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

**Puff Daddy** · 05-18-2011, 04:47 PM

Some of the cigar reviews I read state some pretty funky flavors and tastes that really sound as though the reviewer is taking the piss and living in fantasy land...
For me, some cigars are more tasty than others and i can pick out some of the flavors and, with a bit of imagination i can almost understand some of the funky flavors the reviewers mention - but this took some time to distinguish from the plain old taste of tobacco i got from all cigars when i first began smoking...
For me, I found Gurkha cigars helped to develop my tastes and often have pretty distinctive flavors i can pick out, but now i'm getting flavors on a broad range of 'gars.

So what about everyone else - how much flavor do you get out of a cigar, what are your most tastiest and distinctive cigars, and how long did it take you to develop your nose and start making taste distinctions?

**Devil Doc** · 05-18-2011, 05:05 PM

I've been waiting 40 yrs. to taste chocolate in my cigars. Hasn't happed yet and I doubt it ever will. Tobacco tastes like tobacco. Some folks have vivid imaginations and are influenced by publications such as Cigar Aficionado. If my memory serves me correctly, no one else did either before those idiots started writing their drivel.

Doc.

**badwhale** · 05-18-2011, 11:38 PM

I don't really read Cigar Aficionado or any other publications like that. It's also hard to trust retailer "tasting notes" as they're trying to sell you something.

That said, I can identify essences of different flavors when smoking tobacco. Mostly spice, leather, oil. Beyond that there's the texture of the smoke, the aftertaste of the flavors, and how well they blend together.

YMMV

Will

**prophetic_joe** · 05-18-2011, 11:52 PM

Originally Posted by badwhale

I don't really read Cigar Aficionado or any other publications like that. It's also hard to trust retailer "tasting notes" as they're trying to sell you something.

That said, I can identify essences of different flavors when smoking tobacco. Mostly spice, leather, oil. Beyond that there's the texture of the smoke, the aftertaste of the flavors, and how well they blend together.

YMMV

Will

What Will said. I have found things in cigars that remind me of things, cigars that make me feel like I am or should be sitting by a camp fire, earthy notes, woodsy notes. Like Will said I have found things like spice, leather, and oil, every once in awhile I may find a smoke that feels nutty or creamy but it really isn't that the flavor is there but it's just the way you feel about the smoke, it's the best way you can describe that particular cigar I guess.

**Devil Doc** · 05-19-2011, 05:25 AM

I would point out two things to you gentlemen. If you weren't a cigar smoker prior to CA's inception, you've been influenced whether you read the rag or not. And two, from what I've read and personally experienced, Cuban and Cuban Americans think we're nuts for tasting the things we think we taste in cigars.

Doc.

**Paddy** · 05-19-2011, 05:34 AM

I smoked a cigar last week that tasted like a Big Mac & French Fries

**CoventryCat86** · 05-21-2011, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by Devil Doc

I've been waiting 40 yrs. to taste chocolate in my cigars. Hasn't happed yet and I doubt it ever will. Tobacco tastes like tobacco. Some folks have vivid imaginations and are influenced by publications such as Cigar Aficionado. If my memory serves me correctly, no one else did either before those idiots started writing their drivel.

Doc.

I'm with Doc on this one, cigars taste like tobacco to me.

**prophetic_joe** · 05-21-2011, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by CoventryCat86

I'm with Doc on this one, cigars taste like tobacco to me.

Yeah but you're old and crotchety so your opinion doesn't count anymore. I mean I'm sure with the senility even things that aren't made of tobacco may in fact taste that way at this point. I bet you peas taste like sugar pops or something too.

**craig** · 05-21-2011, 12:38 PM

Different tobacco tastes different. Describing taste - whether food, drink, or smoke - in some standardized way seems desirable to me. There are mappings of terms to the spectrum of taste all over the Internet - the Blind Mega-review used one. One could use a scale (also used in the Mega-review), e.g., How sweet from 1 to 5.

As for CA and the cigar boom, I think Shanken was lucky - and seized the day. There was a general boom in luxury goods in those years, and cigars were part of that. Yes, CA was able to harness newcomers' blind faith in numeric ratings into incredible power for itself in the industry, but that is entrepreneurship.

The boom is over. CA is still with us, but is ignorable in many respects now, thanks in part due to forums like this.

**WIP** · 05-23-2011, 12:14 PM

I have to disagree with the folks that say "tobacco tastes like tobacco".

I have spent well over a decade developing my palate into what it is. I can pull hints of different flavors out of cigars easily. This ability mainly comes from my work in coffee. I would venture to say that coffee and cigars are similar. What you are tasting is the flavor after the plant material is burned or roasted.

Some people think "coffee tastes like coffee" as well, but that isn't true to a large community of coffee drinkers either.

Each palate is different, BUT each palate also has the ability to grow and develop into a discerning one. If you are struggling to pull flavors from your cigars, I would suggest sitting down with someone that can pull those flavors and smoke one with them. See if you can grasp what they are describing. Eventually, you will get it.

Another thing that tasters do is describe their feeling of what they are tasting. I had a friend that once said "This coffee tastes like San Luis Obispo". We found that what he was describing wasn't what he tasted, but what the shops smelled like and what it reminded him of. A combo of a candy shop and a bakery next to the ocean. Maybe you can start by describing what it reminds you of. After all, scent is most closely linked to memory.

**buzz** · 05-23-2011, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by WIP

If you are struggling to pull flavors from your cigars, I would suggest sitting down with someone that can pull those flavors and smoke one with them.

I've found that if I look at someone else's tasting notes while smoking a cigar I am able to pick out some of the flavors they describe. The mega reviews are great for this in my (biased) opinion. I've also smoked cigars and read through my notes where I describe tastes from the first time I smoked them that I don't find the second time. Pairing with different drinks (or food) has some impact too.

We used this for a guide in the last mega review and it helped me a little:
http://www.aspiringgentleman.com/wp-...igarwheel1.jpg

I've yet to experience the "horsey" taste though...