How important is resting before first smoke?

[Uwiik]

Got my two boxes of Juan Lopez Seleccion No.2 today. Vendor said these two boxes just arrived from overseas last week and only rested on his humidor for a few days. Off course I can’t wait given all the rave reviews about how powerful and tasty the smoke is, I lighted one up immediately…. Enough to say I was underwhelmed… bland is saying it nicely, weak woody flavor was all I got, got better and start giving a slight hint of sweetness and cream after 50% burned, but still everything was on the weak side and the smoke was thin, contrary to all the reviews I have been reading about on your face flavor of this brand…Is this what to expect if I smoke cigar immediately without any resting period? 
 

[hrs1]

Think the general consensus is 60-90 days of rest after overseas shipping at your preferred temp/RH does wonders before smoking.  

However, I've had some luck smoking recent production ROTT (LGC Turquinos & Monte Wide Edmundos in particular spring to mind).   As with anything, your particular experience may vary.   Best bet for me has been to sample from a box intermittently to figure out when it's "on."  

Hope these turn the corner for you soon  

[Uwiik]

https://simplystogies.com/juan-lopez-seleccion-no-2-cuban-review/
 

The review above was exactly how I would describe it. I hope it’s only resting/aging issue as it seems that 99% of the consensus loves this cigar. The kind vendor is offering to exchange the second box with a Hoyo Petit Robusto…should I? 

[Havanaaddict]

33 minutes ago, hrs1 said:

Best bet for me has been to sample from a box

Yep been doing this 15 + years! As far as JL #2 I have found that wrapper color has a lot do do with the strength and flavor  I have found it can very from box to box sometimes. I bought (2) boxes that had the same box code even the month. One was light wrappers and one was a lot darker and oily. Over time the lighter box has aged nice good flavors but still not strong or in your face. The darker box has actually gotten stronger but flavors and staring to marry together nicely. 

 

[Rushman]

It’s pretty important (as I smoke desnudo Canonazo that arrived two days ago).

Suffice it to say I have a problem waiting but have had best results waiting a few months.

These should turn more to your liking by the holidays.

Good luck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Chibearsv]

Dude, slow down. Rest your cigars. Dry box them for couple days and smoke them slowly. Buy some singles until you find what you like since everyone’s palate is different. Enjoy YOUR cigars, don’t look for reviews online as a basis for what you should experience. Cheers 😁 

[vladdraq]

Juan Lopez is all but bland. Thin smoke can be a humidity issue, maybe is related to that. Dry box one for a week and try again.

[El Presidente]

I don't put any credence to a review/opinion where the cigars have not rested. 

[Capn_Jackson]

60-90 days in your preferred environment is pretty important. I rarely smoke a cigar that I haven’t rested at home for 3 months. It does happen occasionally, especially with Nudies, but normally 90 days or more for me. Also, I hardly ever smoke anything I haven’t dry-boxed for at least three days. Sometimes more. That’s just my preference, though.

Regarding the Lopez #2, everybody‘s palate is different. One person might say “I taste bitter olive,” and the other person “orange peel.” One person might say “I taste a kinda sweet black tea,” and another person says “mud.” I know one guy who traded me all his Upmann #2’s because, to him, they had a flavor similar to what you’d smell when someone gets a perm. To me it’s vegetal, some floral, but definitely not hair chemicals haha. You may end up liking the Lopez 2 after some rest, and you may not, but in my experience that rest is pretty important.

All that said, Juan Lopez 2 is my desert island cigar. I would miss little RyJ petites, Allones, Punch Shorts, Connie 1’s and Bolivar Belicosos, but the day I can no longer get my hands on JL2’s, I will not be a happy camper. Hope that day never comes.

[jakebarnes]

4 hours ago, Chibearsv said:

Dude, slow down. Rest your cigars. Dry box them for couple days and smoke them slowly. Buy some singles until you find what you like since everyone’s palate is different. Enjoy YOUR cigars, don’t look for reviews online as a basis for what you should experience. Cheers 😁 

This. 

[Uwiik]

8 hours ago, Chibearsv said:

Dude, slow down. Rest your cigars. Dry box them for couple days and smoke them slowly. Buy some singles until you find what you like since everyone’s palate is different. Enjoy YOUR cigars, don’t look for reviews online as a basis for what you should experience. Cheers 😁 

You know how it is, pretty sure many here has been through the same stage as me 😝 I am a newly-born again enthusiast in all this and my impatience more often than not, overpowers my logic…. 
 

So the answer is “VERY IMPORTANT “  👍

[rcarlson]

The answer is simple:  essential. 

[DaBoot]

I won’t smoke a Cuban I haven’t rested 3-6 months. Dry box is important also. Find what works for you…

[ha_banos]

I won’t smoke a Nudie I haven’t rested 3-6 months. Dry box is important also. Find what works for you…

 

[JY0]

On 10/15/2023 at 1:40 PM, Uwiik said:

https://simplystogies.com/juan-lopez-seleccion-no-2-cuban-review/
 

The review above was exactly how I would describe it. I hope it’s only resting/aging issue as it seems that 99% of the consensus loves this cigar. The kind vendor is offering to exchange the second box with a Hoyo Petit Robusto…should I? 

I would not make that trade. Let them rest.

[BrightonCorgi]

Don't give up hope on those JLs. I have gone through at least a dozen boxes over decades and never had a lousy one. 

[nKostyan]

On 10/16/2023 at 5:09 AM, Chibearsv said:

Dude, slow down. Rest your cigars.

Let a person go his own way
Let him feel how acclimatization works.

 

[BrightonCorgi]

51 minutes ago, nKostyan said:

Let a person go his own way
Let him feel how acclimatization works.

Agreed.  You have to find out what works or not on his own.

[El Presidente]

5 hours ago, nKostyan said:

Let a person go his own way
Let him feel how acclimatization works.

 

It really is all about acclimatization. 

Again, reviews without allowing acclimatization to occur are useless. 

[joeypots]

The cigars have jet lag. A box may have flown from Cuba to Asia to Australia to the USA in a few months and could be far too moist to enjoy.  I’m long done with smoking Cuban cigars ROTT because I’m cheap. I smoked too many cigars before they had acclimated in my storage conditions and almost always thought I had wasted a good cigar.  If you have a small stash of cigars it’ll be hard to wait to sample a recently delivered box of Cuban cigars but with prices what they are now it’s essential to give the cigars a good nap before trying one. 

BTW, in my experience with the JL#2, it is a cigar that really shines with time down. I’ve not had one that was to my taste young but eventually the cigars developed a citrus, cointreau taste that people rave about.

[99call]

On 10/16/2023 at 1:31 AM, Uwiik said:

I lighted one up immediately

As many here have tried to suggest.   Cuban Cigars are not a luxury that respond well to force, or impatience. I am all for tasting a cigar ROTT as I always want to know a baseline potential (Ideally after 30days acclimatisation), but that rarely ever happens. As you have already confessed you have OCD, and are unlikely to be talked down from having knee jerk reactions to every oddity CC's can through out there. 

I would be interested to hear,  Are you 'going after' your cigars? Buy this, I mean, is your enthusiasm and impatience leading you to smoke too quickly, and or overheating your cigars? Everybody does it from time to time. Cigars you are excited to try, that are not meeting your expectation etc, you can subconsciously start drawing harder on, and more frequently, due to frustration. This creates a downward spiral of diminishing returns, and things just get worse and worse. 

I find CC's are like golf. The harder you try and hit the ball, the more you top it, slice it etc. It's only when you stop trying so hard, and stop overthinking things, you actually connect and start striking the ball sweetly.

Amusingly...also like golf, being surrounded by people telling you how to do it, rarely is of any help, and just succeeds in making you more angry.

[Bijan]

I'll go another direction and say there is no consistency. I've had a cigar that was top 0.1% from a box where every other cigar was about average.

The only consistency I've ever found was in a box of tent pegs or wind tunnels and even then only two or three boxes like that out of 100+.

9 times out of 10 a cigar is just a cigar. Maybe even 19 times out of 20. I'm not blown away every time I light up. It's pleasant, but the cigars that make me stop and go wow!!!, are few and far between. And if I find one, I would not expect the next cigar from the same box to match the experience.

To me this hobby is about chasing that dragon.

To the original topic: my experience is cigars can be ok ROTT (depending on vendor's storage), but benefit from some rest time. But either way it's a crap shoot.

[BrightonCorgi]

When cigars were less expensive, it was no big deal to smoke a Juan Lopez ROTT.  We've all spent a lot more on a lot less of an experience.  Even if the cigar didn't perform at 75%; opening a new box and smoking a cigar was the whole event.

Now that cigars are costing significantly more; temperance is worth bearing in mind. 

On the other hand if you have enough cigars, trying a cigar out of a new box doesn't even come to mind.  The thought is some year you'd like to get to that one.

[Lamboinee]

You have a box of cigars. That's like 25 cylinders of dead tobacco available for you to smoke. And, theyre gonna keep making more cigars. So, take the opportunity to test it for yourself. Do your own test using 5 or so of your cigars. See if you can replicate what others have experienced. 

This way, you can smoke some stuff now and learn, for yourself, what you like to help guide your journey. My plan is perfect, even if you smoke a cigar immediately with no rest and it sucks and you think u wasted $ by smoking too early and you're ashamed cause you shoulda listened to you FOHers.....you can rationalise your shame and failure to yourself because of all the knowledge and experience you'll be gaining. You'll need a solid set of illusory rationalisations if you're gonna buy/smoke CCs, or, live in the world.

[ha_banos]

So rest it's the consensus here.

You can shift boxes much much later if you decide to. I've been over buying for years now. To the point I'm more often than not smoking cigars 7-10 years minimum age. Rarely disappoint. But occasionally they do. This isn't even mostly boxes. It's mostly singles. So can you imagine the variance!? 

You'll see the variance within a box like folk are saying. There is value in buying fivers of everything early on. Just try everything, keep notes. If you can get hold of cigars rested for a few years bonus head start to try.

If you get sick of waiting. NC production uses well aged tobacco. Try your luck traversing all the options there too along the way.

 

Have to exercise your palate, not your eyes and ears. 

Welcome to the game 🎯 😊