Rest after shipping aged stock?

[DWC]

I know we all let new cigars rest for a while after shipping. (The amount of time they need is up to debate though.)

My question is : Do the same 'rules' apply to aged stock? Say about 10 yrs old.

The reason I ask is that recently I traded for some aged sticks and mentioned something about letting them rest and he said something to the effect "They're aged. They're fine right now." That didn't make sense to me. I figured they would be the same as fresh.

These were shipped via airmail, not local ground transportation.

Just wondering what the sages do.

As always, Thanks in advance.

-Dan

[forgop]

I look at smoking ROTT like this. If you can roll the cigar and your finger and it's no worse off with regards to humidity than you store your own cigars, smoke it. Many vendors, especially those who do a large volume of shipping, I believe keep their sticks a little "wetter" so they won't get as dry during shipment. In my mind, there's no real issue in letting them have to "sleep" unless you have a shipment that takes 3-4 weeks because of delays through customs and such.

Something else to consider, especially in doing trades person to person, unless you are 110% certain your trader is foolproof as well as their source, the longer you wait to smoke, the less likely you really have in raising a complaint IMO.

Unless you hear dryness from the wrapper when you roll it, what are you waiting for?

[garbandz]

This ^^^^^

My only concern would be humidity,if a cigar was kept damper than ideal (for me) I would condition it.

Depending on the rH,maybe a few days.

Ten years old,a few more days to get them right is just business as usual.............

[avaldes]

IMO, cigars don't travel all that well. I can't really explain it but there is a distinct improvement in the smoking experience once a box has had time to settle into its new home. For me this includes aged stock.

Humidity, temperature, pressure, etc. all influence the taste of my cigars. They are best when pulled directly from my cooler and smoked right away. I also have the opinion that it takes a LONG time for the internal moisture to stabilize when you get a new box. I think this has a lot to do with why they can go flat. 1-3 years seems to be enough time for everything to stabilize and reach the next phase in smoking. Again, this is just my opinion.

[Dbone]

It's not uncommon for me to smoke cigars right off the truck. I have never noticed a difference, flavor transformation, or otherwise to discourage smoking my cigars right away.

[raymond5737]

No matter how much I pay or how badly I want my cigars to be crackers out of the box, the day they arrive, I still have to wait. Even for non-Cubans, I'll still wait maybe two to three weeks, they don't have as far or as long of a time to travel as my Cuban orders. I often buy NC's with age on them and they always taste great because they have some age on them. But I still wait those 2-3 weeks so that they can aclimate.

[DWC]

I've smoked fresh ROTT and some of the time (not all of the time) they taste like crap but get much better after about a month.

I have also quarantined fresh ROTT, in a dry box with a hygrometer to ensure proper moisture levels before smoking and also found some of them lacking. They then get much better after about a month.

I figure it's cheap insurance to wait it out at least a month now. I have enough other things to smoke in the meantime.

What I don't have experience with is aged stock after shipping. I don't know if there is a difference from fresh.

This is what I'm wondering about.

[Smallclub]

What I don't have experience with is aged stock after shipping. I don't know if there is a difference from fresh.

This is what I'm wondering about.

In my experience, well aged and vintage cigars are much less sensitive to "motion sickness" than fresh/young cigars.

[shlomo]

How do you know what conditions the cigars have been stored in for the past 10 years? Perhaps not at levels where you like cigars. I let older cigars sit long in my humi, has nothing to do with travel (as SC mentions above, doesn't affect older cigars as much as newer ones), rather just to make sure I smoke them at RH and temp I prefer them at.

If your not sure, smoke one after a couple weeks and go from there.

[Rye]

For aged stuff, if it feels right, smoke one! You know how a cigar feels from your own stash, and if the new arrivals feel good, then light one up!

This goes for fresh stock as well, and my thoughts on this is, it's only one of many, so what's the diff?!

Smoking same day as arrival is a good way to gauge what you have, and plan an appropriate aging spot for the rest in the cabinet.

[stunod]

I always let them sit for a week or two minimum. Probably just peace of mind

[FLB03TT]

I let everything rest at least as long as they've been in transit, usually a little longer. Boxes with particularly oily wrappers seem to need a lot more time, sometimes months, to get into their groove. Of course, aging is an entirely different matter to be addressed after the initial settle in is completed.

[CaptainQuintero]

I would usually let them rest for at least a month, more to let them acclimatise to my humidor's conditions than anything else.

[dchapman]

I let them rest for at least a week in close proximity to the humidifier. The longer the better.