I agree that extra time in the humi always helps… and sometimes the planets align, the evening is perfect, the company is perfect, the music amazing and the cocktail pairs nicely as well. It reminds me of the bottle of wine we brought home after loving it in Italy… back home it just tasted "okay" but on that wonderful patio restaurant in Orvieto it was nothing short of amazing.
I mean, I don't think you can put an exact value on it. Also, I'm not a scientist haha.However, let's say you stored one Gurkha at 70% and one at 60%. ARE they going to taste different? Probably....maybe? Also, What if one Gurkha is resting near maduros and one near cameroons? Might change the flavor, might not.In my case, I'm pretty sure that Padron I smoked had some serious age on it.
This is something that happens and I can't tell you how many times it has during my 40 years of smoking cigars. The first thing one wants to do is ensure that your cigars are well taken care of...RH and rest are prime things that we need to ensure our cigars have. Stable environment....don't let your cigars yo yo up and down as far as RH and temps. Next, is sometimes our own diet may be the culprit...spicy foods, changes in medication, a cold coming on, etc. Most of our taste comes from the membranes...olfactory sense so if there is the slightest changes when it comes to this our taste will be off. Sometimes we just need a week off as we can experience tongue burn like those who will smoke pipes. If we smoke our cigars in a hurry it will desensitize our taste buds by "burning" them and it takes awhile to bring them back.
Rh plays a huge role into taste! If you feel the flavors were muted a bit it was probably too wet. Rule of thumb IMO is wait at least 3 weeks before you even try one
I believe Cigary is right. Our bodies have to be receptive for the experience to be exceptional. Sometimes you have this awesome experience with this cigar and you buy more and you may even wait patiently enough but then you light up the next one, you've lost that lovin' feelin'. I've come to believe it takes some unknown aspects to be in balance for a cigar to seem "special". And I'm not gonna try too hard either. I'm just gonna enjoy it when it does happen. What am I talkin' about? Cigars or women?
Situations like this is precisely why I buy two cigars when I try something before I go deep. I cannot tell you how many times I have had an amazing experience, bought a ton of cigars, then realized it was the experience, not the cigar. It could be the meal, the friends, the night, the drinks, whatever... It happens. I will tell you age does affect this as well, and many times I have bought cigars I am familiar with, they smoked bad, aged them 90 days, and then they were what I remembered. Sometimes it takes 6 months or a year, and it seems the longer I smoke the more accurately I can judge the need for age of my favorite smokes.
Kuzi has some posts on rituals and behaviors he does do keep consistent, especially for reviews IIRC. A couple things I remember and try to keep in mind are citrus enhancing flavors, so drink water with citrus in it before and/or during and developing a puffing style so that stays consistent. Oh, and rotating. In the humidor, during the light, and while smoking.
I had dinner last night with a good friend of mine who is moving back to Canada today. He said the Oktoberfests I gave him were the best cigars he's had, so I brought some more along last night for his finale.
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