[JohnnyFlake]

I have offered this information before, many times, over the years and I'll do it again, one more time. For whatever it's worth, the advice I have picked up over the years from many, many old timers is that all blended NCs will improve within a year, even two years, from the day they are produced. The big, big problem, is that it's almost impossible to know that date, as NC Boxes & packaging do not normally provide that information.

You need to smoke one or two from a box to determine if they are really young or have some age on them, 6 months plus. If they seem young, some ammonia and bright spices, they will probably age well for a couple of years, before starting to go in the opposite direction. If they seem smooth, with deeper spice and the smoke is heavy & creamy, they are probably over the six month point, but should still age well for at least a year.

Now, with respect to Puros, all tobacco used is from the same country, they can age very well, for many years, five or six, at least and even many more, depending on the quality of the tobaccos used. Cuban Cigars are known for aging well, long term, and the simple reason being, they are all Puros!