How do you "taste" your cigar?

SmokerPaul

I've been thinking about this lately given that I've started smoking sticks regularly on the weekends and want to enjoy this hobby to the fullest.  I have watched multiple reviews of cigars, read them too and even vids on how you can ensure you're doing the right things to get the flavors out of cigar (notwithstanding someone having dull taste buds or maybe eating every meal with hot sauce) and I gather, much like the tastes one gets out of a cigar, that it's a bit different for everyone.  

I'm still pretty new to smoking cigars and enjoying them and I know I've got some bad habits (smoke too fast, smoke too slow, get it too hot, let it go out) which sour the smoke but there are some moments of enjoyment and flavor.  When it comes to flavor though, it'**** or miss and I'm trying to figure out what I should do to get the flavor?  Retrohaling helps sometimes but where I get the most identifiable flavors is when I inhale through my nose while I'm drawing on the cigar.  I'm not inhaling the smoke per se, even though some may get in through my nose.  Exhaling normally, licking my lips, etc does nothing to give me any identifiable flavor other than whiskey...all cigars leave a taste of whiskey in my mouth.  It's only when I inhale while drawing, or sometimes, breathing into my mount but exhaling through my nose that I get flavor.  I know your nose has a lot to do with the way things taste but it seems to me that some people literally taste flavors of the cigar on their tongue as if it were food they were eating.  For me, it's not that way, at least now in any case.

I've read the sticky about developing a palate and there's definitely some good advice in there but what I'm asking is "HOW" are you tasting these flavors?  Do you just get more flavors after you've smokes for a year + on your tongue like if you were eating something or should I be doing something different?  Maybe I'm just overthinking it.

peter4jc

Ya gotta learn to BS about all the flavors.

Guitarded

So many variables can affect taste buds.
Been sick recently?
What time of day? 
After a big meal?
What are you drinking while smoking ? 
Having a good or bad day?
Celebrating? 

Any and all of these can change your smoking experiences . 

Heavysetrapier

I would say you're over thinking. I'm a relatively  new cigar smoker as well and it just slowly comes with time. 

I can see where the inhaling through your nose while drawing te cigar helps. You whole mouth nose area is connected and smell affects taste as well as what happening in your mouth can affect smell. 

0patience

If you are talking tastes, like sweet, bitter, spicy (pepper or bite) or stuff like that, I don't have a problem with those.
It is when you get to the intricate flavors where I really have to work to determine if I taste them.

Like was said, don't over think it, cause it will drive you nuts,

Unless you are one of those people who tastes all the different flavors in a steak, then you probably will never get all those flavors in reviews.
 

jlmarta

Just tell everyone "licorice and stone fruit"...... 

deadman

I can't get all of the elaborate flavors out of a cigar. Spicy, pepper, sweet,  cedar, earthy, floral (on a few) are some main ones I can get. I can tell you if I like it or not. Don't get to caught up in people's flavor descriptions. Try new cigars; look for the patterns. Wrapper, filler, growing regions, who blended it. 

My favorite so far was biscuit and gravy as a flavour. I can't remember where I heard it. 

0patience

When the reviewers start going off on the 50 different "nuances" they get, especially when the cigar changes profiles 6 times throughout the cigar, I start to chuckle to myself.

It's kind of like reading reviews on Scotch, Bourbon, Whisky and Rum.
You start reading some of them and think to yourself, "WTF is this dumba$$ talking about? There is no way he tastes that in that whiskey."
One fella even started out a review of an Irish whiskey saying it starts out tasting of biscuit. WTF?

SmokerPaul

I think some of these reviewers get paid by the perceived flavors, it is humorous.  I want to ask folks, do you really take yourself seriously?  Not to say there aren't changes in the taste of the cigar but some of these guys seem to go overboard.

dirtdude

Whiskey generally leaves a whiskey taste for me.



I just had to check if leaving the space out of 'it'**** or miss would do that'

TNBigfoot68

I have also noticed that sometimes smoking the same brand of stick does not always produce the same taste. In other words, if you like it you like it. The other thing to remember if you do taste some different flavors, sometimes they are very fleeting.  

Sleddog46

I was having the same problem except all I ever tasted was vanilla. Now I'm starting to taste berries and some other flavors. Don't know if smoking that Kuba Kuba infused woke up my senses or what but I enjoy smoking the cigar just for the cigar.

Rhamlin

After all these years the only thing I can ever pick up is coffee, chocolate, pepper through the nose and sometimes licorice. 
When it comes down to the nitty gritty it's all about if you just liked it or not. 

webmost

Keep your teeth clean and healthy. Use a toothpaste like Doctor Sheffields's that doesn't have that foaming agent. Smoke slow. Drink some good sipping rum, or a Doctor Pepper, or a lemonade. Avoid drinks like Scotch or coffee that leave their own taste. Smoke slow. Judge when you're well into the body of the cigar. You'll undoubtedly get some odor up your nose; but also exhale smoke out thru your nose. Smoke slow. Don't eat spicy and not expect it to affect the flavor. If you wonder: "Does this taste like cedar, leather, nutmeg?" go grab a bit of cedar, leather, or nutmeg, and compare. Sniff the foot, taste the wrapper, clip the end and taste the draw, all before you even begin. Smoke slow. See how does it taste next morning.


Go read some Kuzi tips.

Amos_Umwhat

webmost said:

Go read some Kuzi tips.

And simply enjoy each cigar for what it is.