Green/Astringent/Pesticide Taste

[wine_junkie]

Hey guys! Did a quick search and couldn’t find much. How often do you get that green/acrid taste on the outside of the stick…often noticeable after smoking a cigar for a bit and then licking your lips?

 

Do you know what it is?

 

Is there a fix? (Time, etc)

 

Thanks in advance!

 

[traveller]

Never tried tasting pesticide before...

 

As for a fix, don't lick your lips? 

 

All jokes aside, how old is the stick? Is it a cuban or NC?

[wine_junkie]

1 hour ago, traveller said:

Never tried tasting pesticide before...

 

As for a fix, don't lick your lips? 

 

All jokes aside, how old is the stick? Is it a cuban or NC?

Woof on both attempts at humor 🙂

 

All Cubans and anywhere from 6 months to 2+ years

[Ken Gargett]

2 hours ago, traveller said:

Never tried tasting pesticide before...

 

As for a fix, don't lick your lips? 

 

All jokes aside, how old is the stick? Is it a cuban or NC?

i must confess my first thought was how on earth does anyone know what pesticide tastes like. green, astringent sure - not so much from the outside. does not sound good. reputable source i assume and presumably nothing been sprayed near them? haven't cockroach bombed the humidor? i'd be a bit wary of them. 

[...]

4 hours ago, wine_junkie said:

Hey guys! Did a quick search and couldn’t find much. How often do you get that green/acrid taste on the outside of the stick…often noticeable after smoking a cigar for a bit and then licking your lips?

Any chance it could have anything to do with tar buildup on the tip of the cigar or are you referring to a completely different phenomenon?

[Fezztone]

Maybe it's  tar build up that you are tasting which is bitter and acrid? but, you can actually see the tar.  Has happened to me on my lanceros.

[wine_junkie]

Has happened on all smokes procured from our host and in ideal closed humidor environments…

 

This could very well be tar build up…when I taste the outside of the cap it will be slightly astringent but after smoking some sticks halfway thru I happen to lick my lips and then it hits with a heavy acrid/green taste that reminds me of very green or unripe tobacco…this might be tar that I’m tasting…

 

I am guessing this dissipates/oxidizes over time?

[...]

3 minutes ago, wine_junkie said:

Has happened on all smokes procured from our host and in ideal closed humidor environments…

 

This could very well be tar build up…when I taste the outside of the cap it will be slightly astringent but after smoking some sticks halfway thru I happen to lick my lips and then it hits with a heavy acrid/green taste that reminds me of very green or unripe tobacco…this might be tar that I’m tasting…

 

I am guessing this dissipates/oxidizes over time?

Tar buildup can happen for a few reasons. High humidity storage, underfermented tobacco, overfilled cigar, fast smoking, high ambiant humidity (and others) can play a part... I've observed it to some extent on occasions

[Greenhorn2]

Sometimes when tar builds up on my cigar, I purge it and it helps the situation. 

[GaryK 54]

3 hours ago, wine_junkie said:

Has happened on all smokes procured from our host and in ideal closed humidor environments…

 

This could very well be tar build up…when I taste the outside of the cap it will be slightly astringent but after smoking some sticks halfway thru I happen to lick my lips and then it hits with a heavy acrid/green taste that reminds me of very green or unripe tobacco…this might be tar that I’m tasting…

 

I am guessing this dissipates/oxidizes over time?

Occasionally I will get some tar build-up on the head of the cigar. The acrid taste you are describing sounds like tar to me. The quick fix is to take a straight cutter, and cut a bit more off. Never fails to correct the problem. 
 

As for the pesticide taste, have no idea where that would be coming from. Not do I know what it would taste like other than ‘chemical-like’. To my knowledge, Cuba doesn’t use pesticides (other than nicotine) on their crop. New World cigars, that’s another matter. 

[cookj1]

We all have different ways of explaining a taste.  Relating the sense of taste is no different, but I think the adjectives you use are most commonly associated with ammonia.  You likely just need to let your cigars sit or age.  That flavor will likely dissipate over time.

[Bijan]

Based on the flavour description and it happening on the outside of the cigars never.

Based on the comments that this is tar buildup, maybe a handful of times, but also almost never.

If it's astringent/tannic then on some older cigars, but nothing 6 months to 2 years. And not on the outside of the cigar, but just in general.

Everyone's sense of taste is different, but also everyone's environment is different, both ambient and storage.

How are you storing the cigars? What are the ambient conditions? How fast or slow are you smoking? How are you cutting the cigar? How are you lighting the cigar?

Any of these could affect things.

Finally what cigars are you talking about, and what cigars if any are you comparing to?

[wine_junkie]

25 minutes ago, Bijan said:

Based on the flavour description and it happening on the outside of the cigars never.

Based on the comments that this is tar buildup, maybe a handful of times, but also almost never.

If it's astringent/tannic then on some older cigars, but nothing 6 months to 2 years. And not on the outside of the cigar, but just in general.

Everyone's sense of taste is different, but also everyone's environment is different, both ambient and storage.

How are you storing the cigars? What are the ambient conditions? How fast or slow are you smoking? How are you cutting the cigar? How are you lighting the cigar?

Any of these could affect things.

Finally what cigars are you talking about, and what cigars if any are you comparing to?

Storage is PigFish via a Raching unit 70 degrees by 60% humidity…

 

I have noticed this when I am outside and it’s cold, warm, inside with no wind…pretty much all the time…cigar cut doesn’t make a difference either…have had it with guillotine and V cutter…

 

I am a fairly fast smoker but slow it down when the youth or ammonia in the cigar start to show…might be that on my lips as mentioned earlier as well…that would make sense…or the young fermentation by products that leach out as it gets warm…it’s definitely not inside the cigar….I use a torch lighter…toast and slowly let combustion happen…

[Bijan]

1 hour ago, wine_junkie said:

I am a fairly fast smoker but slow it down when the youth or ammonia in the cigar start to show…

How fast is fast? And how slow when you slow down?

Apart from that how often do you experience this issue?

Finally how often do you smoke? And has that amount changed? And if so does that affect the frequency of this problem?

 

There are a handful of things I can think of that can be the cause of the issue (if it's regular and not once in a blue moon).

1. How you store the cigars (too humid or too dry).

2. Ambient where you smoke the cigars (smoking outside in the rain for example).

3. How you smoke? Too fast or too slow.

4. You, yourself. If you're sick, or smoking much more or much less than your usual.

Finally you need a control to rule yourself out universally. Are there are any cigars that never have this feeling or taste (some brand or size of CCs, or some other type of cigars, such as NCs from a local store)?

[Edicion]

If it's about the black oily substance that is described as tar, you can minimize the chances of getting it by only do straight cuts, even on smaller ring gauge cigars.

The other thing that works for me is to, every now and then, puff and blow the smoke back into the cigar.

Never had more tar issues following these two things.

[Bijan]

3 hours ago, Edicion said:

If it's about the black oily substance that is described as tar, you can minimize the chances of getting it by only do straight cuts, even on smaller ring gauge cigars.

I use punch cuts on everything except pyramids and I have tar maybe in one out of a thousand cigars.

I also rarely purge/blow into the cigar.

I think both of those will help/work, but I just wonder what other factors make tar buildup to be a problem for some but not others.

[bishop532]

7 hours ago, wine_junkie said:

I am a fairly fast smoker

This would be my guess as to the culprit. others noted this above - it can affect taste to a surprising degree. I’ve heard people complain that all their cigars have developed a soapy taste, all their cigars taste bitter, their whole humidor went sick at the same time, etc etc Generally, slowing down to at least a minute or so between puffs helped fix the problem.

Also, sometimes people’s taste buds change as they age (or from sickness/stress, as mentioned above). 

[Edicion]

1 hour ago, Bijan said:

I use punch cuts on everything except pyramids and I have tar maybe in one out of a thousand cigars.

I also rarely purge/blow into the cigar.

I think both of those will help/work, but I just wonder what other factors make tar buildup to be a problem for some but not others.

It's possible you don't have many issues because you smoke smaller RG cigars from what I recall where a punch cut removes as much surface as a straight cut. Thus, since you don't have a build up of tar , blowing into cigar is not necessary.

Btw if anyone wants to try that "tar" have a go at a Vigia by removing only a minimum amount of the pigtail and give it a try for 15-20 min. Incredible draw but tar will stain your teeth and fingers soon enough. Never fails....

[Bijan]

1 minute ago, Edicion said:

It's possible you don't have many issues because you smoke smaller RG cigars from what I recall where a punch cut removes as much surface as a straight cut. Thus, since you don't have a build up of tar , blowing into cigar is not necessary.

Oh ok! Yeah I generally don't use a single small punch on large RG cigars (only exception is for wind tunnels). I either use a large punch or generally I triple punch them to form a larger circle.

[KnightsAnole]

44 minutes ago, Bijan said:

Oh ok! Yeah I generally don't use a single small punch on large RG cigars (only exception is for wind tunnels). I either use a large punch or generally I triple punch them to form a larger circle.

I do use a 9mm punch on all my larger cigars and rarely have this problem, but it does happen. I’ve often made an additional straight cut on the last 1/3 to remove tar buildup around the initial punch hole. I’ve also found that wetter cigars seem to buildup tar quicker than were I like to smoke them. Tighter cigars also tend to buildup more tar towards the end.

Sometimes you can taste a cigar that’s still too wet, just by tasting the unlit cigar  wrapper at the cap. I find this especially noticeable with younger cigars and much less, if at all, with aged cigars.

[Ford2112]

I tend to pull flavor notes of Leather,Cedar,Stone Fruit,Cream,Agent Orange,Cacao/Expesso and Paraquat out of some of my cigars...

[MrBirdman]

Keeping the head of the cigar as dry as possible is also crucial for preventing tar buildup. Saliva breaks down tobacco smoke, which can quickly lead to excess tar buildup. 

[Bijan]

5 minutes ago, MrBirdman said:

Keeping the head of the cigar as dry as possible is also crucial for preventing tar buildup. Saliva breaks down tobacco smoke, which can quickly lead to excess tar buildup. 

True!

For me personally a punch cut tends to keeps the head drier than a straight cut.

[...]

Another option not mentioned yet is your personal reaction to the product. There is a slim possibility you might have a physiological reaction, be it intolerance or mild allergic reaction to tobacco... There are a few health professional on this board, hopefully they could chime in with their opinion on the subject.

[BrightonCorgi]

Sounds like ammonia.