Vitola Profiling

[ashauler]

The NUB is a marketing gimmick imho.

Yes, tar builds up in the leaves as you smoke a cigar. With some you can see this build up in the end of the cigar, and yes, I believe that this contributes to the "development" in flavor during smoking. I have seen photos and read of instances of the tar-build up at the head of some cigars being extreme, but I have never experienced any that I couldn't deal with.

[DeeDubya]

The NUB is a marketing gimmick imho.

Yes, tar builds up in the leaves as you smoke a cigar. With some you can see this build up in the end of the cigar, and yes, I believe that this contributes to the "development" in flavor during smoking. I have seen photos and read of instances of the tar-build up at the head of some cigars being extreme, but I have never experienced any that I couldn't deal with.

I nearly always use a v-cutter for all but torpedos, etc. and I have noticed on some of the heavy bodied cigars a build-up of tar on the "lips" of the v-notch. I think that is a point of condensation where the vaporized tar meets a cooler medium.

I guess that's better than it building up on your teeth.

[alliaphagist]

It's interesting that the consensus seems to be that larger ring gauges are milder. I've read the exact opposite, with the rationale being that there is more tobacco smoldering at a time in larger gauges. I don't have the experience to say what I think one way or another. I also recently read that wrapper color only accounts for 3% of overall flavor...no idea how that was "calculated."

[denver24]

I can see how a larger ring gauge would lead to a cooler smoke and more mild flavors, however, I have found that the Nubs seem to burn hot amd the smoke never seems to be very cool. I have been enjoying the corona size in several different Illusione's and I have found that they have been burning pretty cool. I think I've got it all backwards!

I would agree with previous posts, that it all depends on what you personally like. I really enjoy bigger ring gauges in some lines and smaller ring gauges in others.

BTW, I didn't mind the Nubs at first, decent smoke but nothing to rave about and I didn't smoke too many of them, but now, I can't stand them. Funny how my tastes are changing. It's all because of that slope or cliff or straight free-fall!

[craig]

I think there is a difference between the effect of ring and the effect of length. Smoke a longer cigar, and the temperature of the smoke hitting your mouth is going to be lower.

Taste is also affected by smoking technique and cigar construction (and phases of the moon, and ... )

As for the 3% - IIRC, it comes from Cohiba (Cuba). However, I suspect this is a bit of marketing hype to stop people from opening boxes and boxes, looking for the cigars with the darkest wrappers (because Cubans put cigars in boxes by wrapper colour). I suspect that the actual percentage of flavour depends on the blend and the wrapper used. For example, Cohiba uses very thin shade-grown wrapper to get that ultra-uniform "silky" appearance that doesn't even look like a leaf. Stands to reason that a Cohiba's wrapper wouldn't have a huge effect on flavour. OTOH, shade-grown wrappers or (obviously) maduro-processed wrappers are going to have a much bigger effect on flavour.