In a recent trip down "south" I set out to get opinions from whomever I could find: Rollers,LCDH managers, Factory managers, growers, Habanos marketing manager and few old time smokers.
And the burning question for me was how long is long enough to age Habanos?
Is there a specific tobacco that is more amenable to aging than other?
We all have heard Min Ron Nees' opinions on the matter. But after having tried dozen or more Habanos with 10-35 years of age, I was disappointed by my tasting results. They were great but perhaps I expected Nirvana and I only got earthly pleasures. This led me to find out why "experts" rave about these aged gems which only serves to send their prices into stratosphere, obtainable only in snobbish auction houses and untouchable by the average smoker out there.
So to my great surprise, most of my abovementioned subjects interviewed were of the opinion that 5-7 years is the optimum time a Habanos needs to reach its full potential and anything after that will start to lose flavor and strength due to loss of oils from the tobacco. Perfect storage was assumed.
I pressed on to find out why then all the hype about these 30-40 year old cigars and the opinions varied from marketing ploys to only certain tobaccos like that high of an age to "it sells books and cigars" and etc.
I would like to get the opinion of the experienced members as to why do they think some Habanos can be aged for a long time and is there a certain brand of tobacco that ages better above the 5-7 years mark.
And the burning question for me was how long is long enough to age Habanos?
Is there a specific tobacco that is more amenable to aging than other?
We all have heard Min Ron Nees' opinions on the matter. But after having tried dozen or more Habanos with 10-35 years of age, I was disappointed by my tasting results. They were great but perhaps I expected Nirvana and I only got earthly pleasures. This led me to find out why "experts" rave about these aged gems which only serves to send their prices into stratosphere, obtainable only in snobbish auction houses and untouchable by the average smoker out there.
So to my great surprise, most of my abovementioned subjects interviewed were of the opinion that 5-7 years is the optimum time a Habanos needs to reach its full potential and anything after that will start to lose flavor and strength due to loss of oils from the tobacco. Perfect storage was assumed.
I pressed on to find out why then all the hype about these 30-40 year old cigars and the opinions varied from marketing ploys to only certain tobaccos like that high of an age to "it sells books and cigars" and etc.
I would like to get the opinion of the experienced members as to why do they think some Habanos can be aged for a long time and is there a certain brand of tobacco that ages better above the 5-7 years mark.