Friday 2nd January 2026

[Simon Bolivar]

1st smoke Iike of the year for me, a wee ERDM DT 2015, 10yrs & still improving. Down on the River Avon, lovely morning.

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[CotswoldCigar]

How does the age affect the cigar, Simon?

I've read that aging improves the sweetness (particularly for ERDM DT, PL PC etc), but does it affect the depth of flavour? Balance?

I am tempted to buy a humidor that would allow me the space for box aging....😆

[grumpybaldy]

How does the age affect the cigar, Simon?

Simon's aging or the cigar's?

[bigbarneyhotdog]

Simon's aging or the cigar's?

[Simon Bolivar]

How does the age affect the cigar, Simon?

I've read that aging improves the sweetness (particularly for ERDM DT, PL PC etc), but does it affect the depth of flavour? Balance?

I am tempted to buy a humidor that would allow me the space for box aging....😆

Hi C.C., Aging has a remarkable effect on quality premium cigars, i.e. hand rolled. I only have real experience with Cubans so my comment are based on them.

Think of cigars the same way we think of enjoy our wine. Some are happy drinking 1-2yo bottles direct from the supermarket, some will seek out 3-5yo wine & appreciate the difference. How the wine is becoming rounder, less acidic better balanced. Used to be 10yrs+ to achieve this but the industry appreciates most wine loves don't have room, the cash to invest in laying down wine so long & our desire for wanting it now.

Cuban cigars used to have a couple of yrs I n them before shipping, H&F would then keep for some time before sending to your local tobacconist so they may have 3-5 yrs already. So people would buy a box or two & smoke them, with no need to age further.

Due to the need for cash, Cuba now exports within 3months & you can find boxes on sale with just 3-6 months of age.

Presumably you are enjoying these now & if you managed to keep a box for a year, you would experience the bigget difference between fresh cigars. 3-5 yrs is man's preference but hard to find unless you have aged yourself or bought at auction.

Personally, with prices as they currently are & not likely to go down in the foreseeable future I wouldn't worrying about aging beyond a yr. You are tying up alot of cash & to have a stock of aged cigars, to smoke a dozen different vitolas a year, you can easily have 30-50 boxes stashed away.

Again personally, I prefer the more mellow & blended flav of 5-10yo Cubans, some marca's & age for longer, mostly the full bodied: Boli, Party & Cohiba but ERDM & LGC are excellent too.

There is a simple rule, if you buy faster than you smoke, your collection will grow. But beware, whilst such a habit only damages your wealth, collecting can easily become more addictive than smoking cigars!

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