Many people wonder if aging cigars is always mandatory for the best flavors, and the answer is simply "no". Not all tobacco will improve with age, and in the end it also comes down to a smoker's personal preferences. While it is relatively easy to find pre-aged or vintage cigars from specialty vendors, it is also just as easy to age your own cigars at home. It does call for some basic management and organization, but can produce some wonderful results.

While many enthusiasts pay strict attention to identifying the best cigars on the market and building up a collection of their own special favorites, they should also be considering the use of a few humidors to create a collection of vintage cigars too. This means that they will have to wait at least a year or more to sample the results of their efforts, but if it is done properly, they can convert what was an overpowering aroma or taste into a subtle and far more enjoyable one.

As stated, it all begins with a humidor. Now, you could feasibly argue that a regular consumer cigar box should be a good place to keep those that you have purchased, but they are not often made of aromatic wood or designed to prevent too much air or moisture from entering and leaving the individual cigars. While most will arrive inside of a box and in an individual cellophane sleeve, this is still not the right way to age them. Instead, a cedar humidor with its hygrometer (gauge to indicate the current level of humidity) and humidifier is often the only way to keep cigars at optimal conditions.

Is there any special material that the boxes should be made from in order to get the finest results possible? Most would point to the unlined, cedar boxes. This is because the wood is already very aromatic and will allow the cellophane wrappers around the cigars to provide just enough opportunity for the fragrant oils and aromas of both items to come together. This is the essence of subtlety and is the exact type of results that the aging process should be aimed at producing.

Of course the aging process means that time must pass before the conditions can work their magic. Usually, the cigar owner is going to have to wait a full calendar year before the effects of the cedar wood and the well-managed humidity will have their effects.