Last week, I had the amazing opportunity to spend time in the Dominican Republic and visit Klaas Kelner’s new factory. As one often does when in the D.R. or Nicaragua, I found myself smoking multiple cigars side by side and it reminded me of an experiment that I put into place years ago! The question that started it all was this: what would happen to a cigar if it were aged simultaneously in two different humidity environments? 

The Setup

In late 2019, I purchased two boxes of Illusione’s Epernay D’Aosta 10th Anniversary. These were placed into the only humidor I had at the time, and in January of 2021 I separated the boxes. One went into my 62% humidor and the other went into my 68% humidor. I started keeping a 68% humidor at the time because I noticed that I enjoyed several Dominican puros at a higher relative humidity.

I opened the box that went into the 62% humidor but left the other sealed. I figured if I moved again before I got around to finding out the difference for myself, I could easily tell them apart. And over the years I’ve burned through all but 2 of the D’Aosta’s from the lower humidity box. 

No dry-boxing occurred for either cigar. Depending on the weather, the relative humidity usually fluctuates +/- one or two points throughout the day. 

First Thoughts

I started the morning off thinking about the differences one might would expect from two cigars aged at different humidity levels. I expected that there would be a noticeable difference in flavor intensity, although not wholly different flavors. I also expected that the cigar with a lower humidity may have darker cellophane since the oils would have evaporated faster. 

The Appearance

Shockingly, neither cigar had more or less yellowing to the cellophane. The cello on each is identical, although the cigar aged in higher humidity has a barely noticeable difference in wrapper color. The entire box looks similar, and the remaining two cigars from the lower humidity box are also of the same shade. This difference could have happened at the factory level, though, when sorting by shade. Since I never opened the second box in 2019, there’s no way for me to know if this was caused over time. 

The Mechanics

Unsurprisingly, both have the perfect draw resistance and burn like a dream. After firing both up, I only had to touch them up one time - and I likely could have avoided it. 

The Flavor

I fired up the cigar aged at 62% first and was immediately met with what I remember most about this cigar originally: peanut shells. For lack of a better term, the cigar tasted like it had been well rested. Peppery notes added some contrast but were in the back seat, and there was a delightful presence of mocha and graham cracker sensations. 

The cigar aged at 68% knocked my socks off in the first puff. Pepper came roaring out the gate and lingered for a very long time, followed by chewy earth and hints of rye bread. 

The cigar aged in a higher RH became creamy after the first ash drop, and remained robust throughout yet never tasted as sweet as the other. Any hints of chocolate were very dark chocolate. The cigar aged at a lower RH never found any of that creaminess that I remember from the original, and the flavor profile was accented with hints of cedar from time to time that were absent in the other.

Final Thoughts

In the Army, we had a saying: Inspect What You Expect. I’ll always be a proponent of experimenting to find your personal preferences, and I want to caveat this entire write-up with today being a sample size of one blend across two cigars from two separate boxes. You may find that you prefer different blends from the same country/factory/brand at different humidity levels. It’s also important to note that I was smoking these cigars side by side. One followed by the other might not have been as noticeable. 

For this experiment, I preferred the cigar aged at 68% versus the cigar aged at 62%. I suspect that the lower RH hastened the aging process. I usually go through the cigars in my 62% or 65% humidors quicker anyway, for this very reason. Also, cigars that I enjoy on the regular usually end up in then humidity environment since I can grab-n-go without any headaches. 

After seeing the difference this made, I think I’ll start putting extra boxes in the higher humidity environment whenever I come across a blend that compels me to buy multiples. It isn’t too often throughout the year that I grab more than one box, but it will give me extra insurance if I forget to get to the second box within four to five years. 

Have you tried something similar? Please don’t hesitate to drop us a comment below and share your thoughts!