At some point in your journey of cigar appreciation, you’ll move from "smoke them as you get them" to "stockpile them just in case." You may not be the type to smoke a cigar every evening, or even every week, and that’s fine. Fortunately, many cigars age fabulously under the right conditions. In fact, many aficionados believe that cigars can actually improve in flavor profile over time.
The big caveat to all this is that cigars have to be stored somewhere specific, and not just anywhere. If you’re at the point of buying cigars and plan on setting a few aside for safekeeping, then chances are you already have a humidor. If not, you should seriously consider securing one pronto. Anyone planning to age their cigars for more than a month should know that there’s no better place for stogies than inside a properly seasoned humidor.
Now, as for the act of maintaining the right humidity levels inside that humidor, that's a fairly easy process. It just takes a little time, a certain level of care, and perhaps a reminder or two from your Klaro Valet Smart Hygrometer along the way.
How to Age Your Cigars
Aging cigars is easy. In fact, the hardest part might be developing the patience to not smoke them entirely too soon.
The first important (and often overlooked) step in aging cigars is buying multiples of a single blend, or mixed bundles. Five or more sticks is typically a good starting point, which explains why Klaro Cigars has become known for its mixed cigar bundles and extensive 5-pack portfolio.
Stogies secured, go ahead and smoke the first one and enjoy it. Note the cigar flavor profile, knowing that as it ages, this will change. The change might not be dramatic, but to truly appreciate an aged cigar, you have to have a baseline for what the blend tastes like when it is "fresh." There's a reason why so many cigar enthusiasts keep a smoking journal, as these notes will serve as a useful point of reference when it comes time to have a compare and contrast smoke session at a later date.
With all of your cigars safely inside the humidor, and the humidor set to the correct humidity level (more on that below), leave those sticks be and allow the aging process to begin. The flavor profile of a cigar can change in as little as two weeks, and some suggest smoking them at regular intervals so you can note the changes along the way.
If you have the self-control and can hold out, you can let fuller, darker cigars sit for several years before sparking them up. However, if you’re new to cigars and humidor aging, it’s probably best to gradually smoke through the majority of the cigars you have collected within the span of a year. That way, you can decide if you want to take the aging experiment even further in the future, and if so, which blends are best for this little experiment of yours.
Maintaining the Right Humidity to Age Cigars
While they come in all shapes and sizes, the most beautiful part of a humidor is its simplicity. It works by simply utilizing a lining of Spanish cedar—a particularly absorbent type of wood—and some form of humidor humidification. The lining absorbs the humidity, and the box "breathes," which allows the cigars to maintain a particular level of freshness.
But in a humidor that has been improperly cared for, your cigars don’t stand a chance. Too dry and stogies become brittle and acrid. Too humid and they grow soggy, or worse, they may mold. Once your cigars have reached this point, they cannot be recovered, and aging them further is futile.
Ideally, your humidor will maintain a humidity range of between 67–72%. Properly seasoned, you shouldn’t have any issues maintaining that range. Some humidors, especially larger ones, often include a built-in hygrometer, which helps you measure the humidity. Others require you to place a hygrometer inside the humidor.
That said, some experts suggest that a range between 65–68% is more ideal for aging. Lower humidity levels allow oils to concentrate within the tobacco and provide a more precise flavor, while also reducing the likelihood of mold. However, if you’re new to using humidors, shooting for 68% is a good goal.
While some people like using a two-step humidification process in their humidors, we’ve found that nothing beats a thorough seasoning process and the appropriately sized and positioned humidification source.
Here at Klaro, we use a simple 10-step seasoning process to get your humidor into prime shape, which you can read more about here. We also developed a unique humidor liquid solution that creates an optimal environment for cigars. Just be sure to check your humidor’s humidity regularly, and if you notice significant swings or dips in humidity levels, it may be time to reseason.
How Long Can You Age Cigars?
There are multiple schools of thought on aging cigars, for, like wine, some cigars age better than others. However, not every cigar will taste better as it ages, and you may not prefer the flavor profiles that age produces.
That said, most premium cigar blends can age for up to a couple of years in ideal conditions, with darker and stronger smokes benefiting from up to five or six years of age in certain cases. In certain cases, particular cigars will continue to mature and evolve for up to 10 years. The risk here is that you might be going too far, and the flavors might mellow out so much that they become too mild or faded to be appreciated.
And then there are those hardcore connoisseurs, who place their stogies in cigar vaults for decades on end, where aging is obtained in an environment that’s electronically controlled and monitored 24/7. That’s a rich man's gambit, though, and one that even then could prove fruitless with too much time.
Parting Puffs
Fortunately, aging cigars isn’t a precise science. It can just be a bit risky. We've seen people sink ungodly sums of time and effort into aging their collection, only to find that they should have burned through their collection a few years prior. There are no guarantees in how your cigars will turn out when you age them.
That said, there is one thing to keep in mind if you plan on aging a particular smoke. Cigars that are labeled as full-bodied, full-strength, and/or full-flavored typically respond better to age than milder blends.
However, all premium cigars come with a predetermined amount of age already placed upon them, and therefore are ready to be smoked right out of the box. That leaves it up to you, the consumer, to decide whether a certain blend deserves a bit more age or not, which is precisely why our Klaro cigar bundles and stogie 5-packs are so popular. This allows you to smoke one or two cigars now, and then set a few aside for a little additional age to see how a certain blend mellows with time in that snazzy humidor of yours.
