Printable View
Pretty simple question, but begs a lot of complicated answers. Watch out, this one's gonna get frisky!
The premise is pretty simple; IN GENERAL, you lik'em fresh and smok'em as soon as you gett'em. One to six months rest, six months to a year of rest, 1-2 years rest, or >4 years? I thought these were pretty sturdy and generally accepted categories. I think it'll be really fun to see how the votes go. We'll no doubt get all the whys and why'fors in the thread.
Have fun with this!
Loaded question!
IMHO any cigar "I" would buy is ready ROTT. Look in my humidor, and AGED is dominating.
I like to let mine sit for 12-24 months
How old do I prefer my cigars to be when I smoke them? Most cigars, anywhere from one to five years; I clicked on "four or more".
How old are my cigars when I smoke them? That's a totally different question. I'm stocked up enough that some of them might survive a year or so, provided I buy plenty of others to smoke ROTT.
I'll always give my cigars a week or two in the humi to rest after shipping. Then they just wait their turn. I care not for the age they have on them as most I wouldn't have an exact clue. What I care about is if it tastes good when I set it on fire :D
I think at least half the cigars in my humidors have spent over a year in there. I do smoke some cigars ROTT just as an experiment and couple months down the road. I find most cigars benefit greatest with a month of rest. Improvement tapers off after that in increments of 6 months, 1 year, then 3 years. I'll smoke anything that tickles my mood though whether it being 5 years old or ROTT.
Skipped right over 36 months huh…….
I only started purchasing in any real volume about 4 years ago. So, I don't have many cigars older than that. Now everything I buy goes into the tupper for about a year or more. Then it moves into one of the desk tops. I smoke from those and they probably take a year or so to turn over. By the time I smoke it, I've had it about 1-2 years.
I started smoking cigars 3 years ago, and started real slow, a cigar a month or so for the first year. I now smoke a cigar per day most days, and only recently acquired a large enough humidor that my stash will last more than 6 months.
I buy to smoke, not to age, but now some of them should go a year or more before I finish the box.
I wish I had any type of stock to have them age. One day it will happen, just not today...or tomorrow!
I usually have at least one with in a few weeks of coming off the truck. After that I usually let them sit for at least six months and start to slowly go through them.
By the time I'm done with a box, the last few to be smoked will have over a year of rest on them.
Tricky question. So many "it depends" involved. But based on the choices, I'm in the 12-24 months bracket.
I clicked on more than four years. Although, that's just because I buy far too many cigars than I can smoke. I'm getting better the past year or two but still can't help myself at times.
Actually, I prefer mine light, but MOST don't make it past a year.....
The bulk of my cigars have 3+ years age on them. Not because I really choose to rest them this long, more so because I smoke a pipe 99.9% of the time over a stick. The added benefit? All my cigars have tasty age, the curse of the situation? Now I only like well rested sticks.... :rolleyes:
At this point I had to say 1-6 months because I only started buying cigars to hold for any length of time a few months ago. Ask me again in a couple years and my answer will likely be different.
to be honest, I never really bought cigars with the intent to age, I just kept buying and buying and don't smoke faster than I buy them. Now I just rotate through them, but most stuff has over a year on them at this point.
Almost all of mine are 2-3 years at this point with the exception of a fresh batch of opus I picked up in November. It started because I have CAD and can't help it once I find something I like, then I tried a few that had a couple years on them and loved them even more. There is one cigar that is a bit of an exception for me. There's a shop in Charleston called Lianos Dos Palmas that rolls is shop some great maduros (IMO). When they are truly fresh rolled they are awesome! Then they have a sick period that can last a few months where I won't touch them, then back to awesome! So those, I tend to either smoke ROTT or after several months.
I'm not a "buy to age guy". I'm a "buy to smoke guy". Like Fox said, I try to give mine a few weeks rest to acclimate, then they wait in line. Accounting for the frequency at which I buy and smoke, I guess I'm currently right on the border of 1-6 mths and 8-12 mths by the time a cigars number comes up. Since the time frame has been slowly edging higher since getting serious about this hobby a couple years ago, I voted the 8 -12 months option.Quote:
Originally Posted by T.E.Fox
Smoke one with two weeks in the humidor. Then decide on the time it needs. I have Viaje that will sit for 1 to 3 years, production CC that will sit for 3+, etc.
Typically don't crack into a box for at least six months. The number of years really depends on the cigar.
Everything I have in my humi is in danger of death by fire any time I open it.
I'm not into spice bombs and am a nicotine weakling, so if I can let cigars sit for long enough or pick them up over 4 years old I do.