Stogie Commentary: Just the Facts, Ma’am

I recently opened a box of cigars to find a pleasant surprise. A small piece of paper inside let me know exactly when the cigars began aging, when they went in the box, and when they were released to be sold.

The box was a sampler of six La Aurora Preferido Maduro Perfectos. As you can see in the photo, the box includes a card with the pertinent dates and information about the batch of cigars.

It’s such simple information—amazingly, though, such information is completely absent from many of the high-end cigars that are made these days. Nevermind information about when the cigars began aging, even box dates are missing from the majority of cigars on the market.

Ironically, Cuban cigars always have box dates. Perhaps because they are often rushed out of the factory without extensive aging, it’s particularly important for Cuban smokers to know  if their cigars have had enough time to develop. Box dates on Cubans also reinforce the collectors mentality that surrounds the smokes (while serving as a check against counterfeiting). It’s a lesson that non-Cuban producers would do well to emulate.

For all the talk we hear about treating cigars as a collectors item like wine, consumers still don’t have the details they need to treat cigars like a collectors item. Good wines always have some basic information on the bottle; usually at least the vintage and basic information about the composition of the blend.

Cigars should welcome that approach, even if it means dispensing with the idea that every cigar is best smoked immediately after it is released. Doing so would encourage cigar smokers to become collectors who want to learn more about the cigars they buy and how to get the most out of them through aging.

Towards that end, others should follow the example set by La Aurora and let smokers know the vital facts about the cigars on which they spend their hard-earned money. (And, in case you were wondering, the pictured La Aurora Preferido Maduro Perfectos began aging in November 2007, were boxed on August 4, 2008, and left the factory on August 8, 2008; they’re great right now.)

-Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys