Cigars fresh out of the box is no guaranteed way to judge a good cigar as they are generally too young to smoke.  when smoked without proper ageing. I recommend that cigars are kept in a humidor. While you can keep your cigars in the box they came in from the store, unfortunately they will dry out and become stale in a matter of weeks. The best place to store your fine cigars is in a humidor. Good humidors come in a variety of materials and sizes. You can find them made from exotic woods like Canary wood, or from pleasing grain woods such as cherry or burl. The inside should be Spanish cedar and have method of testing the humidity. Larger humidors have partitions to separate your various cigar brands. When purchasing a new humidor one should pay special attention to the hinge. In addition you may want to consider a locking mechanism to keep your stash safe from your “friends”.

The most important thing to know about storing your cigars is that they must be store at 65 to 70 degrees of humidity and at a temperature of approximately 70 degrees fahrenheit. Just remember the 70/ 70 rule. Good humidors come with a device to maintain the proper level of humidity. There must be care taken when humidifying cigars, as excessive moisture can cause mould to grow, which will ruin everything in the box. A good strategy is to rotate your stock from top to bottom, which will help evenly distribute the moist and dry cigars within your humidor. If you buy a box and they are green or ‘fresh’ you can lay them away, and test one cigar every three to 6 months.

The tiny dots which may appear after a time are called bloom. A certain amount of bloom is a sign of proper aging. Brush it off and enjoy your cigar. If you see little bugs running around in your cigar box you have a problem. You need to separate out the offending area of cigars, and may require you to dump your entire inventory. The combination of over humidification and higher than recommended temperature, will cause Lacioderma bugs to hatch. Keeping your humidor at 70 or below degrees fahrenheit at 70 degrees humidity will help avoid this from happening to you. It is a rare event, so relax and don’t worry about this at all.

Travel humidors are also good to have if you want to smoke a cigar when away from your home. Good storage techniques will keep your investment safe and sound. Letting your cigars age will result in greater enjoyment when flame hits leaf. Let me and the other readers know if you have any tips on storing or ageing good or great cigars!
Quality Construction is always the most essential factor. The cigars appearance is an important indicator of care and craftsmanship. The cigar should look good and feel smooth when you roll in your fingers.

The wrapper should be smooth with a slight shine, no blemishes or rough stems, its leaves all spiralling in the same direction. The cigar should not be too dry or too firm. Give your cigar a gentle squeeze. It should be spongy to the touch and resilient enough to hold it’s shape where you have pressed your finger to it. Beware of any soft or hard spots that are inconsistent with the cigar as a whole; this is an indication of poor construction. Take a whiff of it’s rich aroma; if there isn’t any, its not a great cigar. While draw a burn are the most important factors effected by construction, the aesthetics of construction can provide early warning signs regarding quality, taste and aroma.

While taste and aroma are important attributes for the consistently well constructed cigar, there are other indicators as well. When a cigar is properly lit, it should burn evenly all the way down, .an uneven burn is a sign of an improper roll. The ash should be relatively firm, remaining intact for an inch or more without difficulty (with the exception of small ring-gauge cigars).

A falling ash is not necessarily a sign of poorly constructed cigar, but if your cigar develops a firm, even ash while you’re smoking, its an indication that it is well made. A cigar should have a good mouth feel. While it is never really recommended to chew the end, the cigar should feel firm and resistant in the mouth. If the cigar is soft, its another sign of poor construction. It won’t feel good either, and you won’t enjoy it.
The three criteria for appreciating a fine cigar are similar to those applied to fine wines: flavour, body and aroma.

Flavour: Taste can discern four basic categories: sweet, bitter, salty, and acid. Bitter and sweet are the easiest to detect, the other a bit more difficult, and they are subjective. Connoisseurs use terms like fruity, nutty and herbal, spicy, and floral, to refer to the combination and balance of tastes. They identify such flavour notes as pepper, wood, nut, cream, coffee, nutmeg, cinnamon, citrus, cedar, chocolate, and leather. The classifications mild, medium and full refer to the degree of flavour.

Body: The body of the smoke refers to the strength of the tobacco, its overall effect on the smoker. It’s degrees are light, medium, and heavy.

Aroma: The aroma of a cigar is one that pleases you.

Quality Tobacco: Tobacco is of great importance. When inferior quality filler is used, the cigar will produce a harsh, rough, musty taste with an unpleasant, penetrating aroma. To deliver a good taste and aroma, a producer must be able to ensure a constant supply of the same tobaccos that make up his distinctive blends from year to year. Not only must the tobacco be superior, it’s imperative that it be properly processed. All the elements, filler, binder and wrapper-must complete the entire fermentation process before they are ready to be rolled. Whenever you smoke cigars from one box, see if you can determine any significant variation in taste and aroma. But remember, a cigar will taste different depending on when its smoked: morning or evening, after a meal, with coffee or cognac, indoor or outdoors.