Why Is It That We Taste Different Things In A Cigar?

Cigars

I think it’s almost funny to say that a cigar has, among other things, fruity flavors, fruit salad, pear, peach, grapes, milk chocolate. A cigar hardly has them seasoned with any of the above (unless it’s a flavored cigar)

Saying that a cigar tastes like chocolate cake or fruit salad is pretty funny if you think about it. But what is it due to? How is it that some people can find more and deeper flavors than others? It all depends on the blend, how your taste buds are trained, experience and how your day was.

Table of Contents

I will explain what i consider to be the main points

The blend in the cigar
How your taste buds are trained
How your day has been
Experiences

1. The blend in the cigar

Cigar in progress

Some tobacco has a natural spiciness reminiscent of black, white or cayenne pepper, another tobacco has a certain sweetness, hay, fruitiness to name just a few flavor nuances found in the tobacco. Then you have all the fermentation and storage processes that give the tobacco a certain character and round off the flavors in one way or another. Now let’s say that the cigar you are smoking has a small amount of spicy tobacco, a tobacco that has been aged in whiskey barrels for 3 months to give them a sweetness and special character, and a tobacco that has a slight bitterness in it. What happens is that when you smoke the cigar, the taste buds begin to draw parallels to flavors you are used to and recognize. A cigar with a lot of sweetness, some fruitiness and a slight slight bitterness can cause the brain to associate to cake or fruit salad. The brain and taste buds cannot distinguish each tobacco by itself, then it begins to draw parallels to flavors it recognizes thanks to the blend.

You can compare cigar blending with cooking. A chef spices and prepares the dinner with everything he has in mind to give a food dish a special taste, a dish he has in mind to be able to give you a culinary pleasure experience.
Those who make the blend for a cigar think in the same way as the chef cooking a dinner. The big difference is that the blend is a little more difficult to get, given that to get the right taste they have to get tobacco that may not be available in your area, tobacco from special years’ harvests, special storage and make several blends to achieve perfection and the taste he seeks to give you and me a culinary experience.

2. How your taste buds are trained

A cigar is not flavored with fruit, pears, chocolate cake, sweets or flowers. The natural flavors in the cigar can make our taste buds associate specific flavors. Let’s say you eat a particular food a little too often and way too much salty peanuts, your taste buds will automatically find and associate with the flavors in the dish and peanuts more easily while other flavors that can be associated with the cigar disappear. Let’s say you have a love for chocolate that you eat a little extra of. What is interesting is that even if a cigar is not seasoned with milk chocolate cake, you can associate more easily to the flavors in the cigar. It’s a lot about the blend and how your taste buds are trained.

Let’s say a certain part of the tobacco is a sweeter tobacco and a part that is a bit more bitter that gives a certain chocolaty taste, your taste buds will mix the sweetness and the chocolate into one taste and draw parallels to a sweeter chocolate cake. Do you sometimes eat fruit salad, Let’s now say that the tobacco used is of a milder character and one that has hay and fruity nuances, then the taste buds can draw parallels to fruit salad. The combination of the blend and your taste buds makes you associate different tastes. For example, I can sometimes find pears in a cigar. I often eat it a little too much in the summer. It associates.

If you eat a varied diet and have trained your taste buds for flavors in a cigar a little extra, then you will automatically find several flavors. Your brain automatically starts looking for flavors and finds it more easily. Read our tips on how to train your taste buds here: Cigar sense of taste

3. How your day has been

The shape of your day can determine how much flavor you feel and whether you should go for a lighter cigar or can go for a more complex cigar with a lot of flavor. Let’s say you slept well, ate and the day is perfect. Then the taste buds are fully awake and have an easier time absorbing flavors. A full bodied cigar is in order if you like them. If, on the other hand, you slept poorly, the day is stressful and you feel completely exhausted, then the taste buds are not nearly as alert and have difficulty absorbing flavors and can more easily become overwhelmed. A cigar with a light body would be a better option so as not to overwhelm the taste buds and ruin the moment with the cigar.

We can compare it with the rest of the body. Imagine you slept badly one night, 3 hours of sleep, the clock rings and you have to go. The tiredness can make your body ache, your ability to react becomes worse, your appetite is poor and you just want to order food and then sleep. Your taste buds act in the same way, robust flavors overwhelm them quickly, you want something mild, light and sweet. If you are tired, your taste buds are too. Then I would have chosen a milder cigar with less complexity.

4. Experience

As with most things, practice makes perfect. Finding flavors in a cigar is like anything else. The more cigars we smoke, the easier it is for us to find flavors. It may go without saying, but it may be worth mentioning. If you vary cigars and don’t stick to one type, you challenge the taste buds and make them seek out new flavors. That way, they are more on the alert and don’t follow a routine. Over time it becomes easier to distinguish flavors and put your finger on them.

As a rule, when I order a go to cigar, an order must always have at least 2-3 cigars I haven’t tried yet. That way, I keep my taste buds on alert and get to explore more flavors. I have many cigars I like, but how will I know which one is my top 1 if I haven’t tried them all 🙂

How we experience a cigar has to do with all the parts above. Without a good blend there are no good flavors and combinations, without a good sense of taste you can’t find the flavors or be able to associate them with flavors and without a good daily shape, the taste buds are tired and can’t bear to look for the flavors that are there.

Choose your cigars with care. The hour you spend should be an hour filled with pleasure.