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Aging

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Ok being fairly new to the world of Habanos I have an aging question. How do you guys do it? I mean my stuff just doesn't last. Do you buy multiple boxes? Do you buy another box every couple months. I don't know how anyone can sit on boxes for years? I have noticed now that since getting boxes and not fivers, that there is a sick period, most notably my PSD4's I thought I could stretch them till the new year but alas thay are indeed very sick (box date Oct 04) bummer.

How do you know when a box is ready, besides smoking? also does long term aging really bring out flavors? or is it just to mellow and marry the flavors? I see some of these threads talking about 1980's smokes and even further back and I am truely amazed. What would the diff. be in say a Monte 2 from 04 compared to a Monte 2 from the 70's or 80's?

any help in my ramblings would be helpful, thanks
 

DocRKS

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Before installing my Avallo 2000 - I had one of my coolerdors reserved only for smokes I was aging.... One of the "rules of thumb " I adhered to was smoke a Habana within 6 months of the box/date code or put it away till it has a year ++ on it....This has worked out very well...

The best way to get many of the answers to your questions is to seek out some different aged smokes of a brand/vitola you're interested in - let's just pick the Monte 2 or the CoRo for example. It shouldn't be that hard to arrange for some TRADES or BUYS on the various Forums and pick up some sticks from a few different years.,.... Then ----and here is the fun part of the hobby ----smoke them !!!!

Keep your own notes - mental or written ---and your interest and enjoyment in this hobby will have taken a BIG step forward.
 
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Aging of cigars is a truly unique experience to the person doing the aging. There are no "right or wrong" ways to do it. It depends on what you want. Let me give you an example of what I'm doing. I have about 3,000 Cuban cigars. Approximatly 2/3 of them are for "long term" aging. When I say "long-term" I mean 10+ years. Each of those boxes of cigars is placed in a plastic zip-lock bag and stored in my humidor (yes, I have a walk-in). The less exposure to oxygen, the slower and better (IMHO) the cigars age. In 10+ years I'll either smoke the well-aged cigars or sell them at Christies as an investment.

The 1/3 that are not for ageiong but are for smoking are kept at 62-64% humidity. I'll buy a box and smoke the cigars until they start to get sick at which time I'll let the box sit for another year at which time they should be fine. I like young cigars as well as aged ones. The spiciness and in-your-face flavors of a young cigar is something you just don't get from an aged cigar. That said, the subtle nuances that aging produces is well worth the wait.

I consider cigars that are 4+ years old to be aged, 8+ years to be well-aged, and 12+ years to be vintage. Different cigars age differently. Generally, the stronger the cigar the more aging potential the cigar has. Some cigars are almost tasteless after 10 years (like many of the vintage Davidoffs) whereas some cigars don't hit their peak for 20+ years (like the Punch SS#1 and SS#2).

If you want to age your cigars faster, keep them in dress boxes or expose them to more oxygen. Oxygen will make the cigars age faster. SLB's however, will age the cigars more slowly and better. For example: If you have a box of '03 BBFs and you want to smoke them over the next 2-3 years then you shoud expose them to oxygen (keep them open in your humidor or in the dress box or take the lid off your SLB). They'll age rapidly and be very nice smokes when you want to smoke them. If, however, you have plenty of day-to-day smokes to tide you over and you want to smoke the BBFs in 3-5 years, keep them in a closed environment (SLB with lid tightly kept). They'll be very nice smokes when you want them in 3-5 years. If you want tpo smoke them in 5-20 years, bag them in their SLB.

It all depends on what you want.
 
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thanks guys good answers, well I guess I have a long way to go cuz I sure ain't counting my smokes into the thousands! I guess I need to learn some self control. I just can't seem to reach into a humi or cooler and pick out a NC when I know there's CC's nearby! LOL patience is something I'm going to have to learn. I guess for me I should be looking for some trades to sample the aged qualities in these somkes, and also maybe buy my boxes by 2's smoke the first half of a box fresh, rest the other half for a year or so, and keep the second box for more drastic aging 2+ years or so. is that how everyone started out? I should prob. On my near term todo list should be finding a MRN book I guess.

thanks
 
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I would like mention that this isnt a race... it's more of a Journey that I have enjoyed every step and will continue to for as long as I get to walk it.

What I'm saying is that I'm sure Mcgoo (wonderfull post btw) has been doing this for quite some time. Over time you will end up with more cigars, there's levels involved in this progression.

First of all, most people start with a 50 or 100 ct. humi, and start to dablle in cigars. Then they move to say a 300ct. setup, soon after one starts to want to buy boxes... It always starts innocent enough... they think "I'd just like a box of those, they are my favorite" This is where the spiral really starts... Soon one is buying a couple boxes a month, then your just buying as much as you can to fill the new 120qt cooler you setup, soon followed by "I need to fill that Avallo I just bought"

It should also be mentioned that every schmuck that buys a humi (myself included of course) thinks... heh... shouldnt run out of space in that one for a while... Yea right, obviously a new guy. :)

Anyways, as you can tell... This all takes place over time, years in fact. I believe that is a good thing as I dont know that a newbie or a novice like me could have enough of a refined pallet to truley appreciate the effort that has went into a vintage cigar.

So it all happens in it's own time. The most important thing, is to honestly enjoy yourself, give more than you take, and most of all... Smoke some friggen great cigars...


There... all my talking done in one day, in one post. :)
 

chipslave

Gonads and strife...
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Well spoken fellas...

I don't have much experience with the aging because I can't seem to keep my mitts off the cigars I anticipate to age. Many get torched and many more are shared with other BOTLs... and quite frankly I wouldn't want it any other way. :smt025
 

Kurtdesign1

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N2Advnture said:
We (Hawkan and I) have come up with an interesting little formula/purchasing plan.

Lets say you smoke:
5 cigars per week
X 52 weeks
260 cigars a year (10.50 boxes)J
Starting January 2005
Buy 1 box a month = 11/yr (covers your yearly smoking).
Each time you crack open a box to smoke from your “yearly” stash, immediately buy another box or 2003 or 2004.
So, 22 boxes a year (11 to smoke, 11 to store).


So the beginning of the next year (Jan 2006), you have 12 boxes that will be 1 ½ - 2 1/2 yrs old.
Lather, rinse, repeat.

In approx. 18-24 months, you should be on about a 3 year aged smoking rotation.


Of course you can adjust the "formula" to fit your smoking habits.


If you count how many cigars you currently have and figure out how long it will take you to smoke through all of them, you probably have 4-6 months of cigars to smoke (depending of course on how much you smoke) while you are buying you 1 box a month to store.


Hope this helps.
And my girlfriend calls me a nerd...:smt110
 
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N2, I like that formula. At first I thought it would be too much $$ but then I looked back at what I've spent over the past few months :shock:. Hell, I'd probably save money!:lol:
 
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Another solution to the aging issue is purchasing "aged" cigars. Now I'm not talking about spending a ton of money here, but, rather seeing what your vendor has in stock before ordering. I've recently picked up a box of 1997 Monte especiales, a box of Dec01 Siglo Vs and two boxes of Abr02 RyJ Churchills at no cost differential than the '04 stuff. All four boxes will be smokable now if I choose or I can age them more if I want to. In addition, all four should be well past the sick period so I should not have to stop smoking them once I decide to start. Contact your vendor and ask for a list of his box-codes. He should be more than willing to provide them to you.
 

Bruce5

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McGoospot -
Branching out is nice.
I have heard your words of wisdom on aging previously and have been following them ever since. I enjoyed the refresher course. I have about a thousand habanos and am hoping to keep it at this amount. In my cabinet I have an aging section and a smoking section. I purchase aged cigars as well.
.
As I do not plan on aging much over 5 years, I use more air/oxygen and plenty of circulation. Working well for me. :)
 
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This is a great thread! :) Thanks a ton for posting this information, I also wonder much of the same stuff. Although usually patience isnt one of my strong points, I do seem to be able to let my CC stash settle a bit.

Awesome suggestion about asking for box codes, I really never thought about doing that either! Thanks again!

Todd M.
 
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N2Advnture said:
We (Hawkan and I) have come up with an interesting little formula/purchasing plan.

Lets say you smoke:
5 cigars per week
X 52 weeks
260 cigars a year (10.50 boxes)J
Starting January 2005
Buy 1 box a month = 11/yr (covers your yearly smoking).
Each time you crack open a box to smoke from your “yearly” stash, immediately buy another box or 2003 or 2004.
So, 22 boxes a year (11 to smoke, 11 to store).


So the beginning of the next year (Jan 2006), you have 12 boxes that will be 1 ½ - 2 1/2 yrs old.
Lather, rinse, repeat.

In approx. 18-24 months, you should be on about a 3 year aged smoking rotation.


Of course you can adjust the "formula" to fit your smoking habits.


If you count how many cigars you currently have and figure out how long it will take you to smoke through all of them, you probably have 4-6 months of cigars to smoke (depending of course on how much you smoke) while you are buying you 1 box a month to store.


Hope this helps.
This is a nice idea. But my problem is I try to pick up one box monthly of stuff I want to smoke as well as 2 boxes of EL's to hold and age longer. This makes it tougher to do your plan. I'd have to cut down on my EL purchases I guess.

ehdg
 
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