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Hey, I've searched around and found a few tidbits but I wanted to see if anyone had experience with aging in Spanish Cedar (for years) vs. Coolidors, etc..., specifically in how it affects flavor development within cigars. I'm familiar with SCedar's benefits/characteristics--and love the smell of my desktop humi--but I think I read somewhere that aging in SCedar, over long periods, gives a "spiciness" to cigars, can anyone attest to this? Not too big on spicy personally, and am thinking of a humidor build... so eyeing Sapele which may be a bit more "neutral". Thoughts?

Dear FOH: I'm so happy to have found a group of serious cigar smokers with Friends of Habanos International. Your feedback will help me immensely. I'll be 59 in June so I decided to get started building my "Retirement Collection". I started my collection in 2014 like a crazy man and must have ordered maybe 8-10 boxes. Now I have 5- humidors and am running out of space That's problem #1. I want to store cigars properly so that they will taste great within that 5-7 year time frame. Problem #2 I can't seem to keep my hands out of the cookie jar. I need a strategy but don't have a clue Problem #3. I don't know what I don't know Problem #4. So I'd like to throw myself down to the mercy and collective intelligence of you all for your kind, thoughtful and sage advice. Got any great ideas as to what to purchase and store for that time frame, storage advice, etc.? What questions are important to ask? I have to do something quick about storage. What do I do? I'm looking for fellow collaborators. Raymond-Michael Kornfeind [email protected]

I'm interested in getting a large container going for specifically unopened boxes of cigars to age. Right now I've got a wineador that I use to hold my current smoking rotation and a few tupperdors. I was thinking of going the coolidor route to store 40-50 boxes at a time for long term (5+) years of aging, what do you guys use?

Good morning, I have been smoking cigars for 20 years now, cubans exclusively, but I would like to know the point of view from foh forum aficionados. As I am quadraplegic since a rugby scrum it is quite complicate with my "hands" to properly cut my cigar alone so I must beg for help....I have an efficient cabinet humidor for aging my cigars and I wonder if I could cut all my cigars in advance even if I don't smoke them before months/years. Will it change the aging process ? Thanks for your advices.

Many of us share in a common problem of limited storage space. Do you mix sticks within boxes and cabs to maximize your storage space? Other than not being able to find certain cigars easily, do you see any issues with this for longer term storage (years)? To get as many sticks as possible in my Humis, I will mix sticks in boxes and cabs. I even bought a 25 Cab to store mixed double coronas:

I know, this will be wildly subjective, but I'm curious since my aged stock is getting depleted. Tell us what smokes you prefer at sub 24 months old, and which smokes you ALWAYS defer to a minimum 24 months of box age. Give specific box codes if its not too much trouble. For me; SUB 24 MONTHS: Montecristo No. 1 (BUM ABR 15), Montecristo No. 5 (MUL OCT 14), PL Montecarlo (EML JUN 15), and Cuaba Divinos (TOS JUN 16) have been quite good at sub 24 months, though I hope they continue to improve if I can keep my hands off them to let them age - NOT GONNA HAPPEN! Cigars I will seldom touch young, requiring a MINIMUM OF 24 MONTHS of age are most Partagas, but especially the 8-9-8 Varnished (LAU JUN 16) and Lusitanias (no rececnt acquisitions). There is something magical that happens with these vitolas as they cross into the 4-5 year range. From my experience, Lusis continue to develop well past 10 and even 15 years. Recent stock that I think needs more time is JL Seleccion #2 (SEA ABR 16), and RyJ Cazadores (ORG MAR 16) - though I never bought them before so I don't know how long they actually need. The Cazadores seems very flavorful, but a bit wild and inconsistent, so I think another 6-12 months would settle them down. The JL were consistent but very one-dimensional, straight and simple solid tobacco core. It seems to me the JL will open up and evolve a little over time.

I have an APR 16 box of RASS from our lovely host purchased last August. Should I let these sit for a while longer or is it within the window to start smoking?

There's a lot in that title, isn't there? I was having a chat with a valued friend on FoH recently about this topic and he suggested I put up on the forum for discussion, which I thought was a good idea! Basically, it all started from me thinking how perhaps modern Habanos S.A trends for larger ring gauge cigars are not suited to the Hoyo de Monterrey marca. I say that because... recent and past discontinued Le Hoyo line (including the much-loved forum favourite, the du Prince) has been standard ring gauge or lower apart from the Diademas 'Monterrey' discontinued in 1980, practically all regular production Hoyo de Monterrey has been 50 ring gauge or under in the past the Le Hoyo San Juan is the largest ring gauge Hoyo de Monterrey cigar at 54 ring gauge (by 150 mm) Now Hoyo de Monterrey is known a lighter-bodied marca, with a cedar and cream texture (some may prefer flavour) which develops with age. My understanding is that the marca utilises mainly seco (and obviously volado) leaf to give it its blend, but interestingly the San Juan contains seco and ligero leaf according to Habanos' website page on the vitola. I quite like the San Juan, it was in my Top 10 cigars of 2016, and I have it as a 'change-of-pace' option in my rotation. I also have another box resting long-term (of the San Juan). The points of discussion I'd like us to consider are... is the typical Hoyo de Monterrey blend suited to post-50 ring gauge cigars? is the San Juan different in blend to the rest of the Le Hoyo line (which is smaller)? have Habanos S.A 'missed a trick', so to speak, by ignoring past trends and introducing a post-50 ring gauge regular production cigar in 2014? if you believe the San Juan is different in blend to other Hoyo de Monterrey cigars, how will this affect aging in comparison, in your opinion?

I've recently acquired an end table humidor from Bob Staebell that I intend to use for storing boxes (beautiful piece of furniture, by the way). What is the consensus on this question: Should I put in the boxes sealed tightly or should I store them cracked open a millimeter or two so that some air can get inside? If it matters, given my age and the uncertainty of when the grim reaper might strike, I do not intend to store them for longer than a five year period. Thanks for the help!

There are multiple theories and ideas around aging Cuban cigars; what do you think? Share some of your experiences with well aged CCs? Have you had an “over-aged” cigar? Is there such thing as “over-aging”?

I just got a wonderful shipment in, (5) H. Upmann Mag 48s, and the Asia Pacifico Regional Release sampler(the contents and box codes are below). 1X BSB – TEB JUL 08 1 X SLR PAC – OSB AGO 09 1 X PL BEL – EMA NOV 08 1 X ERDM ANN – LAR FEB 13 1 X PL ENCANTOS – URG FEB 11 1 X RA ESP – TEB OCT 07 1 X PUNCH SAB – MCO OCT 11 1 X JL 4 – PRA JUN 10 Like the title asks, when will these cigars be hitting their peak? I know regional releases are especially known to get better with some age, but I'm not very well versed in these releases so your help would be appreciated! Also, I've heard that the Mag 48's are good to go now, but do you think there is any aging potential left in them? Thank you all in advance!

I've always lived by this philosophy: "Nothing better than an aged tubed Romeo y Julieta Churchill" I've got loads of those giant red and white tubes lying all over the place now. Along with Siglo IIIs, Siglo IIs, etc. Basically any vit. you can think of, i probably have 3-10 of those tubes. Obviously, they were the left over pillaged containers of the arson victims that once were inside. But these extra metal casings often costs a pretty penny. So i've always wondered if you could just tube normal cigars and have them make the same slow-ageing, cedary, tad smoother, effect? I know boxpressed RyJs might be a tad difficult to shove in there at first, but would it be worth it in the end? Things like Bolivar Royal Coronas (that i can't stand) would actually be significantly better if i could just pop them in the RC Tubes and have them soak in that cedar without paying the extra 10% for the tubes that are just resealable, pretty Coke Cans. Has anyone done this with success? Does anyone practice this? Furthermore, would it be alright to age a Royal Corona in a Short Churchill tube? Or a Bolivar Petit Corona in a Siglo II tube?

I'm still very new to cigars, so please forgive any ignorance on my part here! It seems to me that the general consensus is that you should age cigars (particularly CCs) for a number of years before they really hit their prime. I don't think anyone can doubt that's true in many cases. The best cigar I've smoked so far had been aging for a few years before I got my hands on it. However, I'm not at the point where buying boxes and putting them away for aging is feasible. At the moment, my small tuppador can hold about 20-25 cigars. I generally just buy singles and smoke them within a few months of purchase. This is simpler and cheaper for me, and keeps the girlfriend (comparably) happy. I was given a fairly young Monte No.2 recently that was still very enjoyable despite its young age (less than a year old). The person who passed it on mentioned that, in his personal experience, Montes performed much better in their youth than, say, an Upmann No.2. Aging cigars is exciting business to be sure, but are there any particular marques (and commercial vitolas within those marques) that you love for being consistently excellent without any aging? Something you can comfortably smoke the same day you pick them up?