Its impossible to transfer to another human being how or what we feel, with the exception of the use of language. All we can do is describe things and people, and possibly our memory resulting from the descriptions will direct us to different cigars or pipe tobacco, creating enough curiosity to risk leaving our comfort zone of what we already know.
The only way we can make sense of the many reviews and descriptions we encounter is to create a mission. Find our ideal cigar…create the ability to recognize characteristics in taste, aroma and texture.
This is a “talent” that is learned and developed over time. Li
ke everything else.Take heed “grasshopper”, it’s not the final objective you should work towards, but the journey, the cigar mindfulness.
The human mammal has the ability to recognize 5 basic flavors without much effort; bitter, tart (between bitter and sour), sour, sweet and salt. Mind you though, that we also depend on our noses, our olfactory sense to define or refine certain flavors. Keep it simple and don’t stick to the first smoke you find yourself comfortable with. There is a myriad of cigar brands, and each one has many cigar lines. Not to mention the different sizes and shapes in each line. For the pipe tobacco the differences come in the blends of English or Aromatic tobaccos.
Where an English tobacco will not be “cased”, i.e. have sugar.
A cigar is made of 3 or 4 parts, depending on how simple or complex the blend is.
1 – Filler (can have 1 or 2 tobaccos). Usually has 3 to 4 leaves; produces flavor and a little combustion
2 – Binder (holds the filler together). Produces combustion and sometimes aroma.
3 – Wrapper (wraps everything together). Provides: taste, aroma and combustion.
Same thing goes for the pipe tobacco. A blend will have tobaccos for taste, aroma and combustion. If a pipe tobacco only has Cavendish it will never burn correctly, the blend will need a dryer tobacco for combustion, to enhance or cut the flavor.
One thing I learned, when I was being trained by Davidoff, was that we look for balance.
Read everything you can get your hands on about scotch, bourbon or wine. Wine will be the beverage where you will find the most abundant possibilities taste-wise. “Wine for Dummies” is a fun and informative read. It will educate you on how to use the palate. It is totally relevant to cigars and pipe tobacco.
Reviews, there are millions out there. From all walks of life. Read them; knowledge is power. Develop your vocabulary; find the most evidence for the use of certain flavors in the description of a cigar or pipe tobacco. Full-bodied cigars tend to have nutty and coffee notes. You will also discover leather (for aroma), fruit (for aroma and taste) and flowers (for aroma and taste). A side-bar… many tobacco growers plant fruit, nuts, herbs and flowers around their tobaccos. Or, the tobacco will be put in a oak barrel to age, from scotch, brandy or wine.
Notice the aromas that surround you, how can they influence your tasting of your cigar or pipe tobacco? Wine tasting might sound like something outside your reality, but it’s a great way to start training your palate. Someone said that “our palate is like a high-def apparatus with only basic cable”. As you develop the new skill, you develop a new language. Smoking cigars and pipe tobacco is also about memory. It’s about what we like and dislike. If you are a fan of pepper or “hot” food, then a Zino Classic or AVO XO will be right up your alley. Its their nature to be peppery, its how they were blended. From our 5 basic tastes there are an amazing number of possible combinations; where you can identify the sweetness of honey or maple in a cigar or pipe tobacco; or even the taste of a certain tea… like black Indian tea. Its all very subjective…
What you like, what you enjoy is the next best cigar or pipe tobacco. Hopefully we will develop a precision instrument, capable of detecting nano particles of familiar or long forgotten flavors in the short span of the enjoyment of a fine cigar or a bowl of pipe tobacco.
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