Calling All Stockmen...

[Robusto]

My cigar stock is max 50 and always going down. I buy more when I have two or three sticks left.

I haven't ever set about stocking cigars, but the humi photos on the forum - especially Rok's :biggrin1: - have made me start thinking seriously about making myself a store.

I'd love to know from the stockmen how long it took you to lay down so many cigars, and did you plan your purchases carefully?

[Gary]

Robusto, I wouldn't consider myself a "Stockmam" as in I haven't got a load of cigars aging, well not yet, I have handful's of different cigars that have some years of age on them. I have about 20 or so Montecristo Petit Edmundo's with about 2 years on them, same age on about 10 Opus X as well as a dozen or so Rocky Patels 1990/1992 and lesser numbers of other Cubans and some NC.

But I am also considering or have been considering for some time about aging, and as have said in other posts am hopefully getting a wine cooler soon to convert to a humidor that will be able to hold and age maybe 20 boxes or more if I get boxes of 10's.

With regards to your question about careful choice about your purchase of boxes to store/age, I think you've hit on an important point! Obviously each to their own, people will store and stock what they want to and so they should, but personally, when I start aging boxes I think I'm going to be focusing on Regional Editions and Limited Editions rather than just normal boxes of Cubans. Obviously I'll probably have the odd box or two of my favourites like Ramon Allones Specially Selected but I think with RE and LE cigars these MAY age better (although not every one produced) and because they are only made over the course of a 12 month period or so and then stopped with time they will be harder to get and hopefully your investment should increase in value, although buying for selling is obviously not my main objective, but on the other hand it can't hurt me either :biggrin1:

[Stogiedog]

I have got my coolidor working fine stable at 68%RH. Collected my first box of R&J Short Churchills to put into the coolidor after seeing the large collections of cigars that forum members have I am sure that someone will have an answer to my simple question.

Do you leave the cigar box lid closed / sealed or do you open / take the lid off the box as if the cigars were in a table top humidor or does it not matter?

Thanks

The Dog

[Gary]

Dog,

I would definately leave the lid on the box, it will protect the cigars from possible damage at the very least! Personally, if i buy a box of cigars I always open them just to check that everything is ok inside.

But i would definately leave the lid box on, it doesn't really matter too much I don't think if it's sealed or not because the Spanish cedar that the boxes are made of can absorb moisture and keep the cigars in good condition and stop them from drying out.

Good choice of box by the way, R&J Short Churchills are good!

[TJCoro]

My cigar stock is max 50 and always going down. I buy more when I have two or three sticks left.

I haven't ever set about stocking cigars, but the humi photos on the forum - especially Rok's :biggrin1: - have made me start thinking seriously about making myself a store.

I'd love to know from the stockmen how long it took you to lay down so many cigars, and did you plan your purchases carefully?

:41:Robusto,

I've been aging puros since 2002, but it happened quite by accident, really. I think what started me on aging was getting a humidor big enough to store boxes, rather than just a few sticks.

My Plan? When I find a puro/cigar I like, I sometimes buy two boxes if I can get a good price. I will smoke from one box and saved the other. Before I finished the first box, I buy another so the original box can continue to age.

This can get quite expensive, as you can imagine. So another aging method I use is to save the last two cigars of each box, mark them with the factory code and date, and store them in a seperate box in my humidor. I currently have two boxes of pairs aging this way- the oldest with 7 years and the youngest with 2.

TJ :41:

[spirit_of_will]

B/SOTL's - keeping with the recent spirit of resurrecting old threads, I've just found this one...

I'm keen to follow on from Robusto's question and wonder if and what strategy any of you had in trying to build up some stocks for aging purposes?

[bigbarneyhotdog]

buy more than you smoke, that's the only answer.

[TJCoro]

buy more than you smoke, that's the only answer.


:nerd: Senor hoggrande is correct! But if you are trying to age a few sticks on a budget, I suggest you use the method suggested by the late, great don :bandit: TJ, TJ Coro, and I quote:

"This can get quite expensive, as you can imagine. So another aging method I use is to save the last two cigars of each box, mark them with the factory code and date, and store them in a seperate box in my humidor. I currently have two boxes of pairs aging this way- the oldest with 7 years and the youngest with 2. "

Currently, the old bastard has over 3 boxes of two-fers going back to 2002, with a few singles from 1990!


6127


:juggle: Walk away from don TJ's aging boxes BB, and think of England!

[whisky77]

I use a similar method to TJ with ageing and storing the smokes I really enjoy. I will sometimes leave 5 or 10 cigars in the box before moving onto the next box. Try stickng them at the back of the humi and forgetting about them.

[monkey66]

I have been buying to age for about 3 years now. I am still buying more that I smoke but am beginning to slow down my buying.

My goal is to have a rolling stock of 5-10 year aged sticks at which point I should only need to buy 50 or so sticks per year that I smoke to top up. This means a ageing stock of 250-500 sticks.

Such is the theory :41:

[Mark3142]

THat is some investment to have up to 500 sticks in stock. Not sure I could justify that amount. I need to concentrate on smoking the 4 sticks I have first before I start stacking

[monkey66]

We all started with 4 sticks ...then the affliction gets hold :twitch:

[TJCoro]

I need to concentrate on smoking the 4 sticks I have first before I start stacking


FOUR STICKS??? 6133



6135 Umm. I have the perfect avatar for you junior.... :willy:





6134


:juggle: Hey BB! You're going straight to HELL!6136



6134 Maybe...but I'm taking don TJ's puros with me! 6137

[Mark3142]

It's hard to know sticks to try. Everyone says the ones they smoke are the best. For a complete newbie like myself the choice is unbelievable. At the moment I feel like a 6 yr old in a sweetie shop with no one behind the counter

[cohibaIV]

:rock:
B/SOTL's - keeping with the recent spirit of resurrecting old threads, I've just found this one...

I'm keen to follow on from Robusto's question and wonder if and what strategy any of you had in trying to build up some stocks for aging purposes?


Resurrect away mate.....Nothing wrong with bring up old threads...:rock:

[Puff Scotty]

It's hard to know sticks to try. Everyone says the ones they smoke are the best. For a complete newbie like myself the choice is unbelievable. At the moment I feel like a 6 yr old in a sweetie shop with no one behind the counter

Just steal the buggers then!

I started with loads of sticks...thanks Dad...

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSImd0tXhwQJMwrPgq1z0HPyFfgo30hh q9_Bkz6IcW8wQB55qVh&t=1

[Simon Bolivar]

Robusto,
The only way to lay down stock sufficently to proved aged supply is treat the way you would a wine cellar, think of the amount of stock you would need to drink 2-3 bottles of vintage wine a week/month & with aging between 5-10yrs you'll end up with a similar scenario.

First workout how long you favourite smokes need to reach pefection, if your not sure, you could consult MRN; realising that unless you smoke them 25 in a row, you will have a box on the go for a yr or two, in my case several. Remember we are talking, as Monkey66 said of stock 250- 500+.

Then work out how many you smoke a yr (check back on your diary & add 20% for good measure). Don't forget to allow for sharing with friends if you are of such a generous dispositon.
List the boxes you'd like & if you can find one or two with a few yrs one them that will give you a head start.

Plan how many you think your finnances will allow you to buy a yr. I set a budget & over the last 7yrs have stuck to it pretty closely.

Then make an annual smoke plan (hopefully see attached don't not if I can add XL file?) go through & work out whether your likely to smoke 3, 6 or more of that particular box pa. The more you smoke of one particular vitola, the more boxes you'll have to lay down of it. I smoke a large variety & only the box I hold are listed on this form. Those listed at the bottom are the single I have brought/swapped/ gifted/ 'inherted'. These have waved my plan over the last two yrs, allowing me to let my boxes age more whilst I consume stock aged by others.

I know there are lots of you already thinking 'anorak' & I am fairly flexible about my actual smoking, it's not often I smoke the predicited amount but it has served a useful guide.

I know when you only have 50-100 stix you can't see this far ahead & it seems in a completely different league but it's easier than you think with planning & some cash slated away (the odd bonus & savings coming up helped me).

There are too many varibles to be accurate of course. The amount you smoke changes from yr to yr depending on enthusiam, weather & health. Your tastes change as you try new brands & of course there's a constant stream of new EL & RE's coming along to tempt you from the planned path.
But why spend so much on EL's that have tobbaco aged a couple of yrs when you can smoke your own 5-10 yr stix?

Any sensible questions can be PM'd & if the attachment doesn't work, I can email the spread sheet to anyone whose interested in starting something similar. I know there are programmes out there far more complicated than mine but it serves my purpose.

[TJCoro]

Senor6140 simplesimon....your a thoughtful hombre and put up some interesting posts...
...but Jesus H. Crist, man - Fix your "enter" Key.6144

Just a few spaces between sentences every now and then would be nice....nice, indeed!


6139


:juggle: Hey BB! I think I'm gonna' be sick....6142

[Simon Bolivar]

Perdon Senor TJ, I had comms problems last night & had tried to enter a corrected copy doesn't seem to have taken. Hopefully it's slight more readable now. Hope your feeling better now?

[JOAO LA PEZ]

Mark, keep an eye on the for sale and box splits sections, i have used blind faith and made great purchases every time, i too have a plan buy 5, smoke 2, stock 3, its almost working,

[spirit_of_will]

:nerd: Senor hoggrande is correct! But if you are trying to age a few sticks on a budget, I suggest you use the method suggested by the late, great don :bandit: TJ, TJ Coro, and I quote:

"This can get quite expensive, as you can imagine. So another aging method I use is to save the last two cigars of each box, mark them with the factory code and date, and store them in a seperate box in my humidor. I currently have two boxes of pairs aging this way- the oldest with 7 years and the youngest with 2. "

Currently, the old bastard has over 3 boxes of two-fers going back to 2002, with a few singles from 1990!


6127


:juggle: Walk away from don TJ's aging boxes BB, and think of England!




TJ - using your method of stashing 2/3 sticks from each box away to age. At what stage do you decide to give the "aged" sticks a firey send off?

[spirit_of_will]

We all started with 4 sticks ...then the affliction gets hold :twitch:

Odd how quick that starts to happen..........

[TJCoro]

TJ - using your method of stashing 2/3 sticks from each box away to age. At what stage do you decide to give the "aged" sticks a firey send off?
http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6170&d=1297517566 Umm. Good question,senor http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6171&d=1297517684spirit.

I leave that decision up the http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6169&d=1297517491spirit of the puro - the puro will let me know when it's time.

http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6168&d=1297517416I've always imagined it would be a nice, sunny summer day and nary a cloud in the sky, with my favorite books and perro at my sidehttp://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6160&d=1297516602....perhaps one or two of Catalina Joy's amigas...

http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6164&d=1297517100http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6167&d=1297517335



:hmmmm2: But if forced to speculate, I would say a good time to spark up would be around 10 years, but no earlier than that!

http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6172&d=1297517745

[Fat1]

I have only started to buy boxes very recently, and I have no real aged stock to speak of yet. Unfortunately all the cubans I have bought in the past got gobbled up quickly as I just cant resist.

I am working on the ageing thing however.....

My cuban stock consists of -

2 boxes of P SD4s ( one of which is nearly a year old )

1 box of JL2s dated Jul 2010 and 10 singles of various dates

30 HDM PRs (15 of which are now 16 months old).

[monkey66]

I have only started to buy boxes very recently, and I have no real aged stock to speak of yet. Unfortunately all the cubans I have bought in the past got gobbled up quickly as I just cant resist.

I am working on the ageing thing however.....

My cuban stock consists of -

2 boxes of P SD4s ( one of which is nearly a year old )

1 box of JL2s dated Jul 2010 and 10 singles of various dates

30 HDM PRs (15 of which are now 16 months old).

Your on the way :41:

[Fat1]

http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6170&d=1297517566 Umm. Good question,senor http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6171&d=1297517684spirit.

I leave that decision up the http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6169&d=1297517491spirit of the puro - the puro will let me know when it's time.

http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6168&d=1297517416I've always imagined it would be a nice, sunny summer day and nary a cloud in the sky, with my favorite books and perro at my sidehttp://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6160&d=1297516602....perhaps one or two of Catalina Joy's amigas...

http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6164&d=1297517100http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6167&d=1297517335



:hmmmm2: But if forced to speculate, I would say a good time to spark up would be around 10 years, but no earlier than that!

http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6172&d=1297517745





The only problem I can forsee in my case is that the longer I age them, the harder it will be to bring myself to smoke them. I am a sentimental bugger like that.

[monkey66]

We all suffer the same problem, especially when you get down to the last one of anything.

[spirit_of_will]

http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6170&d=1297517566 Umm. Good question,senor http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6171&d=1297517684spirit.

I leave that decision up the http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6169&d=1297517491spirit of the puro - the puro will let me know when it's time.

http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6168&d=1297517416I've always imagined it would be a nice, sunny summer day and nary a cloud in the sky, with my favorite books and perro at my sidehttp://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6160&d=1297516602....perhaps one or two of Catalina Joy's amigas...

http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6164&d=1297517100http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6167&d=1297517335



:hmmmm2: But if forced to speculate, I would say a good time to spark up would be around 10 years, but no earlier than that!

http://www.ukcigarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6172&d=1297517745





That fabled sunny day eh... looking forward to a few of those this summer so that I can sit outside and smoke a few of the small stock that I'm building up. I guess at this stage in things for me, it's planning what sticks to smoke this summer is the main thing...

[TJCoro]

The only problem I can forsee in my case is that the longer I age them, the harder it will be to bring myself to smoke them. I am a sentimental bugger like that.


6184Your are very wise, senor6189Fatone.

But that's why you save two: one for smoking and one for admiring! 6183


6185

[cbob]

My goal is to have a rolling stock of 5-10 year aged sticks at which point I should only need to buy 50 or so sticks per year that I smoke to top up. This means a ageing stock of 250-500 sticks.

Such is the theory :41:

:tongue: As the saying goes: "The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions"

I've also been collecting with ageing in mind but it's hard to keep my hands off those tasty beauties.
The original rule was: "Leave to rest for 2 years minimum."
Sure, except for the ones you smoked before you got the box home, the ones you sampled "just to be sure" during the two years... etc. etc. etc
With a 50 cigar limit on Duty Free imports, I have only so many boxes coming in during the year. My "Wish List" for shopping trips to Cuba always has all the boxes that I'm running low on but with so much to choose from, I often buy boxes of something else.
Result: while I have almost 150 boxes in my humidor, many boxes are 1/2 full or less.
Not that I can complain too loudly-I've been enjoying many smokes in my collection that have 8-10 years on them and whenever possible, I buy boxes that already have some age. The ones that are sadly missed are those cigars from 1995-2000 that were smoked up while my stock was building.
The advice to "buy two" of everything is good as far as it goes but unless you have a big budget and are importing (illegally, yes, but everyone seems to be doing it) dozens of boxes every year, it will take willpower and buying a lot of singles at local B&Ms to preserve your treasures while building up the ageing stock.

[michael69]

First of all (of course) plan to age/lay down cigars you enjoy. Then consider "investment" potential; limited production, rarity etc.

I mainly buy singles, and I only have about a dozen complete boxes some of which have a fairly small potential in terms of possible re-selling, but are for enjoying later - couple of boxes of monte sublimes, couple of siglo 6 cabs, Trinidad fundadores, Robustos Extra, Robustos T, Ingenios, Cohiba lanceros.... these are cigars I particularly enjoy and plan to smoke anyway. To me, there's no question cigars with some age on them are better.

But I have some which I may (if I feel like it when the time comes) sell on because they will undoubtedly have increased in 'value', these include a box of each of the Behike line, 10 siglo 6 Gran reserva, 30-odd PL magnificos, Edmundo Dante's, various RE releases.... the Behikes, planned to be an ongoing line, are slightly different but I reckon that these original first releases will become sought-after much like the original 2003 siglo 6's are now (of course they're likely to be a great smoke in a few years time anyway)

To me it's part of the fun knowing you can smoke 'em, or decide to trade/sell should you be so inclined in 5-10 years (or whatever). I always plan to smoke them at some point, but you never know what the future holds.

Also, thinking about cigars like this makes sense; you spend, for example, c.£1000 on Gran Reserva's now, how much could you expect to get for them down the line....?

Many would say it's an insane price for a cigar, but I'd say in response "how much do you reckon your I-Pad/Phone/Mac/3D TV will be worth in 6 months time let alone 5 years?" True, you buy said gadget for it's usefulness now not for it's resale value, but it kind of puts the high price of cubans in some perspective; at least their potential value is appreciating rather than depreciating (works for me anyway!)

I do the same thing with whisky too by the way.....

[Simon Bolivar]

150 Boxes:hail: Do you have a full closet/wardrobe size humi ?
Any photos's, love to drool over them:biggrin1:

[cbob]

150 Boxes:hail: Do you have a full closet/wardrobe size humi ?
Any photos's, love to drool over them:biggrin1:

I'm just estimating based on the last inventory that listed over 1800 cigars and that many boxes are only 1/2 full. :tongue:

[monkey66]

Now that's a stash, love the central humidifier :41:

[peanutpete]

nice set up Bob, i notice that you also have a hygometer on the out side,do you have sensors in side the humi and if yes are they any good? or is it used for the room humidity

[spirit_of_will]

I'm just estimating based on the last inventory that listed over 1800 cigars and that many boxes are only 1/2 full. :tongue:

Can't get much closer to the dictionary definition of "stockman"...

MAN that is what I call some STOCK!:hail:

Thanks for all the replies since I revived this... certainly plenty of food for thought, from the simple "buy more than you smoke" mantra to some seriously well thought out plans to build sufficient long-term stocks for aging. It certainly helps to see how other more experienced smokers set about their buying plans...

My stock has been slowly building since I got back from Cuba with 40 sticks... I need to set about smoking some of the ones that I've not tried yet!

Cheers for all the advice so far, if there's more... do keep it coming!

Will

[cbob]

nice set up Bob, i notice that you also have a hygometer on the out side,do you have sensors in side the humi and if yes are they any good? or is it used for the room humidity

This pic was taken when I was just setting up and "settling in" the new humidor after construction.
The little white machine on the right was just sitting there to check the calibration of the larger device beside it, which is a "Base Station" for a Thermometer/Hygrometer system that includes small remote sending units that are inside boxes in four areas of the humidor.
It allows me to check the room conditions and the actual conditions right there where the cigars live without opening the doors.
Bought it at Radio Shack a few years ago: has a radio-updating atomic clock and Max/Min readings for each channel.

[Kubano]

It took me ten years to put my collection together of 1,000 + cigars.
6210

[peanutpete]

thanks for the info Bob.
looking good kubano

[SmokeyDave]

Lovely looking collections cbob & kubano, what are the oldest cigars you have?

[cbob]

Lovely looking collections cbob & kubano, what are the oldest cigars you have?

The oldest in any quantity are from 1997.

[cohibaIV]

I'm just estimating based on the last inventory that listed over 1800 cigars and that many boxes are only 1/2 full. :tongue:

Top collection.

[Kubano]

Lovely looking collections cbob & kubano, what are the oldest cigars you have?

Have 3 Dips #2 from 02/1997 left.