Other merchants with a commercial interest in promoting young cigars are less critical. "Some people even say that Cuban cigars improve when they cross the sea to England." Nonetheless, both men have been known to praise a fine, old cigar when they smoke one Lara even gives seven-to eight-year-old Cohiba Lanceros as special gifts to visitors. "Cigars improving with age is folklore," Lara says. Avelino Lara, manager of Cuba's El Laguito factory, which makes Cohibas, believes that aging cigars makes little or no difference. Dick DiMeola, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Consolidated Cigar, says his cigars are ready to smoke when they leave his factory in the Dominican Republic. I can smell the difference between an aged cigar and a new one right away." Fox and Robert Lewis, a London merchant with a long history in selling aged cigars. "Aged cigars are the best thing in the world," said Michael Croley of James J. Of course, a fresh-off-the-factory-line Hoyo de Monterrey double corona or a new Porsche 911 each represent superb quality, but there's something extra, something special, when you're touching a vintage edition. It's a little like an addiction or collecting vintage sports cars. I don't know if I will ever smoke them all." "I am now like some wine collectors I know," says Jacobs. But once you try a well-matured cigar, you must have more. There's nothing better than lighting one up at night by myself with a glass of Port."īuying and smoking fine old cigars may seem appropriate for only the most devoted aficionado, considering the cost and inconvenience. I smoke them only on special occasions, however. "By that time, they have a great bouquet and become slightly musty like ripe cheese. "After about 10 years of age, cigars change their character," explains Jacobs, who seldom smokes anything with less than five to six years of box age. That means that cigars should ideally have five to seven years of storage once they arrive from the factory because aged tobacco is used in the blends of nearly all premium hand-rolled cigars. Usually cigars develop a mature character after about eight to 10 years of age. This doesn't mean that a cigar must be more than three decades old before it's considered properly matured. trade embargo against Cuba in February 1962 are "pre-embargo." Older cigars produced before the December 1959 Revolution are commonly described as "pre-Castro." Those made before President Kennedy declared the U.S. He claims to have nearly 300 boxes of Havana cigars from the late '50s and older.Ĭollectors like Jacobs are primarily interested in old Cuban cigars although they may also buy the occasional mature box from Jamaica, Honduras, the Dominican Republic or the Canary Islands. "There's nothing like it," says Shelly Jacobs, 48, a Minneapolis-based restaurateur with one of the world's largest private collections of aged cigars. And the right cigar aged the proper way will give you an unparalleled sensual experience that fully expresses the joys of all five senses. Both mature wines and cigars stimulate your senses of sight, sound, smell and taste, but touch is enjoyed only with cigars. Some connoisseurs will tell you that the sensation of smoking a great, aged cigar can compare only to drinking a fine, mature bottle of wine. The corona is believed to have been produced in the late 1930s yet it is fresh and savory like a cigar made just a few years ago. Who would have thought that smoking a piece of history could be so good? When this Belinda corona cigar came off the workbenches of the La Belinda factory in Havana, no one would have ever expected it to be so delicious almost six decades later. Its aromas and flavors are refined with a mild, spicy tobacco character and a soft texture. Within a few minutes, a white velvety ash develops, giving off blue-tinted smoke. It quickly takes to the flame of the wooden match, almost lighting itself as it rotates under the fire. Slightly hard and very square in shape, the six-inch cigar crackles as the cutter nips off its end. Perhaps most striking is its ornate style with a red background and a gold crest of a leaping lion, a key and three bricked towers, which speak of another time, a grandiose age long forgotten in the cigar factories of Havana. A large band, slightly yellowing and oily like the surface of an old painting, encircles it with the name "Belinda" printed in block letters. The cigar's wrapper has an opulent dark brown color its texture is silky and flawless.
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