Your Taste for Cigars.

[Pedro2486]

I've always wondered how one can taste leather. I've yet to try eating leather. Lol The only tastes I pick ip are coffee and cocoa. The rest is a mystery that I just go along with. For me, as long as the cigar is good, I'm content with that. For Now. On a whole other topic, I've learned to taste fruits in a wine quite well, and I learned that by smoking ******. When I puff on a melon or tangerine or whatever it is, I can easily pick up those flavors when drinking wine.

you mean to say you have never licked a well polished boot? Umm, yeah neither have I

To me a taste of leather is more of an "olfactory feeling" Sort of like the scent that surrounds your head when you sink back into a well padded, fine leather recliner. its not a taste persay but more of an ambiance to the smoke

[Fosgate]

What opened my eyes to the flavors was taking a Science of Brewing class here at the local university. (Yeah I was required to take it for my business degree, how cool). Anyway aside for getting to know the history, chemistry, physics and biology of designing beer we also did a lot of tasting (which required a breathilizer before you could leave). That really taught me how to taste and identify flavors. Much is taste with your eyes closed, identify what you can, look as what is supposed to taste like and then try again, then look at a flavor chart to see if there is anything else you can iidentify. We were also required to identify 15 different beers and 25 flaws in beers for an exam. White bread and crackers are generally good to cleanse the pallat between tastes. Also in beer and wine tasting it is important to inhale air through the mouth and exhale through the nose to pass scent particles over the Olfactory Bulb in the nasal cavity where you also have very sensitive taste sensor. Same goes for cigars and I found when you sip a drink inhale and then exhale you merge the flavor of the drink and the cigar to find the fifth taste Uumami (Savory). Anyway, that's what opened my eyes to tasting.

[OkieJoe]

On another board we were discussing how some people occasionally get a soapy sensation/taste from their cigars, which I recently experienced with a 2010 LE Portuguese Ramon Allones Lusitano and previously commented on, which led me to look into this phenomenon a little further. Turns out it may not be that the roller washed his hands for a change but It seems from some cursory research certain naturally occurring phenols in tobacco, particularly carbolic acid, can have a decided influence on the potential for a soapy taste to be detected.

Carbolic acid is used in many soaps http://en.wikipedia....i/Carbolic_soap

Considering further, Beta Damascenone is a rose ketone present in tobacco that contributes to honey, plum, tobacco (?!?), and black currant nuances along with megastigmatrienones which also introduce sweet tobacco, honeyed and dried (stewed) fruit flavors to our cigars.

Other interesting carotenoid derivatives found in cured tobacco are theaspirone, an ingredient in black tea and a component of tea essential oil, and beta-cyclocitral, which is described as green, grassy or hay-like. Must be the prevalent compounds in Cohibas...

In addition I found that apparently many of the flavors and aromas such as woody, vanilla, anise, clove, nutmeg, cinammon and basil/vegetal along with the occasional 'whiff of a Sharpie marker' can all be attributed to these same phenols http://cigarfan.net/.../cigar-science/

For the truly interested or ambitious student, extensive detail on the chemical compounds in various tobaccos and results from burning can be found in this 56 page dissertation:

http://www.leffingwe...o_chemistry.pdf

Of course some individuals are more prone than others in detecting the particular chemical compounds that contribute to the flavors or sensations found while enjoying a particular cigar, and this certainly gives merit to the fact that the duration and conditions surrounding the aging of cigars contributes to those flavors as the chemical compounds change over time.

To quote Tom (cigarfan), author of the initial reference, "Many cigar enthusiasts have detected flavors like these at one point or another. Floral, honey and tea-like notes I find most often in milder cigars, usually with shade wrappers. And while these are just a few of the elements from only one group of the many compounds that contribute to the flavor and aroma of cigar tobacco, I hope it shows that notes of tea or grass or violet are not out of the range of possibility for some experienced cigar enthusiasts.

So if you find yourself musing over the soft wood and floral notes of that ’02 Choix Supreme and suddenly detect a hint of honey, consider yourself fortunate… not crazy."

very nice read!

[petey]

I'm always amazed that some of you who smoke multiple cigars per day can taste anything!

[kevn]

I taste crushed ants...

Since we're talking insects, LFD often reminds me of burning beatle exoskeletons...the only Dominican that I pick this up on. It may be from my early years of frying bugs with a magnifying glass that I would (think) I know what it smells like.

[TonyAccardo]

Since we're talking insects, LFD often reminds me of burning beatle exoskeletons...the only Dominican that I pick this up on. It may be from my early years of frying bugs with a magnifying glass that I would (think) I know what it smells like.

That is an excellent description of how about 98% of NC's look, smell, and taste like. Great and accurate description.

[msm1771]

I think lots of it has to do with overall genetics and the individuals pallet. I have never been able to taste what lots of people taste in cigars no matter how hard I try. I remember sharing a bolivar super corona with two girls who were wine aficionados. They were able to pick up so many flavors that I just couldn't get. Such bullshit going to get taste bud transplants.

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[msm1771]

I can attest in my personal experience 99% of every nicaraguan cigar i smoke taste like spice leather wood and black coffee. Maybe some occasional cream. Cuban cigars I can taste the sweetness dessert like flavors much more easily. I would rather smoke cigars that taste like milk chocolate and cream than a damn peppered log.

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[msm1771]

Most studies that have compared the olfactory capabilities of men and women found that women are more talented than men to detect odors, identify, discriminate and memorize them.

You got that right. My mom is like a freaking bloodhound with cigar smoke.

Sent from my 86" White Testarossa

[smokeyjoe01]

I started out in life with an incredible sense of smell but like @mazolaman my lifestyle over the decades has dulled my senses. I drink a lot of good wine and smoke a fair amount of good cigars but only occasionally get more subtle or intricate flavours from them.

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[Jones]

Serious question for you guys who taste a lot of flavors, when you drink DR Pepper can you pick out the 23 flavors ?

[JohnS]

Serious question for you guys who taste a lot of flavors, when you drink DR Pepper can you pick out the 23 flavors ?

It's a good question. It's like asking if one can tell the 23 instruments on the Beach Boys 1966 hit, "God Only Knows". Perhaps you can get close, but I've never been able to pick out the 23 flavours in DR Pepper. Heck, I'm still trying to pick out the 3 basses on "God Only Knows" (I think they are a Fender Precision bass, Danelectro six-string bass and a string bass) after 25 years!

[Shrody234]

Sometimes I will taste 'something,' not quite sure what flavor it is, so I will read a few reviews and it usually helps me identify it. Others are very forward and those are easy.

Then I get a buttered popcorn flavor and realize I completely suck at this!