I was reading this quote on the aging NC's thread. Did you ever hear from Jorge regarding aging the anni's? I am curious because I have noticed the same thing. I have a box of Principe's from '01, and there is little if any difference between them and more recent smokes. I did read, I believe on Padron's site, that they age the anniversary series for four years, but it was not clear if it was before or after cigar production. It seems to me that such a lengthy aging process makes for a very mature smoke immediately after purchase, hence Jorge's comments.stogies&hoagies said:George, not all NC's are aged before distribution. I know the Camacho lines, CAO, and La flors are not. The higher end Padrons, Fuente, and Davidoff have some time on them. You really can't make a blanket statement regarding aging of the different manufacturers. All of them have their own policy. I asked Jorge Padron about aging their cigars and if he thought I should. He laughed and said their cigars are made to be smoked, and if I aged them to let him know how it turns out. I have found the Padron Anni's I have with two or more years on them don't taste a whole lot different then when "new". I am attending a lunch with Jorge at the end of the month and I plan on bringing him a 64 anni. maduro I have from '01 ( the ones made with the single band) to see what he thinks. I'll LYK what he says.
As far as aging NC's goes, I did some experimenting with this a few years ago. At the time, I was storing everything at 70%, and smoking mostly LGC Wavell Maduros and Padron Churchill naturals. I ran the experiment for about a year for both sticks, smoking one of each every three months. What I discovered was the LGC (Dominican) changed dramatically for the better in the first three months, while the Padron changed little. At six, nine and 12 months, there was little difference in quality in the LGC. However, at 12 months, the Padron had undergone a marvelous change and was absolutely superb. I have since done this with the Hemingway Classic and Signature, and the improvement was amazing after 6 - 12 months in the box.