Close up of a Cuban cigar

Smoking a cigar is something many people prefer to enjoy on their off days, golf trips, and other occasions. However, improper cigar storage conditions, long periods without smoking them, and other factors can greatly affect a cigar's quality and might even exist responsible for ruining it.

And so, how to distinguish good from bad cigars in terms of their freshness, and what are the main ways to tell a cigar has gone bad? In this commodity, I will attempt to walk you lot through my methods and show you what to look for when inspecting your cigars.

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In summary, my pinnacle 5 methods of checking if a cigar has gone bad are:

  • Checking for mold
  • Checking the dryness
  • Tasting the cigar
  • Feeling the cigar out
  • The Odor test

At present, let'south check each of those methods in greater particular and larn how to properly perform information technology on any cigar…

Checking for mold

Mold is one of the primary signs that a cigar (or cigars) has gone bad. Information technology happens when the environs around the cigar is too boiling which facilitates the growth of the said mold. Information technology is white in colour, often with hints of blue, and leaves a stain on the cigar upon removal. This is an of import characteristic every bit flower (or feather) doesn't get out any stains on your cigar when removed. Plume is besides often just a sign of a cigar aging and is sometimes a welcomed affair to see.

Plume and mold are oftentimes mistaken for one another. I've defended a whole separate article on the topic to brand things fifty-fifty clearer for you. Click here to read it!

Checking the dryness

While too much humidity tin can cause the cigar to absorb much of information technology and develop mold or simply become saggy, too little of the same thing can cause a cigar to become excessively dry. This is very bad for a cigar as information technology causes it to lose all of the oils in the wrapper and filler. When these oils are lost, so is the actual flavor of the cigar. Y'all will still be able to smoke information technology but it will burn much hotter and faster and volition besides gustation aught like information technology was originally intended to. The fastest and easiest way to bank check if a cigar is too dry is to rub it between your fingers. Dry cigars unremarkably suspension down hands and create a crunchy noise.

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Tasting the cigar

Another sure style to tell a cigar has gone bad is by tasting it. Whether you light it or not, such a cigar will gustatory modality bad compared to other cigars of its kind in the humidor. When not lit, near cigars have bawdy notes to them and you tin can commencement feeling the sense of taste before you fifty-fifty light it. However, bad cigars volition give you lot clay or a sand-like taste in the mouth.

Feeling the cigar out

Feeling the cigar will give y'all an thought of whether it is too moist, too dry, or just not in its best condition. Normally, your cigar should be firm but with a slight flex to it shouldn't make any sounds when yous printing it in. Besides moist, and a cigar will experience soggy in your easily. Besides dry out, and it will crunch when you squeeze it and will crackle when y'all light it.

The Scent test

Every single cigar out in that location has a scent of its own. Well-nigh cigar aficionados tin recognize their favorite cigars in a blind odour test. Similarly, every cigar smoker can tell that a cigar has gone bad if there is a scent of rotten or even the specific scent of mold that nosotros all know. These stale scents are a sure indicator that you shouldn't farther endeavour your luck and light the cigar as that experience will be equally unpleasant.

One other way to test a cigar'south status is past merely lighting it. Cigars that weren't stored in the right humidity will be dry out and will, therefore, crackle when lit. Moreover, they will burn much quicker, drier, and hotter than fresher and healthier cigars.

How to tell if a cigar is fresh?

Testing if a cigar is fresh is as equally of import. Just similar with testing whether a cigar is bad or not, testing if a cigar is fresh relies upon the same three methods nosotros but used:

  • Smell test
  • Tasting the cigar
  • Compression test

Smell test

As with the previous smell exam to make up one's mind whether the cigar has gone bad, this examination volition do the opposite. Good cigars should take their natural scents all around them. Just similar their fume, most cigars accept a pungent and aromatic scent to them, often mixed with hints from the soil that the wrapper was grown into.

Tasting the cigar

Fresh cigars have a pleasant and counterbalanced taste when you lot put them in your oral cavity. Most premium cigars volition fifty-fifty have an bawdy hint to them before you even calorie-free the cigar. Fruity and floral notes aren't excluded either but if the cigar has a sour taste or just tastes bad to you, then chances are it is has gone bad. Other tastes you should avoid are metallic, soil, and/or dirt. Equally a dominion of thumb, every cigar will for sure gustation worse when you calorie-free information technology, and so do yourself a favor and throw away any one cigar that tastes bad before y'all even kickoff smoking it.

Pinch test

The pinch examination is one of the easiest and quickest means to determine whether a cigar is truly fresh or non. It can be washed with any cigar and is quite universal. Yous exercise information technology past belongings the cigar between your thumb and index finger and slightly squeezing it. If information technology is firm but bouncy, then it is quite fresh. On the other hand, if it feels strong, dry, and has lilliputian to no flex to it, then it isn't fresh. Some other matter you should avert with cigars is for them to feel soft. This often indicates that the cigar has accumulated too much moisture due to improper storing conditions.

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Oft Asked Questions

How long does it accept for cigars to go bad?

Depending on the storing conditions, cigars can terminal anywhere from days to decades. If stored in the right weather and under the right humidity, almost cigars can outlive you lot. Contrary to that, if they aren't stored properly or aren't stored in a humidor at all they can barely concluding a calendar week.

What does cigar mold await like?

The specific mold that grows on cigars has a dark-green or blue tint to it. Like well-nigh other molds, it has a moss-like structure and has a musty odor to it. With mold, the key is catching any cigar that starts to develop it before it spreads to the rest around information technology. If a cigar has mold, throw information technology away. By the time yous run across the blue mossy stuff on your cigars, information technology is already too late for it to exist saved anyway.

Should y'all accept cigars out of the plastic in a humidor?

The cellophane wrap of a cigar serves a protective role during transportation and delivery. Once you start arranging them in your humidor, I strongly advise on removing that wrap, equally it can reduce the good effects of the humidor for your cigars.

Final Words

In conclusion, some of the best ways to tell if a cigar has gone bad are associated with testing its dryness and inspecting its taste and odor. Dry and hard cigars are usually bad and tin be re-humidified but won't taste every bit good as they originally did. Moldy cigars demand no further inspection and should be thrown out of your humidor before the mold spreads to other cigars. Look for cigars that take a little bit of bounciness and flex to them and are firm to the touch.