"Marrying Flavors"

[Deeks]

Hey all,

I was doing some reading the other day and came across an article about mixing cigars in your humidor.

The gist of it was that it's a bad idea to mix your cigars together in your humidor.

Reason being that having different brands in contact with one another will "marry the flavors".

It sounds bogus, considering the majority of a cigars flavor comes from the filler tobacco, but I was curious to hear what everyone else thought.

- Deeks

[anacostiakat]

Hey all,

I was doing some reading the other day and came across an article about mixing cigars in your humidor.

The gist of it was that it's a bad idea to mix your cigars together in your humidor.

Reason being that having different brands in contact with one another will "marry the flavors".

It sounds bogus, considering the majority of a cigars flavor comes from the filler tobacco, but I was curious to hear what everyone else thought.

- Deeks

Not if you are buying Acids.

[Van55]

Actually Acid cigars sort of prove the point, don't they?

Put an Acid "infused" cigar in your humidor and see what happens to the real cigars. They take on the incense aroma pretty quickly. Even worse, put a partially smoked unlit cigar in your humidor. That will make everything inside the humidor stink of stale smoke.

So yes, in my opinion there is some "marrying" of flavors and aromas among cigars stored together, but in all but the extreme cases cited above, it's not enough to be noticible on the average palate. The cigars that I store in my singles drawer seem to maintain their own distinctive flavor profiles just fine, to my taste.

[Ginseng]

Actually, Van. I think there's a difference between alien volatile aromatic compounds (such as the nastiness found in Acids) and the flavor generating components naturally found in fermented tobacco. In the former case, the oils are primarily sensed in cold aroma, thus they must necessarily be pungent. And, they had to have been mobile enough to have penetrated the Acid's tobacco in the first place. In the case of natural tobacco, the important flavor components are generated/released upon burning. Or at least they become consequential upon burning. After all, how many have described an unburnt cigar with the nuances as have been reported in the more florid reviews of cigars smoked?

So long answer short: While I think putting an extremely barnyardy stick in with very light aroma cigars may cause the light sticks to pick up some barnyardness, I do not believe there will be any alteration to the profile or flavors upon smoking.

Wilkey

[jeromeroselli]

barnyardy.. my new favorite word.

lol

[Deeks]

Ha! Barnyardy.

[Habanos2000]

My long answer short: no.

[Stormin691]

Barnyardy!!!

[Ethernut]

I believe ive experienced some flavor creep in my singles humi (150 sticks+) but I'm unable to distinguish it from the normal aging process. My CoRos still taste fantastic so I'm not worried about it..

Ether...

[Stalebread]

It seems like there was a thread a while back about flavors and aromas marrying, or not. As I recall, that particular thread veered a little off course but if you can find it, it presented differing viewpoints on the subject. I think it was about keeping cigars in a singles drawer.

Personally, I don't believe it happens, at least not in any appreciable way.

Good explanation, Wilkey.

[PigFish]

NOTE TO SELF: Never fart in the humidor!!! Stop using the old cat litter box as a humidifier. Disqualify the under-lid area of the toilet as a cool, damp place!

Oh... excuse me... thinking out loud again! I agree with Wilkey.

[elderboy02]

I store my cigars mixed together. It would take a long time, in my opinion, to get the flavors to mix.

[smokem]

With my first ccs in my first humidor, I purposely placed ncs next to them hoping they would pick something up. Of course I never worried about the reverse nor did I actually taste any difference.

My answer it depends on the following (all based on my opinions, not facts):

*Time. Critical. For majority of smokers the time is not long enough for any discernable marrying to occur.

*Sensitivity of Palate. Right up there with time. Even if there is some sort of change, if it can’t be detected what does it matter. If you can detect the many nuances with a fresh smoke, more chance you’ll detect any changes over time.

*Cigar body. More chance of transferring flavors from a full bodied cigar as oppose to a lighter more subtle cigar.

*Similarities/differences between the cigars. More chance of marrying (and/or detection of) if cigars are vastly different

[android]

I agree with Wilkey.

[Ginseng]

Yeah, but does it make sense? I think it does. Since the air in a cooler does take on the smell of your cigars, there's definitely something coming out and making that smell. What I'm saying is that those compounds may not be directly related to what gives a cigar flavor when smoked. Clearly there has to be some connection, just a weak one. So, smell can share smell, but smell can't share smoked flavor is it I think.

Wilkey

[PigFish]

Yeah, but does it make sense? I think it does.

Wilkey

Yes... that is why I agree with you! My previous post was a bit of a joke but... Would you clean the inside of you glass top Cohibas box with window cleaner? Well maybe! -LOL

I won't handle my cigars if I have solvents from the garage or volital oils or other fragrent smells on my hands. I won't clean humidor parts with poisonous, or volatile liquids. I won't even open a humidor if the house has too much cooking odor in it!!! Will some of those individual items ruin my cigars? Perhaps not, but with thousands of cigars worth a considerable amount of 'change' I am not willing to take the risk.

Do I care if I put what is left of a Bolivar lonsdale box in with a Bolivar CG box? Not at all, I did it yesterday. Will I put the remainder of 5 or 6 open boxes of Piramides in with other larger cigars to make room for more boxes, integrating brands and shapes in a dizzying array? Yes, I will. Common sense dictates. That is all the thought required. -Piggy

[Colt45]

So you mean if I stick a tomato and a banana in a bag together, they won't eventually taste like each other?

there goes another idea.......

[PigFish]

So you mean if I stick a tomato and a banana in a bag together, they won't eventually taste like each other?

there goes another idea.......

No... but if you plant a tomato at the foot of your banana you will get the John Holms hybrid "hunglow" plant! Put that in your humidor and you may well get ****ed!!!

[smk819]

When I run out of room in my box storage, I take the cigars from the mostly empty boxes and put them into a singles humidor. I have never noticed a different flavor. My 898Vs don't taste anything like the Siglo IIIs that they are sharing space with. Nor do the RASCC taste like the Siglo I. There might be a subtle change, but I don't have a refined enough taste to notice.

[Colt45]

No... but if you plant a tomato at the foot of your banana you will get the John Holms hybrid "hunglow" plant!

Thankfully I didn't mention eggplant.

[sounddust]

And durians.

[DrunkenMonkey]

And durians.

OK, now we're on to something. Who's going to take one for the team, and put some durians in the cabinet humidor with your cigars for a few weeks, and let us know what the cigars taste like after that?

[PigFish]

Thankfully I didn't mention eggplant.

Elephantiasis was never on the table... until now!

[sounddust]

OK, now we're on to something. Who's going to take one for the team, and put some durians in the cabinet humidor with your cigars for a few weeks, and let us know what the cigars taste like after that?

Such an awful thing to suggest, hiding a few seeds in some poor soul's humidor. Think 10 seconds will suffice.