Learn About Cigars

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Many cigar aficionados believe in the axiom that a good cigar is an aged cigar. They believe that over time a properly aged cigar releases subtle and complex flavors that yield a wonderful smoking experience. Many compare it to aging wine or scotch.

You can, of course, buy vintage cigars that have been professionally aged. This even includes pre-embargo Cuban cigars that are at or near 50 years of age. As you might imagine, this pleasurable smoking experience will set you back a few dollars.

If you want to age your own cigars, you can try this as well, provided you have the patience to wait for your cigar to age properly.

Most experts believe that you will need to age a cigar approximately a year. Within this length of time the subtle flavors and complex character of a fine cigar will emerge as long as the cigar is stored properly.

Naturally, you don’t want to waste your time doing this with a cheap cigar. In my experience, they only get nastier over time, not better. As they say, you can’t polish a turd.

Instead, you should only bother aging a quality cigar. In most cases, a fine cigar will yield a delightful reward at the end of the aging process. You will find that aging brings out qualities that you might have overlooked in a new cigar. The process can help mellow out cigars that have too intense of a flavor or that are very odorous when new.

As you are probably aware, you will need to have a good quality cigar humidor in order to properly age your cigar. This provides a stable environment that is necessary for aging a cigar.

The proper humidor setting for aging a cigar is what is known as the 70/70 rule. This rule means that you should keep the humidity at 70% and the temperature at 70 degrees Fahrenheit. This is crucial to aging it. If the environment is too hot or moist, mold will develop on the cigar, ruining it. If it is too cool and dry, no aging will take place and this may even hurt some of the flavor of the cigar.

As you may be aware, you must maintain this stable environment. Any frequent fluctuation of temperature or humidity can cause damage to a cigar. Extremes can ruin a cigar by cracking the wrapper through expansion and contraction. Even minor swings can thwart the aging process or make the flavor less than ideal.

As I have mentioned before, a humidor should be lined with cedar, preferably fine Spanish cedar. Since cedar is a very aromatic and oily wood it interacts over time with the tobacco. The cedar oil mellows out the flavor of a cigar, particularly strong ones, and brings out the wonderful flavors you can only find in a properly aged cigar.