Brian,
I'll put in my .02 only to tell you that my opinion about this topic has taken a turn just in the last few months....and it's not an answer but a recent thought about this whole thing pertaining to aging and sick cigars....and since you asked. All I'm doing is adding more questions!....sorry.
First, a quick thumb nail of how I was 'raised' towards cigars. My Uncle was my cigar mentor....he smoked only a few different brands and sizes from the time I was AWARE of this phenomenon to the time he passed away at 87yo.....meaning, you find what you like and stick with it. I never heard him talk about a "sick" cigar....he would put a few down quite a few that were only partially smoked, but he never verbalized it's short comings (we always thought the reason he did that was because he drank too much scotch and red wine that day with my father!) When he bought cigars, he smoked them...no long term storage...that was up to the shop he bought from to do, age them until they were ready to smoke (MadMonk, this goes back to the service side of the business from yesteryear...sell no stick before it's time...try one before you buy them)
As a long time smoker, I smoked Monti #2s and RyJ Churchills (tubos) for 20 years....why change?...they did it for me and that's all that matters. When you smoke ONE OR TWO CIGARS OVER AND OVER, YOU CAN TASTE ANY CHANGES IN THAT PERTICULAR CIGAR. All this changed at around 1998-1999. We call that the dark years, but in my opinion, their consistancy hasn't rebounded to what it ever was before that...and to tell you the truth, we saw a big change around 1989-1991. After that point we got boxes that were hit-or-miss....WE NEVER HAD THAT UP TO THAT POINT!
My point about 'sick period' is that I never really aged my CC back then....never had to. I guess I like the fresher profile that they arrived with. Don't get me wrong, I smoked aged and pre-embargoed cigars as well over this time but they never really bowled me over to the point of saying..."wow, I got to be doing this aging thing!" ....I liked what I liked. I did enjoy a cigar aged a couple of years and it did mellow out and taste smoother with a different taste profile...but not killer different from what I liked. I have yet to smoke a pre-embargo that didn't taste like (as my brother puts it) "like musty basement." I bought from Christies Auction and paid a lot of money for them, they came with all the paperwork documenting it's past and storage conditions and they still sucked...TO ME.
If you talk to a native Cuban exile, they say that the reason that they need to be aged or approached differently is because the cigars are handled more quickly....tobacco is not given time to do what it needs to do BEFORE and AFTER it's rolled...that could be letting the leaves rest and age (ferment)....or selecting just certain leaves off the plant for certain profiles....or how the leaves are handled in the fields when they are nurtured while growing (fertilized: chemical versus natural)...or just to sit and rest before they are shipped out. They talk about cigars that were never released because they weren't RIGHT to smoke...period...given to the factory workers to smoke instead of releasing them to market! But now that is not the case....they release everything for sale....good or bad. This is their opinion and they are very passionate about it.... and it makes perfect sense.
Case in point. I have some Partagas SD #4s bought around 2002-2003, don't know the box code as I did a box split with a friend, he got the box, they're authentic, he bought them on vacation from an LCDH. These tasted like ass when I got them...I smoke one a year to check their progress and still taste like ass to this day. I have let others that smoke them try one....and they say they taste like ass too!
IS THIS A SICK CIGAR OR JUST A BAD CIGAR?
You talk about NC not needed aging....I read here all day that the new Nicaraguan premium cigars hitting the market need to sit, is that an assumption or fact? Comments about Pete Johnson's cigars go like "I smoked one today that was OK but lacked character so I'll let the rest of them sit for a while...I'm sure they'll only get better with some age on them." Assumption or fact?...or are we going by the newer line of thinking (last 15-20 yrs) taught to use by CC producers that if we let a one dimensional cigar age, it WILL GET BETTER?
I have a bunch of cigars sitting and aging because that is the new company line...but now I think I am going to approach this differently...if I like them now, I will smoke them now. If they suck, I'm only going to give them a certain amount of time to straighten out...at that point I'll figure something out. Now, I research more carefully about a cigar before I buy, if I see comments like.."this will be outstanding in 3-5 years"....I'm not buying it. I have humidors full of that stuff already.
So is there really a "sick period" or is this spin doctoring for "let a shitty cigar sit until you forget about it?"....I don't know....just asking. I've read all about the science of this but all I know is what I know from my years of smoking...if I don't like it, I don't like it and all the talking and reading isn't going to change that. What I'm saying is that I'm kinda pissed now when I finally open a box after 2-5-8 years of aging and saying.....yuck, this sucks....and remember about our previous posting about preconceived notions (Wilkey) just confusses me more.
There are no answers to a lot of this stuff, that's what makes this passion of ours so cool.
Brian, this post is classic Internet....if you posted this in February you'd already have 60 responses...but now it's Summer and we all have other stuff to do......gotta' go now, we're heading the beach and I have to figure out what cigars I'm bringing so I can piss people off on the sand when I endanger their children with cancer from second hand smoke in 25mph winds!...should turn out to be a fun day.
Have a Great Sunday folks.
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