Can You Age Cigars Too Long?

If you’re wondering if you can age cigars too long, you can, just like vintage wine. For many, aging a cigar too long is an unintended consequence of saving it for a distant special occasion. Years later, when the time has finally come, the cigar you smoke may have mellowed out too much. Fortunately, unlike wine, cigars won’t spoil or taste like vinegar. They simply lose their complexity and body and, essentially, become bland. Here are some tips to ensure you smoke your cigars when they’re at their peak for flavor and aroma.

How Long Is Too Long to Age a Cigar?

Knowing exactly how long to age a cigar really depends on the cigar—and your taste buds. Every blend within a brand is created from a specific recipe of premium tobaccos, most of which have been fermented and aged for a period of time before the cigars are rolled. And many cigarmakers age their cigars for an additional period after they’ve been rolled. The age of the cigars at the time of purchase will influence how long you should continue aging them and whether the extra rest will benefit the taste.

Generally speaking, most cigars taste exceptional within a 5- to 10-year window from the time you buy them. But you don’t have to age cigars that long to enjoy them, especially when they’ve been aged before they ship to a retailer. The best premium cigars taste great off the shelf. Aging them is a personal preference. For example, the tobaccos that go into Padrón Family Reserve cigars are already a decade old. Other rare cigars, like Ashton ESG and Fuente Fuente Opus X, are blended from the Fuente family’s oldest reserves of premium tobacco. You can absolutely age these top-tier blends, but they will also taste perfect right now. 

How to Know When to Stop Aging Cigars

So, how do you know when to stop aging your cigars? The best method is to buy them by the box, or in some quantity, and smoke them at varying intervals of time to taste the difference aging makes. Smoke a cigar at the time of purchase. Smoke another one after a couple of months, another after six months, another after a year, a year and a half, and so on. Every blend ages differently. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t work when it comes to aging cigars. And taste is personal.

However, you will encounter meaningful differences in taste as a cigar evolves, and at some point, the cigars will taste their best—according to your palate. If your cigars mellow out to a point when their flavor begins to dissipate more than you prefer, aging them longer won’t provide a benefit, so you should smoke them in the near future.

How to Preserve a Cigar’s Taste

The most important component to aging cigars is to store them in a proper humidor. Premium cigars should be kept at 65-70% RH (relative humidity) and 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit. If your cigars dry out, the precious oils and humidity that the tobaccos hold evaporate, leaving them flat and void of flavor. Although you can re-humidify dry cigars, they will not taste the same after you bring them back.

Keep your humidor in a cool, dark area away from sunlight or any heat sources that can impact the consistency of the humidity and temperature of the box. There are reliable ways to keep your cigars fresh without a humidor, too, such as a coolerdor, Tupperdor, wine fridge, or Ziploc bag with a Boveda humidity pack. If you want to age your cigars for longer periods of time, over the course of years, store them at a lower temperature and humidity. Cigars rest best in the range of 62-65% RH and 62-65 degrees Fahrenheit for the long term because lower temperature and humidity levels are less likely to fluctuate. Sharp changes in temperature and humidity cause a cigar to expand and contract, interfering with the integrity of its construction.

Strong Cigars Age Better

The best cigars to age are stronger. That’s because cigars mellow out and become milder as time passes. Cigars with thicker, heartier wrapper leaves, like Ecuador Habano, San Andrés, Ecuador Sumatra, and Connecticut Broadleaf, possess abundant oils that benefit the cigar’s flavor over time. Milder cigars, on the other hand, like those blended with Connecticut Shade and Ecuador Connecticut wrappers, risk becoming excessively mellow when they’re laid to rest for too long. If you buy a box of mild cigars, it’s best to smoke them within a year. Bold profiles, such as Ashton VSG, La Aroma de Cuba Reserva, and San Cristobal, continue to deliver lots of rich flavor after years of rest. 

Thick Cigars Age Better

Fat ring sizes also age better because they consist of more tobacco. The extra oil and humidity in a fat cigar maintain greater flavor over a longer period of time. That’s why a cigar’s size and shape impact its taste. When you enjoy a blend and you want to taste how it ages, add the blend in a larger ring size to your humidor.

Organize Your Humidor

Finally, know that how you organize your humidor can also change the way your cigars age. Storing mild cigars near stronger ones, for example, can change the flavors of each. Cigars that are stored in close proximity in the same environment will exchange oils and aroma over long periods of time, affecting the way the cigars inevitably taste. Some cigar lovers insist on storing only mild or only strong cigars together, for example, and they’ll maintain separate humidors for different types of cigars.