The meaning of: Light. Medium, Full Bodied Cigars

[Ethernut]

After reading TONS of reviews, I have to admit I'm starting to become perplexed. It seems that one reviewer will call a cigar full bodied while another will call it Medium. I've even seen cigars that I know are Light-medium advertised as full bodied.

What does Light. Medium, and Full bodied mean to you?

Help a brother out here ;-)

Ether

[Tampa1257]

» After reading TONS of reviews, I have to admit I'm starting to become

» perplexed. It seems that one reviewer will call a cigar full bodied while

» another will call it Medium. I've even seen cigars that I know are

» Light-medium advertised as full bodied.

»

» What does Light. Medium, and Full bodied mean to you?

»

» Help a brother out here ;-)

»

» Ether

Now to confuse this just a tad more, are you referring to strength of "Body" or of "Flavor"? I have smoked many "Full" flavored cigars while they were light to medium strength in Body. So which might you be asking about?

[El Presidente]

Ether,

I explained it in a prior thread as follows:

Body is mouthfeel of the cigar. It is the weight of the cigar on the palate.

Strength is the impact of the cigar on the senses (aroma, flavour on the taste buds and spice through the nose).

You can have a full bodied mid strength cigar. Take the Ramon Allones Gigantes for example. It is full and lush on the palate with excellent weight, but while complex in flavour it is not overly "strong".

Now, if I were to review some of the 06 Ramon Allones Gigantes I would have to change my description. They have been Light in weight/body light in strength.

To explain further, they were piss weak and insipid. There was no lushness, no weight on the palate so they were light bodied. Impact on the senses was also pitifull. You could give one to your nana.

Now I based my06 review on 8-10 I have sampled from various months. Even within those, 2-3 were excellent but the majority were not. I have to average out the "consensus review".

Ken may be able to add some intelligent commentary as this is his field of expertise.

....anyone else hear the owls and cicada's......

[Ginseng]

Here's a bit more fuel to the fire. I wrote this commentary up with regard to the US "domestic" cigar industry but I believe it might spur your own thinking on the matter.

1. What exactly does body refer to, is it flavor, or strength of smoke.

As far as I can tell, the industry uses the term "body" to denote a blended property combining nicotine kick, mouthfeel, and flavor with a bias toward the nic-kick component. Cigar smokers tend to use "body" more commonly in reference to the mouthfeel component and reserve the term "strength" to refer to the nic-kick. We also tend to break out "flavor" into its own category.

Or put another way:

A. The industry commonly collapses flavor, body, and strength into one term, "body" and the primary connotation is in regards to "strength" followed closely by "flavor." Some retailers/manufacturers use the term "strength" (Holts) and others use "body" (JR Cigars).

B. Smokers are more likely to separate the characteristics of flavor (intensity of taste or aroma), body (heaviness or lightness of mouthfeel), and strength (nicotine kick) although not all users use these terms in the same sense contributing to the confusion so often encountered.

Wilkey

[COJ]

» Here's a bit more fuel to the fire. I wrote this commentary up with regard

» to the US "domestic" cigar industry but I believe it might spur your own

» thinking on the matter.

»

» 1. What exactly does body refer to, is it flavor, or strength of

» smoke.

» As far as I can tell, the industry uses the term "body" to denote a

» blended property combining nicotine kick, mouthfeel, and flavor with a

» bias toward the nic-kick component. Cigar smokers tend to use "body" more

» commonly in reference to the mouthfeel component and reserve the term

» "strength" to refer to the nic-kick. We also tend to break out "flavor"

» into its own category.

»

» Or put another way:

»

» A. The industry commonly collapses flavor, body, and strength into one

» term, "body" and the primary connotation is in regards to "strength"

» followed closely by "flavor." Some retailers/manufacturers use the term

» "strength" (Holts) and others use "body" (JR Cigars).

»

» B. Smokers are more likely to separate the characteristics of flavor

» (intensity of taste or aroma), body (heaviness or lightness of mouthfeel),

» and strength (nicotine kick) although not all users use these terms in the

» same sense contributing to the confusion so often encountered.

»

» Wilkey

I've said it before and I say it again, thats the best description on Body/Strength/Flavor I've ever read.

[Wiley]

Sadly, I've never been able to get a grip on other people's ratings of cigars. The rating system doesn't do anything but confuse and annoy me, so I do my best to ignore it. I don't need it anyway.

Smoke every kind of Cuban cigar, and buy as many of the ones you love as your wife will let you. That's my modus operandi. :-D

[Jimmy2]

I learned a lot from the people around the forums but this is what I go by as a seasoned veteran from what I learn on my own.

As a 5 a day cigar smoker I think I know what I am tasting as I am sure others here learned over time here.

Flavor- Mild - Med - Full = The amount of flavor that your taste buds are picking up.

Strength (Bodied) - Mild - Med -Full = How strong are the flavors you are picking up on your taste buds.

Finish - Short or Long = How long are the flavor's lingering on your taste buds for a certain amount of time.

Example:

-------------

I have had flavors in my mouth from a cigar I smoked over an hour one time after I had finished it so that would be a long finish. (H. Upmann Sir Winston)

I think that's a pretty simple setup to go by hope this helps.