply phenomenal. One of those complete unique cigar experiences unlike anything else I've ever had.

BigT06

This will be fun to follow!

kuzi16

rzaman:
I am seriously taking this project to identify about the myth of aging cigar. I do know certain cigars(not all) simply get better with aging.

im not sure i would call aging a "myth"
i mean, cigars DO age. and some do age better than others. some age very poorly. it happens.

rzaman:
However, my question is how worth it is when people spend a fortune for aged cigars. I picked up Cohiba Behike first because somehow top Cuban, Fuente(Opus X, Don Carlos Anniversary, Hemingway), Viaje Oro, Some Pepin's cigar with Pelo de Oro tobacco, Armada, Partagas 150, 160 many more have huge potential to get better. As a wrapper Cameroon age very well, as well as the Habano 2000, San Andres , Shade grown Dominican Rosado etc. Also the ligero fillers good for long term aging. I don't know what I am getting into but I want to do this experiment for my personal curiosity. Sometime curiocity jumps starts our pernonal brillance to discover the best solution.

strangely enough, i think that they will age well but i would not have picked them as the cigar to age. the other cigars that you listed in the above quote are not cuban. they tend to age well because of the power. they have room to age well because as essential oils break down, the cigars smooth and mellow. the tobacco marries.

Cuban cigars, even the stronger cuban cigars, are not as strong as the stronger non-cuban cigars. what would be classified as a full bodied for a cuban cigar would be medium or maybe medium-full in the non-cuban world. this leaves less room for age potential.

what usually gives cuban cigars more room and age potential is the process that they are made.
the fermentation tends to be less in those cigars. age in an aging room tends to be less in cuban cigars...
all that leads to good aging in cuban cigars.
The problem i see here is that the Behike is fully fermented, it is aged tobacco before the roll, it is aged in the aging room. maybe this cigar wont age as well as most other cuban cigars. maybe. iduno.

rzaman

You raised a good logic here about aging. Cuban cigars are not as strong as other non-Cuban but the unique Cuban flavor age well. I had a aged H. Upman Mirables from 1970 from a Spanish cigar collector. man, that was one of the best cigar I have even smoked. Cubans do not use as much as ligeros as some non-Cuban cigars. It is just their style. I do believe aging improve taste for some cigar.

Behike is already aged but they used a lot of Medio Teimpo(top small leaves) which are exposed to the sun light and full of strength. I do believe it will age well. However, you never know. Behike is a non-traditional Cuban Puro. The project started with an experiment and they never thought the response would be so good. The British invested heavily on Behike project. they follow specific guidelines, strict quality control with selected aged tobacco from the Pinar del Rio area. I do agree this is overpriced cigar but unique. Cuba is also experimenting couple other projects. This is a reason, I want to go to Cuba and experience first hand about their newly well managed, well funded cigar industry

I am not into full bodied cigar because sometime it is not easy to enjoy the complexity. I like medium and medium to full bodied cigar with complexity. This is a reason why Nicaraguan cigars are not so popular in Europe where they have the choice to smoke cigar from Cuban to non-Cuban. Opus X is successful because they are mostly medium to full bodied with complex flavor.

On the other hand top Padron line is excellent to age because they are also medium to full bodied. Viaje Oro reserva no.5 is straight full bodied but very complex. This is a unique cigar. the fillers are mostly Nicaraguan but they also blended some Handuran. I am going to add this as part of my aging project as well. I got a full box of this cigar from 2010 realease. They have been already 2-3 years aged. They are already very smooth. However, I want to see how it goes with more aging
I don't know so much about aging but since I had some aged cigar, I found them very enjoyable and end up with this project. in fact, I rarely smoke new released cigar now a days. maybe my palate is changing. Again, I do not know what I am getting into but it would be interesting.

kuzi16:
rzaman:
I am seriously taking this project to identify about the myth of aging cigar. I do know certain cigars(not all) simply get better with aging.
im not sure i would call aging a "myth"
i mean, cigars DO age. and some do age better than others. some age very poorly. it happens.
rzaman:
However, my question is how worth it is when people spend a fortune for aged cigars. I picked up Cohiba Behike first because somehow top Cuban, Fuente(Opus X, Don Carlos Anniversary, Hemingway), Viaje Oro, Some Pepin's cigar with Pelo de Oro tobacco, Armada, Partagas 150, 160 many more have huge potential to get better. As a wrapper Cameroon age very well, as well as the Habano 2000, San Andres , Shade grown Dominican Rosado etc. Also the ligero fillers good for long term aging. I don't know what I am getting into but I want to do this experiment for my personal curiosity. Sometime curiocity jumps starts our pernonal brillance to discover the best solution.
strangely enough, i think that they will age well but i would not have picked them as the cigar to age. the other cigars that you listed in the above quote are not cuban. they tend to age well because of the power. they have room to age well because as essential oils break down, the cigars smooth and mellow. the tobacco marries.

Cuban cigars, even the stronger cuban cigars, are not as strong as the stronger non-cuban cigars. what would be classified as a full bodied for a cuban cigar would be medium or maybe medium-full in the non-cuban world. this leaves less room for age potential.

what usually gives cuban cigars more room and age potential is the process that they are made.
the fermentation tends to be less in those cigars. age in an aging room tends to be less in cuban cigars...
all that leads to good aging in cuban cigars.
The problem i see here is that the Behike is fully fermented, it is aged tobacco before the roll, it is aged in the aging room. maybe this cigar wont age as well as most other cuban cigars. maybe. iduno.

Krieg

Nice!! I would age those behikes at least 5-7 years. One a month isn't really going to change much. These are cigars u could age for 20 years and sell at auction if u do it right. (and make a ton of money while at it)

kuzi16

Krieg:
Nice!! I would age those behikes at least 5-7 years. One a month isn't really going to change much. These are cigars u could age for 20 years and sell at auction if u do it right. (and make a ton of money while at it)

i agree with everything here. i would change the experiment to every six months smoke one. the last one from a box of 20 will be about 10 years out. thats some age. if you do it once a month youll have less than a year. most cigars dont change that much in that time.

rzaman

I agree with you, month won't change the taste significantly. However, it is hard not smoke a Behike when it is sitting in the humidor.

kuzi16:
Krieg:
Nice!! I would age those behikes at least 5-7 years. One a month isn't really going to change much. These are cigars u could age for 20 years and sell at auction if u do it right. (and make a ton of money while at it)
i agree with everything here. i would change the experiment to every six months smoke one. the last one from a box of 20 will be about 10 years out. thats some age. if you do it once a month youll have less than a year. most cigars dont change that much in that time.

kuzi16

rzaman:
I agree with you, month won't change the taste significantly. However, it is hard not smoke a Behike when it is sitting in the humidor.

youre tellin me.

BigT06

kuzi16:
rzaman:
I agree with you, month won't change the taste significantly. However, it is hard not smoke a Behike when it is sitting in the humidor.
youre tellin me.

Maybe for you guys... I have 1 that Greg gave me that stares at me every time I look in my CC stash... but then I just say to myself "you'll prob never have another one" and quickly move on to something else. lol. My worst fear is that I will smoke it, and it will be as good as I want it to be... and then I will do something crazy, like buy boxes of them... lmao

stowggie

BigT06:
kuzi16:
rzaman:
I agree with you, month won't change the taste significantly. However, it is hard not smoke a Behike when it is sitting in the humidor.
youre tellin me.
Maybe for you guys... I have 1 that Greg gave me that stares at me every time I look in my CC stash... but then I just say to myself "you'll prob never have another one" and quickly move on to something else. lol. My worst fear is that I will smoke it, and it will be as good as I want it to be... and then I will do something crazy, like buy boxes of them... lmao

Wow I only dream of a CC stash. I only have one and it's a Cohiba that Greg also gave me. I want to smoke it but can't bring myself to. I'm afraid I won't get another Cuban. I need to hunt some down.

rzaman

These cigars were released on December 2011 in commemoration of Arturo Fuente's 100th Anniversary. There is very little information about the cigar. However, I also heard that this not the only 100th anniversary cigars from Fuente, they are going to release couple other throughout the year of 2012. The cigar has two bands. First as usal Opus X Forbidden band and the second band is very different - number 13 inside a clock. There are many speculation about number 13. ForbiddenX 13 series is grown on a specific 13 acre plot, Carlos Fuente Sr. was born on 13th St, He died at the age of 85. 8+5=13, Arturo Fuente's headquarter at 1310 N. 22nd St. bla bla bla. Arturo Fuente is very creative about setting up attractive stories about some of the cigars. I just hope this is better than a regular Opus X as 100th anniversary cigar. The wrapper is Dominican Rosado- very dark red, much darker than regular Opus X wrapper. The box comes with 13 cigars and I am going to smoke one soon and rest of them are for my aging project.

I am in touch with Fuente to gather more information. I will update more information as soon as I receive something new from them. There was very little knowledge about this cigar when they came to the market and they disappeared within a week. One of my friend just brought this box from Dominican Republic who is friends with Fuente family. He also mentioned to me that these cigars are not one time release, they will release more this year. This box is ForbiddenX 13 Heart of the Bull 1957 (5 1/4 x 50)br>

rzaman

IMPO, this is one of the top three Nicaraguan Puros. I am a huge fan of Padron 1945 Family Reserve and can smoke it any day...any time. However, after I smoked the VOR no. 5, my perception had changed completely. Both are boxed pressed, with top quality aged Nicaraguan tobacco, binder and wrapper. Both share close flavor profile - balanced leather note with strong coca flavor but VOR beat Padron 1945 with more distintive spicy chocolate and coffee/sweet flavors. Both used 8-10 years aged Esteli, Jalapa ligeros in the blend with double Nicaraguan binder. VOR used a selected aged Corojo,99 wrapper and Padron used a hybrid Habano wrapper. They are unique cigars but if we compare price vs value then VOR No. 5 can easily beat Padron 1945 Family Reserve.

Both of them have aging potential but the issue is to acquire a box of Viaje pro Reserva No.5 box from 2010 release. I was always in the search for a box and finally managed one. My plan is to age both VOR No. 5 and Padron 45 Family Reserve at the same time, age them, smoke to compare them every six months.

Today I am adding Viaje Oro Reserva No. 5 - 2010 release to my "Aging project".

big chunks

Nice, I have one of these in my humidor I think I'll let rest a while longer, let us know what you think

rzaman

This cigar does't need any aging because it is already very smooth and flavorful without any harshness. However, with 75% ligero, it would be interesting to see how mellow and rounded the flavor can be over the time. This is the reason why I am adding a box to my "Project Aging cigar."

Size: 6 X 60

Wrapper: Two years aged from Ecuador

Binder: Four years aged USA Connecticut

Filler: Five years Dominican Republic and Peru.

This blend contains 75% Ligero tobbaco but still very smooth and medium to full bodied. So much ligero but still it does not undermine the taste, flavor and the aroma or even feel overpowering. I don't know how Davidoff balanced this great cigar so well with so much ligero in it. Indeed, only Davidoff is capable to make a magical and smooth blend like this. The cigar is also very complex because the combination of vanilla, white pepper, milk chocolate, spicy and slight flowery aroma come and go in different time.

Lee.mcglynn

Wow I'm drooling and jealous lol but nice score!! I can't wait to hear the results!

rzaman

I just received the box today. I smoked one before- simply excellent smoke and truly a Limited Edition quality cigar. Though the tobacco in this cigar has been aged for two full years but a little more age will make it extraordinary. One of my favorite Cohiba and I am adding them to my aging project.

The Ediciones Limitadas- Limited Editions- of Habanos are characterized by vitolas that do not appear in the usual range of the brand portfolio, and which are distinguished by a careful selection of their leaves - wrapper, filler and binder- which have been aged for a period of at least 2 years. The dark wrapper dressing these Habanos coming from the top leaves of the Tapado – shade grown black Cuban tobacco plant- is another characteristic that identifies them.

Cohiba 1966 (6 1/2 inches long by 52 ring gauge). This Edición Limitada commemorates the 45th anniversary of Cohiba, the flagship brand of Habanos, with an unique format specially selected for this occasion. These 10 Habanos have been made totally by hand using a selection of tobacco leaves from the plantations of San Juan y Martínez and San Luis in the Vuelta Abajo zone, Cuba, aged for a minimum of two years.

This Edición Limitada 2011 has been produced in very small quantities. All the Habanos were made by expert rollers of Cuba in order to create this exquisite Habano for the most distinguished smokers.[Source: Casa Del Habano]

rzaman

Hello BigT and the interested BOTLs- I just smoked one Behike today from 2010 box. What a difference. Not only the cigar is mellow and more dense but I detected the sweet-spiciness was much more smoother. I am still thinking how to write up the follow up smoke. I will get back to you on this. All I can say now is, the cigar burns slower than before, it is more mellow and round, more dense than 2010, the finish is longer, less distinctive aftertaste and completely smooth. More later...stay tuned.

BigT06:
This will be fun to follow!

0patience

Thanks Rip!

rzaman

Just smoked a Viaje Oro Reserva # 5 from 2010 release. What a huge difference. last time I smoked it 6-7 months ago. It mellow out and the bitterness is also almost gone. It is still oily but getting there. I enjoyed every single puff of it. The dark chocolaty flavor is more into milk chocolate, the spicy leather note is gone and more into sweet earthiness. In a nutshell, it improved dramatically. Now I am interested to add more medium to full bodied cigar to my aging project.

rzaman:

IMPO, this is one of the top three Nicaraguan Puros. I am a huge fan of Padron 1945 Family Reserve and can smoke it any day...any time. However, after I smoked the VOR no. 5, my perception had changed completely. Both are boxed pressed, with top quality aged Nicaraguan tobacco, binder and wrapper. Both share close flavor profile - balanced leather note with strong coca flavor but VOR beat Padron 1945 with more distintive spicy chocolate and coffee/sweet flavors. Both used 8-10 years aged Esteli, Jalapa ligeros in the blend with double Nicaraguan binder. VOR used a selected aged Corojo,99 wrapper and Padron used a hybrid Habano wrapper. They are unique cigars but if we compare price vs value then VOR No. 5 can easily beat Padron 1945 Family Reserve.

Both of them have aging potential but the issue is to acquire a box of Viaje pro Reserva No.5 box from 2010 release. I was always in the search for a box and finally managed one. My plan is to age both VOR No. 5 and Padron 45 Family Reserve at the same time, age them, smoke to compare them every six months.

Today I am adding Viaje Oro Reserva No. 5 - 2010 release to my "Aging project".