Hey Phillip,
Cigars get better with age. The longer the tobaccos, are kept in proper conditions, the better they get. As tobaccos age, they will go through stages, where the leaves, are actually giving off traces of ammonia. You can taste it in the cigar. I had this experience, today, with an indian tabac Maduro. This is one of my favorite daily cigars, and I have had these for a couple of months. The ones, I have ready to smoke, I have had for around a year, in my long term cooler, at 70% R.H., and a couple of weeks, at 65%, in my humidor. The one I smoked today, had only been in my long term storage, about 6 weeks. I was smoking it, trying to decide what the optimum time, this particular box, needs to age, before going into my regular humi. This box definately needs more rest.
As far as your local shop. Yes he does have them in a humidor, but how long has he had them??? He may have just gotten them in, within the week. How long were they aged, before he recieved them??? Some cigars are great, straight off the shelf of the local walk-in. Some examples would be A.Fuentes, and Padron. These manufactures, age their cigars before shipping them to your local. Some brands, Indian Tabac, for one, really benefit with additional aging. I am lucky, in that my local shop, will not open a box, for sale, until they have had that box, a minimum of 6 months, but others are not so lucky. It really depends on the retailer. How long does he want to have his inventory, age before he turns it over???
Most of the major noncuban manufacters age their tobaccos, both before and after rolling. I have heard that the cubans, are shipped without additional aging, but I don't know for sure.
I hope this has been of help to you.
Later
Dave (A.K.A. Homebrew)
