How to tell what cigars to lay down and age

[Briand]

I have always just gone to my local brick and mother and bought singles and smoked away. I have now smoked a few aged cigars and I was blown away. So how do you guys know what cigars to buy boxes of and lay down and age?

[Maplepie]

If they're Yellow, Gold, and Black, it means you paid a lot for them and will get your money's worth if you laid them down!

[bugman78629]

If they're Yellow, Gold, and Black, it means you paid a lot for them and will get your money's worth if you laid them down!

LMAO........

[Bartolomeo]

Some theories say if its a good cigar fresh, it may age well

Some theories say if its crap fresh, time will not make it better necessarily

Worse comes to worse, buy what you can afford and smoke one fresh to sample it out...

if you like it, smoke them now

If you like it, buy some to lay down

If you dont like it, lay down/trade/sell/give away

[fingerburner]

I look for balance and complexity as good indicators. Basic principles of wine ageing. A bad cigar in it's youth will never come good with age.

[garbandz]

So how do you guys know what cigars to buy boxes of and lay down and age?

I only age round ones and box pressed ones ..........

"brick and mother" ?

[Briand]

Some theories say if its a good cigar fresh, it may age well

Some theories say if its crap fresh, time will not make it better necessarily

Worse comes to worse, buy what you can afford and smoke one fresh to sample it out...

if you like it, smoke them now

If you like it, buy some to lay down

If you dont like it, lay down/trade/sell/give away

I look for balance and complexity as good indicators. Basic principles of wine ageing. A bad cigar in it's youth will never come good with age.

Thank you both for the advice

[Maplepie]

So how do you guys know what cigars to buy boxes of and lay down and age?

I only age round ones and box pressed ones ..........

"brick and mother" ?

Pretty sure he means brick and mortar:

B&M

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[DWC]

I'm going to follow some sage advice from a couple of the elder here. I'm not going to specifically intentionally buy cigars to age. I'm just trying to buy more than I smoke of my regular rotation stuff (plus trying a lot of new stuff too) and eventually I'll have aged stock of what I like.

Also:

If you have a good relationship with vendors, you can ask about older stock or box dates. I recently found a box of VR Familiar from Feb '11 from one of my regular vendors. So I have a bit of a head start on that one.

[nikesupremedunk]

I decide what to age based on recommendations from here and what I enjoy. For example, I love Cohiba and most agree that an aged Cohiba smokes great. I have a few boxes aging right now and I test them out every 6 months or so to see how they evolve.

A tip I picked up from here on how to age cigars: "buy more than you can smoke". You can also try to source already aged sticks and pay a premium. However, sometimes that's a gamble since you don't always know the history of the cigar and how it was stored.

I don't know your experience with CC's but if you're just starting to get into it, don't stress aged sticks too much. A lot of the recent productions are smoking very well, so if a cigar smokes great fresh or aged, enjoy it!

[sw15825]

Buy singles or what you can afford to try.

When you find the ones you really like buy boxe(s).

Smoke them while they smoke well to you or till you say, "this cigar is letting me down a bit".

Put them away and buy more to try.

Repeat above

Periodically try the let downs to see if they blossom.

If not, lay down again/trade/sell or gift.

In my opinion there is no, for sure way to know what boxes to lay down, except the above (experience) or an educated guess from your research.

Smoke em' while you like em'!

[TheGipper]

It's definitely not always the case that if the cigars are terrible young, that it means they can't turn into something spectacular. I've had a surprising number of boxes transform magically from awful to amazing. 2001 RyJ Robustos EL, 2002 Bolivar Lonsdales, 2004 RyJ Hermosos #2 EL, 2005 RASS, among others have gone this way for me.

Conversely, I remember the first boxes of Partagas Serie P #2 that came out - the January 2005 boxes - were mind blowingly good right away. Flat out some of the best cigars I had smoked in my entire life. They were so good, that I stopped smoking them and put them away for extra-special occasions in the future.

But when I revisited them in the last couple of years, they had almost no flavor any more. What a waste and I regret now not just burning through every last one while they were amazing.

[johnhenry]

It's definitely not always the case that if the cigars are terrible young, that it means they can't turn into something spectacular. I've had a surprising number of boxes transform magically from awful to amazing. 2001 RyJ Robustos EL, 2002 Bolivar Lonsdales, 2004 RyJ Hermosos #2 EL, 2005 RASS, among others have gone this way for me.

Conversely, I remember the first boxes of Partagas Serie P #2 that came out - the January 2005 boxes - were mind blowingly good right away. Flat out some of the best cigars I had smoked in my entire life. They were so good, that I stopped smoking them and put them away for extra-special occasions in the future.

But when I revisited them in the last couple of years, they had almost no flavor any more. What a waste and I regret now not just burning through every last one while they were amazing.

Just be patient,the siglo VI original release were the same way,they took 7 or 8 years to come back around. They were more balanced and complex when they came around. I was so pissed I didn't smoke them fresh ,then they became gems!

[johnhenry]

The same with the trini robo extra.

[BulldogUK]

Three fermentations make Cohiba with less potential, true?

Generally, Montecristo, Partagas, H.Upmann, Bolivar, Ramon Allones have more potential than other brands, true?

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[Smallclub]

Three fermentations make Cohiba with less potential, true?

Generally, Montecristo, Partagas, H.Upmann, Bolivar, Ramon Allones have more potential than other brands, true?

No and no.

I wonder who could have told you that? The two assertions are not only false, they show a complete lack of understanding and experience

[BulldogUK]

No and no.

I wonder who could have told you that? The two assertions are not only false, they show a complete lack of understanding and experience

I was asking. Both of two assertions came from the Collector's Corner in Cigar Journal.

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[Smallclub]

I was asking. Both of two assertions came from the Collector's Corner in Cigar Journal.

I see. Is "Cigar Journal" well known and followed by many?

Anyway, I learned to take anything that mentions the "third fermentation" in cigar press with a grain of salt, if not with a laugh.

And talking about "potential" is highly subjective. Many people (including myself) would mention Punch and/or ERDM long before Montecristo…

[BulldogUK]

I see. Is "Cigar Journal" well known and followed by many?

Anyway, I learned to take anything that mentions the "third fermentation" in cigar press with a grain of salt, if not with a laugh.

And talking about "potential" is highly subjective. Many people (including myself) would mention Punch and/or ERDM long before Montecristo…

Let's avoid the consideration of the rarity, only speaking of the quality after aging, then would you have the same thought about the priorities of the brands?

If so， then what does make Montecristo be the biggest share in the market among all marcas?

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[dvickery]

Briand

if you ever find a way of telling which cigars will age well and those that wont ... tell me ... have been trying to find the answer to this question for a while .

derrek

[Sophistic]

imo the milder the cigar - the longer it should rest. bolivar/partagas/montecristo->min 1 year , le hoyo/por larranaga->min 5 years.

[PapaDisco]

imo the milder the cigar - the longer it should rest. bolivar/partagas/montecristo->min 1 year , le hoyo/por larranaga->min 5 years.

Interesting. I would have assumed that it was the other way around: rest the stronger sticks longer.

[garbandz]

I have always just gone to my local brick and mother and bought singles and smoked away. I have now smoked a few aged cigars and I was blown away. So how do you guys know what cigars to buy boxes of and lay down and age?

Why don't you start with the same "aged" cigars you have smoked,that blew you away?

seems like a logical answer to me..........maybe from your brick and mother?

[garbandz]

No and no.

I wonder who could have told you that? The two assertions are not only false, they show a complete lack of understanding and experience

" they show a complete lack of understanding and experience,"...which is critical to posess if you want to write for a Cigar Journal.

Obviously someone falsified his credentials when applying for this job.............

[Havanaaddict]

I think the biggest problem is it may take 10 years to really know what you really like!!! And in my case its all discontinued now!!! But you can't go wrong with Cohiba, Partagas!!!

My list would be:

ERDM

PL

RA

LGC