I may have aged them to death.....

[El Presidente]

Had the opportunity to smoke a 1999 Punch Black Prince over the weekend. Long discontinued corona gorda where I have half a box squirrelled away. I am well acquainted with the PBP over the years. When Punch was awash with corona gorda, Blacky ranked just behind the Punch Royal Seleccion Number 11 for me. I have always found Blacky to have more nuanced flavours than the other Punch corona gordas. Milder yet enticingly complex. 

Over the past few years I have sampled from this box and other Punch Black Prince. Like a TV set slowly going on the blink....the flavours were faltering. Search parties had to be sent out to define the flavours. Full attention had to be paid to the cigar in order to pull those threads of sweet hay (ala Serie A), coffee, leather.  

It was all too hard on Saturday evening. They are just past their best for my palate. Lovely burn. I know plenty of mates I respect who would certainly go an about the "finesse" in the cigar. Finesse without flavour is failure to me.

Rest and Test. When they hit that right note.....smoke them. If they never quite reach that right note and are sliding backwards...smoke them.

I should have smoked these 3-5 years ago and moved on.  

Lesson learned (again). 

[Lant63]

Had the opportunity to smoke a 1999 Punch Black Prince over the weekend. Long discontinued corona gorda where I have half a box squirrelled away. I am well acquainted with the PBP over the years. When Punch was awash with corona gorda, Blacky ranked just behind the Punch Royal Seleccion Number 11 for me. I have always found Blacky to have more nuanced flavours than the other Punch corona gordas. Milder yet enticingly complex. 

Over the past few years I have sampled from this box and other Punch Black Prince. Like a TV set slowly going on the blink....the flavours were faltering. Search parties had to be sent out to define the flavours. Full attention had to be paid to the cigar in order to pull those threads of sweet hay (ala Serie A), coffee, leather.  

It was all too hard on Saturday evening. They are just past their best for my palate. Lovely burn. I know plenty of mates I respect who would certainly go an about the "finesse" in the cigar. Finesse without flavour is failure to me.

Rest and Test. When they hit that right note.....smoke them. If they never quite reach that right note and are sliding backwards...smoke them.

I should have smoked these 3-5 years ago and moved on.  

Lesson learned (again). 

If you want to trade a couple of them for some punch ssn1/2 rs11 from that era let me know. I'd love to do a comparison


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[NSXCIGAR]

Perhaps they've entered the fabled second vacuum period? Another 10 years and these may be very smokeable again...if you subscribe to that theory.

[CdnLimitada]

First world problems

[OchoZacho]

Don't mean to steal a thread, but am I missing something with 24:24? Did it move or go away?

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[MrGlass]

10 minutes ago, OchoZacho said:

Don't mean to steal a thread, but am I missing something with 24:24? Did it move or go away?

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There was no 24:24 today.  There is a message in the Chatbox saying that it should start again on Wednesday/Thursday.

[OZCUBAN]

I am sure we are all guilty of that Rob there are some that just don't seem to go the distance despite initially giving you the promise they will 

[boilers183]

I look forward to the day I have this problem

[JohnS]

One is reluctant to acknowledge that cigars have a peak period sometimes, but yeah, in this case, you've just got to call it (so).

[kalibratecuba]

Perhaps they've entered the fabled second vacuum period? Another 10 years and these may be very smokeable again...if you subscribe to that theory.

I've heard about this, but have never kept cigars around long enough to experience. Is there truth to this theory?



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[anacostiakat]

I would smoke another one just to cement my opinion.  Then I would burn the rest of the box.  

[David88]

I remember smoking a Black Prince a few years ago to celebrate qualifying as a teacher. It was fantastic at the time and I have been keeping an eye out for reasonably priced boxes. Such a shame that your 99 stock seems to have peaked! 

[canadianbeaver]

We had he exact same opinion after acquiring a half box. The source was terrific, they looked and felt great. We let them rest for a good while after they arrived because we had to come to terms with "should we or shouldn't we?".

We try so hard to fall for these legendary ones. But alas, just one that makes us go under a spell of smokey awesomeness works for me.

Traded it for something I think?

CB

[dvickery]

Wondering about this thread .

i never stash partial boxes ... once I open a box it lasts me about a year ( twice as long for cabs of 50 ) . Then it is gone .

i said that so I can say this ... I have never tried a box of cigars that I thought was over the hill yet ... I have tried boxes of the same pedigree over a 25 year period ( say a box every 5 years all identical box codes ) .

maybe it's just me and what I like ... or ... maybe this whole thread is more a comment on how cigars should be stored for the long run ( or smoked after cracking the seals ) .

then again maybe I don't know what I am talking about .

derrek

[rhcolbert]

I'll take em off your hands. ???

[1LegLance]

I have had this happen a number of times over my 31 yrs of cigar smoking....

Rarely if ever I can think of did anything come  back after going flat.

My standard with most boxes is to smoke 1 every 6 months until they seem great then smoke much more often till they seem to decline then gift trade away before they go flat.

 

[Dijit]

This thread got me thinking, I had a montecristo #2 from a box I purchased about 15 years ago.

I smoked it this mourning and was less than impressed. Everything was very muted to the point of being very bland. The last one before this was about 6 or 7 years ago and it was awesome.

For me the moral of the story is ageing a cigar is or can be great. (Less than 10 years) antique cigars (over 12 years) well for me they just lose the appeal.

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[cigaraholic]

99.....the beginning of the end ?

[Professor Twain]

I bought some 1999 Hoyo du Prince, around 2--6. Smoked about half the box and they were OK, but a bit mild. But over the past 5 years or so, they have become duds. I smoke one every 6 months or so, hoping I'll get a winner, but it's just not happening. I pitch them after 10 minutes. I'm not ready to throw out the remaining dozen, just can't do it... I'll try the rest and pitch them if they aren't good, hoping to find a winner.

Yes, some cigars just don't have the legs to age for 20 years plus.

[jfire]

I smoked some 99 P BP around 2011 and thought they were already turning flat tbh.


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[RDBM]

As an organic material what gives it the flavour etc must surely dissipate over time. I'm a great believer in finding the point in time with a cigar's age that suits your palate and dive in. 

[Ethernut]

Rob, I cover this within my Noob Thread (in my sig).. heck, I even drew pictures.. 

 

(in fact, I'm adding this thread to it! Great topic and sooo true)

 

[Freakage]

I have never kept a cigar long enough for this to happen. I am lucky if I get 3 weeks in the humidor. Hope to get to the point where this "may"be a problem.

[Ethernut]

Doing this thread a favor and doing a courtesy bump back to the top. It deserves it. Lots of new eyes in the watering hole. This is for you. A slice of perspective... Over-aging is a concept that few discuss but it's a fact.

 

Keep this in mind..

 

 

...and smoke 'em when they peak!  

[cfc1016]

On 4/17/2017 at 10:53 PM, NSXCIGAR said:

Perhaps they've entered the fabled second vacuum period? Another 10 years and these may be very smokeable again...if you subscribe to that theory.

Welp. I’m getting my hands on a 30yo monte especiale no 1 soon. As much as I subscribe to the notion that 15-20 years is generally peak, I certainly hope this one still has legs?