Aging/Storage Approach

[MNBrian]

Hi everyone!

So I've been sitting here pondering the many systems someone might use to age or store their cigars. To be clear, I don't mean what device you're using (humidor, wineador, freezerdor, ovendoor). I'm talking about where you put what for how long ect.

Currently I've got 3 humi's and a wineador. I've got a 200 ct, a 50ct and a 20ct, and the wineador holds maybe 30 boxes. Like many of you, I've got 3 kinds of sticks in my various devices.

1) Sticks I want to save.
2) Sticks I want to save but know I'm just going to smoke anyways.
3) Sticks I bought on a whim and didn't end up liking, aka stuff I don't really want to smoke.

Currently my 50 ct is full of number 3. My 20 ct is empty. My 200 count has mostly number 3 and some number 2. And my wineador is all 1 and 2.

So I know I'm not the only one who utilizes some kind of long term storage and some kind of short term storage or desktop humidor. What does everyone else do for organizing this stuff? I'm starting to realize buying one box of anything and saving half doesn't work. I need 2 boxes so I can leave one box totally sealed up. But then again, I've also got a big box of 20 misc sticks that I loved from 2015 and wanted to store long-term. I'm thinking about sticking a year label on that box and pulling 20 sticks annually that I really loved to save for that purpose. Maybe in 5 years I'll crack a misc stick box open as a sort of "best of" tribute.

Right. That's enough talk. Time to listen. What do you all do?

 

[Scap]

I can't offer any cigar advice, but you've got the bug most of us gun nuts have....
"one is none, and two is one."

Definitely going to watch and see what the others come in with, as I'm wanting to start aging some boxes myself.

 

[Old Smokey]

I am no expert and only have a few boxes set aside to age. I don't smoke on a daily basis and usually buy 5'ers unless it's something I know I love and then grab 10 or occasionally a box. The thing I have realized is if you buy more than you smoke, you will soon have a collection with a good deal of rest and eventually aged. It happens. I think the most important factor is consistent temp and Rh and don't smoke'm.

 

[jfields]

People seem to really overthink things these days....

I buy boxes and they either have the date code on them, or I write it one the box with a Sharpie. I keep my cabinet/coolidors around 65% generally and try not to get into the varying opinions on the optimal RH% because I know what I like. Guess I'm lucky to have such an extensive inventory that I can't smoke it faster than it ages.......

No real method of tracking inventory. I prefer to be surprised when I find that box of VSG buried somewhere I bought back in 2007 that I forgot I had.

 

[MadMonk]

My best smokes go in the cabinet.
Overflow is less expensive stuff in containers with Bovedas.
I have a short term dry box for Nicaraguans and CCs. Dominican stuff I can typically smoke right out of storage.
I don't intentionally age anything. I do avoid smoking expensive cigars if I think there is a chance of being interrupted, distracted, etc.

 

[Puros Locos]

Brian, IMO your question is a matter of personal preference. If I crack open a box and it's smoking really well, I can usually guestimate how many cigars from that box I'll go through in the next 9-12 months. The remainer get vacuumed sealed. If I have any extra boxes of the same, I vacuum sealed them aswell. In my experience, this tends to help "preserve" the way they're smoking at that point in time. The only reason I do this is because I just don't go through them fast enough and I've had cigars pass their prime just sitting in my humidor.

For me the proof was when I vacuum sealed 25 Padron 1926 40th's and left 15 in a box in the humidor. The cigars were released in 2004. I smoked through most of those unsealed 15 cigars over the next 7-8 years. Then over two days I did a comparison between the sealed and unsealed. IMO, there was no comparison between the two. As most Padron fans know, they don't tend to age very well, however, the Padrons that I sealed had lost very little in the way of flavor. The strength had diminished, but the flavor of the cigar was right on.

I hope that answers your question (at least part of it).

ETA: It also makes it easier organizing the cigars I plan to smoke soon vs the long term storage.

 

[Setharsis]

Brian, IMO your question is a matter of personal preference. If I crack open a box and it's smoking really well, I can usually guestimate how many cigars from that box I'll go through in the next 9-12 months. The remainer get vacuumed sealed. If I have any extra boxes of the same, I vacuum sealed them aswell. In my experience, this tends to help "preserve" the way they're smoking at that point in time. The only reason I do this is because I just don't go through them fast enough and I've had cigars pass their prime just sitting in my humidor.

For me the proof was when I vacuum sealed 25 Padron 1926 40th's and left 15 in a box in the humidor. The cigars were released in 2004. I smoked through most of those unsealed 15 cigars over the next 7-8 years. Then over two days I did a comparison between the sealed and unsealed. IMO, there was no comparison between the two. As most Padron fans know, they don't tend to age very well, however, the Padrons that I sealed had lost very little in the way of flavor. The strength had diminished, but the flavor of the cigar was right on.

I hope that answers your question (at least part of it).

ETA: It also makes it easier organizing the cigars I plan to smoke soon vs the long term storage.

Vacuum sealed cigars?? I've never even thought about doing that before. How do you maintain humidity in there? Do you just pop a boveda in there or just rely on the humidity in the cigars at the time of sealing? Have you noticed any type of aging while vacuum sealed? Have you ever vacuum sealed "sick" CC's and seen if they mature past it in vacuum? So many questions...

 

[Puros Locos]

Vacuum sealed cigars?? I've never even thought about doing that before. How do you maintain humidity in there? Do you just pop a boveda in there or just rely on the humidity in the cigars at the time of sealing? Have you noticed any type of aging while vacuum sealed? Have you ever vacuum sealed "sick" CC's and seen if they mature past it in vacuum? So many questions...

It's not something I do with all my cigars, just ones I think are at their peak or smoking just way I like and I know I won't make it through them all in the near future. I've never used a boveda pack. As long as the cigars were properly humidified prior to sealing, they should be fine.

And yes, I did try to seal some CC's that were less than a year old. I sealed 10 PSD4's with a box date from 2010 and finally opened them earlier this year. They kind of stunk like ammonia at first, but after allowing them to "air out" for a couple weeks, they had great aroma. I was never too impressed with any of the cigars from that box, but these seem to be smoking pretty nice (a bit mild too).

As I said earlier, I don't do it for all of my cigars. I started it as a fun experiment to compare the differences and I have been very happy with the the results. Some people might look at this as a bit strange, but it works for me.

 

[Puros Locos]

Sorry for the threadjack Brian.

 

[oke&coke]

Since we are on the topic, a cigar smoking coworker also told me about vacuum sealing cigars that are at their peak. It supposedly stops them from aging further.

 

[MadMonk]

I did a decent amount of reading on vacuum sealing cigars the other day. Seems like those that tried it, had good results except for one example, but it was an article from a cigar retailer.

A lot of naysayers, but none said that they ever did it. Barring intuition, I don't know that I'd take that sort of input as gospel.

Those that did vacuum seal employed somewhat different methods. There was some fairly consistent feelings that it preserved the peak or preferred flavor compared to similarly aged loose examples. Some variables there, but interesting and possibly relevant.

I want to do a lot more reading before I risk anything expensive. I find it interesting.
I do seem to remember reading something attributed to Min Ron Nee where he loved using plastic bags. Can't remember if it involved vacuum or air tight sealing. I might take him a bit more serious considering his long habit of aging cigars.

All in all, it's been fun looking into it.

 

[vortex]

My only input is to move the boxes you don't like so they don't take up space. Sell em, give em, smoke em as "yard gar", etc. You may want to hang on to some to see what aging will do to improve them but space is usually the premium factor.

 

[bfreebern]

People seem to really overthink things these days....

I buy boxes and they either have the date code on them, or I write it one the box with a Sharpie. I keep my cabinet/coolidors around 65% generally and try not to get into the varying opinions on the optimal RH% because I know what I like. Guess I'm lucky to have such an extensive inventory that I can't smoke it faster than it ages.......

No real method of tracking inventory. I prefer to be surprised when I find that box of VSG buried somewhere I bought back in 2007 that I forgot I had.

Yep, 100% agree with this. No extensive inventory, but I have way more than I smoke.

 

[Shooter]

I knew from the get go cigars would be my thing. Once I hit three cooledors I bought a cabinet. Know what I know now. The drawers in cabinet are useless for holding singles.

I pull out the drawers and cram more boxes in there. I have three desktops I keep up stairs full of smokes I grab from boxes downstairs. I find with just a cabinet I would smoke what was easier to get to instead of playing tetris everytime I wanted a different smoke.
So I use the cabinent for box storage and desktops to smoke out of.

Grab a sharpie and write on the bottom of the box the date etc. I keep no inventory list cause I like surprises. Like I said earlier I keep a sample of everything in my desktops anyway. This really works great for me.