Interesting observation from my Girlfriend

TheMisplacedScotsman

Morning Guys! Here's the background: last week, I was on a business trip when my shipment of AJ Fresh Rolled Robustos arrived at home. Since she's awesome, my GF said she'd swing by my place and bring the box inside and load up my ammo-can humi. Since she was kind enough to do that for me, I told her to take one of the new sticks home and smoke one. Of course I really wanted to know how they were, anyway! After she got home I got a call and of course she had fallen in love with the stick, threatening to run off with AJ, or at the very least, sleep with the cigar stub...that sort of thing. So fast forward to last night...after dinner, we retired to the back porch to share another one. Once I got it cut and lit, I passed it over to her and once she took a draw, her eyes got REALLY big, and she said to me "That's the new AJ? It tastes completely different that the one I smoked last week. Now I really want to run away with AJ!" Now, the thing had had less than a week in my humi, so it wasn't age that changed the taste, for sure it had sucked up some water in that week, which could be the culprit. The biggest difference between our techniques is that she uses a punch cutter and I use a guillotine. I've seen Alex's demo on the "venturi effect" with different cuts and how smoke hits the palate differently. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced that radical of a taste change simply by changing the cutter they use? Seems to me you might get subtle differences, but from what the GF was telling me, this was a whole new (and welcome) change in taste profile. Sorry for the long post...and enjoy your Labor Day! Cheers, TMS

JudoChinX

Kind of reminds me of the experience I had with the 5 Vegas Classic. I had the robusto first, and wasn't too into it. Then I got some coronas in a deal, and man, I fell in love with them. Different vitolas can have significantly different flavors. Love it.

xmacro

Might be the punch, or it might be a week of rest in the humi. Cigars can change a LOT if you smoke them ROTT vs spending a week or two in YOUR humi at YOUR desired RH/temp. ROTT cigars are typically bitter, since they've been in the back of a USPS/UPS truck , bumped around, with little RH control; a week in your humi can do wonders for most any cigar after a long shipping trip

docbp87

If these are actually fresh rolled sticks, then a week can make a HUGE difference.

Gurkha Man!

i have noticed differences with punching versus cutting i seem to enjoy the cigars i smoke more when i punch

TheMisplacedScotsman

I think maybe next weekend, I'll do an apples to apples comparison...cut one and punch one. Then I'll know for sure.

fla-gypsy

I think it is the rest and a little inconsistency from a fresh rolled stick. My batch of AJ FR's gave a wide range of experiences

JonathanE

TheMisplacedScotsman:

I think maybe next weekend, I'll do an apples to apples comparison...cut one and punch one. Then I'll know for sure.

That's a great excuse to smoke more! One in each hand! I generally prefer a punched cigar.

I smoked a Gurkha Centurian perfecto last night and it was fantastic. No problems whatsoever. As another fine BORK said, "Bad sticks happen to good people."

JDE

Unthought_Known

fla-gypsy:

I think it is the rest and a little inconsistency from a fresh rolled stick. My batch of AJ FR's gave a wide range of experiences

This was my thought as well. A lot of budget sticks might be great if you get a great one, but they're inconsistent from cigar to cigar. If you smoke a Padron 3000, you know what you're getting. A 2011 version tastes the same as a 2008 version. With a budget stick, two cigars in the same bundle/box can be different.

ScottC

I wonder if it could be because of what you ate and drank at dinner. It might have had some effect on her taste buds.

TheMisplacedScotsman

Good thinking Scott. I'll have to remove that variable from my experiment. Guess I'm cooking her dinner again...thanks a heap! :-)

kuzi16

docbp87:

If these are actually fresh rolled sticks, then a week can make a HUGE difference.

agreed... especially if you keep your humi at 65%