Quote Originally Posted by ggiese View Post
CC makes a great point... What I like is not necessarily what you will like. What I taste is not necessarily what you'll taste. One person will say they pick up the hints of "Madagascar Vanilla" while I most likely (most probably) will not.

About the best I can do for you is to relate to you my smoking experience with the cigar is if it's mild, medium or full bodied - and mild, medium or full strength. I have tasted different "flavors" in cigars - and best try to equate it to something I've tasted before. But, to be honest, I hardly ever have sucked on a piece of leather (except maybe back in my toddler years many moons ago) so it's sometimes hard to pull the leather taste out of the cigar...
Perceived tastes of things we have never actually tasted are more perceptions of tastes through odor. Most of what we "taste" is actually received through our sense of smell. I have never eaten a piece of leather, but I have smelled the aroma of leather, and if something is strong enough, like a woman wearing too much perfume, you can perceive an aftertaste. Smoking a cigar is much like tasting a wine. The "flavors" are probably things you never tasted. but have perceived what the taste might be, and most of the time they are definite and repeatable. Much of the "flavor" of the wine, or the cigar, will come from its aroma. So while it is true that I never actually tasted leather, I have a perceived taste, and like wood or grass, I would recognize that perceived taste as pleasant or unpleasant if someone mentioned it. So although two people may not agree that the "taste" of leather is pleasant or unpleasant, the "flavor" is certainly definable.

I remember when I was younger we did an experiment in school. We were all blindfolded and instructed to pinch our nose shut while we tasted a variety of common foods. I don't remember much of what we had, but one of the things was an orange. No one could identify it at first, but it was quite evident as soon as we were able to smell it.