Stogie Commentary: Older, Wiser, Better?

Aged cigars are hot these days, and not just Cubans. Retailers offer them for sale. Magazines rate them. Board posts extol their virtues. I find it to be a fascinating topic, in large part because it is so wide open. Experts often disagree over key points, and no one can assure you that holding on to any particular cigar will result in improvement.

My own aging efforts are haphazard. The way it usually happens is I’ll ignore or forget some cigar or other and, after a while—voila!—it’s got some age on it. A recent example was a Tatuaje Havana VI Verocu No. 2  that had somehow escaped my notice for about a year and a half. When I smoked it recently, I could only wish I had more: The flavors remained just as distinct but somehow deeper. Time in the humidor had rounded the pepper and spice to perfection.

A different route led to another extraordinary aged Tatuaje. I got together the other night with Stogie Guy colleague Patrick M in Ybor City for a few hours, and he graciously gave me several beautiful cigars, including a two-year-old Tat from a cabinet he’d bought that had been resting at a retailer. It was sublime, one of the best cigars I’ve had the pleasure of smoking.

Interestingly, both are rolled by Don Pepin Garcia, who isn’t a big proponent of aging. I reflected on that the other night when I lit up another Pepin creation, a box-pressed 601 Blue Robusto fresh from the seller. The 601 line is one of my favorites, though I’d probably rank the Blue as my least favorite of the four. Not this stick, though. It was head of the class—full of flavor, changing as it burned and highly tasty. I cannot imagine it would get better with age.

Interestingly, I’d smoked a larger vitola Blue that was more than year old just a few weeks earlier. I wasn’t particularly impressed with what aging had wrought. And to keep it even more interesting, Patrick A had a considerably different experience with a 15-month-old Blue Toro that he wrote about last month.

So what’s the conclusion? Well, you can probably draw your own. For me, there are at least three: (1) It’s difficult, if not impossible, to gauge beforehand how specific cigars will age and how you will react to them; (2) Like most aspects of enjoying cigars, personal taste plays a large a role in judging aged sticks; and (3) Don’t go overboard on aging. It’s another aspect of the hobby and another way to find great smoking experiences. But it isn’t the only way.

For more information, you can find exclusive write-ups about our experiences aging cigars in the new StogieGuys.com email newsletter. Sign up today if you haven’t done so already.

-George E

photo credit: Cuban Crafters