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Tip of the Week
Q: I'm a newbie to cigars. How long does a batch of leaf last from a cigar manufacturer? If you rate a cigar in 2007, can I buy that same cigar in 2008?
A: No, and yes.
The cigars that we rate will of course be gone, consumed by fire and turned to ash in the tasting process. If it’s a brand with any popularity, the entire batch that was shipped will be gone. And the batch of tobacco leaves used to make those cigars will change, in part, from year to year, as new crops are harvested.
Premium cigarmakers are blenders who seek to have their cigars taste and smoke the same from day to day, year to year, even decade to decade. Rather than declaring vintages, in the fashion of winemakers, they act more like blenders of premium Scotch whiskeys or nonvintage Champagnes. By blending tobaccos from various crop years, they strive to maintain a consistency of taste. There are rare exceptions.
The very best cigar companies have massive inventories of tobaccos from many years. As weather and other factors change the crops from year to year, blends need to be constantly tweaked to maintain a consistency of taste.
That said, the art is a very difficult one, mastered by few. Creating a fine cigar is tricky enough; creating a fine cigar over and over again with consistency takes an inventory of tobacco and a keen master to guide the hands of his cigarmakers.
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