How To Age Cigars Perfectly
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Just like wine, cigars are herbal products that pass through several sessions of fermentation processes. And in comparison to wines, cigars also improve in richness and complexity through the aging process. It is essential to understand how to age cigars properly because incorrect storage and a haphazard aging process will damage the cigar’s flavor.
The advantages of aging cigars vary from one cigar brand to another. However, some cigars are intended for immediate smoking, whereas some more advanced cigars have specific attributes that you can only unlock after a while. Generally, full-bodied cigars obtain more benefits from aging than others.
Many cigars are good enough to smoke right after purchase; however, some need to undergo the aging process to reveal their flavors’ depth. A cigar may taste uninteresting initially but then surprisingly smooth and rich after aging it for a while.
If you are unsure about what aging will do to a new cigar brand you want to try, you can test it yourself first to determine the effects of aging on the brand and improve the quality. When you purchase a box of cigars, wait a day or two and then smoke one.
Take notes of the experience the cigar gave you and determine the aroma and flavor of the cigar. You can try another cigar from the box after a week or two and another one after a while. Keep track of different ways the cigar’s taste has changed and decide if its qualities improved.
How To Age Cigars Perfectly
Do Cigars Get Better With Age?
Cigars of good quality need aging, even after rolling them. Usually, in factories, the tobacco manufacturers make the tobacco go through an aging process for an extended period before they eventually roll the tobacco into cigars.
However, a particular fusion occurs in a premium stogie after rolling and packaging it. The flavors of the tobacco are combined and mixed, creating a more unified identity.
While aging, the cigar discards unwanted impurities that can affect the smoothness of its flavor. For cigars to improve quality through the aging process, the only necessary ingredients are time and water.
At this juncture, it is imperative to note that putting a lousy cigar through an aging process will not improve its taste or flavor. For aging to affect a stogie, it must be perfectly blended from the finest tobaccos.
What Is The Best Cigar Age?
The best cigar age depends on your choice and how powerful you prefer the taste and strength. As many rest, their intensity reduces, especially in the case of stronger cigars.
They become more refined after a while, and for cigars that are mild already, they become bland if they are kept for too long.
Cigars with bigger ring gauges benefit the most because interior tobaccos are the significant components.
A more pronounced flavor will emerge from the combination of several tobaccos in a cigar with thicker gauges as it ages.
After a few weeks of aging, there is usually a noticeable change in the cigar’s taste, and after some months and after a year or two. Buy a cigar you enjoy. Smoke one cigar after purchasing it, keep the others resting in your humidor.
After these durations, smoke another stogie and take notes of the evolvement of the taste. If you notice the differences and love the transitions, it shows that quality improves with age.
Can You Age A Cigar Too Long?
There is a limit to how long you can age your cigars. The most outstanding manufacturers of cigars understand this concept, and they fashion the aging idea to the cigars they make.
They also distribute their cigars to retailers bearing in mind that if you smoked one of the cigars straight out of the box, it would deliver a rich flavor.
Some blends of a cigar are made from already aged tobaccos. So if, for instance, you purchase one that has been aged for about ten years. Another ten years will likely ruin the quality of the stick. Generally, the quality of a cigar will not improve beyond a period of 5-7 years of aging. There are exceptions, however, and it depends on the cigar brand.
Aging Cigars The Right Way
The first requirement of aging a cigar is quality humidity. Most aficionados age their cigars by accident. When you get tired of one blend, you leave it seated in your humidor for weeks or months.
Or if you only smoke on occasion and have a full cigar box, the cigars will have enough time to rest before you smoke all of them. When you store them for long, they become investments. A good humidor will protect your cigars from losing value after aging the cigar.
Most cigar lovers who age their cigars themselves prefer to reduce their humidor’s humidity and temperature levels a bit further, usually to the lower or mid-60s.
They will typically leave the cigars stored at about 63-65% and about 63-65 degrees Fahrenheit instead of the typical 70/70 levels. Doing this will reduce the impact of environmental fluctuations in your humidor.
Changes in temperature and humidity can make your cigars enlarge in size, causing their wrappers to crack or tear. While aging, you must pay attention to your humidor.
regular intervals, refill the reservoir of your humidor. Make sure the hygrometer is appropriately set and functioning perfectly. Monitor the situation of things inside the humidor to be sure of the consistency.
Regularly, rotate your cigars, and every few weeks, move the cigars’ position in the humidor. By doing this, there will be an even distribution of humidity to all the cigars. Also, ensure that the cigars are not too much in the humidor so that air and moisture will circulate better.
Bottom Line
Aging cigars can further intensify the flavors of a stogie and make your smoking experience more pleasurable. However, it would help if you did it correctly to enjoy the aged cigar’s smoothness and richness.
It is also vital to age a cigar for a short while before extending the aging period. Doing this will help you understand the transition between those periods and the effect on your cigar.
I have been smoking cigars for 30 years and counting, I started at 18 years old with mild Cubans and worked my way up to medium and now bold. I own 4 humidors, that I try to keep stocked at all times.
