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Cigar Reviewing - Take 1

Ginseng

Banned
Joined
Oct 2, 2005
Messages
8,802
One of the great satisfactions of cigar smoking is tapping into the sensual, sensory pleasures that the burning leaf provides. As we become more experienced, our ability to discern aroma and flavor notes that are reminiscent of other things can become more acute and enhance our enjoyment of the experience. Cultivating this skill requires three essential elements:

1) The actual experience of the original sensory stimuli
"my mom used to make chocolate-sweet milk brownies when I was growing up"

2) A representation of that original experience in olfactory (smell) memory
"it was a rich cocoa aroma, with a milkiness from the sweetened condensed milk"

3) Focused and effortful practice in letting the experience of the cigar trigger connections in our olfactory sensory memory
"in my first PAM64, I caught a hint of something sweet, by my fifth, it really started to remind me of mom's chocolate sweet-milk brownies"

So, the first key point is that you actually had to have had a sensory experience that you then call up to associate with something you detect while smoking a cigar. The second key point is that aside from certain very strong and clear connections, this is a skill that improves with practice.

An additional complication is that from the sensory sciences, we've learned that people fall into three broad categories with regard to flavor detecting ability. Super tasters have the greatest ability, average tasters are about in the middle and non-tasters tend to detect fewer flavors or only the strongest ones. The primary difference between these three categories is in the density of taste buds on the tongue, however, there is also evidence that super tasters' sensitivities extend beyond the taste buds to subtle differences in brain chemistry and structure. Also, importantly, not only do people have different taste-abilities, but the same mixture of complex scent molecules can be perceived differently and trigger different associations. My cinnamon bun may be your graham cracker.

Here are a few links to interesting articles on tasting.
A great article about tasting and super tasters, with pictures
An interesting article about how our sense of taste can be fooled by other perceptions
An article that lends credence to the technique of blowing a little smoke out your nose to access more flavor notes
A moderately technical description of the neural process of tasting
A short article on bitter tastes and super tasters

So what does this have to do with smoking cigars? Well, when I was starting out, I would read the range of reviews out there and one type would always cause me to wonder whether I was getting everything I could out of a cigar. I'd read them and begin to doubt my own experiences. Anxiety about grabbing every flavor reference I could find would sometimes interfere with the enjoyment...and as we all know, that's just wrong. I call these "esoteric" reviews. They are typically written in flowery prose and include copious amounts of highly specific and uncommon descriptors.

But, if we understand that 1) people naturally have varying levels of tasting ability, 2) we each can perceive and associate scents differently and 3) linking flavor notes to scent memories is a skill that can be improved with practice, then we can see these reviews and our own capabilities in a whole new light. We can be comfortable enjoying our individual experience of smoking the cigar.

Just for curiosity's sake, I carried out a quick word analysis of a recent cigar review written by an established member of an online forum. I extracted the descriptor words (descriptive nouns, adjectives and adverbs) and counted them and compared that count to the total word count. In the case of this review, selected at random, fully 52% of all the words were descriptors. Now I want to make clear that I did not single out this person's work to subject it to ridicule. It is simply his style and way of describing his experience. I want to show an extreme example of the esoteric style to see if there's anything we can learn and use in our own accounts.

Wilkey

Total Descriptors, approximate: 202

Color (24)
Colorado Claro
deep cocoa
Van Dyke brown
burnt sienna cast
straw gold highlighting, around veins
single dark olive water mark, at mid-ship
ochre-tinged sienna
natural walnut
khaki
cocoa
Van Dyke brown
rich umber, imbued with...
pronounced sanguine tone

Physical Characteristics (22)
relatively silky outer leaf
minimal veining
quite similar
very fine tooth
very mild box press
relatively compact roll density, translated to...
medium medium-firm finger feel
good superficial resilience
nicely rendered taper, diminished to...
well-crafted point
exemplary build

Ash & Burn (20)
slightly flaky, chasmal, light to naval grey exterior of ash
more solid dark charcoal interior
cautiously disengaged the ash
variously rounded, blunted, conical, filigree embering tip
burn edge tended to unevenness
pre-light draw

Aroma and On the Palate (118)
archetypal primary VVV fragrance of...
sweet clay earth
cocoa, lightly dusted by
hint of peanuts, embellished by
saddle leather
toffee
faint cedar
cedar, much more forthright
woodiness, bound to
smooth core Cuban leaf
peripheral sensations of...
bitter greens
bell peppers
lime zest
jalapeño, demure hit of
cigar lounge
ripe tobacco
antique furniture and leather upholstery, scents of
sumptuous
discreet sweetness. leaned to
smoke-dried apricots and cherries, evocative of
roasted cocktail nuts
rounded, medium bodied, sagely toasted tobacco
barn hay
calcareous soil striated with rock salt
cedar
white pepper
roasted peanuts and Arabica coffee, subtle overlay of
dried herbs, softly conveyed
zesty vegetal and cedar notes, echoed
simultaneously light and mouth-filling effect
earth-infused tobacco, to the fore
sweet meat quality
surprising
very round
amiable
somewhat remiscent
peak
nuts and coffee, slowly melded into the mix
textural quality, further smoothed by...
veneer of leather
homogeneous whole, amalgamated into
core tastes, never corroded by...
herbal, peppery spices
floral nuances, peeked through
bitterness
Medium to medium-full bodied at the close
Less piquant perkiness and spark
young
superior integration of...
wide-ranging constituent taste aspects

General (18)
quite similar
overall appearance
recent production
higher standard
regular production vitola
superb
summer afternoon cigar
early stage
ideal
Eminently satisfying
well-blended characteristics...
emerged and fused
barely 5 month old
carefully matured tobaccos
 
Way cool, Gensing. I always love a wordy review but that is more about my love of language. A short concise review sometimes says more. But there are exceptions. Man, you did a hell of a lot of research.
 
Very nice, Wilkey. :thumbs:

I like reading a good review and, in addition to the sensory aspects of the cigar, like to hear a bit about the environment in which the cigar was smoked. For me, it gives a more complete rendering of the overall experience that the reviewer had and allows me to "relate" more fully.

On the other hand, "it was a damn fine smoke" works too! :D
 
Great stuff Wilkey. Years ago a friend of mine informed me that I was a "super taster." I've come to believe that most cigar smokers probably are as well. I've introduced many of my friends to cigars over the past few years and none of them seem to understand the attraction. I believe it has a lot to do with the fact that they don't taste the way I do. Thanks for the post.
 
Ginseng said:
hudsonvalley,
Variety is indeed the spice of life. I find the actual form of the prose to be secondary to the message and the character of its delivery. That said, sometimes one is in the mood for Moby DIck and other times Dick and Jane.

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You'll forgive for noticing that "one is" in both cases in the mood for a common denominator :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Me, sometimes I am in the mood for Puss in Boots and sometimes just barefoot.
 
Hi Hudson,

Please PM me the correct form and I will fix the post. I appreciate the assist as sometimes the reach of my thoughts exceeds the grasp of my grammar. :)

Wilkey
 
Hiya Ginseng,

Great post on "Detecting flavours".. Most informative and excellent links.

I consider myself a taster (I do have fine tastebuds that do translate into wine identification and appreciation). In comparison to others on this forum, regarding cigars, I consider myself still vey much learning, even the fundamentals. I would not say the same about my knowledge of wine for instance.

What I do with cigars, is keep notes. I enjoy that of itself, and to triangulate my notes I make a comparative note with the cigars I had the previous 2 or three days, as well as a comparison with the same cigar months ago (if that note exists). I am slowly building my repertoire and enjoying it as I do. I only wanted to say that I am a "lover" of cigar and I do know that my notes are subjective, or perhaps there is that much of a difference from two cigars from the same box. :)

Anyway, I really enjoy your comments, as well as the comments of many other seasoned people on this forum.

Great site,

MidGe
 
No, Wilkey, it's all on me. If a sophomoric dick joke needs explaining then I made it too complicated. :)
 
Ginseng - interesting stuff. I'm going to give it and your links a read when I'm not running out the door for work....like, as soon as I get to work..... :p

Thanks - B.B.S.
 
BlindedByScience said:
Ginseng - interesting stuff. I'm going to give it and your links a read when I'm not running out the door for work....like, as soon as I get to work..... :p

Thanks - B.B.S.
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That's exactly what I did. I saw it last night and read it when I got to work today. I love this job!! :laugh:

Wilkey, great post. Very informative. I think it deserves to be pinned in the review forum. :thumbs:
 
Wilkey as always a very informative post on the subject of cigar tasting, nothing like defining those things that are at times undefinable as we smoke. I keep a small book with me to try to capture what I am smoking, but most times I end up so engrossed in the actual cigar that I end up not entering the information. I’ll make sure to keep this around as reference
 
Wilkey:

Very nice post, thank you. You know, I had really thought that I was in the catagory of people who don't taste all that much. However I recently had a Gurka regent and got a very strong taste of black cherry. First time this had ever happened that I identified with something that directly. As time goes by, I seem to be getting better, so maybe it's something you can train yourself to do.
 
Great post Wilkey.
I really enjoy cigars and am just now getting enough experience to start analyzing flavors.
This is a great guide and will give me a basis to work with
I feel I am an average taster and am looking to improve with experience.

Thanks again
 
Thanks for the great post Wilkey. I now remember more about my childhood. Like recently remembering I had a dog named Canabus. :D

In all seriousness - the connections made, along with the experience shared, is becoming a great time of enjoyment.

Thanks my friend

Lkyman
 
Wilkey great analysis one thing I have noticed. The same cigar smoked in different environments may affect the flavors associated with it. For instance your reviews are often associated with food they make me hungry while I tend to associate mine with the outdoors and the environment. My environment is cold right now can’t wait for spring and all the great smells of the woods. Keep up the great reviews look forward to them you are a great cigar reviewer much like AVB is a great scotch reviewer. What I like about any review is when it is more personal than scientific and you and AVB are aces at this.
 
This thread makes my head hurt! Me dont likes to think that much! :laugh:

The cigar I am smoking right now tastes really "GOOD". :D
 
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