A 3 year experiment

clearlysuspect

About 3 years ago we had a Walgreens drug store go out of business and started slashing prices on everything.  We racked up on so much stuff over the course of a month at 90% off it was ridiculous.  

On one of the last days the store was open they had all those "Blenders Gold" cigars marked down.  I bought all they had left.  It was 110 cigars for about $6.50.  I thought maybe I'll give them to my neighbors, or smoke them while I'm cutting the grass or working on the car.  It was 110 cigars for six bucks. How could I say no? 

I smoked one when I got home and it was God-awful: bitter, dry and brittle, an occasional decent flavor.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with these terrible sticks.  I gave some away to family and friends, about 30 in total, leaving me with 80 cigars.  I didn't want to just throw them away. 

At the time, my personal collection was diminishing, I hadn't bought anything new in quite some time and I needed to move my cigars from my 300 count humidor down to a 50 count humidor, which I had about 3 lying around.  Not knowing what to do with these Blenders Gold cigars I put them into the 300 count humidor.  

That's when I got the idea to age them. Just a little experiment to see if a bottom tier cigar could ever equal a premium cigar with time, rest, humidity, and age.  

Well it's been 3 years.  I'm building my collection back up and needed the 300 count humidor for better cigars.  It was time to end the experiment. 

I lit one up yesterday.  It had changed tremendously. I still wouldn't say it was on par with even some of the cheapest cigars in my collection, but it was significantly better, at least worthy of yard gar.  All the bitterness was gone.  It was a smooth, consistent flavor with a bit of sweetness and a creamy finish. The wrappers had an oily sheen that glistened in the sunlight that definitely wasn't there before. 

Overall I'd say the experiment rendered some interesting results.  It seems you can't add flavors that were never there with age. But you can mellow the cigar, smooth out the rough edges and make the flavors it does have shine through a little more. 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them now. 

YankeeMan

The would be good to give to cigar moochers.

Diver43

Sounds like they would be fine for handing out around a campfire

clearlysuspect

I'm thinking of throwing them in some Tupperware with some Spanish cedar wood shavings for another 3 years and seeing what happens.  I found a guy on ebay that does a lot of work with Spanish cedar. He collects all his shavings from his cuts and sells them on ebay for $0.99.  Good way to introduce it to a non-cedar storage. 

I really was astounded at how much better they were. 

Patrickbrick

Why not just use the thin Spanish cedar sleeves that come in many boxes? 

Yakster

I've broken up boxes for Spanish cedar for tupperdors. 

clearlysuspect

Yakster said:

I've broken up boxes for Spanish cedar for tupperdors. 

@Patrickbrick @Yakster I thought about that.  But I kinda like my boxes.  I use them for storage.  I give them to my kids to put their keepsakes in.   Plus there is something about these wood shavings that is so much more aromatic than a plank or strip. Maybe because there is more surface space?  I'm not sure.  I get a big bag for $0.99 so I'm pretty happy with it. 

matkn293

I am sure I can round up some clean shavings for you from my cabinet project. Addy up. 

clearlysuspect

matkn293 said:

I am sure I can round up some clean shavings for you from my cabinet project. Addy up. 

Sweet.  PM sent.

peter4jc

Dontcha know that's Tabor-speak for, "I have inventory reduction going on"?

matkn293

I really do have shavings from making my shelves. Stop spreading fear Peter. 

matkn293

However that would be a great disguise for unsuspecting folk. Maybe you are on to something Peter. 

matkn293

On its way sir.  9405803699300429620094

clearlysuspect

Awesome.  Can't wait.  They're going straight into the new Coolidor when they get here.  Thanks again.  I really do appreciate it. 

matkn293

Let me know what exactly goes into the cooler.

clearlysuspect

matkn293 said:

Let me know what exactly goes into the cooler.

Sure will.  Right now there is only the Blenders Gold cigars and a couple of pretty large panty hose packs full of silica kitty litter.  I'll post pictures in a bit.  I put the cedar chips/ dust into panty hose packs and place them throughout the rest of the space.  

matkn293

HAHA.  You will understand soon enough.  

Let me know if you need more.  

clearlysuspect

@matkn293 somehow I just knew it wouldn't just be the wood chips you sent!  Looks like @peter4jc called it.

Thank you very much Mark.  These all look incredible and the wood smells remarkable! 

matkn293

Hope you enjoy sir.