reed aging

[JohnGalt]

A question about the aging aspect of reed preparation.
Wine, as most know, gets better with age. A bottle of wine if properly stored will continue to improve as time goes by, even will go bad if stored indefinitely.
Scotch on the other hand, gets better with time when aged in casks in which they were originally stored. After the scotch has been bottled, the aging proccess stops. A ten year old bottle of single malt that you bought in 1990 is not a twentyfive year old scotch, but a ten year old scotch you simply have kept for fifteen years.
My question is:
When is this "aging period" significant in the life of a sax reed? Does the "aging" occur between the time the cane is harvested, dried in the sun, up until it is cut into reeds? Is the aging proccess stoppped when the reed is cut from the cane and boxed for distribution? [ Like the scotch analogy ]
Or can it continue to benefit from additional at-home aging? [ Like Wine analogy]
Also, many have intimated that they get better results when they store reeds at home for a few months to a year, and/or open the reeds up and let them sit out a while. I suspect that this is simply the reeds "acclimating" to their new climate, not as significant as actual "aging".
If at-home aging is possible, should it not be standard procedure to open all hermetically sealed reed boxes immediately upon purchase? Someone recently mentioned a cigar humidifier for storage. Shouldn't it be the opposite for as of yet unmoistened reeds? I was thinking more along the lines of an air-tight box filled with dessicants (from vitamin bottles, etc) to absorb excess moisture.
I will also mention that I am just about getting to the end of a several year long experiment, where I have put what I call the "dregs" of each new box of reeds [reeds that don't make the cut after a significant break in/curing procedure] into deep storage for "additional aging", to see if their characteristics change for the better with an aditional year+ of dry aging. My conclusion: No, they dont. They still suck.
Your thoughts please.

[JohnGalt]

My apologies for the triple post.
After I successfully logged in and typed up this post, when I hit reply, I got a message that said I was unable to post. And while fussing around trying to see what the problem was, I must have sent multiple threads.

[Tom Goodrick]

A lot depends, of course, on how you prepare your reeds and on how you store the reeds. Before use, my reeds stay for some time - all right: years - in my dry and air conditioned house. Some stay in wrapped boxes and some in open boxes. I have not noticed aging effects on the unused reeds.

I have one tenor reed that is about a year old and has been in continuous use as part of a four-reed rotation. Something happened to make it special in its early use but I see no damage. It seems to be just as good, or a little better, each time I use it - great sound. I have been tempted to use the wine analogy describing this reed.

Except for a recent bout with mold in my Vandoren plastic blue cases, my reeds generally last many months.

For a couple years now I have used mineral oil to moisten the reeds initially and before each use. I wipe them off before putting them in the cases but do not go to any length to get them perfectly dry. They each get played every fourth day.

[fieldmarshall]

A fellow tenor player recently gave me 8 boxes of very old reeds. Some were close to 20 years old. Not all the boxes were full, as he had used many.

So far, out of 31 reeds I tried, I found 18 of them to be playable, and about 10 to be considered "gig-worthy". Not much difference from what I experience with new reeds. He kept the reeds in their boxes, the boxes kept in a drawer. Some of the reeds I tried were previously used (I think 6 or 8), and once they'd been soaking for a few minutes, played just fine.

The reeds are Ricos and Rico-Royals. Talk about a blast from the past, the Ricos were in the "wood-grain finish" boxes.

Not sure if this "testamonial" helps or not, but from my experience with these reeds, aging hasn't had any significantly negative effect on the cane.

[JohnGalt]

Thanks guys. I certainly don't think there would be any degradation of the reed if stored, I was just wondering if I was wasting time trying to induce "additional aging" to reeds if its actually impossible to age a reed that has already been cut. Perhaps the "aging" aspect of cane is over-rated. I recall that 2 years is the standard for aging cane before sale, but I recently read on the Gonzales/Zonda website they age the reeds only 6 months. Does that sound odd?

[newsax]

I have an old box of ricos ,the brown wood grain type,i only found 8 out of 25 that i thought where playable and the rest where just dead .
I am using some of the newer reeds avalable today like the rico selects,they definetly outplay the old box so i am not sure either if ageing really does that much