Plume is something that will be seen if the cigar is left alone, untouched, unsmoked. You could see it in a day of aquisition, or years. The hardest part is not touching them, looking at them, or even resisting the urge to smoke them.
I prefer to check my cigars regularly, so the idea of plume kinda goes up in smoke. As for aging,
ICG faq might be informative in addition to the myriad threads here on CP. I myself keep two storage units, a desktop at 65% for smoking and a coolidor at 70% for aging. Not saying that my way is ideal (everyone has their own preference), as I fiddle too much with my stash to even let plume occur, however sometimes I do see some shiny stuff on the cigar that makes my heart leap for joy, and then I realize I didn't remove the cellophane yet. In addition to this plume idea, my thoughts are based on the fact that I have no idea on how my cigars are kept prior to my aquisition of them. They could have been stored in a dry dusty place for 7 months before a retailer puts them out on the shelves or lists them for sale on websites.
So to age cigars is a good thing, but like that New Orleans BOTL said, don't let an opportunity to smoke a fine cigar pass over because you are waiting for diamonds to appear from the rough.
