Aging Cigars To Vintage Perfection

Every day, customers come to our retail locations asking to be let in to the prestigious “Vintage Room”.  Every day, first time customers are shown the infamous “Vintage Room”.  Every day, I personally walk in and I am like a kid in a candy store.  For collectors, part of the mystique around our Vintage Rooms is finding a cigar that you may have thought to be unattainable.  The most common things uttered in our vintage rooms is “You can’t find these anywhere!” or “I didn’t know these still existed.”  I am not much of a collector however.  I buy cigars to smoke them.  And that’s where the true beauty of this vintage rooms exists.

 

Some people don’t believe in aging cigars, or at the least, believe it is just fluff.  I will be the first to tell you not all, or most cigars need aging.  Cigar makers all over the world use the best aging techniques themselves and make sure their tobacco is primed and ready before being used in production.  That doesn’t mean the best can’t get better though.  It is just simply a natural occurrence.  Tobacco holds ammonia and other chemicals from the soil it is grown in, just like any other crop harvested by humans.  Even the best techniques aren’t fail proof or automatic.  Sometimes the greatest weapon is time.

 

That’s right, Time.  It heals all wounds and smooths out a cigars flavor.  But time, combined with proper conditions and techniques are the true key to properly aging a cigar….

But what are the effects?  How exactly does it enhance your smoking experience?  The ultimate goal of aging, is to allow time and storage conditions to remove ammonia and chemicals from your cigar.  This leads to a smoother sensation on the palate, as well as a more abundant spectrum for you to pick up the different flavor nuances.

 

Have you ever lit up a cigar that had a dominant “spicy” profile?  Sometimes that spice isn’t the tobacco flavor, but chemicals in the tobacco that are hiding its true identity.  After a couple years in proper conditions, the “spicy” cigar is actually a very rich and robust smoke, with a ton of complex flavors. The Oliva Serie V Maduro Series, Tatuaje Black Label, and Aging Room M21 are prime examples of this.

 

It’s not just spicy cigars from benefit from aging either.  Creamy Connecticuts are some of my personal favorites to age, because I have found that the creamy notes are intensified over time, while any “dry” notes tend to fade.  The original Curivari Achilles line is a great example.  Another one I am looking forward to smoking after a couple years of age on them are the Original Release Padron Damaso.

 

But can you age a cigar too long?  The answer to this can be very different depending on who you ask.  I think that it’s different for each cigar.  Some cigars are at their peak after a year or so.  Others can be great 3 or 4 years after it’s release.  Each blend of tobacco is unique and has it’s own characteristics.  I do believe there is a limit.  After awhile a cigar is as good as it’s going to be.  You can even argue that it will lose some characteristics over too much time.  Finding the perfect balance is the trick.

 

I highly suggest trying it out.  It doesn’t have to be a rare cigar or a sought after cigar.  The best cigars to age are your favorite cigars and cigars that you frequently purchase.  Set up the proper conditions and place some of your favorite cigars aside for awhile.  Then when the time is right, light up one of the aged cigars with one that hasn’t been aged and taste the difference for yourself.

 

 

A tour of Casa de Montecristo by Jonathan Drew

Liga-LogoBack in 2010 Jonathan Drew was in town testing out a new Liga Privada blend at Casa.  Below is the video by Cigar Explorer featuring Jonathan Drew as your tour guide on a walk through our Cigar Lounge.  He was also getting people’s reaction to a new concoction he was working on for the Liga Privada line. It was called the JD-4 and people were impressed with what he had come up with.  The blend had to still be perfected over the next year and eventually was released exclusively at Casa de Montecristo as the Liga Privada UF-4.  This cigar’s profile may vary a little bit from year to year but the basic flavor characteristics have been maintained through the different variations.  With each year’s release it seems to gain more and more fans around the country and demand far outweighs our supply.  If you see these available make sure you grab them before they’re gone.

Drop into Casa de Montecristo

Opened in 2010, Casa de Montecristo is one of the premier cigar lounges in the country, if not the world.  With an enormous selection of brands and lines of cigars it boasts one of the best selections around.  We also age cigars in one of the first Vintage rooms in the country.  Lined with limestone walls and utilizing amber lighting and a state of the art humidification system the Vintage Room is maintained perfectly to age and store our Rare & Vintage collection.  The amenities include a public lounge, walk-in humidor, an Escaparate section, and of course the amazing V.I.P Lounge located on the lower level.  The V.I.P lounge has a private elevator, conference room, theater room, booths, lounge chairs, a B.Y.O.B bar, and humidified lockers. A must see if you’re in the area.

Check out the Video Tour above.

Who We Are And Why We’re Here.

8to8-InsideJust over 20 years ago, a small tobacco shop opened in the Chicago suburbs.  Shortly after, a small display humidor was brought in for one specific customer who asked if we could carry a certain product.  That one customer changed the lives of many people that day, when he asked his local tobacco shop to carry a cigar he wanted.  That simple question led to the first display humidor.  The small humidor eventually turned into a cabinet full of cigars for sale.  Then a second cabinet stocked with the most premium cigars available.  Demand kept growing.  This spawned a need for a new location to fit even more cabinets and a seating area for people to enjoy their fine smokes.  This became our first cigar store, 8 to 8 Cigars.  For years it has been known throughout the area as the ‘go-to’ place for cigars in the Chicago suburbs.  Cigar lovers throughout the area became accustomed to the high level of customer service, product knowledge, and camaraderie between cigar lovers that made 8 to 8 what it is.

8to8-OutsideThen there are the events…The Father’s Day and Christmas Sales Events are two of the most attended cigar events in country featuring unbelievable deals from the top manufacturers in the industry.  To this day, thousands of customer’s come to 8 to 8 during the weekend of these sales to take advantage of the best sales in the cigar industry.

 

Casa-Front-DoorSo naturally, this paved the way for Casa de Montrecristo right?  Well, sort of.  The customer service and selection aspects, yes.  But it was actually a gas station and new regulations that made way for one of the most luxurious cigar lounges in the world.  The owners of 8 to 8 also owned a gas station about 20 minutes south of their cigar store.  Customers wanted the same premium cigars in that area, but didn’t want to commute as much.  Therefore, the gas station basically became their second cigar store, selling literally thousands of cigars each year.  Then came the smoking ban in Illinois.  No more smoking at the gas station.  This did not sit well with our customers.  We could have just opened a little cigar shop in the area.  We could have just told them to drive further to our other location.  We could have done many things. Casa-VIP-2But what we did was lay out a plan to build the best cigar lounge in the world.  This is how Casa de Montecristo was born.  With unmatched selection and service, we bring the best V.I.P. Cigar smoking experience to smokers from Chicagoland and beyond.  Featuring an extremely spacious retail area, a public smoking lounge, a huge V.I.P. lounge including a theater room and conference room, as well as our well renowned Vintage Room.  The climate controlled Vintage humidor is specifically designed to enhance and mature the finest cigars the world has to offer.

 

Puros-FrontIt has been an incredible journey that is not over yet.  In the first quarter of 2015, we acquired Casa de Puros.  A high-end cigar lounge in beautiful downtown Forest Park, IL just minutes west of Downtown Chicago.  Adding our fine selection of premium cigars as well as our unbeatable customer service experience, has elevated Casa de Puros to one of the finest lounges in the area.  On a beautiful summer day in Chicago, Casa de Puros will open its storefront and bring a Little Havana feel to the Chicagoland area.

 

Then there was our first online retail store, www.topqualitycigars.com, launched just over 4 years ago.  To this day, it is the number one choice for many online cigar shoppers.  It become the online home for many of our exclusive releases such as the Liga Privada UF-4, Tatuaje Jackal, My Father Oro de Nicaragua, among others.  It is still up and running and still successful, however we are not satisfied.

 

We want to bring our in store V.I.P. experiences online to our customers.  We wanted to change the way Cigar Smoker’s look at online retail stores.  So the idea for a new website that would incorporate these concepts was first talked about in late 2014.  Now, at the beginning of 2016, www.CDMCigars.com is here to bring online cigar smoker’s the best the web has to offer.  We aim to provide the highest quality online retail cigar store there is.  From the quality of the images you see, to the customer service we provide, no corners will be cut in the process.  Featuring wishlists, raffles, our certified vintage selection, and our cigar lounge section, you will be able to build a your personal cigar experience.  We will elaborate more in these features soon.

 

Thanks for your support now and over the past several years.  Here at the CDM Family, We don’t just sell cigars.  We build relationships.  We appreciate every customer that has been a part of our tremendous journey and invite you to join us as we continue to set the standard in the cigar industry.

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