Aged Cigars

[cigardawg]

A little history on this thread. I have only been smoking cigars since 1996 and have only been collecting and aging since late 1998. That said, I was recently going through the humidors and started to uncover cigars with what I consider to be decent age on them. To that end, I thought I would start smoking them and doing a review on these "aged" cigars. To meet this definition, the cigar has to have been aging in my humidors for at least 5 years or have legitimate proof of age elsewhere.

Please, I invite everyone to post their reviews of "aged" cigars here. I'd love to hear about others' experiences with both ISOMs and N/Cs. I plan on posting a review here about once a week and hope that others will help to make it a recurring thread.

For my first review, I chose a La Gloria Cubana Corona Gorda Maduro that has been aging in my boxes since 12/24/1999. Looking back on my notes, this cigar was rolled in the Miami factory. The cigar had a very dark maduro wrapper with no visable veins, but a few noticible seams. Overall it had a slightly rustic look. The pre-light nose was earthy and peety. The pre-light draw was open and easy.

The cigar lit very easily, requiring almost no puffing to get it torched. The draw stayed open, each puff producing mouthfuls of thick smoke. This was great "smoke-ring smoke." The cigar burned cool throughout the experience. It also burned dead even, never requiring any touchups or corrections. The ash was a little gray, but very firm as is the case with most LGCs that I have smoked. Very nice construction.

The taste of the cigar started out a little sharp and tangy. The tanginess was almost the sour feeling that you get from fresh citrus. Very soon, coffee tastes kicked in, but the tanginess remained on the finish. At about the 1 1/2 inch mark, the cigar turned creamy, the smoke just flowing around the mouth. At the mid-way point, some charred wood reared its head and the coffee flavors intensified. As I smoked it down the home stretch, the creaminess disappeared and the charred wood increased. Unfortunately, it picked up a hint of bitterness at the very end. However, it as a very nice tasting cigar overall.

The age on this cigar worked to mellow it. It had some nice flavors and burned like a dream. However, it did not knock my socks off. Overall, I give this cigar a B+.

 

[cigardawg]

The second in a long series of "aged" smokes. I chose a Padron Executive that was put down in my humidors on 9/4/1998. That would make this stick around 7 years old if you count aging and time on the shelves. Anyway, here is the review.

This is a nice sized cigar, 7.5 inches by 50 ring gauge. It sported a dark maduro wrapper that showed some veins and seams. It was a rustic looking cigar. The pre-light nose was mile, though it did have scents of cedar and earth. The pre-light draw was open and easy. The cigar was solidly rolled, characteristic of most of the Padrons that I have smoked.

The cigar lit easily and the draw stayed open and easy. Each puff produced copious amounts of thick, medium-to-full bodied smoke. In fact, the smoke just surrounded my head, enhancing the experience with the earthy aroma. The cigar burned dead even and stayed cool down to a nub. The ash was dark gray and a little flakey, though it never fell off prior to 3/4 of an inch. Like most Padrons, excellent construction.

BAMMMMMMM...a real coffee and cedar explosion on the initial draw. Now this is why I smoke cigars. The intense coffee/cedar flavors stayed for the first inch or so and then settled into a very smooth coffee flavor. As it developed, it picked up a more rounded earthy flavor to mix with the coffee and began to hint at some raw cocoa undertones. As the cigar burned down the back end, the raw cocoa and chocolate intensified a bit as the coffee remained. A fantastic tasting cigar.

This is why I age cigars. The Padron Executive is a good cigar right out of the box. However, with several years of age on it, it became a great cigar. I rate this cigar a nice, solid A.

 

[bfreebern]

Nice reviews!

 

[AVB]

Great reviews since I very rarely have a cigar that lasts 7 years in my humi. If you are going to continue with a fair number of these you might want to set your reviews up like I did with my scotch. A master page with links to the seperate reviews. Just a thought.

 

[cigardawg]

Great reviews since I very rarely have a cigar that lasts 7 years in my humi. If you are going to continue with a fair number of these you might want to set your reviews up like I did with my scotch. A master page with links to the seperate reviews. Just a thought.

[snapback]177933[/snapback]​

That is a good thought. I was trying to minimize the number of threads and just keep adding to the one. However, the way you have your reviews set up is much more elegant.