Resting Cigars

[StogieNinja]

Lots of good questions and answers here.

For me, there are a three different types of reasons to rest a cigar.

First, there's what I call "downtime" which is anything after initial receipt, up to somewhere around 6 months, the purpose of this being to let the cigars acclimate to your preferred rH.

Then there's "resting," which for me is anything longer than 6 months, the purpose of which is to let the cigars settle into themselves a little bit. I've found with a lot of cigars, especially inexpensive cigars, six months or more can take off the rough edges, smooth them out, and help a cigar go from "meh" to "pretty decent." Take the Ramon Bueso Genesis. A bit rough initially, but with 6 month to a year, it becomes a much better cigar all around. The heavier dark cigars generally seem to benefit most from a resting period.

Then there's "aging" which is periods from a few years to decades, the purpose being to let the cigars age and the flavors marry. This results in a more complex smoke in many blends, but also can result in a flat and boring smoke in others.

The tricky thing is that not all cigars benefit from aging, and some are really only great after aging. One of my early favorites, the Liga Privada No. 9, smoked very well after a short bit of downtime, no rest or aging was necessary. In fact, a few that aged over a couple years tasted somewhat flat and boring compared to their young vibrancy. I find this is generally true of most full-bodied maduros, they smoke better after some downtime, but slowly lose that sparkle over time, though there have been wonderful exceptions. Conversely, I've smoked a few Opus X that were merely decent when young, but with a few years on them, they become exceptional cigars. Many Cubans are good both fresh and aged, the fresh ones being full-flavored and bold, the aged ones being more complex and nuanced.

So, the whole key is to get an idea of how cigars age by smoking from a box or a five pack over a period of time, and the only way to do that is to practice. After a few years of doing this with various fivers, you'll get an idea of how you think a cigar is performing now, and you can make an educated guess as to how it will age over time. Of course its just that, a guess, and there are no guarantees, but that goes for just about everything as regards cigars! It's one of the most frustrating and beautiful aspects of this hobby of ours.