120 Year Old Cigars

[Jimbo57]

From the Summer 2009 issue of the European Cigar-Cult Journal

· An astonishing story by Colin Ganley on the discovery of three partially-filled boxes of roughly 120-year-old Havana cigars from an English country house that was being remodeled. Noted British restauranteur Gerry Stonhill was given the cigars a couple of years back and slowly brought them back to life.

Two of the boxes were Cabañas y Carbajal Coronas Grandes (5 7/8 x 40 torpedoes) and one was a box of H. Upmann Sonrisas (4 3/4 x 38 torpedoes); both types were boxes of 100 with two bundles of 50 enclosed in each box.

Ganley examined the cigars at a dinner along with Hunters & Frankau managing director Jemma Freeman and Tom Tom Cigars owner Tom Assheton and they determined that they had to be about 120 years old judging from the decoration of the boxes and some specific clues related to awards those brands won in the 19th Century.

What would they taste like? Ganley reported that the Cabañas Coronas Grandes were sensational, with plenty of flavor which he described as “lightly peppery with a milky texture, but the overwhelming characteristic is a floral aroma.” The Upmann Sonrisas drew well, but the flavor has “Tastes of chicken noodle soup, bread, an acidic tingle on the tongue and a minerally finish,” not quite as good as the Cabañas, but pretty good for 120 years after manufacture! Wrote Ganley of the adventure: “the lesson it taught me is this: well-made Habanos can be at their peak even after one hundred years.”


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I just received this in an email. Man, I would love to have been the one to 'test' these cigars. Except for the "chicken noodle soup" taste!!

[Herf N Turf]

Too bad I won't be able to age anything quite this long

[fuente~fuente]

Originally Posted by Herf N Turf

Too bad I won't be able to age anything quite this long

I don't know... They could freeze your head Ted Williams style, & you can still have a chance.

You'd just have to have someone to light up & stick it in your pie-hole for you.

[ejgarnut]

I imagine these would bring a few pennies at an auction.

[Frinkiac7]

I can only imagine how great they might have been if they had been stored in optimal conditions for all those years, instead of having to taste them after "bringing them back to life."

Great story, though...wow.

[mrsmitty]

Wow that's crazy. Wait until they find 3,000 year old Egyptian cigars perfectly preserved. Now that'll be the day

[smokin nightly]

Those cigars dont sound very good to me...chicken noodle soup? WTH?

[jadeg001]

Originally Posted by smokin nightly

Those cigars dont sound very good to me...chicken noodle soup? WTH?

i agree

[fiddlegrin]

Originally Posted by Jimbo57

........... “the lesson it taught me is this: well-made Habanos can be at their peak even after one hundred years.”


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Not a logical conclusion!

He doesn't know what their peak was or when it happened.........





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[DaReallyPoGigolo]

BEHOLD! Le Grand Cigar!

Its wrapper was a piece of the original US Constitution. It was hand-rolled by Queen Elizabeth during her "wild years" and was buried with George Burns until grave robbing space mushrooms stole it.

[blackop555]

futurama lol

[LGHT]

I don't think they would smoke too good. I've smoked a few pre-embargo sikars and they had little or no strength at all. Lovely flavor, but no strength left in em.

[eyesack]

Euuuuuggggghhhhh... did you know that dust is mainly comprised of dead skin-cells that were sloughed off the body? How dusty do you think those stogies were??? Chicken noodle soup is not something I'd want in a cigar!

[baba]

A few years ago at the auction house Southbys they sold some cigars from the 1890s - I think there was an article in CA about it. One of the writters smoke one and it was not too great. I think cigars are a lot like wine - the have a prim time to smoke them, and then they start to degrade.
The oldest cigar I smoked was from 1958, it was cuban. It tasted a bit musty like an old attick. Not a bad cigar, but ok with a musty ness.