Kilning commercial cigars... for science!

[WillQuantrill]

Today we start an experiment that could revolutionize our ideas on the tobacco aging process or ruin about $35 of would be perfectly tasty store bought cigars. The idea for this came about as most excellent ideas do, smoking with a good friend I was explaining my fermentation/home grow process. He is pretty keen when it comes to the cigar industry but has alot of questions about the homeroll stuff. Anyway, I was explaining how the kiln works and he asked "can you artificially age cigars in it?" to which I did not have a good answer. I forgot about the whole conversation and he recently asked if I had tried it and it reminded me. So today I put a plan into action. I picked 5 cigars from my stash that were still sealed from the factory, 4 of each release and of those 2 will go into the kiln for a month to 6 weeks (haven't exacted a time-frame yet) and 2 will stay in the cellophane in a humidor. I trust my friend's pallette is a little more refined then my own so when the kilning is done I'm gonna ship him half the samples and I will do my best to review and document the other half for profile/construction/burn/ and flavor changes.

This is the setup in the kiln, and I made sure to make a band board so I don't lose track which is which. Also gave them 1 rail of clearance like hotdogs on a grill for air circulation. While I'm not sure how the wrappers/glue will hold up in this atmosphere I am intrigued for the results. The kiln is automated to run at 75-80% RH and 123-128* and I do plan on letting them rest for atleast 2 weeks when they are done. Feel free to input any questions or experiences with this idea. The skeptic in my head tells me if this was a viable technique to artificially age rolled cigars the factories would already be doing it. But then again, what good was building the damn kiln if you can't use it for experiments? Guaranteed I will post the results.

 

[deluxestogie]

I find that experiments like yours—"I wonder what would happen if..."—are usually fun, and always enlightening.

...if this was a viable technique to artificially age rolled cigars the factories would already be doing it.

The method applied to completed Toscano Brenta cigars sounds suspiciously like kilning the cigars:

TOSCANO® BRENTA | TOSCANO® CIGARS

The TOSCANO® BRENTA is a new category of premium cigars made with unique, Northern Italian “Nostrano del Brenta” tobacco - a local Havana seed tobacco cultivated in Veneto since 1550. This is the first products of TOSCANO cigars family that are produce with air cured process instead of fire cured.

www.toscanocigars.com

Bob

 

[WillQuantrill]

I find that experiments like yours—"I wonder what would happen if..."—are usually fun, and always enlightening.


The method applied to completed Toscano Brenta cigars sounds suspiciously like kilning the cigars:

TOSCANO® BRENTA | TOSCANO® CIGARS

The TOSCANO® BRENTA is a new category of premium cigars made with unique, Northern Italian “Nostrano del Brenta” tobacco - a local Havana seed tobacco cultivated in Veneto since 1550. This is the first products of TOSCANO cigars family that are produce with air cured process instead of fire cured.

www.toscanocigars.com

Bob

I'll be damned, it does read that way. I'm sure they are using a highly "proprietary" technique but 6 months seems like a long time.

 

[WillQuantrill]

Now on 20 days in the kiln and I am glad to say none of the wrappers have cracked. No distinguishable change in appearance either.

 

[WillQuantrill]

42 days in the kiln and I'm pulling them out. No real notable difference in appearance or damage to the wrappers. From here they will rest for 2 weeks in a humidor and be packaged with their control sample partners.

 

[Skafidr]

Looking forward to see the final results of your experiment!

 

[WillQuantrill]

Looking forward to see the final results of your experiment!

While I'll be the first to tell you my palette on the flavor wheel is not very well developed my partner in crime who is getting half the samples is going to report back to me as well. I look forward to the ongoing research.

 

[WillQuantrill]

Resuming the experiment I had a false start a couple weeks ago. I tried to smoke the Alec Bradley Black Market Esteli's but 10 minutes in there was something of an infant emergency inside the house so that portion of the test was aborted. So today we will see how far we can smoke the LA Gloria Cubana Serie R Esteli Maduro 6x60. I have decided the most judicious way to accomplish a comparison is to simultaneously light the unkilned and kilned cigars and switch off puffs as we go. It only now occurs to me but this cigar pick is perfect for trying to catch any difference in flavor. From my experience LGC's have always required ample humidor time and when first acquire more often than not devolve into bitter ammonia past half way giving away the youth of the leaf inside. Add in the Maduro and it should exploit any change in flavor. The stick with a band still on it is unkilned with same amount of time in humidor. Although the draw is significantly tighter on this one I would guess it's more of a construction issue rather than kiln time. The kilned cigar I got away with a cap punch draw is perfect. An inch into each and I notice a difference, the unkilned definitely carries the typical upfront black cherry bitter of a young Maduro while the unkilned is more subtle prune. Body at this point is a little more on the unkilned coating the tongue but definitely tell in the Esteli family with both. Also notice the cedar imparted into the kilned version which is nice to know it can be added or taken away. 30 minutes in (pic 2) starting to notice more bitter on the retrohale on the still banded cigar while the slight burn of the retrohale on the kilned is pleasurable. Maybe construction again but unkilned holds onto its ash longer. Notice the difference in burn rate. Took a small break to refill my ice water and both are still burning. Picture 3 seems conclusive that kilning does effect ash adhesion. The kilned cigar dropped it in my lap 3 times thus far. Bitter is really accelerating on the banded and starting to show signs on the other. So bitter in fact I notice my self starting to grimace. I bailout on this one and continue on with the kilned version in an attempt to salvage my palette but it only slightly subsides and becomes prevalent 3/4" further. Last picture is where I quit. Good data for the first test.

 

[deluxestogie]

Sometimes, when a cigar becomes bitter toward the head, I find that tipping the ash, and relighting it (even though it is still burning) smooths out the taste. I suspect that the bitterness is the result of the increasingly moist filler in the head burning at a lower temperature. Just my guess.

Bob

 

[WillQuantrill]

Sometimes, when a cigar becomes bitter toward the head, I find that tipping the ash, and relighting it (even though it is still burning) smooths out the taste. I suspect that the bitterness is the result of the increasingly moist filler in the head burning at a lower temperature. Just my guess.

Bob

I have heard blenders note this, why if you cut a cigar with intention of smoking later it is so bitter and not representative of the leaf. I'm convinced the youth or shorter time of fermentation in the leaf also plays a part. Some cigars magically give me the saliva glands of a St Bernard.

 

[WillQuantrill]

2nd submission to the experiment, Aganorsa's Rare Leaf Maduro in the 6x54 Toro. Once again the kilned cigar has been resting at 70% RH naked while the unkilned stick remains in cellophane with bands both coming from the same box. The kilned version now have 5 months rest. Same procedure as last time, light both cigars at the same time, puff one twice and alternate. On first impression I will say draw is a little tight on both sticks, had to cut the caps twice. An inch in and pepper/spice is quite pronounced while the kilned version is virtually none. Especially on retrohale body is like 2 totally different cigars. This brings about a very interesting observation that the typical maduro flavor notes on the kilned version kind of a black cherry/dark chocolate/leather only seem more prevalent because they are not masked by the spice in the stock stick. Body is definitely cut back on kilned. An hour and 45 minutes in I let the kilned cigar burn out and decided to enjoy the rest of the other as it still had some amount of tobacco effervescence in it. This portion of the experiment has been much more interesting in that I learned more about my own palette. While the kilned version was milder the change seemed to nullify any transition in flavor. I like spice and body. One refreshing part of this sample is that neither cigar turned bitter towards the end. Moral of the story, I actually prefer the unkilned version further proving a change occurred in the kilned cigar.

 

[WillQuantrill]

3rd submission, AJ Fernandez Man O War Ruination 10th anniversary. As I recall this stick didn't really impress me but I had a 5 pack so I submitted it for this experiment. The Damnation stick is much more enjoyable. Same process of testing but in the last 2 posts I was annoying myself talking about kilned and non so for this write-up unkilned is C1 and kilned C2. I did notice wrapper color for C2 is slightly darker but that could be negligible. Draw is the same on both cigars and burn nice and even. C1 does have more body and spice while C2 has a lack thereof. Did not really pickup much as far as flavor transition in either cigar. C1's ash is slightly darker than C2 noticeable enough I included a picture. C2 burned very slightly faster. Overall like the last test I actually preferred C1 more than the other. Kind of like C2 is just a muted version of the original.

 

[WillQuantrill]

4th and last submission is West Tampa Cigar's Attic Series. This is a blind test because I have yet to smoke one of these. Once again C1 still with the band is unkilned C2 unbranded is kilned. As an aside the construction on these is really nice, toothy San Andreas wrapper. No real difference in appearance between the two cigars. An inch in and flavor profile of C1 is very enjoyable dark cherry leather subtle black pepper retrohale, body is a medium. Those flavors are still present in C2 but not as bold, retrohale is the same as maybe a cigarette, no burn or spice potential body is mild. 2 inches and C1 and C2 transition in body strength which is fun. C1 gains a little bitter while C2 gains a little dark chocolate. This is when I accidentally knocked C1 off the ashtray and it bounced off the floor the wrapper exploded. Throughout the rest the band held the cigar together. For my own palette this one has been weird. I enjoyed the second half of C2 more than C1 and first half of C1 more than C2. Overall my favorite blend smoked in the experiment. I will revisit the others and post a summation soon.

 

[WillQuantrill]

Wrapup: While I'll be the first to admit alot of these results are subjective to my palette and this test could have used more metrics for analysis the results are clear that kilning commercial cigars does significantly change several attributes of the tobacco. In my own mind I kept likening it to a kind of aging in lightspeed but I don't believe that is a fair comparison or atleast one that I have any evidence to backup. The LGC had the most significant changes especially in burn rate and ash adhesion. But all 4 were noticeably different in body, and strength with 42 days of kilning. I can see the value of this process in speeding up "rest" time for smokes made from new tobacco or refining a box of budget sticks. 1 thing standout as good information to take forward is that 6 weeks was more than enough time to draw contrast. The 6 months another manufacturer claims to use in this process makes me wonder how much if any of the original profiles would be present in the tobacco. I would imagine the smoke would be quite bland. But I learned quite a bit about my own palette as to what I do or do not prefer and would have to say this whole exercise was as Bob would say "enlightening". While higher end cigars usually come with extensive age...maybe that age doesn't always bring out the best results for that blend. In other words it seems very possible to age a cigar well past that window of the best version of a particular cigar.

 

[adamziegler]

While higher end cigars usually come with extensive age...maybe that age doesn't always bring out the best results for that blend

I agree with this conclusion, and have greatly appreciated the efforts you have shared here. Thank you!

 

[WillQuantrill]

I agree with this conclusion, and have greatly appreciated the efforts you have shared here. Thank you!

If I were to revisit this experiment I would carefully pick a budget stick with good leaf stats in a shorter kiln time, maybe 3 weeks instead of 6. The best purpose for the process would be to get the cigar just past the "young" phase then stabilize in humidor. Turning a $2 stick into a $6-8 stick. I am quite surprised how rapidly the kilning modifies the tobacco's characteristics.