Vitola Profiling

[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.