Humidor- ALL SET UP....one more quick ?
tuckaholic
Posts: 22
in Cigar 101
Well thanks to many of you here. I have the humidor up and running and mainting a constant 65-68 RH. Thanks for all the help.
What is the minimum amount of time a cigar should stay in the humidor before smoking it? A resting period? Also, the longer in the humidor the more smooth the cigar gets?
0
Comments
"Long ashes my friends."
Resting anywhere from 2 weeks to 12 months and aging anywhere from 6 months to 20+ years.
The stronger the cigar the bigger the differences will be in taste the longer you age it. Lighter smokes tend to be better with less time. The Oliva rep I spoke to last month told me not to put more than a year on my G cammies b/c they won't hold flavor as long as the maduros.
But resting is 'generally' 2 weeks to 6 months and it allows the cigar to get to YOUR desired rh while still allowing some time to get on them to add that fresh cedar flavor from the humidor. You shouldn't really pick up any flavors from other cigars unless they are the infused smokes. Some people like there cigars to be at a particular rh for smoking b/c it effects the flavor, draw and burn.
Also, if you are aging, the cello will not effect it, it's preferable to be left on. It can be a good gauge too, the darker the cello gets the longer its been sitting.
Maybe Kuz and Maddy will jumped in on this...they both have a lot of good info on resting/aging.
The bottom line is that whatever your opinion resting is just allowing your cigar to adjust to your prefered RH, while aging is allowing the cigar to change in some way shape or form.
Since you asked how long we prefer I'll give you my opinion. I'm not a big advocate of resting a few days is plenty of time IMO for a cigar to adjust to my prefered RH(68-70 in case you wanted to know).
I'm also not a believer in the idea that resting a cigar longer will fix issues. I've had just as many crappy burning or plugged cigars after 3-4 days in my humi as I have after 6 months in. Yes if a cigar is over or under-humidified it will have issues, but in my experience once it returns to the appropriate RH it doesn't matter if its been that way for 3 days or 3 years.
I'm also not a believer in aging cigars that you have not smoked fresh. IMHO the cigar was created to be smoked as it tastes today, many blenders also keep in mind what the cigar will taste like after it has had time to marry but it is still designed to be smoked today. I believe if you don't smoke a cigar immediately and just drop it into the humi and come back to it 6 weeks or more later, you have no basis on which to say that the cigar ages well or not. Now, typically I wouldn't say that 6 weeks is aging cigar but I have had cigars change noticably in a couple months. Typically, my smoking goes something like this. I smoke one at the B&M this is my fresh cigar, another in a couple weeks and then determine from there whether the rest I have will go in my aging humidor stay in the smoking now humidor.
I look for certain things to determine whether my cigars will be aged. First if a cigar doesn't have a full flavor to it it is not going to be aged as the aging process almost always mellows a cigar. If the cigar is on the weaker side of flavor to begin with it'll be bland after aging. A cigar that is a no brainer for aging to me is one that has a very dominant flavor. My theory is that after a little box time that flavor will mellow and it will gain complexity. Sometimes this is true, sometimes not.
its not age at all. i like to keep cigars as long as i bear not to smoke them because i do enjoy a smoother cigar in general. thats why i let almost all of my cigars sit for so long.
i have also smoked a cigar that was over a year old and still had plenty of power. (don carlos)
"Long ashes my friends."
I ordered a five pack of a few different brands of cigars. I suppose i'll give it a test and see which way I prefer the most. How do most of you remember how long a cigar has been sitting in your humi for?
There was one 5 Vegas that I didn't like at all - I can't remember what it was, Miami, A - and one I liked very much? Crap...I'll have to smoke em both again.
"Long ashes my friends."
how do you keep the browns out of your back yard?
set up goal posts.
Les Miles should've taken that job I know the buyout was crazy but most LSU fans I've been around think he's overrated and was just winning with what Saban left him.
We'll its his first year. Implementing a new system with the wrong pieces. I'll give him another year then make my mind up on him.
Hrmm, an understanding fan for "that team up north". I've met a few of you, but I don't count on meeting too many more! Too bad they can't come to some kind of understanding in West By-God. He's obviously a decent coach, look what he did at WVU. I agree on giving him at least another year, that system seems like it could take a couple to start working out. Then, they may start scaring some of us who bleed scarlet and grey.
Very few if any of the players Carr recruited will work in Rods system. You make those kind of drastic changes to a team that has no talent not to a team that has a ton of talent but was a little dissappointing. I understand losing to App State was more than a little dissappointing to Michigan fans but the team still had a decent season even after that loss. You don't blow the whole thing up and start over.
Damn, did I just say "that team up north" was talented?