Vintage Cigars

[smbauerllc]

Any Vintage Cigar smokers or collectors here?

 

I was recently very generously gifted over a dozen Vintage Cubans from the 1940's and 1950's.

 

Plan on smoking my first ever this afternoon.

 

Used to enjoy reading the Vintage Cigar reviews in Cigar Aficionado magazine, but they don't do it anymore. Always found it interesting

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

 

[Skeng Don]

ok, so are you going to keep us in the dark,

while you talk,

or are you going to at LEAST give us some light as to what you got, (pictures)

and where you got em,

and most importantly are you looking to share.....

 

[Mickey D]

Please tell us more on these vintage cigars. 👍👍

[smbauerllc]

7 hours ago, [email protected] said:

ok, so are you going to keep us in the dark,
while you talk,
or are you going to at LEAST give us some light as to what you got, (pictures)
and where you got em,
and most importantly are you looking to share.....
 

Here's a picture of all of them.
Got them gifted to me from a member on another forum who sells Vintage cigars

I could pm you a link to his website if you are interested, but he asked to remain anonymous otherwise

 

7 hours ago, Mickey D said:

Please tell us more on these vintage cigars.

Not sure what to tell. These are the first ones I have ever had, and haven't smoked one yet.

Really not well educated on Vintage Cigars at this point .

All i can tell you is that many were made in the U.S from Cuban tobacco before the embargo, and some are Cuban made.

There's 6 from the 1940's, 4 from the 1950's, 4 from the 1960's, and one from the 1970's.

[CaptainQuintero]

Awesome!

  Just smoke them slow and low, like you would a Lancero. You might want to look into watering the wrappers prior to smoking, or with the ones you've two of, trying it with one and not the other to see how you feel it effects it?

  Let us know how they smoke!

[smbauerllc]

Awesome!
  Just smoke them slow and low, like you would a Lancero. You might want to look into watering the wrappers prior to smoking, or with the ones you've two of, trying it with one and not the other to see how you feel it effects it?
  Let us know how they smoke!

Appreciate the advice.
I have never owned or smoked any Vintage Cigars before, and dont really have any knowledge of the Vintage Cigar world at this point.
Need to do some research and find others on the forums who have experience with them

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Bijan]

I don't have any experience with anything quite that old. But the few 20+ year ones I've had have often had very brittle wrappers, so be careful punching or cutting them as that can crack the wrapper. I find watering the head before cutting it helps. I don't know that watering the whole wrapper is necessary as I have had good burn either way.

[smbauerllc]

7 hours ago, Bijan said:

I don't have any experience with anything quite that old. But the few 20+ year ones I've had have often had very brittle wrappers, so be careful punching or cutting them as that can crack the wrapper. I find watering the head before cutting it helps. I don't know that watering the whole wrapper is necessary as I have had good burn either way.

Thanks for the info.
I'm completely new to this facet of Cigars, so trying to learn as much as possible, which is why i started this thread hoping to get some information from someone with experience with very old Cigars.

Really wish there was a forum exclusively dedicated to Vintage Cigars. That would be extremely helpful as I'm eager to learn as much as possible about them.

 

7 hours ago, [email protected] said:

ok, so are you going to keep us in the dark,
while you talk,
or are you going to at LEAST give us some light as to what you got, (pictures)
and where you got em,
and most importantly are you looking to share.....
 

If you would have been at least a little patient, you would have gotten more information from me on what I have.

The initial post was for the purpose of finding others with experience in this area.

A little patience and you would have gotten more information

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 

[Skeng Don]

Sorry about that, Been up 20hrs finish up these schematics 

look at it as only excitement, lol

the partagas i would give a shot.... everything else is yes very before our time

if well kept, i wouldn't mind at all

[smbauerllc]

Sorry about that, Been up 20hrs finish up these schematics 
look at it as only excitement, lol
the partagas i would give a shot.... everything else is yes very before our time
if well kept, i wouldn't mind at all

No problem, hard to really get the nuances of something just reading it.

Planning to try the La Proza King Clear Havana from 1947 this afternoon

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[CaptainQuintero]

4 hours ago, smbauerllc said:

Appreciate the advice.
I have never owned or smoked any Vintage Cigars before, and dont really have any knowledge of the Vintage Cigar world at this point.
Need to do some research and find others on the forums who have experience with them

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 

 At the end of the day they are just cigars still, don't be too intimidated (If that's the right word?) by them. Some might be very muted, some might be very intense. It's a lottery with very old cigars.

  If you search for cigar watering there's lots of information on the forum already. I do it almost exclusively with older cigars as it seems to give a lot of suppleness back to the wrapper and to me, gives a vibrancy back in flavour. But not everyone does it.

  Just sip at them and be careful not to overheat them, all the usual advice with cigars, careful with them if you're changing their r/h up or down drastically for storage etc,. They're just leaves, enjoy them!

[Skeng Don]

Yes, im pro phone calls now other than text messages

its like you have to type like your writing a email when your just texting

just so the person is guiding down the right path for a accurate understanding of what your saying lol

 

btw, try one and let us know how it goes

 

[smbauerllc]

 At the end of the day they are just cigars still, don't be too intimidated (If that's the right word?) by them. Some might be very muted, some might be very intense. It's a lottery with very old cigars.
  If you search for cigar watering there's lots of information on the forum already. I do it almost exclusively with older cigars as it seems to give a lot of suppleness back to the wrapper and to me, gives a vibrancy back in flavour. But not everyone does it.
  Just sip at them and be careful not to overheat them, all the usual advice with cigars, careful with them of you're changing their r/h up or down drastically for storage etc, enjoy them!

Yeah, the watering has been suggested before, but I haven't tried it yet.

I'm just a little nervous about them as they are a very rare treat for me and I have no experience with them and very little information about them

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Ginseng]

I've only smoked a handful of cigars with that age but CQ's advice  is spot on. Wet/rinse them prior to smoking. Go in with a clean palate, green tea or flat water as accompaniment. Smoke slow to start. If you're getting nothing, don't hesitate to pull harder. Be prepared to retrohale without carburation. Also, do the parallel pull. Go in with no expectations as what you get will be what you get. Chances are that you will get one or a few that are like paper. One or a few that taste like crap. Maybe one or two that have some interesting unusual tobacco character. Take notes and pictures. Enjoy!

[smbauerllc]

6 hours ago, [email protected] said:

Yes, im pro phone calls now other than text messages
its like you have to type like your writing a email when your just texting
just so the person is guiding down the right path for a accurate understanding of what your saying lol
 
btw, try one and let us know how it goes
 

Yes, very true.

I plan to try my first one this afternoon. Trying to do a little research on this facet of Cigars and get any advice I can from those with experience on the forums I belong to.

Just would hate to ruin a possibly amazing Cigar from ignorance

6 hours ago, Ginseng said:

I've only smoked a handful of cigars with that age but CQ's advice  is spot on. Wet/rinse them prior to smoking. Go in with a clean palate, green tea or flat water as accompaniment. Smoke slow to start. If you're getting nothing, don't hesitate to pull harder. Be prepared to retrohale without carburation. Also, do the parallel pull. Go in with no expectations as what you get will be what you get. Chances are that you will get one or a few that are like paper. One or a few that taste like crap. Maybe one or two that have some interesting unusual tobacco character. Take notes and pictures. Enjoy!

Thanks for the advice from someone with some experience. Its greatly appreciated

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 

[Enduin]

I have smoked a handful of Clear Havanas (made in the US from Cuban tobacco) from 1940s-50s and one actual pre-embargo Cuban cigar. Watering the cap before cutting/punching like @Bijan suggested is a very good idea, alternatively you can also lick it. Most of the cigars I got (from a reputable vintage cigar vendor that unfortunately seems to have disappeared) were a bit under humidified, so I'd check those cigars and if some seem to be under humidified (loose bands, crackling noise from gently massaging the foot, general stiff feel to them) I would suggest that you leave them for a few months in your humi before smoking. If they feel normal, I'd say acclimate for the usual amount of time and smoke away!

I understand the trepidation in consuming something so special and pretty much irreplaceable, but I'd echo some of the other members in saying don't overthink it. Just because they are vintage cigars it doesn't mean that they will be good, and that makes it even more important that you go in without expectations. If you expect to be blown away because they are vintage cigars, you are almost guaranteed to be disappointed. My personal experience with vintage cigars has been all over the spectrum. Several of the Clear Havanas were pretty much tasteless and crappy. One (Original La Palina) was pretty good but not any better than modern cigars. One (Colonel something, forgot the name) was a short filler but was very good. And then the one Cuban proper (it was a Punch Rayados) was one, if not the best cigar I ever smoked. 

[smbauerllc]

Cool. Thanks for the experienced advice and information

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[BrightonCorgi]

A friend of mine has a dozen or so boxes from late 50's to very early 60's and I have been trying to get her to sell.  I like the clean after taste & white ash of vintage cigars.

[smbauerllc]

4 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

A friend of mine has a dozen or so boxes from late 50's to very early 60's and I have been trying to get her to sell.  I like the clean after taste & white ash of vintage cigars.

Nice.
She has quite the stash.
Can't imagine what a full box would cost based on the price of singles

4 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

A friend of mine has a dozen or so boxes from late 50's to very early 60's and I have been trying to get her to sell.  I like the clean after taste & white ash of vintage cigars.

Any advice since you have smoked some before?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[BrightonCorgi]

2 minutes ago, smbauerllc said:

Any advice since you have smoked some before?

Not really.  Just smoke them and be in the moment.  Anything storage particular like wine or cigars; a lot of things can happen over the decades.  Unless you have a "chain of custody", you'll never be sure the life story of the cigars.  Even more so with cigars than wine. 

A suggestion, if I may would be to smoke it slower.  Old cigars tend to smoke like a tinder box and you'll want to maintain a lower heat to get the flavors.

[smbauerllc]

Not really.  Just smoke them and be in the moment.  Anything storage particular like wine or cigars; a lot of things can happen over the decades.  Unless you have a "chain of custody", you'll never be sure the life story of the cigars.  Even more so with cigars than wine. 
A suggestion, if I may would be to smoke it slower.  Old cigars tend to smoke like a tinder box and you'll want to maintain a lower heat to get the flavors.

Yeah, smoking slowly and wetting the tip before cutting seems to be the general consensus

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[BrightonCorgi]

34 minutes ago, smbauerllc said:

Yeah, smoking slowly and wetting the tip before cutting seems to be the general consensus

A quick rinse of the whole cigar before cutting (1-2 sec) is something to consider.  Do not get water into the foot.  Within a minute or two you'll never knew the cigar was rinsed by appearance, but can benefit an old cigar.  There are no rules to any of this.

Try rinsing on new cigars too!

[Ginseng]

2 minutes ago, BrightonCorgi said:

A quick rinse of the whole cigar before cutting (1-2 sec) is something to consider.  Do not get water into the foot.  Within a minute or two you'll never knew the cigar was rinsed by appearance, but can benefit an old cigar.  There are no rules to any of this.

Try rinsing on new cigars too!

For cigars that are very dry or that have fragile wrappers, I will do the "rinse and wrap."

• hold the cigar foot down and run a gentle stream of water from the head down the barrel, turn the cigar once all the way around in the stream
• gently shake off large droplets
• roll up the cigar gently in piece of paper towel, let stand like this for a minute or two
• unroll paper towel, the wrapper may seem wrinkly like your big toe after a long bath, don't worry about that
• let the cigar rest for a few minutes in the smoking environment 
• light and smoke as usual

BTW, I would not use a single or double guillotine cutter or scissors to de-cap older cigars with fragile wrappers. The crushing shear is likely to fracture the whole head region. I would use a very sharp pocket knife and gently work it around the cap shoulder just deeply enough to cut the wrapper. If done right, you'll cut little or no binder.

[BrightonCorgi]

8 minutes ago, Ginseng said:

BTW, I would not use a single or double guillotine cutter or scissors to de-cap older cigars with fragile wrappers. The crushing shear is likely to fracture the whole head region. I would use a very sharp pocket knife and gently work it around the cap shoulder just deeply enough to cut the wrapper. If done right, you'll cut little or no binder.

I usually rinse the head of every cigar I smoke to ensure it never cracks with my scissors.  Cutting the cigar over my kitchen sink is a habit.  I rinse the head, pat it dry with a towel, make a drink and then cut the cigar.

[Puros Y Vino]

I've smoked cigars from the 1920's through to the 50's. Mostly clear Havana's with the odd Pre-Embargo.  They can be very unique smokes. I get some flavours I've never experienced before.  My advice to you is to enjoy them slowly.  Don't pair them with anything but water for best results.