Question about aging

I smoked a VSG with 7 years on with coffee Father's Day morning, amazing balance and smoothness. One of the only NC's I have with a fair amount of age.

[Jbailey]

When did they stop printing cabinet on the VSG band?

[lenguamor]

Aging NCs is not unheard of; lots of us do it, and with results that vary from good to great. It just seems to be an unknown quantity among most of us.

What you have to know is that no amount of aging will make a bad cigar better. An aged dog rocket will just be a dog rocket that did time.

However, aging a great NC—like the Ashton VSG that you propose—almost always will result in a smoother cigar in which the blend has had time to coalesce to a point that most haven't experienced.

Ask any manufacturer with a "treasure room" how aging impacts their best cigars from years ago, and none will say that it's a negative.

I have Opus from around 2001-2002 or so; those babies are an entirely different animal than a fresh one; in the best possible way. I have some Henry Clays from 2004; Mirabelles, LF-HM Habano 2000 wrapper; nothing fancy, just that I bought a lot and had a couple boxes left over. They went from good to amazing in that time.

Ernesto Padilla's original release Obsidians? You should taste them now.

I could go on, but the point is: try it. You'll like it.

Note: aging requires patience, and nothing helps patience along more than a sufficient quantity to be able to "sample" along the way. One cigar is not gonna do it.

Agreed on the Opus, they age great. Have some going back to 2005. I can't smoke them fresh though, way too powerful and harsh.

[lenguamor]

Originally Posted by ChicagoWhiteSox

Agreed on the Opus, they age great. Have some going back to 2005. I can't smoke them fresh though, way too powerful and harsh.

Exactly, good example. The Opus is such a strong cigar that when it starts out you are tasting the potential alongside a lot of harshness in the form of ammonia and esters which will dissipate with time, leaving the blend to marry in a way that it never will if smoked young.

Take a box of those and age most of them 10 years, and you have magic.

[markem]

I'd venture that of all the NCs that I've aged, the short story was by far the best. After about 3 years, they get amazing.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by lenguamor

Exactly, good example. The Opus is such a strong cigar that when it starts out you are tasting the potential alongside a lot of harshness in the form of ammonia and esters which will dissipate with time, leaving the blend to marry in a way that it never will if smoked young.

Take a box of those and age most of them 10 years, and you have magic.

Opus tend to be very oily and that takes some time to settle in or they smoke at a snail's pace.