Cigar Aging Article

[TheRiddick]

Time to buy a 5er, stick it in a large empty humi and voila, 4 months from now you have perfectly aged "5+ year old" cigars. Who needs years of careful aging? Pass that crack pipe, please...

FWIW, seems the writer read or attended some wine related courses/literature as many of the assumptions, and I can't call them anything but that since some of the "findings" presented directly contradict common knowledge/experience, are dead wrong. Anyone who has worked with wine barrels will tell you that there is no mechanism for tannins to "vanish/escape" even with years of air drying the wood, they "soften" oak tannins by burning the staves while assembling barrels, the greater the burn the softer the tannins in the assembled barrel. Also, many of the flavor characteristics described belong to wine world mostly, I have yet to taste a cigar with a "mushroom" taste, yet plenty of older FRENCH wines display that trait, just one example.

And that "10 year" over the hill limit is also a big pile of BS, from personal experience as well as from plenty of others'. Plenty of cigars taste great with 30-40 years on them (one wouldn't age Garcia & Vega, though).

This article comes from a nation that pretty much doesn't smoke cigars and what's sold there is 99% fake. But, hey, impressive charts/graphics and all that...

[T.G]

Originally Posted by TheRiddick

Time to buy a 5er, stick it in a large empty humi and voila, 4 months from now you have perfectly aged "5+ year old" cigars. Who needs years of careful aging? Pass that crack pipe, please...

FWIW, seems the writer read or attended some wine related courses/literature as many of the assumptions, and I can't call them anything but that since some of the "findings" presented directly contradict common knowledge/experience, are dead wrong. Anyone who has worked with wine barrels will tell you that there is no mechanism for tannins to "vanish/escape" even with years of air drying the wood, they "soften" oak tannins by burning the staves while assembling barrels, the greater the burn the softer the tannins in the assembled barrel. Also, many of the flavor characteristics described belong to wine world mostly, I have yet to taste a cigar with a "mushroom" taste, yet plenty of older FRENCH wines display that trait, just one example.

And that "10 year" over the hill limit is also a big pile of BS, from personal experience as well as from plenty of others'. Plenty of cigars taste great with 30-40 years on them (one wouldn't age Garcia & Vega, though).

This article comes from a nation that pretty much doesn't smoke cigars and what's sold there is 99% fake. But, hey, impressive charts/graphics and all that...

Greg, thanks. I was wondering what your take would be on some of the points in that article. I started having a hard time taking the author seriously when he went off on the flavors/aromas marrying bunk and some of the other stuff started sounding a bit "off".

I don't think that everything he says is without value/merit. but gospel it's not.

Originally Posted by TheRiddick

Time to buy a 5er, stick it in a large empty humi and voila, 4 months from now you have perfectly aged "5+ year old" cigars. Who needs years of careful aging? Pass that crack pipe, please...

FWIW, seems the writer read or attended some wine related courses/literature as many of the assumptions, and I can't call them anything but that since some of the "findings" presented directly contradict common knowledge/experience, are dead wrong. Anyone who has worked with wine barrels will tell you that there is no mechanism for tannins to "vanish/escape" even with years of air drying the wood, they "soften" oak tannins by burning the staves while assembling barrels, the greater the burn the softer the tannins in the assembled barrel. Also, many of the flavor characteristics described belong to wine world mostly, I have yet to taste a cigar with a "mushroom" taste, yet plenty of older FRENCH wines display that trait, just one example.

So like a fine whiskey as I have been told, in the wine industry they burn the oak barrels as well?

Not a be fan of ether, but I can have a little whiskey on the rocks. Wine is defiantly not my cup of tea.

And that "10 year" over the hill limit is also a big pile of BS, from personal experience as well as from plenty of others'. Plenty of cigars taste great with 30-40 years on them (one wouldn't age Garcia & Vega, though).

This article comes from a nation that pretty much doesn't smoke cigars and what's sold there is 99% fake. But, hey, impressive charts/graphics and all that...

So like whiskey so I have been told, wine producer burn the oak barrel?

I am not a big whiskey drinker but I can have it on the rocks every once and a while. As far as wine I can not stand the stuff.