Resting Cigars

Opus X should always be rested. I smoke one from 04 yesterday and it blows anything from today out of the water. They are blended for that. I'm convinced.

Over the years its been hit or miss on the Non Cuban front...some do ok with age (2 or more years) and some drop off completely. I believe Jose Padron was quoted that his blends were ment to be smoked not aged (if i can find it I will add it to this post). Opus will get better with age but most just need a rest and acclamate to your environment and will be good to go..

No Cubans are a whole nother animal but more of the recent batches have been ready with out age which wasn't such the case in previous years...

Just my opinion and yours may be different which makes this hobby of ours so great. Find out what works for you.


The Troll

Smoking an Avo, and as usual they seem good despite not resting. I've not been disappointed, but don't understand why they haven't had issues. Age maybe?

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Originally Posted by HabanoMan

It has been a while since I smoked anything with less than 5 years on it. Keep in mind that I mostly smoke Habanos but I do smoke some non-Habanos also. I feel that the more age on the cigar the better the flavors meld together resulting in a smoother more well rounded smoke.

As far as aging cigars for a very long time, I have some Clear Havanas (cigars made in the U.S. with Cuban tobacco before the embargo) that are from the 40's and 50's. The are pretty darn good smokes. ;)

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Yeah, I got some Florida Queens from 1946 and they are wonderful! Complex and smooth at the same time. I must try and get some more!

This is the topic of main interest for me for cigars. I will probably be posting about this most, at least with questions.

First one is the sick period. Any way to tell before you light up the cigar? Most that I have had that I thought were going through the sick period were 1-2 years old and started out fine, but fairly quickly devolved to the acidic harsh taste that I assume is sickness.

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Originally Posted by fastnbulbous

This is the topic of main interest for me for cigars. I will probably be posting about this most, at least with questions.

First one is the sick period. Any way to tell before you light up the cigar? Most that I have had that I thought were going through the sick period were 1-2 years old and started out fine, but fairly quickly devolved to the acidic harsh taste that I assume is sickness.

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I've always heard they have a slight ammoniated smell 👃

Sick?!?! What is that?

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Originally Posted by rodwha

Sick?!?! What is that?

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When the cigars are being rolled all the leaf gets moistened as part of the process. That usually makes the leaf start to ferment again giving the cigar an ammonia smell while the taste can be bland or nearly flavorless altogether. They call this the sick period. Per Steve Saka, it usually takes ~60 days post roll(depending on how heavy the leaf is) for the cigar to go through this phase. The ammonia tends to take months to fully go away though and many times the cigar will still need more down time to come into its own.

Given that most manufacturers age their cigars for six months to years after it's rolled, most consumers should not find a cigar that is in its sick period, through normal retail channels.

Gotcha. Sure am learning a bit around here!