A few words of wisdom from the curator, the intent of this site is to provide knowlege and appreciation of vintage cigars, basically it is here because (if you are of legal age) smoking a good cigar is one our fundamental rights, the pursuit of happiness, so if you are happy to sit down and have a vintage cigar and take some time off from the rat race, you will probably appreciate this site! We have sold thousands of vintage cigars, some that date to the 1920's, our customers who smoke vintage cigars that are pre-embargo or clear havana, myself included, realize that there is a distinct difference between "fresh" recently made cigars (made within the last 5-10 years) and cigars that have some age to them, 40 years or more. In my opinion vintage cigars become much more complex with age and there seems to be less tar & nicotine in the smoke, therefore making them more enjoyable. When we locate and buy vintage cigar boxes we have no idea how they have been stored, it would be unreasonable to think that a cigar will be stored under perfect conditions for 40 or more years in a humidor, dowright next to impossible, even pre-embargos. Most of our cigars are old store stock or old cigar factory stock or unwanted presents or gifts that have been stored away, sometimes we are able to purchase cigars via auctions, after purchase the boxes are typically stored in a freezer for a minimum of five days (a good precaution to kill any cigar beetles, because I have seen many vintage cigars destroyed by the tobacco loving cigar beetle)and then are painstakingly aged in a humidor for 3-5 years at a lower humidity than normal 60% RH (similiar to the Brits) because of the tendency for the cigars to develop mold or plume. We take cigar storage very seriously since we store cigars for many years even decades.
Our storage conditions are typically BELOW the recommended 70/70 that everyone is familiar with, the 70/70 conditions are for cigars that are ready for consumption.
Since we are worried about long term storage we keep our cigars at 60/65.
Furthermore, the cigars that we release for sale have been "aged" in our humidors for a minimum of 6 months, many have been aging for years. ACCORDING TO A AFICIONADO THAT WENT TO THE HABANOS 2006 FESTIVAL ALL CIGARS PRODUCED IN CUBA ARE NOW FROZEN PRIOR TO SHIPMENT, NOW HOW ABOUT THAT! Therefore, we recommend that once purchased, cigars be brought up to the right conditions 70% RH (slowly over a two week period) when ready to be smoked. I, personally have smoked thousands of cigars and can tell you that the vintage old time brands such as Antonio & Cleopatra, Garcia & Vega, Cuesta Rey, Bering, White Owl, Muriel, Robert Burns, Webster will "blow the socks off" anything coming out of that island in the Caribbean. One more thing, no, make it two more things, for legal purposes and our own protection we must say that they are not for consumption, we don't want to be liable we state that they are collectibles and it's up to you to determine what you want to do with them! There is no universal rule for how cigars age, some become very mellow and some will retain their potency and reach maturity in another 50 years ................... In fact, we own one of the oldest boxes of cigars, a 1868 West End cigar box full of 100 cigars (well, nearly full), I smoked one of these 140 year old cigars just to experience the taste and was amazed at just how well cigars keep in sealed boxes. It was an everyday type of smoke for the Post - Civil war veteran, it was not complex, but was an enjoyable smoke. I remember rating it a seven out of ten, not bad for a 140 year old cigar, I wish I could get that type of rating when I'm 140!! Nick Curator, GCM
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