Like fine wine and fancy cheese, some things just get better with age. Cigars are no exception. Letting a cigar age in your humidor can lead to some of the best smokes of your life. But how do you know if you’re aging it right? There’s nothing more disappointing than pulling out a cigar you’ve had sitting for years only to find that it’s bland and underwhelming. We’ll walk you through steps to make sure you’re getting the best smoke possible.

Manage Your Expectations

While aging cigars can help bring out a fuller flavor, some cigars simply won’t benefit from the time stowed away in the humidor. In fact, you may just be letting them lose their flavor by having them sit. If you have a cigar that you simply don’t like the taste of, aging it won’t resolve the issue. Aging helps bring out a fuller/balanced flavor of what already exists. So unless you want a more potent version of something you don’t like, you’re wasting your time aging these cigars.

Don’t Smoke Your New Cigars Right Away

If you’re going to commit to aging cigars, this means restraining yourself from smoking your new cigars right away. It can be a huge temptation to hold yourself back from, especially when you’ve just got a new batch of cigars in the mail. It’s always good to let new releases rest for a couple weeks before lighting up. Limited edition cigars generally have a couple weeks of travel time under their belt so we advise giving them sometime to get over the road sickness. If you’re able to get past that hurdle, it’s time to put them in the humidor. Here is where you’re faced with another choice: do you remove the cellophane or do you keep it on? Removing the cellophane can speed up the aging process, but  it also means it might lose it’s flavor faster as well. By keeping on the cellophane you’ll be able to keep the “factory freshness”, but you’re going to have to wait longer for it to age. Our suggestion is that if you’re going to commit to aging, then fully commit and keep the cello on and minimize the risk of ruining a good cigar.

Adjusting Humidity

Most serious cigar smokers already have a humidor in their home – some fancier than others. These are definitely crucial to aging your cigars, but so is making sure you have the correct temperature. Keep it below 70 degrees Fahrenheit is crucial. You’ll need to adjust for external factors as well. If you live in an especially hot and humid area or if summer’s approaching, some adjustments may be needed. Inspect your cigars for signs of distress and verify that they’re in the optimal setting.

Smoke at Different Intervals

There’s only one real way to tell if your cigar is aging well and that’s by doing a little taste test. Smoke your cigar just a little bit at different intervals throughout the aging process. If you leave it in the humidor for weeks or a year without testing, you’ll lose frame of reference of what flavors you’re trying to improve on.

The Point of No Return

At a certain point, aging won’t be adding anything more to even the best cigars. The popular theory is that 10-years appears to be the max amount of time to really reap the benefits of aging, and even then that’s in rare case. Some cigars only need a few weeks. This is another reason why smoking your aging cigar periodically is so important. Once you start to notice that not much is changing, it’s time to smoke up. After that, it’ll begin losing flavor and it will all be for nothing.

Feeling ready to age some cigars of your own? Pick up some of our new arrivals and let them mature in your humidor today.