Your thoughts on aging...your own and your cigars

[Vortigan]

I suppose it's a question that would be more relevant for those of us in the middle age and upwards bracket but do you ever consider your own age when it comes to buying cigars? I'll try and make sense of my thoughts.

I don't want it to come across as a morbid train of thought but I've been realising,ever increasingly,that I tend to steer my purchases these days towards cigars that generally speaking,or traditionally at least,aren't considered as needing year upon year of careful storage to come into their best.

I'm "only" 45 yeas of age and I don't know to what extent my job has influenced my thoughts in this way (I'm a staff nurse on an oncology unit) but the acute awareness of life's fragility is something which just won't allow me to buy cigars with a view of laying them down for five years,for example.

As I say,I hope it doesn't come across as morbid,it certainly isn't a morbid feeling.It could just be plain,old fashioned impatience when you shake it down

Anyway,just something I've mused on and thought it'd be interesting to hear the thoughts of others.

[Mckucci]

Considering I'm only 25 years old, I like to think I have lots of years ahead to enjoy my cigars... So with that being said, I have about 10 boxes of cigars stashed away, limited release cigars, and others I feel would benefit from some age. Some of which I do not intend to open for at least 10 years... I don't live my life worrying about what will happen tomorrow, or next year..

[Homebrew]

Never even think of it. And I am 50 YO in moderate health. I just bought a box of Sir Winstons, with the intention of smoking 1 a year, on my birthday, for the next 25 years. I am hoping I need to buy another box. But if I pass, I have a nephew, who smokes cigars, and I am sure he will enjoy them.

Dave (A.K.A. Homebrew)

P.S. It is a morbid thought, but understandable in your profession.

[jacktarnold]

I don't think it is too morbid of a thought but as like you, my wife is a flight paramedic and 6 yr cancer survivor and I'm a staff nurse in an ICU. We see how anything can change in a split second and the frailty of life. However, I believe that it shouldn't hold you back from experiencing anything. I have cigars for both, cigars I smoke now and cigars that will sit in my humidor for some years before I open them. I don't think there is anything wrong either way. It's just the way each one of use choose to enjoy cigars.

I look forward to the day that I have the possibility to smoke the last Siglo VI on my daughter's 25th birthday from the box I bought when she was born. However, if I don't make it until then I don't get the experience, but if I do then it will be a special smoke that I wouldn't have been able to enjoy otherwise.

[Hash]

This is quite realistic you never know what tomorrow will bring. I have few boxes stored , now for some good years , i am not a daily smoker its like 3-4 cigars a month.Sometimes i wonder what will happen to them if i go before consuming them.

[PapaDisco]

What's the old George Burns line? "At my age I don't even buy green bananas!"

I buy a few things that Rob & Ken say smoke well fresh. I buy some stuff off the PCC Aged program, and the vast majority of stuff I buy I assume that it will be helped by 5 years or more. I'm like Homebrew and buy extra boxes to set aside for 10-20 years (although I doubt they'll survive un-smoked that long!).

At 45 I'd be working on a collection for the next 40 years! Focus on a few things you love (like Sir Winstons perhaps) and save your cash to lay aside boxes from each year, or extra boxes from special years. Ziplock or shrink wrap them, and find a spot that's temperature stable. We'll all be wanting to come to YOUR house in 20 years!

[PigFish]

You have more days, as long as the Lord grants them too you!

I had a heart attack at 45… Days, weeks, minutes are never certain.

Step back from the question of mortality for a moment and forget it shaping your smoking. Are there more cigars that you want? Can you afford them? Would having them, for whatever the reason give you pleasure, or peace of mind? Even pride of ownership can be satisfying depending on your outlook… Are cigars wasteful or extravagant for you? Do you feel guilt about having more than a few? Do you not buy the car, or the home or other items on time based on these feelings?

I say forget about aging cigars. While I will be criticized, it is folly! You never know the stick you store will be any good at all by the time you smoke it. If it was a bad cigar in the first place it will never become a good one (MHO). But having cigars at your ready, stored to your liking and taste, enough to travel with a few, or share with others, they are an asset worth having. (MHO)

Change your outlook from aging cigars to hoarding a few cigars and the perspective changes. It is no different than owning 6 bottles of beer when you will only drink one… What is wrong with having a spare tire, or an extra roll of toilet paper?

If keeping cigars en masse is not your thing then reject the premiss! Buy a box at a time, or just a few, there are no rules that you must follow.

We all keep, or don't keep cigars for our own reasons. I say don't fret over mortality and don't correlate the thought with cigars… Nothing ruins a fine time with a cigar or without a cigar faster than fretting over your own death! It comes around quick enough without wasting life fretting over it.

Cheers mate! -Piggy

[Rushman]

I am 46. I don't consider my age at all in the cigar equation.

The only cigars I consider that I am aging are those in Oz in the OLH. Haven't taken possession of anything from there yet and don't plan on it for at least another 4-5 years.

Everything else is on deck to be smoked or gifted.

[ramon_cojones]

no consideration, though i always do calculations in my head of when cigars will be smoked

but i counter that by smoking fresh or buying aged sticks so I don't have to think about it

[tjohn7]

It's funny that you mention this. I'm 26, but find that I often think the same way. Impatience is most likely what it is, but it's hard for me to imagine being around in 25 years to smoke the ends of my boxes (I definitely hope to be!). I just live every day to the fullest and keep hoping that my number isn't up for quite a while.

Tom

[BehikeLover2]

well why not age, you can die today or in 20 years, who knows? if you have the money to spend, do so.

[dvickery]

at 58 years ... i still am buying young and smoking old ... not that i planned anything ... it just happens when acquiring cigars is as much fun as smoking .

multi generational cigar smoker too ... dad was a cigar smoker and my youngest son is a cigar smoker ... so when i go they will have a nice home with somebody that cares .

does my mortality bother me??? not any more than any other 58 year old smoker ... i dont dwell on it yet i dont deny it either .

derrek

[cigaraholic]

I'll be 60 in a couple of days, for a while I've been thinking, do I have more cigars than I can smoke in my lifetime.

I don't buy cigars to age, I just can't smoke them all today.

I've smoked great young and old cigars, for me it's not the age, it's the tobacco.

If a cigar is too powerful I'll age it.

Otherwise who's got the matches!

[StingMeadery]

I'm 45 also (favourite calibre)

Simply expressed I tend to purchase aged refined smokes ready to go...

These I figure will last me X amount of years at my current smoking/sharing rate.

In the interim I do buy PSP examples of beautiful vitolas from various Marcas to put down.

When they are ready, they will be and until then I have a good volume of EL and Habanos aged release programme smokes to enjoy...

Makes sense to me

[CaptainQuintero]

I'm only 27 but have lost almost as many very young people I love than those who would have said they had a good innings. That being said its not made me morbid just aware that you only have the present to live. That to me means that I still buy cigars that I hope to enjoy years down the line, because I want to enjoy some aged versions of my favourites. If I dont get the chance then thats just how the dice rolls.

That to me means buying things for the future because if I'm here ill enjoy them. Opposed to not buying them incase I'm not. Id be pretty fed up if I ended up in the future with a little more cash but no cigars. It's an investment in potential future happiness the same as buying a decent pair of boots that might take a few months to wear in till they get comfy. No one buys shitty boots because they might die soon!

Good to see you again by the way man

[stunod]

I'm 49 and I've thought about the time spent aging cigars. That why I will pay extra for

an aged box of smokes. Let's say you have to pay an extra $100 per box. Ok if the box

Is 5 years old, that's a $20 per yer premium. Worth every cent. IMO

[Squarehead]

I'm going on 70 and I don't like the thought to have my cigars cremated with me.So when I buy cigars I want to smoke them now.

[ogus]

Buy ready to smoke cigars and be ready now for the afterlife

[leftimatic]

I don't have the patience to age a cigar. I buy the good to go's and hope they get better waiting for me to get to them. I got a few boxes in the locker waiting till spring only because I don't have a humidor big enough to house them. The small humidor keeps me from buying more than I need. Live frugal live free, and get to choose whether you work the winter or stay at home with the wife and kids. Life's too short to worry about these things.

[stogieluver]

I'm 59. My dad, who was a doctor, died at age 64 of a heart attack. His father, a cattle farmer, died at age 65. I can't live my life thinking I've only got five or six more years. I may go tomorrow or I may live another 30 years. I'm stocking my inventory, which is now up to about 800 cigars, based more on what I like and with the thought in mind that prices will eventually skyrocket after the embargo is lifted. My daily smoke is typically a petite corona, so I buy enough of those to keep a two to three month supply. I'm buying larger vitola's more for aging, and they'll age because I smoke far fewer of them.

My dad's death had a profound effect on me. He worked his ass off for years and just as he was about to enjoy the fruits, he was gone. You have to live for the now and whatever the future holds you can't change, so I guess that translates into my cigar buying.

[LLC]

I'm 49 and about to buy a bottle of port to have in my 65th birthday. It's good and possibly healthy to have things to look forward to

[PigFish]

I'm 59. My dad, who was a doctor, died at age 64 of a heart attack. His father, a cattle farmer, died at age 65. I can't live my life thinking I've only got five or six more years. I may go tomorrow or I may live another 30 years. I'm stocking my inventory, which is now up to about 800 cigars, based more on what I like and with the thought in mind that prices will eventually skyrocket after the embargo is lifted. My daily smoke is typically a petite corona, so I buy enough of those to keep a two to three month supply. I'm buying larger vitola's more for aging, and they'll age because I smoke far fewer of them.

My dad's death had a profound effect on me. He worked his ass off for years and just as he was about to enjoy the fruits, he was gone. You have to live for the now and whatever the future holds you can't change, so I guess that translates into my cigar buying.

I hate to get on a sober note, but the heart disease appears to be in your family. I am no doctor, but a heart attack survivor.

Forget the cigars a minute and get yourself a cardiologist if you have ever even thought you have had angina symptoms. I was damn lucky… If I could possibly head a brother off at Grim's driveway I would do it. Take my advice and go get checked out. It is better have your arteries scoped and find nothing, or get a stint or two than have the risks of heart damage and death.

Take my advice my friend, and get checked out. This could be the best advice I have ever given on this forum… Please, look into it!

-Ray

[1LegLance]

Well I am happy to say that I have a 16yr old son who enjoys fine habanos...

Therefore I buy with the intent to enjoy the sticks myself (45yrs old) but knowing that anything I leave behind will be smoked by my son & friends in my memory..

works for me

Oh and I used to "buy to age"

now I buy to replace what I am smoking and if it needs age then it gets some.

However I will say that sticks today don't seem to need the 5-10yrs that sticks in the late 80's early 90's did. But that could be my warped memory.

[Overproof]

If you have the coin why not buy some selected cigars already aged? and then buy more that YOU enjoy smoking ROTT. To some, it may take some of the enjoyment away from laying it away to savor for another date but at least you'll have what your after now.

[soutso]

I can't buy a box and just store it. Its the same cycle for me. I buy a box and immediately try one, (I know I should wait a month but half the time they're great straight away)

Then I make a plan - smoke five and store twenty.

Then I readjust the plan - smoke five and store fifteen

Then I readjust the plan - smoke five and store ten etc

If its a good box, they all go. If its constantly disappointing, I age 15-20 sticks and see what happens, hopefully they change.

My oldest box is 2011.