Tasting Notes: Banana and Mint Jelly.

[El Presidente]

I love reading the tasting notes of FOH members 

In the last week we have read tasting notes that have included banana and mint jelly. Not in the same cigar mind you. 

Now I can't recall ever having tasted quite those flavours in a cigar but I don't doubt members do. We all have different physiological palate makeups. Among my own deck circle, I would rate my palate as decent, Kens is excellent, Smithy's palate is superb. Stan and Fabian can only taste tobacco. 

Where would you place your own palate? What is the most interesting flavour you have come across in a cigar? 

[loose_axle]

I'd say decent, I can register enough for tasting notes. 

Most interesting was Rock melon, peaches, mango and cream notes in an SLR DC. I thought my palate was hallucinating. 

[ElLoboLoco]

I will say the BR Dalia had a tasty fruit note with, I hate to say it...mint notes. Gave it a 94 with little rest.

That is mint jelly I think. 😂

[Duder]

That mint jelly note really caught me off guard. That was a new one for me. I have never gotten banana. That would be wild. I’d say my palate is pretty average. Sometimes I get nothing but basic earth, leather, cream, chocolate and coffee notes. More rare are the deeper more delicate descriptive flavors. It’s always fun when those scream out to you. 

[ReelMan]

7 hours ago, Duder said:

That mint jelly note really caught me off guard. That was a new one for me. I have never gotten banana. That would be wild. I’d say my palate is pretty average. Sometimes I get nothing but basic earth, leather, cream, chocolate and coffee notes. More rare are the deeper more delicate descriptive flavors. It’s always fun when those scream out to you. 

I am in the average category as well. I'm not blowing smoke up your shorts when I say, Rob, I am finding many more notes in the Fabrica line-up than I normally found in CCs. And that is not psychosomatic. True stuff.

I picked up a Wide Churchill yesterday, looked at a Carlota sitting next to it, and chose the Carlota. Taste beats frustration.   

[Havanaaddict]

Well, it was probably 25+ years ago when I was smoking a vintage RASS and I made the comment I tasted stewed fruit! No one had ever heard of that term certain guys gave me lots of c**p saying, "what are you talking about?" I laughed it off and kept saying whenever I smoke a vintage RASS I get stewed fruit.

Now that term is used as a normal description of cigars. 

I can see the mint jelly comment if you ever smoked a vintage cigar - I’m talking 70s, 80s. There is a lot of time you will get that mint flavor a lot of it will come on the pre-draw, but it will remain through the lighting and smoking the cigar. Now you just add some sweet jammy flavors to that same Cigar Walla you got mint jelly. 😂 

I think I made that banana comment😜I do get baked banana bread on some cigars.

09' La Gloria Cubana Deliciosos Edicion RegionalCuba Marzipan, Cream, Banana     1/2

[Havanaaddict]

Another strange flavor that I’ve gotten and I can’t remember the cigar, but it was peanut butter. It was only for maybe 5 or 6 puffs and then it was gone, but I keep searching for it.

Oh yeah, I got grilled steak from an old Saint Luis Rey Regios!

[Chibearsv]

I may have a tricky time communicating flavors to others but my palate's good at identifying what I like and identifying marcas more often than not. My Bolivar may not taste like your Bolivar but I’ll be confident mine's a Bolivar nonetheless. I’d call that average since I’m not going to know marzipan in a cigar. 

[bmac]

Smoked a Fat Fundy tonight and along with the rich tobacco and bread flavors it had secondary flavors of Pink Bazooka Bubble Gum.Do these notes qualify?😊

[Dadof3]

I found the banana flavor was common in Cuban sticks in the mid 1990s before they changed the strain of tobacco around 1998 or so. I always described it as  slightly overripe bananas. If that makes a comeback it will be a good thing in my view.  

[Chitmo]

I only ever taste burnt tobacco and bad financial decisions. 

[Christophe]

Banana is not wholly unsurprising. It comes from an ester called isoamyl acetate, which is present in a lot of plants, including e.g. tomatoes. I'm not sure if it's specifically naturally present in tobacco, but it seems plausible, being that tobacco is part of the same family as tomatoes (i.e. nightshades). It's also a common byproduct of fermentation, which is why it's a note often called out in spirits, particularly in Jamaican-style rums for me. I'd say most of these "strange" flavors come from ester compounds. 

Strange note for me I sometimes get from stronger Cuban cigars is like a kind of bolognaise sauce. I see others call out steak, could be I'm in that ballpark. Some kind of savory flavor, with hints of well done beef. 

[Ken Gargett]

some of those Cuban fakes we had over there might have had banana in them. literally. 

can't honestly say i recall either in cigars but both are not unheard of in wines. the character Christophe mentions, i suspect it can also be found occasionally in grapes. i see it in lesser Beaujolais occasionally. i remember doing a tasting at a big co-op on the edge of Burgundy many years ago (the tanker loads of Beaujolais were still arriving) and they were really awful wines. we were all being terribly polite, as they were nice people but finally i could handle it no longer. when the bloke asked what i thought of the Beaujolais, i finally could lie no longer. i apologised and said that to me, it reminded me of bananas. the bloke's face lit up and, i swear this is true, he says, that is great. that is exactly the character we were after. 

mint is a classic character in Cabernet from Coonawarra. 

[Ford2112]

Old lady handbag 👜 

[Dadof3]

15 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

some of those Cuban fakes we had over there might have had banana in them. literally. 

can't honestly say i recall either in cigars but both are not unheard of in wines. the character Christophe mentions, i suspect it can also be found occasionally in grapes. i see it in lesser Beaujolais occasionally. i remember doing a tasting at a big co-op on the edge of Burgundy many years ago (the tanker loads of Beaujolais were still arriving) and they were really awful wines. we were all being terribly polite, as they were nice people but finally i could handle it no longer. when the bloke asked what i thought of the Beaujolais, i finally could lie no longer. i apologised and said that to me, it reminded me of bananas. the bloke's face lit up and, i swear this is true, he says, that is great. that is exactly the character we were after. 

mint is a classic character in Cabernet from Coonawarra. 

There is a recent strain of grapes in the US called cotton candy grapes. They absolutely have a slightly ephemeral taste of cotton candy. They probably have a variation of the esters driving that favor. Very interesting grapes to try. My youngest likes them.  

[ha_banos]

6 hours ago, Dadof3 said:

There is a recent strain of grapes in the US called cotton candy grapes. They absolutely have a slightly ephemeral taste of cotton candy. They probably have a variation of the esters driving that favor. Very interesting grapes to try. My youngest likes them.  

These have also made their way across the pond. I would describe them as vile darkness.

[Dadof3]

4 hours ago, ha_banos said:

These have also made their way across the pond. I would describe them as vile darkness.

They are a good snack for kids. As an adult I won't say they are vile but they are too sweet for me. They are interesting to taste just because it's impressive how they actually do taste like cotton candy at times. Once you've gotten the experience I don't see them being a staple rotation food for a grown up but I won't fault anyone who likes them.  

[bmac]

So the ester compounds back up my bazooka gum claims. By the way the Fat Fundy I mentioned along with the fruit esters was delicious.🤤 

[Tunkat92]

I have never gotten banana notes from a cigar but I have had several cigars that I taste unripe/ green banana notes from.

[Havanaaddict]

6 hours ago, Ford2112 said:

Old lady handbag 👜 

Sadly I have had this flavor from a box of cigars that was stored for 30 + years in a damp musty cellar!😵

[Ken Gargett]

8 hours ago, Ford2112 said:

Old lady handbag 👜 

in the wine world, this was a tasting note "invented" by Len Evans many years ago for describing old but compelex wines, very often old Burgundies. How he came up with it, i don't know. it can work for cigars. 

by chance, i was talking to James Halliday a week or two ago about old tasting descriptions. i was pretty sure it was either Evans or Halliday who came up with the expression, peacock's tail, for the finish on a truly great red, almost certainly a great Burgundy. he wasn't sure if it was Len or himself but it was one of them. 

[zeedubbya]

11 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

in the wine world, this was a tasting note "invented" by Len Evans many years ago for describing old but compelex wines, very often old Burgundies. How he came up with it, i don't know. it can work for cigars. 

by chance, i was talking to James Halliday a week or two ago about old tasting descriptions. i was pretty sure it was either Evans or Halliday who came up with the expression, peacock's tail, for the finish on a truly great red, almost certainly a great Burgundy. he wasn't sure if it was Len or himself but it was one of them. 

I was hoping someone would bring this up! I smoked an older, maybe 2013-2015 Siglo 1 last week which had the famous Len Evans (as I learned from @Ken Gargett many years ago), Old Ladies Handbag taste. I was fishing at the beach at night and couldn’t get a good pic, but it had the taste of leather/floral which struck me as exactly this taste, so I got a good laugh, and thought Ken would enjoy the fish story.  

***Why smoke an aged Cohiba at the beach night fishing? It was a beater cigar and my daughter and wife were collecting shells at low tide and I didn’t initially intend to even bring the rod, but I had just watched a young fella bring in a few nice sized fish off some rocks near this seawall, so I went and got it, scooped up a few sand fleas and wet a line. My luck wasn’t the same, but the cigar was enjoyable enough. It’s amazing how much strength the little Siglo 1. I'm still not sure the fish liked Old Ladies Handbag in their sand fleas though!  

[Ken Gargett]

10 hours ago, zeedubbya said:

I was hoping someone would bring this up! I smoked an older, maybe 2013-2015 Siglo 1 last week which had the famous Len Evans (as I learned from @Ken Gargett many years ago), Old Ladies Handbag taste. I was fishing at the beach at night and couldn’t get a good pic, but it had the taste of leather/floral which struck me as exactly this taste, so I got a good laugh, and thought Ken would enjoy the fish story.  

***Why smoke an aged Cohiba at the beach night fishing? It was a beater cigar and my daughter and wife were collecting shells at low tide and I didn’t initially intend to even bring the rod, but I had just watched a young fella bring in a few nice sized fish off some rocks near this seawall, so I went and got it, scooped up a few sand fleas and wet a line. My luck wasn’t the same, but the cigar was enjoyable enough. It’s amazing how much strength the little Siglo 1. I'm still not sure the fish liked Old Ladies Handbag in their sand fleas though!  

excellent. 

[MeLlamoHabano]

I have a question for some of the experienced members here with trusted palates.

I just posted in the daily smoke thread about a JSL1 (GRM Sep 2021) that gave me one of the best smoking experiences ever. It was so creamy and elegant, hints of citrus throughout but so much buttery biscuit it was insane. But entering the final third I got numerous puffs that were reminiscent of a nice salted seafood like a cod fillet or something. Definitely different than the buttery biscuit notes I was getting. Is that even possible or am I just overwhelmed with how great of a smoke this was that I am imagining things?

[Dadof3]

On 6/28/2026 at 5:58 AM, MeLlamoHabano said:

I have a question for some of the experienced members here with trusted palates.

I just posted in the daily smoke thread about a JSL1 (GRM Sep 2021) that gave me one of the best smoking experiences ever. It was so creamy and elegant, hints of citrus throughout but so much buttery biscuit it was insane. But entering the final third I got numerous puffs that were reminiscent of a nice salted seafood like a cod fillet or something. Definitely different than the buttery biscuit notes I was getting. Is that even possible or am I just overwhelmed with how great of a smoke this was that I am imagining things?

I imagine almost any flavor or aroma is possible. I've tasted salt in some cigars but cannot say it tended over to seafood salt but apparently smell is a good memory trigger so you may have had a memory overlay that then in turn influenced the flavor? I think that is part of the appeal is the unexpected and changing nature of the sensory experience. Try another one and see how it strikes you. I'm always curious how the setting and ambient temperature and whatever you are sipping with it might also change the experience.