Ageing and Enjoyment

[cigarsam]

Important to note that this is only the case if they are aged correctly at a good humidity and temp

Hi Dylan!

I learned from reading don TJ's field notes that he avoided cigars that were less than 1 year old. Reason being that soon after a cigar is rolled, it enters the so-called "sick period" which is to say it begins to ferment and omit amonia. Studies have shown that after one year most of the amonia taste is gone, making it a decent smoke.

Now, some rubes....errr, I mean, folks around these parts may differ with me on the 1-year time-frame - some say less, some say more - but ol' don TJ seemed to like the one-year rule.

From my limited experience with cigars, I have found, in general, that the older the cigar the better.

But hey....that's just me.

Ricky Bobby

Spot on, although I've had a few beautiful ones moments after rolling!

[Tendarus]

So if I wanted to buy and smoke a cigar todat would an nc be a better buy than a cc?

This is an interesting question. My view is that on day 1 an NC would be ?better? in the sense it would be nearer to its full potential than a CC. I believe this is due to NCs using aged tobacco as has already been mentioned. NCs therefore don?t improve as much from that initial year or so of ageing, because they?re already closer to their best. Whereas most agree that CCs are not great when young and so improve noticeably after the first year or so.

Whether you then like either at its full potential is of course the subjective part, but the point is the fair comparison would be a NC with up to a few months age versus a CC with a year of age.

[Manning]

As has been mentioned already, I would not really worry too much about aged cigars as a beginner. Sampling different sizes and strengths of "fresh" cigars will give you a great point of reference and help hone your personal tastes, and to help you appreciate an aged cigar when/if you decide to get some.

Like fine wines, cigars can get better with age, but not always. Some are great to smoke now .

[JamesE90]

As others have mentioned I would say it definitely comes down to preference and luck of the draw. I have paid extra for aged cigars and been disappointed and also smoked cigars with under a year on them and been impressed. I also kept a box of Boli Royal Coronas aside for a favourite customer back in the day and he asked to swap them for a fresher box as he preferred the raw edge!