Popular Post El Presidente Posted March 28, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted March 28, 2014 So how useful are cigar reviews......really? We have conducted a few polls over the last few weeks on how long it takes you to smoke a Robusto, wrapper preference, the ability to taste differing flavours etc. Now if Hamlet were to roll 10 identical Robusto's in one sitting....same leaf + blend with immense attention to detail. And should I get a random sample of 10 members for a tasting. * 1 will be finished before the rest light up, 2 will be finished in under 45 minutes, 6 will be finished in an hour to an hour and a half, I am still waiting on the other person to finish * 3 out of the 10 have rarely or never tasted Chocolate or cream in a cigar, 5 of the 10 have rarely or never tasted honey in a cigar. Given the above, you can see how the likelihood of a consensus on the tasting of the Hamlet Robusto would be near impossible. Now I don't hold that there is a right way or a wrong way to smoke a cigar. You smoke it the way you enjoy it. However there is no way to get a full flavour spectrum of the cigar if the heat you are pumping through it sees you finishing it in anything under 45 minutes to an hour. Simply, The cooler the burn the more flavour you will get. Now you could smoke the Robusto over an hour and still be utterly perplexed when ken or myself describe the cocoa/peanut and honey notes. The harsh reality is that our taste buds concentration differ person to person. A taste bud is simply a tool that converts a chemical signal in food into an electrical signal for the brain. You have buds for Saltiness, Sweetness, Unami, Sourness, Bitterness, but each person has not only a different amount of total buds (for use of a better term) but a different mix of buds. You may be predisposed to Saltiness/bitterness...maybe Sweetness, Sourness, maybe balanced. If we have any experts in the field, feel free to chime in and let me know if I am wrong here. You start to see how some people gravitate toward Hoyo and others Partagas. Why some people can never see what others see in a Partagas 898 Varnished (even after multiple tryings over the years) while others have never had a great Cohiba ever. So when it comes to reviews of cigars the best piece of advice I can give is find someones reviews that resemble your own tasting experiences. Don't beat yourself up that you can't taste the "green apple fruit salad" in a young Regio that Smithy can. If you can however, then pay attention to Smithy's input on a cigar. I struggle with some of the things ken can taste. I have done enough reviews over the years with ken to appreciate that he has a far superior palate to mine. Apparently some 25% of people are "supertasters" while another 50% are "normal" but whom can train themselves to associate "pull" differing flavours from dish or a cigar. The other 25% are screwed Throw in the fact that as you age you lose taste buds+ your sense of smell and it is a crapshoot in the world of tasting!!!! 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godpheonix Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 well...i couldn't of said it better myself. totally agree! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigharpoon Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I agree. I've been fortunate to find a couple reviewers with palates similar to my own and can use them as a sort of sounding board for cigars I may like to try. I also enjoy reading and watching reviews because sometimes I have this flavor I'm getting in a cigar but just can't put my finger on it. Then I'll see a review and be like 'that's IT, green apple fruit salad'! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OkieJoe Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 very well put Chief Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gargano Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I find the polls interesting and it often shows me where I fall within the bell curve. The robusto poll helps me identify that I tend to smoke too fast and I need to slow down or I will miss the full experience. In addition, sometimes when I am smoking a cigar I will pull up the FOH review and educate my taste buds by attempting to identify the various flavors. There are times your review comments reflect my own experience and other times they don't. That's what makes smoking cigars enjoyable and interesting for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helix Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 If the majority of reviewer's are positive/like to a cigar that to me is helpful enough to at least bother to try it. That is useful to me. Really! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarveyBoulevard Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 The best part about FOH reviews is the feeling of being there on the deck (past and present locals) and enjoying a good smoke having a good time. The reviews for flavor profiles is the best around but even better is feeling like one of the reprobates on the deck. FOH reviews are what got me hooked on the cc community. Its great watching reviews of a Monte 2 while smoking on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StingMeadery Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Absolutely, Cigar, Whisky, Wine appreciation is purely subjective. Once you determine the flavour profile that gives you the most pleasurable experience, in my experience that's all you need to know. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PuffDaddie Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 It's all come's down to difference taste buds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarveyBoulevard Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 The best part about FOH reviews is the feeling of being there on the deck (past and present locals) and enjoying a good smoke having a good time. The reviews for flavor profiles is the best around but even better is feeling like one of the reprobates on the deck. FOH reviews are what got me hooked on the cc community. Its great watching reviews of a Monte 2 while smoking on. Ignore my typos and poor grammer. Fat bastard fingers!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradbrennan Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I think that's where the group reviews are helpful, specifically yours here on FOH, I'd like to see more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poisonowns Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Reviews are helpful to me with regards to general aging recommendations and strength of a cigar. Also, if I read 5 reviews and 4 people call a cigar a dog rocket, that's good info to me too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemsworth Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I will not rest until I taste caramel bees in a cigar. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulF Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Thanks for putting that together Rob. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habana Mike Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I taste honey occasionally, smoke Robustos for upwards of 100 minutes at times (sorry to keep you waiting sir) and prefer Colorado Claro wrappers. Getting older and probably have few tastebuds left given the number of cigars I smoke and amount of Scotch I drink but I do enjoy being alive! I also like to do a review from time to time as I find it truly helps me smoke more slowly, look for the nuances and really appreciate the particular cigar for what it is. Interesting to me is I've found a certain Dirty Maverick Ash Drinker and I have very similar palates as evidenced by his blog. Ken, not so much as I prefer wearing shoes, or at minimum sandals....I believe I am more on the normal side of supertasters. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drguano Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I generally go by the level of excitement that you guys display and either get caught up and buy a box or not. When I smoke one, I can either identify what you are tasting or not. I recognise that my taste buds are definitely on the geezeroid end of the spectrum (stealing petrol in my youth probably did not help) and take what I can. Please keep on reviewing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwsaw63 Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I'm in the bottom 25%...so I'm screwed and have to taste vicariously through the reviews! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cisco Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Sage advice. I have been a very avid consumer\collector of wine for over 20 years. In the early days I poured over the reviews from big publications and bought blindly based on scores alone. Big mistake. It took me many more years and a lot tasting, as well as activity in various forums to realize that 1) I needed to develop my own tasting skills and recognize what I like and don't like 2) Many reviews have drastically different palates than mine. What they rate high, i don't like. 3) I shared similar tasting preferences with a few members on various forums and there was an opportunity to share my experiences with them and ask for theirs. All in all, a tough and expensive lesson learned There are a few members on here that i consistently agree with, with regards to cigar preferences, and I always try their recommendations, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoreanCowboy Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Love it my friend! The reviews help me to identify flavors that I can usually taste but can't put my finger on. It helps me to search out those flavors for the next time or even for the first time. When I was a newb, I was always frustrated when I didn't get the same flavors as the reviewers did but now I use them as a tool/guide rather than as a Bible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PapaDisco Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I find the reviews very helpful . . . with or without socks . . . I don't expect to duplicate the reviewers' experience exactly, but the better I come to know their tasting style the more I can usefully interpret their likes to my likes, and that is very helpful for the subjective stuff. Then for the objective parts: construction, color, draw, etc. it's much more, well, objective. Just knowing that a marca, box and vitola is uniform in construction, smooth wrapper, etc. tells me something very useful. And then of course there's the entertainment factor of all the silly shirts . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laynard Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Different smokes for different folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optic101 Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Very useful. Helped to get started. Using them now to compare and learn. Follow some I found matches my taste. Mood and environment has a huge influence. End of the day it is all about to enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bclass1 Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Absolutely, Cigar, Whisky, Wine appreciation is purely subjective. Once you determine the flavour profile that gives you the most pleasurable experience, in my experience that's all you need to know. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I couldn't agree with you more.. Cigars are so very subjective as are the single malts I pair them with. I may be having such a fantastic experience enjoying a cigar and drink while my brother, who is smoking the exact same thing pairing it with the exact drink, may have a completely different opinion.. It's amazing, but it's why we do this.. To compare, contrast, speak of the subject and enjoy. Well put together stats and thoughts Rob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Ken Gargett Posted March 28, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted March 28, 2014 I find the reviews very helpful . . . with or without socks . . . seriously? new rule. remember - i am doing this for the collective good. those with foot fetishes need to get a life. so, only people with 10,000 posts can comment on feet/socks/shoes/slippers/clogs/any crap pertaining to feet in any way. otherwise, i will invoke moderator privileges (i knew that crap would come in handy eventually) and delete that post. no warnings. no explanations. you are welcome to ***** to rob - i'm sure he'll feel he has plenty of time to deal with that. second offence, every post ever made by said offender deleted. i am assuming there is a button that allows me to do that. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PapaDisco Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 seriously? Nope, not the least bit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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