Stogie Tips: Time to Smoke THAT Cigar

It’s a phenomenon that isn’t unique to cigars: Once you’ve got a good collection you probably find that some truly rare cigars sit in your humidor month after month, year after year.

Maybe it’s a limited edition Opus X with a few years of age, or that last highly acclaimed Cuban that’s been sitting in your humidor for half a decade. It’s like you’re waiting for a perfect cigar moment that may never come.

It’s a problem that isn’t unique to cigars. I’ve heard wine collectors express the same dilemma. With a cellar of thousands of bottles, the very best ones never get opened.  Instead, they get passed over as some of them age beyond their peak.

Like wine, many cigars peak after only a bit of aging before going downhill.  Other cigars are meant to be smoked soon after they’re released. After all, that’s why the master cigar makers who created them released them when they did.

So don’t wait forever for some perfect situation to smoke that extra special cigar. It might be getting worse, not better, while you patiently pass it over. Instead, make your own occasion to light up that special smoke. Maybe just invite a good cigar-loving friend over, grill up some steaks, and light them up after a dinner where you open that special bottle of wine.

If you’re worried this will leave your humidor without a special smoke, just use a trick that wine collectors do: Every time you smoke a truly special cigar, replace it with two of equal or better quality. Soon you’ll have a nice little collection of extraordinary cigars.

Personally, on the Fourth of July, I’m going to light up an Opus X Chili Pepper that’s been resting for two years. Why wait any longer?

-Patrick S

photo credit: VisitingDC