Palate Training

[mrretrohale]

I feel that having prompts might help. Smoking with someone more "experienced" to feed you with descriptors is beneficial but at the same time you need to not get sucked in by the placebo. And hopefully they aren't the sort to think less of you for not being able to "find" the flavours


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[Guest photorob]

As mentioned, retrohaling is key.

Another thing is to make sure your palate is clean for starters. I'll eat an apple shortly before smoking, and pair my cigar with sparkling water if I really want to pay attention to the finer points of what I'm smoking. I did some research on foods that help cleanse the palate, and apples are on that list.

I can't overstate it - sparkling water has really been a dynamite pairing for me in the last few years in regards to pulling flavours.

If you haven't tried either, you should!

[LGC]

Other than mood, foods, drinks, climate, and meds... I don't believe in a palate changing. One's personal tastes can change. One will be able to identify or associate certain flavors. It's just a matter of matching up cigar flavors with whatever you associate a certain flavor to be. You don't have to be a supertaster to enjoy a cigar. You don't have to identify 15 fruit flavors and 13 sweet flavors to enjoy a cigar.

Exhaling out the nose is a must for full flavors.

Don't puff the crap out of the cigar and overheat it. Touch ups and quick relights are just fine.

Don't drink bitter, piney IPA's with any cigar you truly want to taste.

Don't let anyone try and tell you what a certain cigar should taste like, or whether a cigar is good or bad.

If you can or can't taste cherries, sour apple, turmeric, creme brûlée, 70% cocoa, drift wood, pink sea salt, or vanilla beans... it simply doesn't matter one way or another.

The only thing that matters is that it tastes good to you.

One must also remember that we cannot depends on any type of consistency with Cuban cigars (factory to factory, year to year, month to month, box to box, etc).

[strikethebox7]

I agree with Brandon, ones mood does dictate the flavors as well as setting and time, (maybe it was the booze) I have lit up an Epi no. 2 on my birthday and thought it was the best cigar I have ever had, but then trying it at a different date the same cigar disappointed , but the most consistent cigars seem to be aged, just my 2 cence


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[dicko]

Some really great suggestions here. I would just add read a bunch of reviews about particular cigars and you might notice some of the mentioned flavours popping up.

[IPORTER]

I would say to pick a marca and smoke that marca consistently for a few months. Always handy to keep a cigar journal noting down the flavours you are experiencing. This for me has been one way of educating the palate on what I like and don't like. Start introducing a 2nd marca whilst mixing it up with the 1st marca you chose. Keep notes, READ the notes.I have done this over the years and gradually have refined the palate to appreciate different marcas with their varying complexities....Have often been eating and have said this dish reminds me of a Partagas D4 or this desert is like chowing a Monte 4.....strange looks from the missus but fasinating all the same....

[Lotusguy]

Does being able to identify every nuance make the cigar taste better? Does it really improve the experience? For me, it does not. Most of the time now, I just enjoy the cigar and relax as much as possible. When I hear of having to train, prepare, cleanse, et cetera, this sounds too much like work for me. May be different for others, of course.

[hedgeybaby]

I have to admit that I can very rairly pick out flavours. I still enjoy my cigars and can generally tell a good'en when I see it but when it comes to tasting wiered and wonderful characteristics I'm lost at sea. I still smoke stupid cigarettes though so once I finally quit those, hopefully I will add an additional dimension of enjoyment to my "Me Time."

Others might be interested in this video, concerning whisky tasting with the wonderful Richard Paterson (also a cigar smoker.)

 

 

 

[wabashcr]

2 hours ago, Lotusguy said:

Does being able to identify every nuance make the cigar taste better? Does it really improve the experience? For me, it does not. Most of the time now, I just enjoy the cigar and relax as much as possible. When I hear of having to train, prepare, cleanse, et cetera, this sounds too much like work for me. May be different for others, of course.

Agree 100%.  While I enjoy reading others' reviews and thoughts, but I've never in my life used a flavor wheel or taken notes while smoking a cigar.  Sometimes if it's something new or especially nice, I may try to be a little more conscious of what flavors I'm tasting.  And I do think experiencing how the flavors interact can improve the overall experience.  Of course I have certain flavor profiles I prefer.  But ultimately I smoke cigars to relax.  If I'm too worried about picking up flavor nuances, I'm not relaxing and enjoying the cigar.

[irratebass]

Like Miner mentioned Sip the cigar, but also for me retrohale of course, then when exhaling I "chew" the smoke, and this has helped me tremendously when picking out distinct tastes.

[Sean3]

Do blind tastings, then write a review of each tasting.  The blind tastings will eliminate any preconceived notions about the cigars being smoked, while the review will allow one to ruminate and work out some of the flavors that were experienced.  This is what I did and I even had an epiphany or two regarding some common, yet specifically elusive flavors.  Cheers.

[Westside Threat]

I started reviewing beers online many years ago.  I've stopped since and had looked back at that work as "wasted time' until I started reviewing wine, whiskey and now cigars.  I realized how much simpler beer was and how prepared my palate had become for the onslaught of complicated flavors that come with the others listed.

When you eat or drink, you don't generally stop and FOCUS on the flavors happening in your mouth.  Its like thinking about breathing, its just something you take for granted.  Stopping and concentrating on what is happening across your palate takes practice and attention.  

If you have literally never tried putting flavors into words on the fly, start with something simple.  Grab a straight forward beer, perhaps an amber or porter.  They have familiar and strong flavors that don't morph during the process.  You should be able to identify the flavors easily but it will require focus, if you are doing something else at the same time you are going to miss it.  When you first ride a bike you need to focus on your balance until its second nature. From the sip to the swallow and finally the finish.  Cigar smoking will have similar stages but the flavor will be more subtle.   

Remember that flavors aren't always real flavors.  I had a cigar a few days ago that had an overwhelming vulcanized rubber taste.  I've never eaten rubber and there is certainly no rubber in the cigar, but that's what I tasted.   

[Siberian Bear]

I can't seem to discern much flavors on the palate, only if it's ether very sweet or peppery smoke. I can only say if I like the smoke on the palate or not. Retro hale is my game, here I can recognize any gentle flavors, even if it's a mild mild stick. Don't retro the whole draw of smoke, especially if it's a strong marca, let some (50%) out through the mouth after holding it for 5 seconds and retro what's left through the nose. It won't burn your nostrils and the smoke is "aged and filtered" for the lack of the better words.

[clutch5150]

Great topic that has so much resemblance when I first started drinking vintage port with cigars many years ago. Look forward to reading more.

[Colt45]

I certainly feel that one can be predisposed to being able to more easily discern some flavor elements over others. That's not to say that we can't sense traits across a broader range, just that some might more easily be sensed than others. I'd agree that sometimes it's a matter of being able to describe what we're tasting - one member brought up rubber. I've tasted in a cigar what burning rubber smells like. It can be a matter of practice, and should really only enhance enjoyment.

With wine, I'm very sensitive to VA taint and other flaws - it takes very little for me to be put off. Palates can be individual, and again, I can't imagine being able to sense various elements as a detriment - only a benefit to the overall experience.

If I'm driving on the highway and someone in a car ahead of me is smoking a cigar, I can smell that more easily than the smoke off the foot of a cigar I am smoking.

I find smoking outdoors lends itself to identifying elements more easily than the the stagnant air of indoor cigar smoking.

I can only smell things when I inhale, so retrohaling brings little to the party for me.