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Cigar Algebra and the Coolidor.........

KingoftheCoveKingoftheCove Posts: 937 ✭✭✭
Some Sunday morning reading for you boys.....

Well I've been doing some mid-level cigar math - (I'm OK at algebra, always sucked in trig and calculus).....

So I'm looking at these variables:
1) Wanting to have cigars that have 1+ year of humi time
2) Burn rate of 12-15 cigars per month
3) Current purchase rate of 20-30 cigars/month
3) Currently at just under 200 sticks, most with less than 2 to 3 months on them
4) Two main humis, one at 80+% full, the other at 90+% full, and a back-up 40-50 stick capacity that's empty, and one small travel humi that doesn't count.

The writing is on the wall........more humis, a huge humi, or a coolidor is the only alternative, unless something above changes.
The problem is, if I want to have aged sticks at some point down the line, I need to at least sustain my 2 to 1, purchase to smoke ratio............iincreasing the ratio to 4 or 5 to 1 would be better......but create trouble on the home front.................I know some of you have been here.............i know some of you will be here..........

Have I bored all of you enough yet......................sorry about that........, but I'll continue anyways, for fellow noobs who will be at the same crossroads.

The whole coolidor issue isn't about stick storage for storage sakes.................it's about building up inventory so that you actually can 'age" some sticks, and depending on how many you smoke and purchase over time, this equation can get quite tricky.

There are easy/quick fixes, unfortunately none of them cheap.
-Buy 200 cigars, put them in a coolidor, and let it sit for a year while you happily continue to buy and smoke sticks, using your other storage unit(s), knowing that in a year you'll have aged sticks.
-Ramp up your purchase to smoke ratio to 5+ to 1.
-Find someone getting out of the hobby and buy up their sticks.

All this math makes me want a morning cigar.................gonna go pick one now......Cohiba Red Dot Robusto sounds about right

Comments

  • RhamlinRhamlin Posts: 9,031 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This sounds familiar, I still only got a small 50 count humi and a jar I got at wallmart that holds about 25 sticks. So I only order when I start getting room about once every couple months. Gonna get me a 300 count one for Christmas and about 100 sticks then maybe I'll be content.
  • camgfscamgfs Posts: 968
    Good choice on the morning smoke!
    If money wasn't the issue, I'd suggest purchasing aged sticks. LTD Editions from a couple years ago would be a good choice. Having a couple boxes like that lets you pick between your newer sticks and aged sticks. This will help to keep your newer sticks around a little longer to see how they age.

    Having said that, I have sticks in my humi from:
    • 2001 - San Christobal de la Habana
    • 2002 - Cohiba Reserva, various sizes from a LTD humidor of 30
    • 2004 - Cohiba Sublimes (only year they were produced)
    • 2007 - Hoyo de Montery LTD Edicion
    • 2007 - JR Ultimate Maduro Toro
    • 2008 - H. Upman Magnum 50

    and the list goes on. My most recent purchase was from this spring and I do smoke the cigars, but only 2 or 3 per week, especially in our cold Norther Ontario winters...Brrrrrrrrrrr.

    I guess what I'm trying to say is that it is possible to age cigars and to buy cigars that are already aged. It makes for a good mix. If you keep buying cigars, you will find that some of them age just because you haven't gotten around to smoking them. I also suggest buying full boxes instead of singles. That way you can put a few from each box to age, and then smoke the rest.

    Don't hurt anything with all that math.....cigars should be fun, not painfull, lol.

  • DiamondogDiamondog Posts: 4,171 ✭✭
    I buy volume and variety. I buy highend and dailies. I find by having the volume and vairety I am able to slowly sample all of my inventory including the highend inventory but because of the volume and variety the higherend stuff 1000+ sticks only comes out typically once per day while the dailies get the most action. There are SOME boxes of highend which I won't sample period until they have the desired time on them that I want, the others will get aged in the end but will be half a box rather than a full box. I smoke typically 2-3 cigars a day so I have no choice but to buy regularly and in volume or quit and that ain't happening...Really a cigar smoker has to develope in to their smoking "pattern" not that it doesn't change from time to time but once your pattern of 1 a day, 3 a day or 1 a week is established then you can plan...I started out with a couple a week and moved in to my smoking pattern of comfort over the last few years...
  • Russ55Russ55 Posts: 2,765 ✭✭
    Yep, if you want to enjoy sticks that have real age on them on a consistent basis then large capacity storage is the way to go. Cooler or a cabinet. You need the ability to store multiple boxes to do it. Either that, or smoke way less.
  • boydmcgowanboydmcgowan Posts: 1,101
    Diamondog:
    ...Really a cigar smoker has to develope in to their smoking "pattern" not that it doesn't change from time to time but once your pattern of 1 a day, 3 a day or 1 a week is established then you can plan...
    +1 to this. Everyone has a different pattern, so you have to take what others do, and see what works for you. Also, the longer your in the hobby, you will end up with aged cigars, just by default at you current rate of buying to smoking. I have this happen occassionally, and I call it accidental aging, because I never really plan on it but if you buy by the box then by default the last few will end up being around a while even if your not trying to age them. If you are, then its easy to carve a few out to age and smoke the others. Big picture, you can't rush aging, so just go with what works for you, relax and have a cigar.
  • RhamlinRhamlin Posts: 9,031 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Accidental aging. I like that term.
  • bigharpoonbigharpoon Posts: 2,963 ✭✭✭
    A cooler is a great way to go, better to spend money on cigars rather than the box they sit in. I'm quite happy with my two humis and one cooler.

    I have one humi dedicated for aging. The cigars in there are unwrapped and are what I believe are good candidates for aging (and which I've had so I know I like them). My other humi is for smoking out of and where all my singles finally end up. This is the one I root around in the most. My cooler is for bulk storage. Sometimes I smoke out of my cooler, which is fine, but all the cigars in there I have several of or boxes of.

    It works for me and I've got way more than I smoke so they all end up with various amounts of age before they are smoked.
  • JudoChinXJudoChinX Posts: 775
    Nothing that hasn't already been said, but get a cooler. Maybe two. I have one for singles and now another for boxes.
  • MonteWhiteMonteWhite Posts: 200
    JudoChinX:
    Nothing that hasn't already been said, but get a cooler. Maybe two. I have one for singles and now another for boxes.
    Man, I wish I could get a cooler. But I am severely underpaid for what I do and can't purchase the number of cigars I want to fill up a cooler!
  • JudoChinXJudoChinX Posts: 775
    MonteWhite:
    JudoChinX:
    Nothing that hasn't already been said, but get a cooler. Maybe two. I have one for singles and now another for boxes.
    Man, I wish I could get a cooler. But I am severely underpaid for what I do and can't purchase the number of cigars I want to fill up a cooler!
    A cooler is definitely a gateway drug of sorts. If I have space, I do everything I can to fill it.
  • blurrblurr Posts: 962 ✭✭
    I've been exactly where you are, and after 3 humidors I finally got tired of spending a lot for a small storage space & built myself a large tupperdor. Same as a coolidor mostly, just had to put weather stripping foam on the lid for an almost air-tight seal. I keep enough stock to smoke only well rested 1 to 2 yrs sticks, & I arrived there by doing what most others have, just consistently buy more than you smoke(this is a given since we are all purchasing addicts here), & purchase boxes when you get brands you like. After awhile you will have a few hundred built up. I only smoke about 3 a week so it didn't take me long.
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