Must rest
Like a lot of the new guys me included it's tough watching a cigar rest. That being said I see the need to start the coolidor (s) and getting a rotating stock going so there will be plenty of aged cigars at hand. Question for the veteran cigar smokers is are there any MUST have rest cigars that you can share. I'm not talking about the cigars that are impossible to get or outrageously priced ones.
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I like to age quite a few of the cameroon cigars I have and have a bunch of cigars that have quite a bit of age on them, not so much because I chose to, but because I put off smoking them, because of one reason or another.
And probably for each person who answers, each answer may be a little different.
I have a ton of aged Torano cigars, but mostly because I like Torano cigars.
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.
I hear tell, that the Liga Privadas start to lose some yumminess after a year, but from what I can gather, a year won't hurt 99.9% of cigars.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
Age on the other hand, (A couple of years) happens by accident. Or should I say, it happens while I'm not paying any attention. And it happens as a result of buying more than I smoke.
Al, I just took a look at what I sent you and all except the La palina red had about a year on them. The 601 blue may have had a little more. Some of my stuff has stickers with a date. That would be more reliable than my memory.
I have older stuff that I can part with. I have your addy.
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When I roll any new cigar blend, here's what I find:
If I burn it right away, I get a pretty harsh impression.
If I let it set atop my dry box three days, it makes a profound difference. At this point I think I can imagine what it might taste like if I were to let it age properly. It's still apt to be stanky, tho, and burn studgy. That's where imagination comes in. That's my usual means to test a blend. If it's still harsh and stanky, I may roll another and leave it out a week; cause some blends want more than three days.
Atop the dry box:
If I like it enough three days old to want to stash a batch, then I will age the batch a week atop the dry box, then two weeks inside the dry box, then stash them in a cigar box. At this point age has made a significant difference. Not just in flavor, but the wrapper tightens down. I'll prolly sample some, cause I can't wait. The stanky and harsh should be gone. The flavors have not melded.
My dry box:
But real mellowing requires time. There's no doubt about it. So I put the cigar box inside a coolidor and let them age six months. As the time gets longer, so also the aging effect gets more subtle. The wrapper glosses up, and gets tastier. The flavors meld.
At this point, if they are worthy of becoming a smoking staple, they may go into the kuzidor. That's a beautiful 50ct humi I scored from kuzi some years back.
When I want a good home-rolled, that's where my paw reaches in.
I'm gonna say that you get 50% of the difference a good aging makes by the time it goes into the dry box, another 25% while in the dry box, maybe 20% more by waiting six months. After six months, I'm only leaving 5% for the flat fish (halibut). I don't know that you really get that much if any diff after six; but, what the hell, allow five percent for the cognoscenti. Hard for me to imagine that your bought box isn't at least that old by the time it gets from Hispaniola to you. But then, mine aren't cello wrapped then put in in cello wrapped boxes. So there's that.
Right here comes the ironic aside: It's damn hard to hold off smoking a cigar when you have five minutes rolling time and three days drying time invested in it. It's damn hard to smoke one after you invest six months patient wait.
My favorite cigar list here
A very "rough" rule of thumb is that the higher the ligero content of the cigar the better it will age as it is much harder for it to lose so much kick and strength that it loses what makes it so good. Not to say that you can't age it too long, but it becomes much harder to do. Whereas connecticuts and ones like those don't general benefit from a lot of age since they are already so mild. For most people rest is 0-24 months of so, where "age" comes in 2+ years or longer, but each person seems to have their own distinction and definition.
Brett
Brett
Brett
The recent cigars I'm aware of that really need at least a few weeks rest for the flavors to come out are:
The cigars I'm currently resting before trying right now are:
I've heard Patrick say that the Oliva Melanio Vs are best fresh.
Holy Retro. The Las Calavaris from 2020 needed at least a year. Any BLTC I try to let rest a month before I try it.
My favorite cigar list here
Definitely agree. The ‘20 Las Calaveras are smoking great right now.
I let an EP Carrillo Oscuro rest for a while after the first one was a bust, and it was amazing
The Memento Mori's and Interstellars are smoking good now.