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newbie question

R

Randyb1

Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
Messages
626
Any advice I can get would be appreciated.

Ive just received my first humidor and had some questions on the proper storage and ageing of cigars. Ive been a member of cigar pass for 5 days now and have been enjoying all of your posts. But I see alot of disagreement on ageing of cigars . I think all agree that ageing helps a cigar, but can you age a cigar to long? I read that over time they will lose there oils and flavor , is this even if they are kept at the right humidity. I also read in Cigar Aficionado that DAVIDOFF CHATEAU D'YQUEM was rated 100 and that was made in 1979.
Another question is if I have Tubos should I keep them in the tubes or should they be removed inside the humidor, and if so does it matter if i plan on smoking them in 6 months or 4 years.
One last question are Acids safe to put into your humidor if they are in tubes, or should they be kept in there own humidor.

Thanks for all your help.
 
I will answer what I can.

Aging is a matter of taste.

IMO there is no benefit to be gained in aging a cigar over 8-10 years. Most will peak within 5-7. I think I read an article about it at either cigar aficionado or that other one that is now dormant but still up...the name escapes me.

Pretty much the whoel point of tubos is they stay fresh without having to put them in a humi. Save the space and use the tubos for travelling, gifting to people w/o humis, etc. Of course tubes are made by humans and therefore fail sometimes.

As far as the acids, well they are in tubes, no need to take a chance and put them in with your others.

I once had a Blondie, kept it in the ziploc it came in and put it in my humi. had it there for several weeks with no bad effects on my other sticks. But I woudl not store one loose, unless you were doing an eperiment with imparting a slight flavor to the other sticks. But intentionally imparting flavor to cigars has been covered in other threads.....

And don't let anybody flame you for smoking flavored cigars! TO each his own.
 
My 2 cents. Make sure that you wipe down the whole inside of your humidor with distilled water. Every inch of it. Put in your humi device also. Do not open your box for about 24-48 hrs. Do this before you have put a single cigar in it.

I used to be a big believer in letting cigars age with each other. Always thought that cigars draw oils from each other. From my personal experience I think that they ditract from each other. Case in point, my Opus X cigars do not taste or smell the same as when I first pull them from the celophane. The smell on these cigars is so unique when first opened, but I have noticed that they do not smell the same at all after aging in my humi. I have over 60 Opus X's and I kick mysef in the butt for mixing them with other naturals, even of very high quality. I have started to leave all of my cigars in there celo wrapper and noticed a big difference. If you are going to leave them together make sure you keep naturals with naturals and maduros with maduros.

Make sure you rotate you cigars every so often as well.

You want to kind of develop a small film on your cigars. My opinion is that if a cigar develops this film it means that it is properly aging, oils are releasing and becoming more complex which is what you want for its flavors.

I would definetely keep the Acids or any flavored cigars out of your humi that contain you quality cigars. You do not want a Padron Anniversary aquiring the scent an oil of an Acid or flavored cigar.

This is all my opinion, there are many people on this site who are avid cigar smokers and know their stuff. I suggest you take some advice from everyone and make you own conclusion.

Dale por la cabeza muchacho.
 
Thanks for the info Lumberg , didnt know that flavered cigars were tabo, really feal like a newbe now lol. Think Ill still try on just to see, never know if you dont try.

Looking for something different than what ive been smoking Drew Estate Vatural Elixer 5-50, AVOs not sure what ones and Nostalgia Robusto. They were good but I think to mild for what im looking for. Guess I havent found my nick yet.
 
I had heard that you need to wipe the inside with distilled water but my humidor instructions said it would dammage the humidor so just used beeds and 50 50.
Hope it works out ok im at 66% so looks like im about ready.

Thanks for the imput
 
Bottom line is don't worry about it too much as long as you don't intend on aging them for 5+ years. When I first got my humidor I wasted a lot of time and energy making sure everything would be perfect. You really have to be either dumb or have to really try to ruin a cigar. As long as you keep the cigars in an environment that isn't completely hostile (way too humid/hot or way too dry/cold) they will be fine. Even if they do linger in hostile conditions they can ususally be nursed back as long as they haven't been there too long.

Most cigars do not get worse as they age past a point. The likelyhood of them being worse is higher, though, because there was all that time for something bad to happen to them. There is a "peak period" usually after (around) 3-4 years and after that point the common misconception is that they start tasting progressively worse. They don't get worse - they just age a whole lot slower. Things age very fast at first (3 months can be a huge change for a newly purchased cigar) and after the peak period they age so slowely it would take a year for you to even notice a difference.

Like I said, though, a cigar that has been around for a decade or more has had a lot of time for it to have been screwed up. If someone down the street said they had a '79 Davidoff they had been keeping and asked me if I was interested I would probably say no unless it was a steal or I knew the guy was big on cigars because it would take a huge amount of work for a person to keep cigars well kept through life. Chances are very high that it was out of a humidor for a long period after a move or something like that that ruined it. I'm sure that Cigar Aficionado gets its cigars from '79 from a cigar shop that specializes in keeping cigars for aging constantly pampered.

If you are very serious about aging for 5+ years, then there are a lot of paranoid things you will want to do (ignore the part above about not worrying :) ). First thing would be to get a separate humidor just for aging (you wouldn't want to keep them in the same humidor you open and close on a regular basis).

Tubos are fine in their tubes for around a year or two. If you want to keep them longer than that then I'd throw them in a humidor.

Why put Acids in a humidor if they are in tubes? If they are in tubes then you might as well just throw them in a drawer.
 
Wish I had a flag icon cause I disagree with some that is posted. So I guess I will break it down:

1. You can't use a blanket to cover aging. Sure you can age a Macanudo Robust for 5-7 years, then light it up and smoke it. Sure it will be creamy. And it will be tasteless. Some blends will be great aged! A lot won't be. So to say 5-7 years is where you will get maximum benefit from aging is ludicris. A Mac you might be able to sit on for 2 years before it is tasteless, a Flor de Allones or Bolivar Fuerte could very well age for 10+ years berfore your returns diminish.

2. Put your tubes in the humi. Do not leave them out unless you are going to smoke em soon. Just put them in the humi. I personally just take the cap off to let them breathe just a little.

3. Get a tupperware and a home made humidifier for your flavored cigars. Aging will not change these too much. The changes will be from humidity equalization and the loss the added flavor.

4. Age your cigars at the RH the smoke best at or just a little higher. If a cigar smokes hot when stored at %65, don't age it at that level. Lower temps and higher humidity will slow oil evaporation.

5. For long term ageing, use a seperate cabinate or cooler. Put your boxes in there and let them be. Don't open the humi unnecessarily. Your boxes are enough buffer from any type of marrying. If you keep the boxes shut, they will dold their aroma a lot better..

6. Put a fan on a timer in your ageing humi. This relieves opening the humi to rotate.

7. Some cigars taste better young, with little age.

I am currently working on a FAQ for the site. Ageing will be a part of the pages. The key is to experiment and finds which works best for you.

Emo
 
Thanks for all the help you cleared up alot of questions I had.
Looks like a great site Cigar Pass has made a newbe feal right at home.
 
ivan37 said:
Tubos are fine in their tubes for around a year or two. If you want to keep them longer than that then I'd throw them in a humidor.
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Ivan... with all due respect Bro.

That has to be the most inaccurate statement I have seen on CP yet. ???

A Year? or two?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
 
Excellent job Emo, form what I know about aging cigars, emo covered all the bases.

I'll just add that I think it's best to age whole boxes of cigars, keep the cigars in their boxes (like emo said, you can't give a "blanket" statement like this either 'cause there will be exceptions) and keep a cooler or a large humi separate from the humi you open everyday for your regular smokes.

From my reading and experience with most Havanas (like the Davidoff you mentioned earlier Randy) is the longer the better (20 or 30 years) well, hell I probably won't live THAT long but again, the consensus with Havanas seems to be to age them for quite a while (at least five years). There are one or two brands (Hoyo de Monterrey comes to mind right off the top of my head) that supposedly DO NOT take to aging. Again, the consensus is that Hoyo's taste bland after ten years. These are Havana Hoyos, not the Hondurans.
 
SD_Stack said:
ivan37 said:
Tubos are fine in their tubes for around a year or two. If you want to keep them longer than that then I'd throw them in a humidor.
Click to expand...
Ivan... with all due respect Bro.

That has to be the most inaccurate statement I have seen on CP yet. ???

A Year? or two?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Click to expand...
I know I've read that a couple places...what's wrong with it?
 
The seal on a Corked tube or Aluminum tube is not air tight. So if you are planning on aging the cigars, they need to be in a humidified environment with the cap off. Depening on the climate you live in, cigars may survive in sealed tubes for a long long time. Now the cigar may come out crinkled due to the daily change in humidity levels. So if you are going to age properly, put em in the humi, if you plan on smoking them in a few weeks, perhaps letting them sit might be best.

Emo
 
emodx said:
The seal on a Corked tube or Aluminum tube is not air tight. So if you are planning on aging the cigars, they need to be in a humidified environment with the cap off. Depening on the climate you live in, cigars may survive in sealed tubes for a long long time. Now the cigar may come out crinkled due to the daily change in humidity levels. So if you are going to age properly, put em in the humi, if you plan on smoking them in a few weeks, perhaps letting them sit might be best.

Emo
Click to expand...
Thanks Emo. :)
 
Also, if you have different types of cigars, you can use Cedar seperators to keep the flavors from mixing too much. Put your Mild cigars on one side and the strong/full bodies cigars on the other.
 
considering my 'aged in humi' cigars stay there for only a few months, mixing is not a problem, I would suggest separating the flav. ones though.

personally, like D.E. nat. line. esp. pimp stick and mixed elements, but also like Montecristos and Opus X DCs and ISOMs and anything that is cheap and tasts great.

there is room in your life for all types.

:thumbs:
 
Right now I have trouble ageing new cigars for 2 weeks let alone 1 or 2 years, maybe in a few months the new will wear off and I wont have to try everything when I first get them , but I dont see that happening at the preasent. :D
 
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