flavor vs. nicotine content

[Bruce T.]

I posted a question in the "cigar review" section a few days ago and I didn't get any opinions. A couple of brothers commented that they wondered the same thing. I was really surprised that nobody chimed in with an answer or opinion. So assuming that there is no such thing as a stupid question...here it is;

I've never been sure about the term "strong" or "full body", etc. I always assumed that it was referring to the flavor profile. Sometimes it seems that people use these terms to describe the nicotine content. Is it possible to have a strong tasting cigar with low nicotine or a very mild cigar with high nicotine?

 

[quazy50]

I always thought body had to do with flavors and complexity and not nicotine content. I think fuller body smokes tend to have more nicotine but nicotine content reduces over time.

For example, I smoked a H. Uppman media noche that to me had pretty basic flavors but it kicked my ass in the nicotine department. Then I love the crowned heads la imperiosa which IMO is more complex and has great flavors but I don't even get a buzz.

Just my 2 cents and I could be way off.

 

[CVAC085]

When it comes to things like this, I'll have to say all of our profiles will be different. We might get similar notes of flavors within the cigar. You might believe it's a mild to medium smoking cigar and to me it might be a full bodied cigar. Or vice versa. Hopefully someone might be able to better answer this or correct me if I'm wrong....

 

[HIM*]

Body is a mouthfeel description generally referring to how thick the smoke feels. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with nicotine but it does seem fairly dependent on the tobacco strain itself. Now flavor and strength do have a connection. The more sun the leaf gets the stronger and more robust it gets, the ligero being the primings that get the most and in turn have the most strength/flavor. From my experimenting home rolling it seems some strains are also more potent than others which also comes into play.
To make sense of all this... you can have a cigar rolled with lower primings that isn't very potent but is still very flavorful but rolling a really strong cigar with a mild profile is probably impossible. To get that kind of nic kick your going to need to use leaf thats loaded with flavor.

 

[Bruce T.]

Over in the "domestic cigar review" section Zemlin post a great link that describes the terms used by many reviewers. The link is;
of context. http://www.stogiefresh.info/edu-cigars/articles/body-flavor-strength.html