Aging experiment logs ( selection done )

[Glass Half Full]

On 8/30/2022 at 9:50 AM, Monterey said:

Yeah, I don't agree with that at all.  Fugu mentioned it well above.  You will learn little to nothing with just 5 years in regards to the impact of long term vacuum sealing.  So many people have already done 5 years.  Maybe over the years you will adjust, but unless you adjust and move to ten years, you won't be adding a lot to what is already known.  I can open a box from 5 years ago right now, but I know the result already.   

I would also consider some down time between opening the bag and tasting.  6 months at a minimum.   That is just a suggestion for any cigars vacuum sealed for any period of time.

Hi Monterey, 

I have not tried aging in vacuum sealed as yet, though I'm curious why you suggest an "open" (unsealed) rest of six months prior to tasting.  Could you or any others expand on that a bit please?  

If we take Fakhm and others' points that the goal is to not allow the volatile compounds to be released, I don't understand why an open rest would be beneficial.  

Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts and insights.  Always hoping to learn how to shepherd the collection better, especially with prices having changed so much.  

Thanks too for this thoughtful thread Fakhm!

All the best, 

[Monterey]

51 minutes ago, Glass Half Full said:

Hi Monterey, 

I have not tried aging in vacuum sealed as yet, though I'm curious why you suggest an "open" (unsealed) rest of six months prior to tasting.  Could you or any others expand on that a bit please? 

I don't have a scientific answer for you.  Just that a cigar after a long time in a vacuum seal tastes off if you smoke it right away.   I guess it needs time to release chemicals and to come in balance again with the reintroduction of oxygen.  It may not be 6 months.  It may be fine after a month or maybe even a few weeks.  Depends on how quickly you vacuum sealed them in the first place.  I think it is more important to let them breathe for a bit and remove that ammonia prior to vacuuming them up.   So cigars aged for a year will be ready more quickly then if you vacuumed up a box after just a few months of them being rolled. Keep in mind you do want some natural aging and release of compounds.  The end goal is to have the flavor of cubans aged for 5 years while having them vacuumed sealed for 20 years.  So you need to find the balance of time in a vacuum and time breathing in the world.

The point is that you may experience the flavor being off if you don't give it some time to breathe after a long period of time in hibernation.  Like we need coffee in the morning until we are right, cigars apparently need some oxygen time and to release some stuff into the world until they are ready.  As I said, I have no scientific answer.  Just experience of smoking time post opening.

I'll know more in the coming years as I have around 400 boxes vacuumed sealed.  I'll be quite the expert in this eventually.