The concept of aged cigars....

[Stevieboy]

I've been smoking cigars for about 8 years or so and I think I've smoked almost every regularly available cigar there is to smoke. I've smoked very recent and 15 to 20 year old cigars. The very, very best cigars I've ever smoked have been less than 3 years old....IMO I should add
....I spoke to an old gent who works in a famous London shop who told me as a matter of fact that a cigar has a max of 10 years lifespan before it starts to decline..he was actually chuckling away at the "mugs" and "pompous blowhards" who spend a fortune on older cigars...
Whether he's a right or not is a matter of opinion but I have to say that for me, recent smokes far outweigh all the so-called vintage cigars I've tried

[El Catador]

(Shush man... you'll offend the 'pompous blowhards'...
In case you missed it... some of those guys are 'tooled-up'!)

As for me?
Over the years I've smoked some exemplary 'aged/vintage' cigars, however, if I was to consult my: 'Top 10 cigars ever smoked' list (Don't snigger, I 'know' you have one too) I'd have to confess, more than half were sticks with less than five years age on them.
...And two of 'em were pretty much straight out of the box!

(Just think, there are some P.B's who won't even consider smoking a cigar unless it's got more than two years on it... 'Poor Buggers'... they don't know what they're missing)

It takes 'allsorts' though... and some people prefer to delay their gratification.

(perverts)

[jebus]

Interesting post. I'd love to know if we could compile a list of cigars that, although obviously get better with age, are fantastic right out the box. For example, the Trini Reyes i have are excellent and they're from ENE 11 (little bambinos).

On the other hand, I have some SCdLH El Principe and they're also from 2011 - I certainly feel like they need at least a year or two to chill out a bit.

[tippexx]

[QUOTE=jebus;145576]Interesting post. I'd love to know if we could compile a list of cigars that, although obviously get better with age, are fantastic right out the box. For example, the Trini Reyes i have are excellent and they're from ENE 11 (little bambinos).

http://www.ukcigarforums.com/showthread.php?7883-Ready-to-smoke-young-recommendations

[jebus]

Genius. Thanks mate, good read.

[tippexx]

[I]

It takes 'allsorts' though... and some people prefer to delay their gratification.

(perverts)

Or like me, scared that my one or two 'oldish' cigars might not come up to expectation. Although in saying that the 20 year old ERdM I smoked this week was a joy!

[El Catador]

Or like me, scared that my one or two 'oldish' cigars might not come up to expectation.

I hear you Maestro!

(Mind you... when you get to be your age... there's not much point in delaying your gratification any longer! - Fill-yer-boots-me-old-son!)

[daverave999]

Perhaps it's just Habanos SA stepping up their game in recent years?
Another possibility is that you simply prefer them younger?
To my tastes, I like them strong but not overpowering. I don't really have enough experience to say yet, but I think I prefer them with 3 to 5 years of age on them.

[giga]

I would agree that a lot of the newer boxes are great, I smoked a Dippy 2 last might from March 2011 and it was fantastic, I was really worried it would be a duffer but tasted fantastic. But just finished a RyJ cedros deluxe No 1 from 2001, the dreaded years and it too was really good, although I had bought it an hour before from Gimenos in Barcelona so I suppose the novelty was there too, just hope the others I got are good too.

[TJCoro]

Blow Hard? That's what she said!

Hurumph! Nothing ages like a fine Habano, IMO. I have enjoyed a fair amount of Cubans and Non-Cubans, and Cubans just seem to get much better with age then their brothers from another motherland. But I also suspect that aging is affected by the vintage of the leaf.

For example, I just finished off a Bolivar Royal Corona with a year and some change on it, and while it was a fine smoke (a Coro favorite ), it was not nearly as nice as the '08s I have stashed in the magnificent humidor I got from don TJ! Humidor July 2009 011.jpg



Names Perro, el Perro, and you may refer to me as a "blowhard" if you like, but I prefer a few years on my sticks before I smoke them.

Hey el Perro! The best puro I've smoked this year was a 2002 Bolivar Royal Corona from don TJ's collection.

[nicwing]

I have often heard the comparison between wine and cigars, in terms of ageing.

I suggest that some wines age well and some don't. Some wines should be drunk young and some age really well and then after a time even the best will start to decline. I think the same is true of cigars.

I have smoked some awful young cigars and some that were good. I have to say that the very best cigars were aged but were generally good or great cigars at the start.

I once talked to Edward Sahakian. He had smoked a cigar that was over 120 years old with James Suckling. The cigars had been provided by Desmond Sautter. The cigar 'had very little flavour left and wines that have gone over are the same.

Once cigars get passed a certain age they are for collecting rather than smoking.

[Cigar-aficionado]

Every cigar, and palate, wil be different and as someone who has smoked quite a few aged smokes I enjoy the milder and more flavoursome smokes from the 60's era. Having said that I also list some of the more recent EL's amongst my own top ten as I believe that there is a right time and place for every cigar. Those that usually knock aged cigars have simply not had the right aged cigar yet

[Puff Scotty]

Firstly: the 'old gent' in the 'Famous London shop' should remember that the "mugs & pompous blowhards" have aided his living, anyone having that limited outlook should not be in that position. Perhaps he was just pandering to his customers views.
I agree with some of the points you've made about recent cigars but would in 90% of all cases say straight out of the box is never the best time to smoke any cigar IMHO.
You would think in this day & age of technology & science each & every cigar should be 'perfect' but whilst dealing with nature & the leaf this is not so.
Hand rolled cigars today are still rolled - you've guessed it - by hand!! Only the demand & cost has changed..
The manufacturers will & are targetting a younger affluent smoker, hence the proliferation of larger RE's LE's & the disappearance of some really superb smaller vitola.
They want you to buy, smoke & come back for more...quickly, the days of my grandfather regularly buying 2-300 cigars a month are long gone - he would never have dreamt of buying a single..but had access to his own 20, 30 & even 40 year old cigars from his own supply, kindly looked after by the merchant.
Whilst not at all condemning your opinion lots of things have changed & there are some superb fresh cigars on sale now, but it's that initial being great that makes us want to age them to see what happens to them (and of course selfishly hoard what we deem to be best)...
Each to his own...

[tippexx]

[QUOTE=Puff Scotty;145687]
The manufacturers will & are targetting a younger affluent smoker, hence the proliferation of larger RE's LE's & the disappearance of some really superb smaller vitola.

Call me cynical Puff, but there was me thinking Habanos was basing it's cigar gauge strategy on the expansion of European and North American wastelines. A Lancero does not 'look' good on the portly and the slim and trim can't really carry-off a 50 ring! :-)

[Cigar-aficionado]

I think that maybe some people used to try and pair the cigar they smoked to their own stature but now those I know smoke what they like and not what they think they look best with...at my size I should only be smoking double coronas