Down to Earth

[Mr. Guy]

Alright Gents, a quick question for you.
I hear, and read, a lot about "earthy" cigars. I get the idea, it tastes like you've been working with "the earth". I've spent my fair share of time digging, turning, compacting, basically everything one can do with the earth.
I have never light up a smoke and said, "Ahh, earth"!
Don't get me wrong, I tend to prefer sticks generally described as "earthy", but I just don't get it. It's a flavor I guess I don't have.
Does anyone else struggle with identifying earth?

 

[Zigarro]

I've always wondered what they mean by that too. I have smoked some that tasted like wet dirt and I ain't lookin to repeat the experience!

 

[Lezanstar]

Dirt and earth are entirely different. Earth is kind of hard to explain but it is mineral/musty/peat but "darker". The only way to smell this is to have extremely nutrient rich moist soil. When you drive by a freshly plowed field and it is black, that's what I'm talking about. If you have access to a bag of topsoil (available almost everywhere in the spring) most of these will have the same smell. Just don't get the ones that are fertilized. "Barnyard" is another flavor component mentioned frequently but an entirely different experience.
Everyone has a different perception of flavors, but that is what earth smells like to me and I pick it up in cigars frequently.

 

[Mr. Guy]

Dirt and earth are entirely different. Earth is kind of hard to explain but it is mineral/musty/peat but "darker". The only way to smell this is to have extremely nutrient rich moist soil. When you drive by a freshly plowed field and it is black, that's what I'm talking about. If you have access to a bag of topsoil (available almost everywhere in the spring) most of these will have the same smell. Just don't get the ones that are fertilized. "Barnyard" is another flavor component mentioned frequently but an entirely different experience.
Everyone has a different perception of flavors, but that is what earth smells like to me and I pick it up in cigars frequently.

Hmmm, very interesting. I have picked up sensations that make think "mineral". I also know exactly what you mean by the top soil reference, off the top of my head I can't place names of sticks that fit it, but I know I've had some.
Thanks for your feedback!

 

[sofc]

I struggle with identifying anything other than "yes I like this cigar" and "no, I don't like this cigar"

 

[Mr. Guy]

I struggle with identifying anything other than "yes I like this cigar" and "no, I don't like this cigar"

Very nice!

 

[herfdog]

I struggle with identifying anything other than "yes I like this cigar" and "no, I don't like this cigar"

Herf, or turd?

 

[HIM*]

To me earthy is a broad and sort of vague description that covers a lot of more specific flavors/aromas. Stuff like Spanish cedar, hay, or the mossy oak character of broadleaf would all be more detailed ways to describe earthy. Pretty much anything in the plants or earth section of the flavor wheel below you could generalize as being earthy.

 

[sofc]

I struggle with identifying anything other than "yes I like this cigar" and "no, I don't like this cigar"

I was not trying to be funny in this post, I really do not pick up much in the terms of flavors. I hear people talk about picking up earth, lavendar, coriander, green tea, chocolate, leather etc. I realized that most likely they are smelling these in these in the aroma of the cigar. I have a very limited sense of smell so I was not picking these smells up. However, I can smoke 5-8 cigars in a day and enjoy each of them because my palate is not burned out.

 

[Lezanstar]

Do you retro hale?

 

[Zigarro]

I do. Stopped puff & blow when I accidently retro'd many years ago and never looked back, but then there's another thread on this...

 

[Lezanstar]

The reason I ask is because I get very few flavors if I don't.

 

[Zigarro]

When you drive by a freshly plowed field and it is black, that's what I'm talking about.

As a boy, I grew up on a black dirt farm. We had a "storm shelter" which amounted to nothing more than a covered pit in that dirt. Inside, during a storm, the water would run down the black, muddy sides and pool on the floor. I hated that black mud stink and I am not interested in buying a cigar with that listed aroma.

 

[SeaGarr]

Just like color is interpreted differently by everyone making colour theory subjective, so too is taste subjective. And just as a percentage of people are colour blind, there are people who have no, or lessor palates.

No one actually tastes dirt, they taste what they imagine dirt to taste like - or associate dirt with. Very much like when we say it tastes like shi... turd, I would imagine (hope) 99% of us are stating that it tastes like what we would imagine pooh would taste like.

I have never light up a smoke and said, "Ahh, earth"!
Don't get me wrong, I tend to prefer sticks generally described as "earthy", but I just don't get it. It's a flavor I guess I don't have.

Unlike color where you have been told since a very early age what a yellow school bus looks like, you haven't been told what dirt tastes like via smoke. Were you to have been smoking from an early age, and every time you lit up a stick that was described as earthy, you WOULD associate it as such. Ultimately, in time, you would light up and for every cigar there was consensus with that it tasted like dirt, you would light up and say, "Ahh earth!" - Just like how when you see a school bus now and say - ahh, a yellow bus.

 

[Mr. Guy]

Do you retro hale?

Yessir, I do. It's really been something of a natural habit, just seemed like the right thing to do while smoking a cigar. I had never put much thought into it until a buddy of mine mentioned seeing a video saying one could get more flavor and he simply couldn't do it.

As a boy, I grew up on a black dirt farm. We had a "storm shelter" which amounted to nothing more than a covered pit in that dirt. Inside, during a storm, the water would run down the black, muddy sides and pool on the floor. I hated that black mud stink and I am not interested in buying a cigar with that listed aroma.

I think I know that stink, and good lord, you are right! When I was a kid we'd go fishing a lot in small local ponds and dams. Some of the black dirt/mud there had a very distinct stench that would stick in the nostrils for weeks! A tasteful mix of primordial ooze, a hint of decay, and a healthy dose of everything wrong in the world.

Just like color is interpreted differently by everyone making colour theory subjective, so too is taste subjective.... Unlike color where you have been told since a very early age what a yellow school bus looks like, you haven't been told what dirt tastes like via smoke. Were you to have been smoking from an early age, and every time you lit up a stick that was described as earthy, you WOULD associate it as such. Ultimately, in time, you would light up and for every cigar there was consensus with that it tasted like dirt, you would light up and say, "Ahh earth!" - Just like how when you see a school bus now and say - ahh, a yellow bus.

Very true! One of the frustrating things about cigars is how subjective the flavors, or as I reference as I can, "sensations", can be. Then again, that's one of the best things about cigars. I'll often find that a cigar doesn't have so much as a flavor, but a memory or a time. "This smoke reminds me of when I was stuck in a Montana hotel because of a blizzard". There have been some very interesting studies done about how subjective color is, I wish I could find some YouTube links right now.

 

[sofc]

To correct my last post. The few times I've gotten taste/smell/flavor in a distinct fashion are when I get "hay" from usually an old cuban.

 

[SeaGarr]

Y". There have been some very interesting studies done about how subjective color is, I wish I could find some YouTube links right now.

If you ever find them I would really love to see them. I am pitching a new colour palette as we write this - hence my familiarity.

edit - I DO taste earth... and love it lol.

 

[Mr. Guy]

To me earthy is a broad and sort of vague description that covers a lot of more specific flavors/aromas. Stuff like Spanish cedar, hay, or the mossy oak character of broadleaf would all be more detailed ways to describe earthy. Pretty much anything in the plants or earth section of the flavor wheel below you could generalize as being earthy.

I like that wheel. I have yet to pull it up while enjoying a cigar, because I think it will make me experience flavors that aren't there, for me at least. I tend to look at it after and see what I recall. Perhaps I should have it handy while smoking and see what happens. After all, everything we perceive is "fake", as in when we taste chocolate, we don't have a piece of a fine Belgium dark chocolate sneaking into the smoke and coating our tongues. If you do own that smoke, please let me know!

 

[SeaGarr]

I like that wheel. I have yet to pull it up while enjoying a cigar, because I think it will make me experience flavors that aren't there, for me at least. I tend to look at it after and see what I recall. Perhaps I should have it handy while smoking and see what happens. After all, everything we perceive is "fake", as in when we taste chocolate, we don't have a piece of a fine Belgium dark chocolate sneaking into the smoke and coating our tongues. If you do own that smoke' please let me know!

I know that when I smoke certain cigars - a piece of dark chocolate will go down with the cigar as though they were one and the same.

Sometimes it just pulls out the flavour.

You should try complimenting some cigars with things you think it might taste like and see if that helps.

 

[Mr. Guy]

I struggle with identifying anything other than "yes I like this cigar" and "no, I don't like this cigar"

There is absolutely nothing wrong with one word reviews, "Yes", "No", or "Maybe". You are the only one enjoying your cigar and no one can ever tell you that you are wrong.