Where does the taste come from?

[chrisboy]

just like wine, where the grapes are mostly responsible for how it tastes, a cigar's taste is influenced by the tobacco leaf itself. now different manufacturer's have different secret methods of processing cigar leaf (time of picking, fermentation, aging, etc.), but it all has to start from a good quality leaf to make a good quality cigar.

it does not mean that when a premium cigar tastes chocolatey or nutty that it has been flavored with such (exept of course for flavored cigars). these are simply observations and associations made by smokers, which helps them describe what they are tasting. now if you cannot detect these flavors, you can simply say that the cigar tastes good, or bad. or that you liked it or not. and this is perfectly fine. it takes time and practice to effectively pick out and describe the complex tastes from a cigar smoke, and associate it with some other taste that you already know. but you do not have to. well, if you have lots of time, like i do, you can always try.

i find that i can relate to most of these flavors as described in cigar tastings. nuts, vanilla, earth, leather, cinnamon, chocolate, cocoa, cream, grass, floral, fruity, etc. among others. now i hope i am not generating any snob appeal here. i just find that i have an easy time picking out the flavors and comparing them to these 'items', and they do make sense most of the time. when i started out, i did not care about what others said about a particular cigar. now, i still don't. i would make it a point to try every cigar at least once, and formulate my own opinion and tasting notes about it.

it is all just about association. next time you smoke a cigar, and it tastes somewhat bitter, stop and think for a while. what does it taste like? it may remind you of a strong espresso, or dark bitter chocolate. if a cigar smoke stings your tongue a bit, it may remind you of slightly spicy black pepper, or whatever else you might remember. this, IMHO, is how some smokers do their tasting notes, which can seem hifaluting and absurd to the un-initiated. it is no big deal. just a fancy way of playing with words.

again, whether you can taste some leather in your smoke or not, is not the point at all. not even close. what matters is that you do enjoy the smoke. you are the one smoking it, and no one else can dictate how it tastes to you. good or bad, fruity or not, is all up to you.

hope this helps.

Chris