Question for the vets. How has your palate changed over the years?

[ohbob976]

If it has changed at all? 

Trying to figure out if is should  hold onto some boxes that I 100% don’t enjoy at the moment and hope my palate changes over the years. Or if I should sell them and just buy cigars I know for a fact I will enjoy. 

Got me curious about how the palates of you seasoned smokers have changed over the years. 

[CaptainQuintero]

 I don't know if I'd call myself a vet, I've only been going for just over a decade now. But mine have changed to a point. I'm not a huge Bolivar fan, never was and still aren't. I tended towards medium bodied and sweeter cigar. I still love that style but I've found that I now look for richer cigars, I still like the sweet and medium bodied but I chase that full, rich oily mouthfeel that slightly overwhelmed me to begin with.

  I remember I got rid of a box of HQ Monte#5 in 2011 because they were just too intense for me back then, but now I would be loving them.

  If it's a flavour profile or brand you're not enjoying then you still might not enjoy them later on. If the cigars seem too intense or pungent right now then that could be something that, at least to me, could change as you get used to cigars more and more. (like how generally you progress to darker chocolate/coffee the older you get and more you consume)

 It's difficult to say with how subjective tastes are. 

  What is it you're not liking and why?

[nKostyan]

Give us the names of the cigars

[Guest Nekhyludov]

My palate has tended to change cyclically, rather than linearly. I started out gravitating toward full-bodied Partagas and Bolivar, then shifted to lighter, more delicate profiles like Punch and QdO. Now I find myself swinging back toward Bolivar and Ramon Allones. 

The problem I have is the opposite of the one described by the OP. Not whether a box I don't care for will suit my palate in the future, but whether a box I love now will remain aligned with my palate for as long as it takes to smoke through it.

[cigaraholic]

Unfortunately for my bank account my palate for great wine and cigars has never changed.....I love them all.

If you have boxes of cigars you don’t like it may be the cigars not you....if they’re Cuban. Are the cigars too strong, too mild or do they just taste like crap?

[MigsG]

Yes, what cigars are those?

[peteando]

4 hours ago, Nekhyludov said:

My palate has tended to change cyclically, rather than linearly. I started out gravitating toward full-bodied Partagas and Bolivar, then shifted to lighter, more delicate profiles like Punch and QdO. Now I find myself swinging back toward Bolivar and Ramon Allones. 

The problem I have is the opposite of the one described by the OP. Not whether a box I don't care for will suit my palate in the future, but whether a box I love now will remain aligned with my palate for as long as it takes to smoke through it.

I think this is spot on.  I'll tire of for example the partagas or bolivar profile, but I know that I'll reacquire a taste for them later.  It's a cycle for sure.

[ohbob976]

Thanks for the feedback. I was smoking a La flor re Gran Bretana when I posted this,  I know it was a quality cigar.  Had a unique dry sort of grapefruit sharpness yet I wasn’t enjoying it at all. 

@CaptainQuintero I think we have similar tastes. Recently I gravitate toward sweeter fuller smoke. Leaning towards uppmans, Trinidad’s , Juan Lopez 

 

[El Presidente]

I have always found this to be depressing 

Your sense of smell and taste change as you age. Between the ages of 40 and 50,the number of taste buds decreases, and the rest begin to shrink, losing mass vital to their operation. After age 60, you may begin to lose the ability to distinguish the taste of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter foods.

[JoeyBones777]

My taste has changed but it is directly connected to my starting to retrohale. Before I was retrohaling my smokes I was all about strong cigars from My Father, Tatuaje and La Flor Dominicana. After the discovery of retrohaling I found I truly enjoy more medium strength cigars with more elegant refined blends from Illusione, Habanos and Warped. I've revisited some old favorites and I still don't like any of the strong smokes I once adored. Easiest example is Padron 80 year maduro used to be my go to special occassion cigar and my all time favorite smoke...can't stand it now. Give me a Haut 10 or Davidoff Winston Churchill...I don't have any good special occassion Habanos yet but fundys and sir winnies are on my list to buy when funds permit.

[mtd057]

1 hour ago, El Presidente said:

I have always found this to be depressing 

Your sense of smell and taste change as you age. Between the ages of 40 and 50,the number of taste buds decreases, and the rest begin to shrink, losing mass vital to their operation. After age 60, you may begin to lose the ability to distinguish the taste of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter foods.

Wonderful, somethig else to look forward to as I get older.

[CaptainQuintero]

But your memory will also be going so you won't notice as much 

[Philc2001]

Trade, sell or give away whatever doesn't tickle your palate, and load up on cigars that do. Life is too short to waste on bad cigars. 

[BrightonCorgi]

I find I have an affinity towards certain vitolas at different times in my life.  I was really into Lonsdales for a good 5-6 stretch and now could take them or leave them.  Actually, I left (sold) most of them as I just wasn't smoking them.  The marcas I liked 20 years ago; still like.  Then again, I am fan of pretty much all of them.  The most consistently adored vitolas for me have been robustos, belicoso/pyramid, churchill/dc, and lanceros.  Coronas like/don't care depending the season... 

I am more casual with cigars than I was.  They are not a profound experience, trying to find each flavor and writing it down...  Ceremony with Dupont lighter and all that...  Those days are past.  Been lighting cigars from my kitchen stove and no notes...

[cfc1016]

11 hours ago, El Presidente said:

 After age 60, you may begin to lose the ability to distinguish the taste of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter foods.

I found that a decade of cigarette smoking accelerated that effect for me. I put down cigars for most of the time I was smoking cigarettes, as my palate was SO wrecked that I just couldn't enjoy them anymore. A few years after dropping cigs, I was finally able to taste a broader spectrum of flavors again. Even though I would now say my palate is far more sensitive than it was at the height of my cigarette smoking, I have still, seemingly permanently, lost a lot of sensitivity specifically to sweet and salty flavors. Prime example - it takes a SERIOUS punch for me to pick up the 'cherry goodness' of a romeo anymore. The only one in recent memory that really hit me with it was a young petit royale. When I DID finally taste it, it was like a flashback, i.e. -

[Philc2001]

20 hours ago, El Presidente said:

After age 60, you may begin to lose the ability to distinguish the taste of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter foods.

It's the cigars and alcohol. Cause and effect ?

[Zedman05]

I noticed a big change.
It used to be a lot of NC's that had a TON of mouth coating smoke. I was never really one for strong, like My Father, Avion or stuff that was nicotine heavy, but was more of the regular stuff.
About 4 years ago, I started smoking more and more CC's and found there was a distinct profile I was not enjoying with the majority of NC stuff. CC's were just "smoother" in general and I enjoyed that sweet/salty charcter I would get.
Now I smoke mainly CC's and thus any NC stuff I did buy a bunch of sits in my humi, never really to be touched.
I was thinking ahead, but it didn't work out there...but with cigars I feel like you can never really lose out.