There's a LOT of discussion around these forums about tasting cigars, developing your palate, recognizing flavors. These posts are obviously mostly from new smokers wondering how people can recognize certain flavors in cigars, and why they can't seem to achieve this level of flavor recognition. Why a cigar review can list 13 specific flavors, but they can't pick them all out while smoking that cigar. A majority of these posts are met with the same wave of responses. "Your palate will change and develop as you smoke"..."Retrohale and swirl the smoke in your mouth"..."Keep smoking, you'll get there". The main point is, cigar reviews are pretty overwhelming to a new smoker, and the fact that you can't recognize all the flavors that are described in the review can be a pretty harsh thing to accept at first. But fear not my fellow cigar rookies, there is hope yet!
First and foremost, I have to paraphrase a motto by a home brewing icon Charlie Papazian. In his book "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" Charlie P. repeatedly says RDWHAHB (Relax, Don't Worry, Have A Home Brew). This same mentality can be used while starting your journey down the long and winding road that is cigar smoking. RDWEYC...Relax, Don't Worry, Enjoy Your Cigar. Seriously, just stop trying, stop worrying, stop tasting. Just sit back and enjoy your cigar. Put on some relaxing music, grab a tasty beverage, recline in your favorite chair. Instead of trying to pick out each individual flavor, look at the list of flavors as a collection, as a complex experience of multiple aromas all coming together. The less effort you put towards trying to pick out specific flavors, the more you'll be able to take in the cigar as a whole and enjoy the overall experience of that specific cigar. As you smoke, you'll start to recognize things happening on your tounge, and these are the flavors that you're looking for, you just had to stop looking.
The second key would have to be retrohaling. Learn what this is, learn how to do it, learn to enjoy it. It's harsh, it's unpleasant, it might throw you into a fit of sneezing...but it WILL help you taste your cigar. The reason for this is that your tongue can only recognize certain flavors, but your nose can recognize many more aromas, and these will translate into flavors. Let your body do what it's meant to do, get your nose involved in your smoking. It will hate you at first, but once you teach it who's boss, it will help you in ways you couldn't imagine. It will just become part of your smoking process, and will let you really get to enjoy everything your cigar has to offer.
The third major point I want to make is to just SLOW DOWN! I've had many nights where I'm out by myself just smoking a cigar with some music on, and I've ripped through a cigar in 30-45 minutes. NOT OK for a full sized cigar! Find something to do. Grab a book, a magazine, a crossword puzzle, some needles and yarn, crochet something...the point is, do something other than smoke your cigar. If all you're doing is smoking, you're going to end up smoking too fast, the cigar is going to get too hot, and the flavors are going to get harsh. Take your mind off your smoke, this will also play in with point #1 about relaxing. If you're not focusing so much on the cigar, you're going to be able to relax and just enjoy the smoke to it's fullest. This is when you'll really be able to taste your cigar as a whole and enjoy all the flavors it has to offer.
In the end, I guess I could really sum this up with one major point. Just stop trying so hard to taste your cigars, and you'll taste them better than ever. So many things in life are done so much better when you just stop worrying about how well you're doing them. You aren't a professional cigar reviewer. You haven't been smoking cigars for 20+ years. You are out to enjoy the experience that is a certain cigar, and you need to just let that experience happen. When you stop trying to taste, you'll taste better than ever.
First and foremost, I have to paraphrase a motto by a home brewing icon Charlie Papazian. In his book "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" Charlie P. repeatedly says RDWHAHB (Relax, Don't Worry, Have A Home Brew). This same mentality can be used while starting your journey down the long and winding road that is cigar smoking. RDWEYC...Relax, Don't Worry, Enjoy Your Cigar. Seriously, just stop trying, stop worrying, stop tasting. Just sit back and enjoy your cigar. Put on some relaxing music, grab a tasty beverage, recline in your favorite chair. Instead of trying to pick out each individual flavor, look at the list of flavors as a collection, as a complex experience of multiple aromas all coming together. The less effort you put towards trying to pick out specific flavors, the more you'll be able to take in the cigar as a whole and enjoy the overall experience of that specific cigar. As you smoke, you'll start to recognize things happening on your tounge, and these are the flavors that you're looking for, you just had to stop looking.
The second key would have to be retrohaling. Learn what this is, learn how to do it, learn to enjoy it. It's harsh, it's unpleasant, it might throw you into a fit of sneezing...but it WILL help you taste your cigar. The reason for this is that your tongue can only recognize certain flavors, but your nose can recognize many more aromas, and these will translate into flavors. Let your body do what it's meant to do, get your nose involved in your smoking. It will hate you at first, but once you teach it who's boss, it will help you in ways you couldn't imagine. It will just become part of your smoking process, and will let you really get to enjoy everything your cigar has to offer.
The third major point I want to make is to just SLOW DOWN! I've had many nights where I'm out by myself just smoking a cigar with some music on, and I've ripped through a cigar in 30-45 minutes. NOT OK for a full sized cigar! Find something to do. Grab a book, a magazine, a crossword puzzle, some needles and yarn, crochet something...the point is, do something other than smoke your cigar. If all you're doing is smoking, you're going to end up smoking too fast, the cigar is going to get too hot, and the flavors are going to get harsh. Take your mind off your smoke, this will also play in with point #1 about relaxing. If you're not focusing so much on the cigar, you're going to be able to relax and just enjoy the smoke to it's fullest. This is when you'll really be able to taste your cigar as a whole and enjoy all the flavors it has to offer.
In the end, I guess I could really sum this up with one major point. Just stop trying so hard to taste your cigars, and you'll taste them better than ever. So many things in life are done so much better when you just stop worrying about how well you're doing them. You aren't a professional cigar reviewer. You haven't been smoking cigars for 20+ years. You are out to enjoy the experience that is a certain cigar, and you need to just let that experience happen. When you stop trying to taste, you'll taste better than ever.
