The beauty of the Cold Draw

[El Presidente]

I love the cerebral nature of Fly casting. I can get transcended in forming the perfect loop during the false cast. I assume it is much the same in sailing when everything is "on song". You don't want it to end when everything is just perfect. When my fly casting is at the top of its game.....I actually couldn't care much about the fish. I just revel in the geometry of the loop, the power of the arrow, the feel of the line.

I clipped a Bolivar Belicoso Fino this morning and started the cold draw. Once upon a time the cold draw for me was simply testing the draw to see if it was adequate. These days I spend a lot more time on it as I have found it gives me a great insight as to what I can expect in the smoking fo the cigar.

The BBF this morning was intensely sweet on the cold draw. Burn't sugar sweet which isn't something I normally expect from a BBF in the tasting (albeit since 2013, I have encountered more and more sweetness in BBF. Not every time mind you but enough regularity to no longer be totally surprised).

Anyway, back to the point of the thread ......I have started taking notes on the cold draw of the cigars I am about to smoke. I am spending 2 minutes on average on the notes, taking one draw, another. Taking in the flavour on the palate and the pre-light aroma. I have then been comparing the notes to what I am actually experiencing in the smoking.

What I am finding is that there is as much (if not more) correlation to the cold draw experience and the actual tasting of the cigar than what I find in the nose characters of a glass of wine and the subsequent tasting.

It may just be that my sense of smell is not as strong as my sense of taste.

When you have the chance, take the minute or two to really break down the cold draw of your next few cigars. let me know if it correlates to the flavours you experience in the smoking.

Whether your experience mirrors mine or not is unimportant. Just slowing the cigar experience down a tad is a reward in itself to my mind

[Habana Mike]

I have found some correlation to the notes from the cold draw to the flavors once lit.

The older the cigar, the longer it takes until I light it, 5-10 minutes sometimes!

[riazp]

i've been doing the same as of late. spend more time on the cold draw, taking notes, and comparing them to my tasting notes while i smoke the cigar.

[dicko]

I must say I clearly don't give enough attention to the cold draw so will try to give some more time to this. Thanks

[foursite12]

Well thought out and nicely written, Rob.

Also reminds me that I'm overdue on another screening of "A River Runs Through It".

[Easttide]

Very well written and enjoyable read! I feel the same. Also looking forward to my first box of BBF's coming this week and some sugar.

I'll be honest though, if I cared a little less about catching fish I'd be fly fishing a lot more, with trout fishing being the exception to the rule.

[PapaDisco]

I have had many cold draws that were so fabulous in their layers and complexity that I almost considered not lighting the stick. On more than one occasion my friends were 1/4 in to their cigars before I lit mine, when I came across something so nice.

I think of cigars as perhaps the most fabulous incense ever, and so it's not uncommon that I can get as much pleasure from the second hand smoke as the actual smoking, and the cold draw certainly falls into this category.

In all cigars, the more nuanced flavors are still carried on a backbone of burning tobacco. And when smoking a cigar the palate has to contend with this overwhelming 'core' that may help or (more likely) overwhelm, the other flavors. Not so with the cold draw, or the scent of second hand cigar smoke, where (at least to me) the scents and flavors present themselves in a more equal balance.

[marty922]

Thanks for the images of fly fishing Rob. It's a hobby that I have little interest in pursuing myself, but I very much love the idea of it.

I remember watching the TV series "A River Somewhere" with Rob Sitch and Tom Gleisner and falling in love with the scenery and apparent tranquillity of fly fishing. Will have to see if I can get my hands on some episodes.

[Ken Gargett]

Thanks for the images of fly fishing Rob. It's a hobby that I have little interest in pursuing myself, but I very much love the idea of it.

I remember watching the TV series "A River Somewhere" with Rob Sitch and Tom Gleisner and falling in love with the scenery and apparent tranquillity of fly fishing. Will have to see if I can get my hands on some episodes.

i've got the full set of these. so much fun.

that said, and i know fishing shows have to build up to a climax - not so exciting if the big fish is caught first cast on the wrong river. i enjoy 'river monsters' but i'd love to have a chat to jeremy wade about how much manipulation there is with some of this - i just don't swallow that it all builds up to the last cast. although bizarrely, on quite a few of my trips, the big fish has literally come on the last cast so perhaps...

anyway, i have often used a guide who took these guys around for the kiwi show where they got a monster trout, last throw etc, in the durville. i have fished the durville several times and had some great days (one of my best - spotted ten fish, cast and hooked all ten and landed nine with the one i lost only because the handle of the reel hooked on my rainjacket at a crucial moment, but not a bad day and very rare for me, i assure you). but all of the fish were 4 1/2 to 5 lbs. nothing bigger, though they were not bad. apparently a flood cleaned out the river a few years earlier and there, at least back then, were simply no bigger fish left. they were simply cleaned out and in the process of growing again. yet i am told that so many aussie anglers have come over to fish the durville, thanks to that show. i gather that they got the whopper in the wairau - a river that really does give up some really big fish at times. and also got it almost first cast of the trip. they had gone out for a practice and fortunately had the cameras. whether this is true or not, i can't say and to be honest i don't care as they way they did it made for much better tv. but things are not always as they seem. a friend of mine was in the same theatre group at uni as these guys and always speaks incredibly highly of rob sitch.

another mate has been at a lodge when robson green was there. shall we say that the order of things was very much not as portrayed but no matter. he also said robson was a terrific bloke - i find his shows far too over the top with what seems forced enthusiasm but others love it.

same mate was at a very different lodge shortly after bear grylls. again, the stories about the filming were quite bizarre. his team had insisted that the lodge trained a wild croc to do certain things. they tried to explain the futility of that but the crew insisted. no idea if bear even knew about this. but they sort of managed.

[Ken Gargett]

What I am finding is that there is as much (if not more) correlation to the cold draw experience and the actual tasting of the cigar than what I find in the nose characters of a glass of wine and the subsequent tasting.

It may just be that my sense of smell is not as strong as my sense of taste.

you need to have a serious look at the smelling/tasting with the wine.

the reality of wine tasting is that so much of it is actually 'wine smelling', rather than 'wine tasting'. that is where you get all your flavours from. the tasting gives you basics - acidity, sweetness, bitterness etc. but even when "tasting", the flavours you are getting are very much all the aromas of the wine finding their way to your olfactory system. no idea why you are getting such a difference. you shouldn't.

it is very rare to find a wine where what you get in flavours differ much at all between nose and palate.

[Fugu]

you need to have a serious look at the smelling/tasting with the wine.

the reality of wine tasting is that so much of it is actually 'wine smelling', rather than 'wine tasting'. that is where you get all your flavours from. the tasting gives you basics - acidity, sweetness, bitterness etc. but even when "tasting", the flavours you are getting are very much all the aromas of the wine finding their way to your olfactory system. no idea why you are getting such a difference. you shouldn't.

it is very rare to find a wine where what you get in flavours differ much at all between nose and palate.

This is indeed astounding, given that the substances delivered from the cold draw and the lit cigar are certainly very different. New substances being created during combustion. In wine, there is no transformation in the (volatile) substances between smelling and tasting/actually sipping.

For me, it's usually a clear vice versa. I had aged cigars given off almost no cold-draw taste, but which were heavenly when actually been smoked.

[Smallclub]

This is indeed astounding, given that the substances delivered from the cold draw and the lit cigar are certainly very different. New substances being created during combustion.

This.

I'm an adept of the cold draw, I can spend 10 or 15 minutes enjoying it before I light up the cigar, but, I've never found any correlation between the flavors of the cold draw and those from the smoke.

btw, I've noticed than the most average cigars can offer a fantastic cold draw, much better than what the cigar has to offer once lit.

I remember a box of Hoyo Coronations A/T that had great flavors of tarragon and mushrooms at cold, but were quite boring once lit…

[irratebass]

I'm with ya Prez, I never really paid attention to the cold draw, except to test the draw. I didn't start paying attention to the flavors coming out of the cold draw until after I started watching/following The Dr Joe Show....now I do it all the time, and like some of you mentioned I will do this for 15 mins before lighting up, and sometimes I am disappointed after I light up.

[Colt45]

For me, if cold draw / aromas show themselves after ignition, it's typically on the first few draws. Some pre-light elements might show during smoking, but are rarely as overt.