Hints on training your palette

[Shelby07]

I know a lot of you don't like the "phoo-phoo" type posts related to describing certain flavors in cigars, but there is a useful purpose for such recognition. It is a good thing to be able to identify and recognize such flavors as leather, cedar, fruit, etc if for nothing more than to be able to read a review of a cigar and decide if the flavors being described are actually flavors that you like. For example, if someone tells me that there is a fantastic cigar that I should try with a grassy flavor, I know right away that I probably won't enjoy it. And with the multitude of cigars available, being able to actually understand what others are saying about a certain stick can save a lot of money while it increases the chances of having a good experience.

With that said, I'd like to start a discussion about hints for recognizing certain "flavors" in a cigar. A lot of this comes from wine tasting tips, which are very similar.

First, most flavors are actually the result of our sense of smell. There are only 5 "flavors" that we can actually pick up with our taste buds, the rest are actually the result of the odors that our olfactory senses (smell) pick up. What we taste is largely determined by the gasses and odors that certain substances put out.

In cigar smoking, lots of the tastes that we describe are things that we never eat. Leather, wood, charcoal, etc. So how do we learn to recognize these flavors? There is a routine that I used to use years ago when I started getting interested in wine. I would get several items... cedar chips, different fruits, flowers and, yes, even leather and put each item in a wine glass (separately.) For certain items such as walnuts or other large items it was helpful to grind them up. Then I would sniff the various glasses and try to pick up the residual "taste" that it left. It might sound like a bunch of "phoo-phoo" but if you are serious about wine or cigars it is well worth the effort. The result is that after a short time you will be able to start to recognize certain intangible "flavors" in your cigars and, more importantly, be able to describe the cigar in a much more understandable way than just "mmmm....."

You don't have to line up 20 glasses at a time. In fact, just try one or two items at a time over a period of weeks or months as you think of different possibilities and revisit them occasionally. Try things that you never thought of trying, like rubber or toast. Pretty soon you will be able to pick out and describe several tastes in your sticks and, more importantly, have a pretty good idea of which premium stick you are going to drop the next 20 bucks on for that special smoke.

OK - here it is... I have resisted starting this thread on this site for a while for obvious reasons. Go ahead and have fun with it (can't wait to read K7's comments, ) but I think a thread like this would be great for newbies curious about developing their sense of "taste."

BTW - Don't open up the pepper shaker or the ammonia bottle and start sniffing.

[Quint]

Very nice post Shelby07. Some great ideas that I may just start to apply this weekend. Many times I sit down with a smoke and get all these hints of different flavors but can't quite get a grasp on what they are. I've also been told to "sniff" around your spice cabinet to see if you reconize some of the scents you may be tasting in your sticks. Also if you have a good review on a particular stick, when you go to smoke it have the review in hand and see if you pick up the same tastes the reviewer did. It might make it easier to reconize what your tasting if somebody else has already spelled it out for you. Another thing I was told was at least initially, try and drink just water as your beverage while smoking so as to not confuse your palette.



Quint

[bigpoppapuff]

sardines....mmmmmmm

[indysmoker]

good advice.

[Quint]

sardines....mmmmmmm

That sardine smells familiar....just cant quite figure out what ...hmmmmm

[Shelby07]

sardines....mmmmmmm

Sid - Wrong thread. I think you're talkin' about the Brittany Spears post.

[chefchris]

Sid - Wrong thread. I think you're talkin' about the Brittany Spears post.

gross.

[Quint]

Sid - Wrong thread. I think you're talkin' about the Brittany Spears post.

[ashauler]

Great post Shelby07. I had been wanting to ask if there was a way to educate my taste buds, but was hesitant to do so. I read in a thread here somewhere about searching for previous reviews and then seeing if you could detect the same flavors that another reviewer had, and I have been doing that, but wonder if it is the influence of the previous review, or something that I am really detecting. So far I have been able to detect chocolate, cedar, and vague "spicy" flavors that I can't really define.

Another piece of advice I got here is to peel the band and stick it on a 3 x 5 card the first time I smoke a particular cigar, record my impressions, and then review the card the next time I smoke the same cigar to see if I can pick up anything additional, or if it has changed any over time.

I seem to drink coffee with most of my cigars, maybe I will try just water for awhile and see if that helps.

[derivation]

I'm still quite a newb to cigars, but I've been tasting wine for a while now. And, as Shelby said, they seem to have a lot in common. One of the things that first attracted me to cigars was seeing the variations and hints of flavors that reminded me of having a glass of wine.

One of the things that helped me with wine was to try to figure out what the taste/smell reminded me of. That and paitence, it took me about a year to taste anything other than grapes when I drank wine.

That said, I appreciated the post and advice... I've been trying to develop my cigar palette.

And thanks for the advice Shelby, I may try it for a few of the cigar flavors that I'm not used to (leather, etc).

[cigarsarge]

The best way to taste the true flavor of a cigar is to expell as much smoke through your nose as you can stand. Milder cigars are much easier to to this than fuller flavored. I do this on every pull of the cigar...Usually expelling about 50% of the smoke that way.

When the smoke makes your nose tingle and your eyes run you have become on with the cigar. Go forth my brother and taste...

[Shelby07]

...Another piece of advice I got here is to peel the band and stick it on a 3 x 5 card the first time I smoke a particular cigar, record my impressions, and then review the card the next time I smoke the same cigar to see if I can pick up anything additional, or if it has changed any over time.

This is a really good idea. Very easy to index and sort. A way to get a good clean band is to slide it off (usually very easy to do when the ash gets close to the band) then soak the glued area in a shallow puddle of water. After about 15 minutes or so the glue dissolves and the ends of the band separate nicely. The water does not harm the band, at least in my experience.

If your Padron '64 starts to taste like a Macanudo, you probably waited too long to remove the band.

[WOXOF]

I exhale some of the smoke through my nose every few puffs. I also like to inhale a small portion of the smoke from the head of the cigar through my nose as well.

Good tips Mark.

[SmokinDVM]

I can usually pick out the chocolate, cedar, grass, and spice. Fruits and floral notes not so much.

Thanks for the good advice Shelby.

[ashauler]

The best way to taste the true flavor of a cigar is to expell as much smoke through your nose as you can stand. Milder cigars are much easier to to this than fuller flavored. I do this on every pull of the cigar...Usually expelling about 50% of the smoke that way.

When the smoke makes your nose tingle and your eyes run you have become on with the cigar. Go forth my brother and taste...

I tried the smoke thru the nose thing on my lunch time cigar today, Cusano P1 cafe' robusto, and damn did it ever smart......my nose and eyes were running almost immediately and there was so much pain that the flavor was not on my mind at all for the first few pulls. But, being basically masochistic at heart anyway, I made it a point to exhale at least 50% of each pull through my nose for the whole smoke, and I gotta say.......thank GOD it was a short one!! I don't think I noticed anything additional flavor-wise with this smoke than the previous ones I have had.

I guess I was one with the cigar, but my nose felt like the cherry. If I continue to try this, will it get easier/better? Or was the P1 the wrong cigar to start with since it is on the full side of medium imho anyway? Is any of the smoke to be inhaled before exhaling thru the nose, or simply held in the mouth and exhaled (I didn't inhale any pulls this time)?

I thought 25 years of non-filtered cig's had toughened me up, but damn, my nose is still smarting.

[WOXOF]

I tried the smoke thru the nose thing on my lunch time cigar today, Cusano P1 cafe' robusto, and damn did it ever smart......my nose and eyes were running almost immediately and there was so much pain that the flavor was not on my mind at all for the first few pulls. But, being basically masochistic at heart anyway, I made it a point to exhale at least 50% of each pull through my nose for the whole smoke, and I gotta say.......thank GOD it was a short one!! I don't think I noticed anything additional flavor-wise with this smoke than the previous ones I have had.

I guess I was one with the cigar, but my nose felt like the cherry. If I continue to try this, will it get easier/better? Or was the P1 the wrong cigar to start with since it is on the full side of medium imho anyway? Is any of the smoke to be inhaled before exhaling thru the nose, or simply held in the mouth and exhaled (I didn't inhale any pulls this time)?

I thought 25 years of non-filtered cig's had toughened me up, but damn, my nose is still smarting.

LMAO

You only need to exhale a small percentage through your nose to pick up more flavors. You may not be able to do this with some of the stronger cigars at first or at all. If this is still unpleasant, don't do it. And no, you don't(at least I don't) inhale any smoke into your lungs.

When you're feeling masochistic again, try it with a Camacho Coyolar.

[ashauler]

LMAO

You only need to exhale a small percentage through your nose to pick up more flavors. You may not be able to do this with some of the stronger cigars at first or at all. If this is still unpleasant, don't do it. And no, you don't(at least I don't) inhale any smoke into your lungs.

When you're feeling masochistic again, try it with a Camacho Coyolar.

Being a "Quality" guy I am pretty much masochistic at heart, ya know, kick me..beat me....make me write bad checks, etc.... I deal with complaints and performance failures daily so I get yelled at, cussed at pretty regularly.

I tried again with my morning smoke today, Cusano 18 dbl connecticut, a little milder smoke than the P1 so it wasn't quite so painful. I think I may have picked up some hints of leather for the first time with this stick, and I have smoked several of these. Progress maybe? I am going to search the reviews and see if I can find one for this cigar and smoke another one for my evening smoke to see if I can pick something else up.

wow, I just noticed I have broken the 100 post mark. Think I'll change the senior member thing though....I sure don't feel like one.