Resting

[CentralTimeSmoke]

Personally, I’ve learned over the years that resting cigars is an important part of my cigar experience. Cigars are often stored at too high of an RH for me, whether from an online retailer or B&M. Resting allows them to acclimate. Most importantly, this helps them burn truer, and it also removes unwanted flavors. Nearly all of my cigars rest for at least three months. It’s a habit I picked up from The Cigar Forum That Shall Not Be Named. The thought being, three months should bring even the most humid of cigars down to my target of 65. This is hard to do at first, but I dedicated a tax return a couple years ago to build up my stash so that I always have plenty of well-rested stogies on-hand and it just doesn’t make sense to sacrifice a ROTT bitter bomb when I’ve got something with six months on it.

I’ve essentially eliminated burn issues from my cigars, except for those that are simply roller-error, and that’s still pretty rare. It’s a tried and true method that many veterans I know use. That’s why I’m always surprised when I see guys like Steve Saka say this:



He’s far from the only industry guy that I’ve seen say this. In fact, people like me are likely the exception, not the rule. But I can’t tell Steve Saka, who has been blending and smoking fine cigars for longer than I’ve been alive, that he’s wrong. He’s a genius when it comes to cigars. His entire line is probably in my top 5. But I also don’t think it’s a matter of opinion that cigars burn terribly and have off flavors when they’re stored at retailers’ preferred RH of 70 (or even above!) - and I also think it takes way longer than a few days to fully bring down the RH of a cigar. So, what say you, bums? What’s your experience with resting, what’s your preferred technique and RH and why do you think veterans like Saka aren’t on board?