Refining Your Pallette

[Hardcore]

I tried a few of your methods with my cigar tonight. I was surprised at how much more I was able to taste.

 

[Trilobyte]

I like the idea of firing up three similar-sized cigars of different makes and taking turns by rotating puffs between each smoke to discern the differing flavor profiles.

 

[N2Advnture]

I tried a few of your methods with my cigar tonight. I was surprised at how much more I was able to taste.

Glad you dug it! It makes the experience all that much better :thumbsup

 

[Mitch]

Has anyone tried Hot Dr. Pepper? Serve it like Tea or coffee, maybe add a hint of lemon, let me know what you think. A soda rep told me about this and I like it.

 

[5280Duc]

I have had hot DR Pepper. Growing up in Denver and going to Bronco games at the old Mile High Stadium vendors sold hot DP during cold games in styrofoam cups just like coffee. Oddly enough I drank a Dr. Pepper while smoking a Nub cameroon a few weeks ago on my front porch and remarked to my wife what a great pairing it was.

 

[Gordy]

thanks for the tips... this thread really helps a rookie like me out.

 

[In Rod We Trust]

I have smoked cigars for a couple years and I am still learning. I never did bother to go onto any forums to learn about them, so needles to say I have learned the hard way. Your post has helped me discrern the technicalities that would help me enjoy smoking a fine cigar even more, thanks.

 

[Penzip]

Thanks Mark as always a good read.

 

[Phi Delt]

Excellent Read. Saving this one for future reference.

 

[Josh.CHI]

I am a novice smoker and this is VERY helpful :thumbsup:

 

[kuzi16]

Does anyone else have anything to add? Specifically, I'm wondering if you guys think smoking 1 a day is too much for a noob.

i would also recommend becoming familiar the taste and/or smell of common cigar tastes and smells.
a short list might include:
barnyard
leather
musk
earth
coffee
coco
cream
Nuts
Cedar/wood
grass.

how do you expect to identify flavor if you do not know what that flavor is SUPPOSED to taste like?

to compare to wine...
I held a wine tasting. one of the wines had a very black cherry taste to it. so to introduce the wine i handed everyone a glass with a cherry cut in half in it. you smell that as if it were a glass of wine. then you "drink" the cherry out and eat it. while that taste memory is still fresh, pour the wine, smell, and taste.
i could almost see the light bulb going on.

you can do the same with tobacco. if there is a common knowledge that "x" cigar has an almond taste to it, buy some almonds. eat them. know them.

then smoke the cigar and compare.

I would also like to re-emphasize that keeping notes is also a very good idea. I catalog all of my cigars. it helps me understand what i just smoked. it also helps me figure out general ideas of what i may or may not like in the future.

 

[CWS]

i would also recommend becoming familiar the taste and/or smell of common cigar tastes and smells.
a short list might include:
barnyard
leather
musk
earth
coffee
coco
cream
Nuts
Cedar/wood
grass.

how do you expect to identify flavor if you do not know what that flavor is SUPPOSED to taste like?

to compare to wine...
I held a wine tasting. one of the wines had a very black cherry taste to it. so to introduce the wine i handed everyone a glass with a cherry cut in half in it. you smell that as if it were a glass of wine. then you "drink" the cherry out and eat it. while that taste memory is still fresh, pour the wine, smell, and taste.
i could almost see the light bulb going on.

you can do the same with tobacco. if there is a common knowledge that "x" cigar has an almond taste to it, buy some almonds. eat them. know them.

then smoke the cigar and compare.

I would also like to re-emphasize that keeping notes is also a very good idea. I catalog all of my cigars. it helps me understand what i just smoked. it also helps me figure out general ideas of what i may or may not like in the future.

So, lets see....go out into the pasture...find a big pile of cow puckey...take a big whiff...Naw...I just smoke em and enjoy em. :innocent:

 

[Josh.CHI]

So, lets see....go out into the pasture...find a big pile of cow puckey...take a big whiff...Naw...I just smoke em and enjoy em. :innocent:

ROFLMAO

that is what Kale does.... gets a good taste of that barnyard!

 

[kuzi16]

So, lets see....go out into the pasture...find a big pile of cow puckey...take a big whiff...Naw...I just smoke em and enjoy em. :innocent:

close.

when i was a kid i used to go hunting on a farm with my dad. one of the crops was tobacco. we would walk through the tobacco barn just so we could get a wiff of the curing tobacco.

now every time i pull a good cigar out of the cellophane i get reminded of those days.

 

[strife]

you can do the same with tobacco. if there is a common knowledge that "x" cigar has an almond taste to it, buy some almonds. eat them. know them.

then smoke the cigar and compare.

Hmmm, I'd be really tempted to try this if only redhead were a common cigar taste.

 

[Robinsond]

Wow...I definitely have to start slowing down much more, and trying to pick out those subtleties that you pointed out. Slowly but surely, I'm learning more and more! Thanks so much Mark

 

[Buffman]

avoiding anything like Barnyard....or from my none cigar friends "smells like Camel dung".

 

[Rhenford]

That was very infomative. Thanks for taking the time. I'll have to pay special attention to rules 2 and 8.

 

[onibakushinka]

Thank you for taking the time to make this post. It was very informative.

 

[criollo]

Along the lines of tip # 3, here's another way I have found to savor the taste after i exhale.

For those of you who are old enough to remember George Burns: remember how after he would tell a joke then puff on his cigar, that he would make a kind of smacking notion with his lips and tongue after exhaling? I have found that this really allows the flavor to linger and for some notes to become accentuated.