How long did it take for you to develop your "nose"?

[prophetic_joe]

I believe it is 90% marketing and 10% people sucking at talking. But scientifically it is possible for the same molecule that is responsble for say, the taste of citrus, to be found in a cigar. Whether this happens at a discernable level is a matter of debate (obviously). Again, marketing and people talking out their ass. Also, complex flavors like leather and oil are more difficult to describe than one dimensional flavors. I love the art/science barrier. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

See this is basically what I was meaning. There are things we taste in a cigar but you just can't put into words what it is so you grasp at something to describe it. It would really make it difficult to describe the experience to a non-cigar person by saying "Well a cigar taste like a cigar" it's like when you say a certain meat tastes like chicken, it really doesn't taste like chicken you can just pick up similarities and so because your brain can't come up with a better way to describe the experience you say "it tastes like chicken".

As far as Cubans and Cuban Americans thinking we're crazy for tasting what we taste, I have personally spoken to some of the cigar makers that were formerly from Cuba and they describe their cigars in similar ways. Now while I know this is marketing a bit but if the guys who make the cigars can't come up with a better way to describe the smoking experience to other guys that have actually smoked their products there probably is something to it.

Like I said it's like tastes like chicken, it's not exactly the same but there is something in the flavor that gives your brain a similar reaction. And every cigar does taste different.

[buzz]

I can't stand it when someone says they taste cocoa in their cigar... oh man that makes me so mad!

[Mizicke5273]

I can't stand it when someone says they taste cocoa in their cigar... oh man that makes me so mad!

I take offense to that. I've tasted coco in a few cigars. Now it might not be choco chocolatey chocolate truffles, but some hints of coco none the less.

Now I'm beginning to think you don't like my reviews. Guess I'll be sitting the next MEGA Review out.


Btw ->


There have been times where I'll pick up a flavor I can't describe too well, so I do my best. And I may come up with an obscure description like coco or citrus, but normally those are only "hints of" that particular flavor or are reminiscent of it.

[buzz]

For the next Mega Review your choices of taste will be limited to: slight tobacco, faint tobacco, hints of tobacco, and tobacco.

[Paddy]

I take offense to that. I've tasted coco in a few cigars. Now it might not be choco chocolatey chocolate truffles, but some hints of coco none the less.

Now I'm beginning to think you don't like my reviews. Guess I'll be sitting the next MEGA Review out.


Btw ->


There have been times where I'll pick up a flavor I can't describe too well, so I do my best. And I may come up with an obscure description like coco or citrus, but normally those are only "hints of" that particular flavor or are reminiscent of it.

I have tasted a coco flavor on the retro-hale. Epernay comes to mind.

[mrtr33]

....and what if we've never read Cigar Aficionado?

All cigars only ever taste like tobacco to me. That's why I smoke cigars, and not Mars bars.

I'll admit I don't have as sophisticated of a palate as many do here. But there is no other way for me to plainly describe the taste I detect. Is it chocolate I taste? No, of course not. Is it a flavor I closely associate with chocolate? some kind of spiciness? leather? It's a flavor I can associate to what I'm experiencing - not so much that exact flavor. That's left up to my white owl smoking experiences. It's what I experience. Maybe one day, I'll be able to characterize my cigars by the soil they come from. Today, I associate with flavors I'm more familiar with. It's also important to note that it's only what things taste like to me - not necessarily to you.

Wine is the same way - I might pick up the following scents in both smell and taste: floral, berry (other than grape - strawberry, currant, blackberry), spice, etc. Did they infuse my wine with flowers? Slip a bottle of Boone's Farm in my stash? No. It's how I can describe what I'm tasting.

I mean, there's no other way I know to put it.

[prophetic_joe]

....and what if we've never read Cigar Aficionado?

All cigars only ever taste like tobacco to me. That's why I smoke cigars, and not Mars bars.

I'll admit I don't have as sophisticated of a palate as many do here. But there is no other way for me to plainly describe the taste I detect. Is it chocolate I taste? No, of course not. Is it a flavor I closely associate with chocolate? some kind of spiciness? leather? It's a flavor I can associate to what I'm experiencing - not so much that exact flavor. That's left up to my white owl smoking experiences. It's what I experience. Maybe one day, I'll be able to characterize my cigars by the soil they come from. Today, I associate with flavors I'm more familiar with. It's also important to note that it's only what things taste like to me - not necessarily to you.

Wine is the same way - I might pick up the following scents in both smell and taste: floral, berry (other than grape - strawberry, currant, blackberry), spice, etc. Did they infuse my wine with flowers? Slip a bottle of Boone's Farm in my stash? No. It's how I can describe what I'm tasting.

I mean, there's no other way I know to put it.

I think he put his idea out there better than me but this is exactly, 100% what I mean.

[Devil Doc]

The esters responsible for flavors in wine and scotch actually exist in those two drinks, and are not destroyed when consumed. I don't believe they do in tobacco and even if they did, it wouldn't take a degree in organic chemistry to realize what happens to organic compounds when set on fire.

Doc.

[ashauler]

The esters responsible for flavors in wine and scotch actually exist in those two drinks, and are not destroyed when consumed. I don't believe they do in tobacco and even if they did, it wouldn't take a degree in organic chemistry to realize what happens to organic compounds when set on fire.

Doc.

Indeed tobacco does contain sucroester to varying degrees. Here's a link to one strain of burley tobacco's chemical analysis:
http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/obs.pl?1129698

[buzz]

They better not be putting flowers in my floral-tasting wine/scotch...

or easter eggs.

[WinstonSpencer]

The esters responsible for flavors in wine and scotch actually exist in those two drinks, and are not destroyed when consumed. I don't believe they do in tobacco and even if they did, it wouldn't take a degree in organic chemistry to realize what happens to organic compounds when set on fire.

Doc.

Combustion doesn't necessarily decompose all organic compounds into "tasteless entities". Not only can combustion create new molecules (e.g. salts) but preexisting volatile organic compounds can adsorb to larger solid particles in smoke and therefore travel to your taste receptors.

Also, I would love to get to the point where I could comfortably say "this tastes like Honduran tobacco" but IMO that is a much more esoteric descriptor than "chocolate" and much less specific.

[buzz]

I think this might explain where Doc is coming from. Definitely no cocoa taste from those Kinky's.

[Devil Doc]

I think this might explain where Doc is coming from. Definitely no cocoa taste from those Kinky's.

You got too much time on your hands. There were no Kinky Friedman cigars in existence at the time of that post. If you're going to be the board clown, ya got to do better.
Edited to add: Your the only poster who hasn't made a cogent argument in defense of your position. Just wise ass remarks. Now I understand that, I'm a board clown on other cigar boards, but once in a while you need to show you got something between your ears besides swiss cheese. Just a little friendly advice from someone who has just a touch more experience than you. A word to the wise should be sufficient.

Doc.