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Please help direct a newbie

Cigar-725004Cigar-725004 Posts: 10 ✭
in Cigar 101
Is there any information about each cigar, like with wine or scotch?   a wine may say it has hints of cherry and spice and oak.....so when I sip the wine, I can try to pick up on those tastes/flavors.  

I realize everyone has a slightly different taste, so this isn't a perfect way to learn, but it might be helpful to be directed slightly as to what I'm even looking for and trying to taste.  

Is there any information on here to help me with this?  Im so new that I don't even know where to begin with cigars.  I have had some had bachelor parties or golf trips or cookouts but I had no idea what I was smoking and I think that results in a loss of enjoyment and appreciation.  I'm hoping someone can help me here or someone can direct me to info please. 
Thank you 

Comments

  • NolagizmoNolagizmo Posts: 1,914 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Read Kuzi's thread and Martel's thread those will be good starters for you. Then change your name and goto the newbie intro thread so we can further discuss how to figure these things out. Till then. Welcome, get busy and let us know what to call you! Thanks for joining the forum.
    "Come party with me in Tennessee for my birthday July we can smoke in the Smokey's."
  • genareddoggenareddog Posts: 4,233 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Welcome 
  • peter4jcpeter4jc Posts: 16,682 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It's gonna be hard, other than to just smoke everything you can get your hands on and take notes. 

    You really can't rely on the flavor notes on the online sellers...  they'll tell you it tastes like this or that, but it doesn't mean much; your palate is your palate, and you'll have to find what you like or don't. 

    Knowing what fillers/wrappers are used will get you in the ballpark, once you find something you like and find what it's made of, but even that doesn't mean another cigar with the same fillers/wrapper will ring your bell because a lot of those particular tobaccos' flavors come from how they're aged and fermented.
    "I could've had a Mi Querida!"   Nick Bardis
  • Cigar-725004Cigar-725004 Posts: 10 ✭
    peter4jc said:
    It's gonna be hard, other than to just smoke everything you can get your hands on and take notes. 
    Thank you.  But what's an example of how the notes may read?   At this point I'm not sure I'd write much more than "tastes ok, would buy again".  Can you suggest or maybe share what your notes might include?
  • silvermousesilvermouse Posts: 21,093 ✭✭✭✭✭
    just sent a post with some links, three from cigar dot com and one from cigarpass dot com on tasting and reviewing cigars  but the benevolent censor-bot scooped it up. Not helpful.... Anyway, if you go to those sites you'll find some guidelines
  • Usaf06Usaf06 Posts: 11,380 ✭✭✭✭✭
    If you click on the list of cigars on this website and click any of the brands they have a description and what certain notes they picked up.
    "I drink a great deal. I sleep a little, and I smoke cigar after cigar. That is why I am in two-hundred-percent form."
    -- Winston Churchill

    "LET'S GO FRANCIS"     Peter

  • webmostwebmost Posts: 7,713 ✭✭✭✭✭
    You can search up most everything in the Ratings & Reviews section of this very forum. Cigar.com used to have decent brief tasting notes on every offering ... not so much any more. You can google up such-and-so cigar review, but you get pretty mixed results. You can go down to your local cigar store and see if there's a knowledgeable cigar geek there. They like to talk sticks. Or you could buy one of everything in the store and ship them to me, and I'll let you know what they tasted like.

    Search up Kuzi's primers in this section of the forum. 
    “It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)
  • Lee.mcglynnLee.mcglynn Posts: 5,960 ✭✭✭✭
    This is a hard one to try to explain but here's a shot. Read a few reviews that weren't just copied and pasted! Find what those have in common and figure out if it's worth the investment. If you buy them get at least 3 I'd really say 5 just to be safe. Keep trying one every month and see what you still think. This is a very expensive indevore your taking on and it takes a lot of time and money to truly find what's to your liking and developing your pallet
    Money can't buy taste
  • Cigar-725004Cigar-725004 Posts: 10 ✭
    webmost said:
    Or you could buy one of everything in the store and ship them to me, and I'll let you know what they tasted like. 
    How generous.  Lol
  • 0patience0patience Posts: 10,665 ✭✭✭✭✭
    You will hear a lot about cedar notes, coffee notes, spicy and on and on.
    Being able to detect them takes some doing. 
    Mostly just go after what you like, then try and determine what it is that you like about them.

    You will probably find you gravitate towards certain wrappers or countries of origin.
    I personally favor Cameroon wrappers. 

    Here is a link to Kuzi's links that have some really good information.

    Also, you might locate your "edit profile", the gear icon upper right hand and change your handle to something a little more to your liking. 

    Stick around and there is a lot that you can learn about different cigars.
    In Fumo Pax
    Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.

    Wylaff said:
    Atmospheric pressure and crap.
  • tabakotabako Posts: 365 ✭✭✭✭
     Can't say I have ever tasted a "cedar note", but after a few dozen cigars I started to find some similarities in certain wrappers that I really liked. After 100 or so I definitely decided on some things I didnt like and after another 100 or so I had a list of sticks to try that would keep me busy for a LONG time! Life is way too short to smoke bad cigars, so I plan on finding all the good ones. Enjoy the journey!
  • 0patience0patience Posts: 10,665 ✭✭✭✭✭
    tabako said:
     Life is way too short to smoke bad cigars, so I plan on finding all the good ones. Enjoy the journey!
    Curious.
    How do you know they are bad until you try them?
    I could never figure out that statement from people.
    I've smoked a lot of good "bad" cigars and a lot of bad "good" cigars.
    In Fumo Pax
    Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.

    Wylaff said:
    Atmospheric pressure and crap.
  • jarublajarubla Posts: 2,329 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2016
    This is tough to express (guidance). It is like trying to explain why I feel certain music is good, or why I prefer a certain car/motor vehicle, or why a certain dessert or type of coffee appeals to me.

    Best at I can offer are some helps to get you started in your own research. Lots of humans here on Ccom have posted reviews (folks have already mentioned Martel & Kuzi...go check out the reviews section for some great info from them), outside of the forum, The Katman, or Brian McGlynn seem to be good ones. 

    If all else fails, do a YouTube search on the cigar that looks interesting to you and listen to the reviewers ideas on how they interpret that cigar. Cigar Aficionado is fun to look through, but they can tend to veer off course to the humans who like to buy $15k watches. 

    It is intimidating, but also fun! This is a brave new world you have ahead of you. 

    Keep a cigar notebook, write down details, your thoughts, how you feel, etc. 

    Before you know it, you'll have some favorites and even a few that you didn't dig. Funny thing is people's tastes vary; if you end up with some sticks that didn't live up to the hype or aren't a fit for your palate, trade them, or gift them to another cigar fan. Someone loves that stick you thought was just OK.

    Mostly, be patient with yourself, research a lot, and be willing to try new cigars.

    Hope you stick around here on the forum!

    -Jay
    “There’ll be two dates on your tombstone and all your friends will read ’em but all that’s gonna matter is that little dash between ’em.” -Kevin Welch
  • Cigar-725004Cigar-725004 Posts: 10 ✭
    Wylaff said:
    There are no bad cigars, only better ones.
    Great quote 
  • RhamlinRhamlin Posts: 9,048 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Taste is subjective. There's lots of stuff some people love that I can't stand. Kristoff comes to mind. Tried them all and I haven't liked one. And there's been plenty I loved the first few times I had them then to turn around and couldn't stand them the next time and vice averse. 
  • kuzi16kuzi16 Posts: 14,633 ✭✭✭✭
    Wow. 
    Thanks guys. 
    Some very solid advice above. 
    Just remember that learning about them is half the fun. 
    Kuzi's Forum Links Page
  • silvermousesilvermouse Posts: 21,093 ✭✭✭✭✭
    some of these articles might be helpful to you:
    http://www.cigar.com/articles/336/expert-tip-key-to-tasting/
    http://www.cigar.com/articles/309/expert-tip-tasting-cigars/
    http://www.cigarpass.com/how-to-review-a-cigar/
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