Originally Posted by
newbie2007
Help me sort my nose out.
I've detected the faint hints of a coffee flavor (more a café flavor), and enjoyed the ashy-incense scent that wafts up past the nose upon exhale. Sometimes, when I'm drinking iced tea, I'll suddenly get the hint of a scent I've "tasted" in a cigar's exhaled smoke, and realize then that I must have detected (though not identified) a tea flavor/scent. Of course, I've noticed the heavier pre-burn aroma of, for want of a better word, I'll call a "cereal" scent...that hay-in-the-back-of-the-barn smell. And, once lit, the heavy, almost syrup-like heady scent of sweetness, like hay-in-the-back-of-the-barn-FERMENTING aroma.
So, I've noticed an abundance of different scents -- yet one keeps climbing over the others, in two distinct different versions, and I'm wondering if I'm just encountering one of the less-desirable-but-tolerated aspects of cigar smoking...or is something drastically wrong?!
I've tried:
UPMANN
MONTECRISTO
MACANUDO (Maduro & Café)
COHIBA
CAO
FUENTE
At some point early in the smoke, when that heavy/heady sweet scent presents itself, I also smell, at the same moment, the distinct (but faint) scent of something starting to turn bad...just a little. Like somebody left fruit out too long...nearby. Enough to make the nose go, "Hey, what's that? Something's spoilING."
I've dismissed this as a manifestation of the fermentation that is so-often advertised in the cigar tins as a part of their manufacturing process..."double fermented" is frequently emphasized.
But then, later, within the last third of the cigar, suddenly that scent harshens, and its far-more-pungent second variation says, "Hey! What's spoilED!?" Like someone left fruit in the fridge far too long, and you just opened the door! Or, that someone forgot that they threw fruit in the kitchen garbage, left it all day, and you just opened the lid! It's that definite get-this-away-from-me reaction, that makes the nose 'scrunch-up,' the whole face grimace. The combination of spoiled fruit, going-bad eggs, and maybe someone having passed gas, all somehow swirling vaporously together.
A compelling, this-is-rotten,-throw-it-away smell that repulses, and abruptly ends the session.
Is this normal? Does it signal the cigar's end? Or, are these cigars simply not being properly/sufficiently preserved? I've purchased them directly from a walk-in humidor at a local smoke shop, brought them home and ignited them that evening. I've kept others out for a time; no difference. I still end up with that something's-rotten smell at some point.
Now, I've eaten foods (kippered herring, etc.) that simply have atrocious smells that are tolerated in order to enjoy the consumption. If that's the explanation, I'll listen -- "You're just supposed to be a man, suck-it-up and ignore that!"
If you tell me they aren't being properly humidified (walk-in humidor at smoke shop notwithstanding), I'll investigate further, taking steps to re-humidify them.
If you tell me I'm just silly in the head, and somehow MY nose just wasn't made for cigar smoking...well, I'll accept that, too.
Any input is welcome!
