Resting Cigars

[SigSauer516]

I'm new to the Cuban Cigar world so when I read about resting cigars, I'm not sure of the benefits of doing that. I'm usually lighting up a stick from my new haul before the mail truck goes to the next house. Can some seasoned veterans elaborate on how resting a cigars will add to my enjoyment? Thanks in advance.

[Fuzz]

Depending on where the cigars came from, they could have gone through a multitude of different temperature and humidity levels. The rest period is to let your cigar acclimatise to your humidor and preferred RH. Some vendors ship their boxes with a Boveda, but this may be higher or lower than your preferred RH.

Whilst cigars are quite hardy, it doesn't hurt to let them rest from any stress they may have experienced during transit.

 

[rcarlson]

Sig, trust me 90 days  makes all the difference in the world.  Smoke some, then rest and try again after a min of 90 and I assure you it is a totally different experience.  I've had "this is shit" turn into "holy moly this good" with 3-6 months.  It's the CC gods' way of instilling discipline in us impatient bastards.     

[SigSauer516]

3 hours ago, rcarlson said:

Sig, trust me 90 days  makes all the difference in the world.  Smoke some, then rest and try again after a min of 90 and I assure you it is a totally different experience.  I've had "this is shit" turn into "holy moly this good" with 3-6 months.  It's the CC gods' way of instilling discipline in us impatient bastards.     

90 days?!?! You're killin me bro. It's hard enough as it is to wait for delivery. Then you finally get em and you cant enjoy em for 3 more months?!?!  Pure Torture. LOL 

 

[Hollywood Ninja]

90 days?!?! You're killin me bro. It's hard enough as it is to wait for delivery. Then you finally get em and you cant enjoy em for 3 more months?!?!  Pure Torture. LOL 
 

Doesn’t sound like you’ve got a bad enough case of CAD yet (Cigar Acquisition Disorder).


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[rcarlson]

8 hours ago, SigSauer516 said:

90 days?!?! You're killin me bro. It's hard enough as it is to wait for delivery. Then you finally get em and you cant enjoy em for 3 more months?!?!  Pure Torture. LOL 

 

I know. . . I know.  It's cruel.  Kills me to no end too.

VKUTT's right. The trick is to build enough of a stash to tide you over.  And even so, they call out to you from your humi . . . "smoke me, smoke me, it can't make that much of a difference, and there'll always be more. . . "

There ought to be a support group or CC sponsor program or something to help weather the storm.

Stay strong, Brah.

[lovethehaze]

8 hours ago, SigSauer516 said:

90 days?!?! You're killin me bro. It's hard enough as it is to wait for delivery. Then you finally get em and you cant enjoy em for 3 more months?!?!  Pure Torture. LOL

You just need more boxes, it will get easier and before long you will understand through experience the difference. Also lots of people trade with one another.... lots of people helped me to understand and add diff things to what i had and wanted..... some you will like and some you won't, such is life.

 

 

[SmokyFontaine]

I used to just smile and nod at people when they told me 90 days so I'd smoke within a week off the truck. They were unsmokable. I tried a month. They were really bad. I tried 45-60 days. They were smokeable but not good. At 90 days I finally had consistency in burn, far less harshness, and allowed me to actually enjoy smoking rather than gritting my teeth and finishing something that should have been pitched much earlier. Now I don't do anything beyond open the box to inspect, take a couple of whiffs, and promptly set them aside for a minimum of 90 days. WORLD of difference. Seriously. That's the one tip I wish I listened closer to from the experience folks here. It's critical IMO. 

[Lord Vader]

My experience with aging cigars for multiple years is hit-and-miss with whether or not the stick's flavor improves. I think the ones that I perceive as improved with age is marginal at best, and all in my head at worst. That said, I have found tremendous value in resting cigars for 3-6 months... Cubans even more than non-Cubans.

There's certainly nothing wrong with smoking them right off the truck. But with at least a couple months of resting to get them to my preferred RH improves draw, decreases bitter flavors, and helps to get a steady, even burn.

The next time you order a box, smoke one right off the truck (or a day or two later, makes no difference really). Note whether you get any sour or bitter flavors. Make a mental note about how tight the draw is and how many times you have to relight. Remember how badly (if at all) it canoes or caves and how wonky the wrapper burns. Then put them in storage at your preferred RH. A lot of people, myself included, find that Cubans respond well to lower RH. Try one after a month of storage and make a note about the same things above (burn, flavor, draw). Then try one after three months and observe the same qualities. You'll likely find that instead of looking at it as "Geez, I can't smoke this yet?" you'll start looking forward to what rest has done for your stash.

If you like your results, you may get into fine tuning your RH. I like mine at 65%, but a lot of people prefer their Cubans at 62% or 60%, occasionally even lower than that. If you like it enough, you might even get into the real long-term aging and draw your own conclusions as to whether the tobacco improves much between 6 months of rest and 6 years of age (or much longer). Of course, if you find that sticks with some rest are not your thing, there's nothing stopping you from enjoying them before the mail truck pulls away. It's just an endless hobby of pursuing the "perfect smoke" and trying to replicate that experience. I'm not sure anybody has actually found perfection. If they did, they probably set it on fire.

[Colt45]

For me it's simply a matter of allowing cigars to acclimatize to my storage conditions, even though I'm fairly sure the cigars have no awareness...

Past that, it's a crap shoot.

 

[jackupster]

30 days min but 60-90 will be the sweet spot. Luckily I have enough smokes now that it isn't a problem. Just keep buying more than you smoke and you will only have rested and eventually aged and possibly vintage cigars!

[SigSauer516]

15 hours ago, rcarlson said:

I know. . . I know.  It's cruel.  Kills me to no end too.

VKUTT's right. The trick is to build enough of a stash to tide you over.  And even so, they call out to you from your humi . . . "smoke me, smoke me, it can't make that much of a difference, and there'll always be more. . . "

There ought to be a support group or CC sponsor program or something to help weather the storm.

Stay strong, Brah.

They do call out to me too!!! Most of you sound like money is no object...either that or you smoke MUCH less than I do. LOL. Love the insight ladies and gents. 3 months minimum rest it is. SIGH... Now back to the NCCs

 

22 hours ago, Hollywood Ninja said:

Doesn’t sound like you’ve got a bad enough case of CAD yet (Cigar Acquisition Disorder).

Oh I do. Trust me. But I smoke too much. That's the problem 

[The Squiggler]

I think some simple experimentation will solidify this in your mind: buy a box; smoke one ROTT; smoke one 30 days later; repeat until you find the sweet spot.  It's your bag baby

[Monterey]

I don't even get 90 days.  I don't even touch a cigar until 2 years.  More like 4-6+ years.  I guess that is the benefit of having way to many boxes, always have plenty of well aged boxes ready to go!

[Hollywood Ninja]

I don't even get 90 days.  I don't even touch a cigar until 2 years.  More like 4-6+ years.  I guess that is the benefit of having way to many boxes, always have plenty of well aged boxes ready to go!

This is where I eventually hope to be. Only a couple years into this obsession and I can’t stomach paying a premium for aged boxes. Thankfully brothers and here and elsewhere have helped me procure a small amount of aged stock to enjoy.


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[Habana Mike]

I have a Swiss supplier that keeps their cigars impeccably and ships express vacuum packed with Boveda 64s. Arrive within a day or two and are as good off the truck as they are weeks later. Sometimes even better.

It all comes down to how they're stored prior to shipment - many vendors keep sticks at higher humidity to account for shipping, and how long the transit time is will affect the exerience. 

I'll typically try one when they arrive and if good smoke as I like. Otherwise I do let them rest for a while.

YMMV.

[PigFish]

Smoking gains you wisdom. I cannot see why a newer smoker cannot do exactly what he/she pleases.

Most seasoned smokers have habits, beliefs and prejudices. This does not make them wrong, hell I have them myself; it just makes us different, at different stages of life and cigars.

I typically believe a cigar is wasted if smoke prior to being in my humidor a year or more. This works for me, and has been proven empirically. I attribute this to water content.

Now if you store with little or no difference to you how your vendor stores, there 'may' be little difference to you. Water migration is another issue, and I do believe it is real. There are a lot of 'good' reasons not to smoke a cigar without your influence on its storage. You will have to be the ultimate arbiter of that for yourself. The key here is to acquire more cigars than you will consume prior to ordering more. The greater your pool for choices over time, the more your knowledge base will grow, the more cigar wisdom you will attain.

Try lots of things... Blindly follow no one!

Welcome to the forum. Enjoy your journey. Cheers! -Piggy

[SigSauer516]

On 1/20/2020 at 4:40 PM, Yellot00tr said:

You'll end up accumulating so much that you won't be able to smoke them all in 2 lifetimes, and your friends will be in the same boat too.

One can only hope...

[BrightonCorgi]

They're your cigars and if you enjoy them right after the mailman gives you the box; smoke them!  A cigar is a moment and sounds like that moment of just getting a box and smoking one is good time.  Eventually if you keep buying boxes, you won't be so antsy to smoke one right after delivery.

[joeypots]

   People used to sometimes refer to the obsession with Cuban cigars as the dark side. Welcome, you and your credit card may be in trouble. One of these days you'll smoke a well kept aged Cuban cigar and you'll get it. Nothing fancy, mind you. Something like  a Punch Punch, or a Partagas Serie D#4 with four or five years on it. Then you'll understand why some on this forum, maybe even on this thread, have lots of Cuban cigars. Like more than a thousand Cuban cigars.  Buy  cigars, twice what you smoke, and in a few years you will have an aged stash. And yes, let them rest for a month before you sample the box. Your box of cigars has been in a jet cargo hold exposed to a huge variance of temperature, air pressure and moisture, at lease twice, before they got to your door. Think of it like jet lag for cigars, they need a little time to acclimate to their current location.