On smoking cigars young...

[Burningman]

These days many people smoke many different cigars of all marcas and vitolas young. Twelve years ago when I began to really follow cigars this was almost unthinkable. Most of the participants in the forum I frequented agreed that the time to start trying out your cigars was around the 4 year mark. Back then when you ordered online in the US it was a virtual guarantee you would receive a box with at least 2+ years on them. If you ordered less popular marcas or cheap and cheerful cigars it was not uncommon to get 3 year or even older cigars. If you wanted anything younger you would have to request them but I never heard of anyone doing this.

Suddenly boxes the last few years have been younger and younger. From what I can tell both novice smokers and seasoned veterans now have no qualms about picking up a cigar that has less than six months on it. So I ask myself did this trend begin merely out of necessity? Did we develop a taste for them due to the shortage of aged stock? I'm sure there are many contributing factors. Some most of us may share and others specific to our neck of the woods.

I would very much like to hear everyone's thoughts on this.

Thanks

[GavLew79]

I don't smoke that many "young" cigars, but on the limited evidence of what I have smoked, I wholeheartedly agree! I think I've seen a difference in the last 2 or 3 years especially. 

I've only been in it 7 years, so take this with a pinch of salt, but, my 2014s, 15s and some 16s were just not as smokeable, 30 days in. I have a lot of 2014s and 15s left as I didn't plough through them; they needed time. 

Every 2018/19 cigar I've smoked I've thought "God, why would you wait?". The blind tasting, the recent Xmas Sampler, various cigars from recent boxes after the 30 days have been ready to rock. They already taste like my 5-6 year old stock! I'm getting more sweetness and balance with no signs of harsh, bitter youth  Bonus. 

Is this a limited sample? Certainly. But on this anecdotal evidence, I concur with you Sir!

What do you think it is? Better vintages with more ripeness? Better fermentation to resolve sugars? Better blending? Or just sheer damn coincidence and we'll soon get a few boxes to change our minds back?

[99call]

18 minutes ago, Burningman said:

So I ask myself did this trend begin merely out of necessity?

One initial thought is maybe HSA have cottoned on the the fact that everyone seems to have ADD these days, and haven't got a shred of patience. 

Another thought would be, is that if you have a humidor of stock that is peaking in 10-15yrs, then you can be slow and selective about your cigar consumption.  Personally I hate the feeling that boxes in my humidor, may be bland and fallen of the cliff in as few as 4yrs!?,  I don't want to feel like my hand is forced to churn through boxes of cigars. 

Where has the all the Ligero gone?   where is landfill mountain of power?

[Burningman]

3 minutes ago, 99call said:

  Personally I hate the feeling that boxes in my humidor, may be bland and fallen of the cliff in as few as 4yrs!?,  I don't wasn't to feel like my hand is forced to churn through boxes of cigars. 

Where has the all the Ligero gone?   where is landfill mountain of power?

I don't know that we have a large enough sample size to be sure our cigars are dead after such a short time especially since I have experienced such a rollercoaster ride with many cigars. I have one and think it's bland then I forget about it for a year or two and it rebounds into a great cigar.

That's one of the things I love about the hobby. It's an exercise in patience.

[Burningman]

22 minutes ago, GavLew79 said:

I don't smoke that many "young" cigars, but on the limited evidence of what I have smoked, I wholeheartedly agree! I think I've seen a difference in the last 2 or 3 years especially. 

I've only been in it 7 years, so take this with a pinch of salt, but, my 2014s, 15s and some 16s were just not as smokeable, 30 days in. I have a lot of 2014s and 15s left as I didn't plough through them; they needed time. 

Every 2018/19 cigar I've smoked I've thought "God, why would you wait?". The blind tasting, the recent Xmas Sampler, various cigars from recent boxes after the 30 days have been ready to rock. They already taste like my 5-6 year old stock! I'm getting more sweetness and balance with no signs of harsh, bitter youth  Bonus. 

Is this a limited sample? Certainly. But on this anecdotal evidence, I concur with you Sir!

What do you think it is? Better vintages with more ripeness? Better fermentation to resolve sugars? Better blending? Or just sheer damn coincidence and we'll soon get a few boxes to change our minds back?

I have a lot of those same questions. I don't smoke them young. I don't see a need to but I do wonder if I'm missing out.

[bbguardsp]

I can't speak to the past much as I've only smoked CCs regularly since 2014.  One frame of reference though is FOHTV.  You look at the reviews when started vs now and you can see the uptick in young cigars.  Through managing a retail shop in the US I've had the pleasure of meeting many top people in the NC world and I can say that properly fermented tobacco in pilons is one of the most important factors they've taught me.  A young cigar with properly fermented tobacco will taste "young" but not "green".  It will be in balance early and can age gracefully (though NC companies age the fermented tobacco much longer than Cuba before rolling into cigars which in my experience leads to very few NCs that get any better at 5+ years.).  If the cigar is totally out of wack from poor fermentation things don't magically come back into balance just because you age it as @Ken Gargett has mentioned in the past.  Also just looking at the HSA production numbers of the past and now - it's much lower than the point in time you mentioned.  So this has translated into an uptick of quality.  How well the current production ages vs previous years is something we will all have to discover as a collective effort in the future.

[El Presidente]

I am a believer in at least trying all cigars when they are young (but well rested).  Those tastings provide a baseline / future reference point. 

Taste those cigars again at 3, 5 7 10 years.  Understand the progression of those cigars. 

You are thinking about buying a box of say RASS. You have tasted enough RASS over enough years to know what to look for in a young box. You understand the progression of young RASS that start a certain way. You know the wrapper shade, the aroma at cold, the taste at young and rested. 

Overall Cuban cigars became far more approachable young from 2005/6 onwards.  Different tobacco strains, different blending strategies on new cigars, the use of properly aged tobacco (wasn't always possible 98-2004). 

Most cigars today you can readily smoke from 6 months on without an attack on your senses. Most are in the sweet spot 3-5 years in. 

The days of 2-3 year old cigars at the time of purchase online are over for major/popular cigars.  Increased demand from new markets (China/Middle East/Eastern Europe) accompanied by a decrease in tobacco production due to a mix of successive poor seasons and incompetence/poor planning means that it is a JIT supply to distributors.  They are retailing this week what arrived last week which is what was being rolled three months ago. 

[Wookie]

I have a handful of late 1990s CCs left, most of which are poorly rolled. I do have a few 1999-2003 fundadores sitting around. Whenever I fire up an old one and then do a 2015-2018 I am dumbfounded at how similar the perfect melange of nutmeg and cloves persists in a consistent balance between the years. I think, properly stored, that CCs are remarkably resilient. Especially with the best brands. I think young and old can be resplendent. But I don't have the depth of experience that many do on this forum. 

[garbandz]

Try them as they age, buy enough to let them get some time on them, burn them up if they are not improving.

[Chibearsv]

I'm relatively new to the idea of aging cigars myself since it used to be pretty typical to buy 2-3 year old cigars online from basically anywhere.  If I ordered Monte 2 in 2016, it was common to receive 2013-2014 boxes that tasted great.  Now since 2017, it's been much more typical that I receive cigars that are 3-6 months old.  Some taste fine and others need the time.  I referenced Monte 2 specifically because I think it's a good example of a cigar that requires some time.  I was shocked the first time I smoked a 6 month old Monte 2 vs a 3 year old one.  I'm trying to be patient and keep an aging inventory but these first couple of years are going to be really hard until I build a sizeable rolling inventory.  I've found so far that my larger inventory only means I'm smoking more often.

[joeypots]

What Rob said. Also, even though lots of cigars are good young, I'm thinking the Partagas SD#4 is a good example, the benefit of age can make good better.  I sample boxes starting between 3 and 5 years depending on the cigar and when they hit the sweet spot I smoke the box pretty fast. I tend to have about five or six boxes in rotation at any given time plus the stragglers that I save from the end of boxes that were getting very good. I'll often take the last 2 or 3 from a box that I thought was very good and put them in tubes and save them for a long time. Last year I took a couple of such cigars on a trip and shared them with a friend. It's amazing to see the face when someone finally gets a really good, aged Cuban cigar.

[SmokyFontaine]

1 hour ago, Chibearsv said:

I'm relatively new to the idea of aging cigars myself since it used to be pretty typical to buy 2-3 year old cigars online from basically anywhere.  If I ordered Monte 2 in 2016, it was common to receive 2013-2014 boxes that tasted great.  Now since 2017, it's been much more typical that I receive cigars that are 3-6 months old.  Some taste fine and others need the time.  I referenced Monte 2 specifically because I think it's a good example of a cigar that requires some time.  I was shocked the first time I smoked a 6 month old Monte 2 vs a 3 year old one.  I'm trying to be patient and keep an aging inventory but these first couple of years are going to be really hard until I build a sizeable rolling inventory.  I've found so far that my larger inventory only means I'm smoking more often.

Couldn't agree with you more!  I have some summer 2017 Monte 4's. I smoked my first from that 10-box in like...April 2018 or something. It was bad. Wouldn't burn well. Tasted like old ashtray. Smoked again May 2019, and at the time it was the best CC experience I had. So far the only CC I have smoked inside of 6mos of box date that was spectacular was a HdM Petit Robusto. The thing was incredible, then got a little harsh towards the end, but up until that point, one of the better cigars I've ever lit. 

Other "too harsh now" candidates for me from inside of a year of box code: JL2, Monte 2, Siglo I. Each one had little more than burnt tobacco to them, and I had to fight burn issues throughout. 

The thing that I used to just smile and nod at patronizingly like I somehow knew better than El Pres, was 90 day rest. Nothing from Cuba that I've ever smoked in less than 3 months of receipt has been worth a damn. From ROTT to 2 months, I've pitched more cigars at the halfway point than I had in 3 years of smoking NC's. Finally I practiced 3 months rest, and now I'm convinced. Do yourselves a favor and just don't touch anything new for 3 months. The payoff is incredible. 

[canadianbeaver]

Agree with Joey and Rob too, but want to add the lottery factor as well. Even within the same marca. Maybe within the same box since they are are matched by wrapper color etc. Perfect example is Cohiba Medio Siglo. Or perhaps Quai D’Orsay 50. Right off the bat we loved them. 
 

But others were given the finger in year one, like RA Extra. My favorite. Now? Nom Nom.

CB

[Burningman]

Very interesting information from all who have posted. I am wondering if there are members who just really love young cigars across the board and if so why?

 

[Piligrim]

most of very young and fresh cigars I smoked on the Island. at regular basis I mostly smoke elder cigars 3+ years more rarely 1+ year of age. sometimes our distributor has aged cigars in stock, so I buy them. like I eventually bought mastercase of PSD 5 MUR MAR 12 or PSD 4 2015.

[Burningman]

12 hours ago, Piligrim said:

most of very young and fresh cigars I smoked on the Island. at regular basis I mostly smoke elder cigars 3+ years more rarely 1+ year of age. sometimes our distributor has aged cigars in stock, so I buy them. like I eventually bought mastercase of PSD 5 MUR MAR 12 or PSD 4 2015.

I've not had the pleasure of smoking something uber fresh from a factory or on a farm. I hear it's fantastic. I also look to at least have 3 + years on a cigar just simply because it's what I am used to.

When I first began smoking I had zero clue on how to source CC in the US. Through the generosity of personal friends and welcoming folks on forums I was able to try a variety of cigars either through trade or small purchases. I was always encouraged to save my box purchases and 3/5 packs for a later time. I suspect now since people smoke cigars young and enjoy them this way that those who advised me to hold off on burning my new stock did it to try and make sure my first experiences with CC were positive. Most figured the younger the cigar the higher the potential of getting one that didn't smoke well or might end up being unpleasant.