Hints on training your palette

[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...

[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.

[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.