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The Evil Dr. Moki's Group Blind Taste Test #1

Jay those are great questions.

My family was in the tobacco growing business from 1918-1989. I had one uncle left that produced leaf until 1989, unfortunately most of my uncles on my father's side including dad didn't take to the farm life. Only three of seven brothers stayed in the business. Selling to Consolidated Cigars the makers of El Producto and Dutch Masters. There goes my reference to those cigars in many of my posts. My grandfather was a prolific cigar smoker, he had a cigar in his mouth from the morning till when he went to bed.

It is strange but of the my uncles and cousins I'm the only cigar smoker in the family. I have two cousins that made the cigars that my grandfather smoked. He passed away when I was 16 and never had the opportunity to smoke a cigar or really ask him about tobacco and it's cultivation. I remember vividly the barns filled to the rafters with the leaf.

I've been smoking cigars on and off for 30 years. I really got involved when I was stationed oversea and smoked many cigars during the mid to late 70's. Got married and had a child and that kind of took the place of the disposable income for a while and cigars left until the late 80's. I have a few friends that smoked cigars, so that got me to smoking cigars on a semi regular basis. I had access to Europe so getting certain cigars was not that hard. I got to go to the Middle East on the full American plan with my Uncle Samuel and cigars were in abundance. I was able to go to the UAE on many occasions and enjoy tons of cigars without anyone saying I was smoking too much.

I guess I really had the money to indulge when my son graduated college in 2002. I was able to buy cigars in boxes and store them and share with friends. I had the chance to go to the Middle East again and was able to get some more cigars. Which brings me up to now I have cigars from the some cigars 70s,80s,90s 2000s. My collection is small but is full of many different cigars from all over.

I don't have enough time to smoke as I would like, but once the weather warms up I have one a night and several on the weekends. I took up golfing so I could have several cigars in one day and not have to hear that I was smoking too much. A recurring theme, is I have to cut back so I can live longer. My answer is why, if I can't enjoy myself.

So I don't think I have a refined palate, but I know what I like and try to smoke as much of it as I can. I like cigars from all over, my only preference is BRCs and I did cut my teeth on H. Upmann Connoisseur No. 1.
 
Casual smoking cigars about 8 years

Serious cigar smoking/hobbying/storing/researching about 3 years
 
Tony is the ringer guys.

What I am trying to get at (as my cat climbs all over me) is over time would say your taste improves. Or perhaps you have smoked a wide variety of cigars, and when you revisit the same brand you can pick up on the subtle difference. Such as Monti from Partagas. No-Cuban from a Cuban.
 
enerjay said:
Tony is the ringer guys.

What I am trying to get at (as my cat climbs all over me) is over time would say your taste improves. Or perhaps you have smoked a wide variety of cigars, and when you revisit the same brand you can pick up on the subtle difference. Such as Monti from Partagas. No-Cuban from a Cuban.
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I would venture to say all of what you stated is true. The more you smoke the better you probably get at picking certain things out. The more variety you smoke, the better you become and identifying certain profiles and such.

Where I had the most trouble is picking the marca and/or the origin. I know Moki gave us specific guidance to ignore all aspects of the cigar other than taste for this exercise and I understand why. But for me, it was hard to not allow the size, color, and construction of the cigar to play a part in guessing the marca and origin.

To be honest, aside from the taste which to me was reminiscent of the MAG 46 (wish I'd trusted my instincts), the thin gauge/wrapper color/and construction couldn't help but play a part in identifying it as a Cuban cigar. I didn't study it with a ring gauge measurer and a ruler or anything, but just pure appearance couldn't help but play a part....no matter if I gave it much attention or not.
 
enerjay said:
IMG_5148.jpg



Well it's wait and see how I did time.
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Nice nubs!
 
Brickhouse said:
Where I had the most trouble is picking the marca and/or the origin. I know Moki gave us specific guidance to ignore all aspects of the cigar other than taste for this exercise and I understand why. But for me, it was hard to not allow the size, color, and construction of the cigar to play a part in guessing the marca and origin.
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Just remember... it's not a test (even though the title says it is)... the reason that the guidelines are as they are is really for you. The fewer preconceptions you have about the cigar, the more your taste buds will be making the calls.

So think of it as a challenge to yourself... there's no harm in getting things wrong. I get 'em wrong in blind taste tests all the time, and I promise you everyone will get some of these cigars wrong.

The point isn't how "right" you are, but how much you learn on the journey! The more you stick to just letting the taste of the cigar alone guide your decision, the more you'll be training your taste buds.
 
moki said:
Just remember... it's not a test (even though the title says it is)... the reason that the guidelines are as they are is really for you. The fewer preconceptions you have about the cigar, the more your taste buds will be making the calls.

So think of it as a challenge to yourself... there's no harm in getting things wrong. I get 'em wrong in blind taste tests all the time, and I promise you everyone will get some of these cigars wrong.

The point isn't how "right" you are, but how much you learn on the journey! The more you stick to just letting the taste of the cigar alone guide your decision, the more you'll be training your taste buds.
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Good point Andrew.

After reading my post again I didn't really like how I said it. What I'm getting at is that looking at the cigar is something I just subconsciously do while smoking a cigar. I made no attempt to figure it out prior to lighting but, whether I like it or not, the appearance of it plays a part in the taste...for me. I guess the only real way around this would be to blind fold myself, lol.

I hope I'm making sense, I know what I want to say...but I don't think I'm saying it right.
 
enerjay said:
Tony is the ringer guys.

What I am trying to get at (as my cat climbs all over me) is over time would say your taste improves. Or perhaps you have smoked a wide variety of cigars, and when you revisit the same brand you can pick up on the subtle difference. Such as Monti from Partagas. No-Cuban from a Cuban.
Click to expand...

Personally, I would say that over the last 8 years my sense of taste and smell have either increased dramatically or I am now just more in tune with those senses. I've taken a few sensory classes over the last few years where all we've done for 16 weeks is evaluate taste and smell components in drink and food. These changes in my senses have definitely rolled into my enjoyment of cigars, mostly for the better.

Unfortunately, they have also led to some rather uncomfortable moments. I once walked into a tasting room where the smell of the new rubber mats on the floor were so offensive that I couldn't stay in the room, others didn't even seem notice it. Or when the dogs don't quite make it to the backyard and the smell comes through the door leading into the house from the garage. Last night was a perfect example, I attended a talk by Dr. Andrew Weil in a large theater. Sitting next to me was this older lady wearing perfume, I don't think she was wearing more than the average person but I thought I was going to suffocate from the smell!


:cool:
 
NorCalCigarLover said:
These changes in my senses have definitely rolled into my enjoyment of cigars, mostly for the better.

Unfortunately, they have also led to some rather uncomfortable moments. I once walked into a tasting room where the smell of the new rubber mats on the floor were so offensive that I couldn't stay in the room, others didn't even seem notice it.
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Maybe you're pregnant? :)
 
I've been purchasing and enjoying good cigars for about four years now. I would definitely consider myself a "rookie" at the whole tasting / rating game.
 
moki said:
NorCalCigarLover said:
These changes in my senses have definitely rolled into my enjoyment of cigars, mostly for the better.

Unfortunately, they have also led to some rather uncomfortable moments. I once walked into a tasting room where the smell of the new rubber mats on the floor were so offensive that I couldn't stay in the room, others didn't even seem notice it.
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Maybe you're pregnant? :)
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Yeah ...... that's what my wife said :laugh:


:cool:
 
Sorry to have missed the first review, although my guess at what it was from eyeballing it wasn't that far off. My throat is still pretty trashed but my voice is coming back and the cough has calmed down some so I WILL be doing #2 by the deadline.

As far as Jay's question, I have casually smoked cigars on and off for about 7 years but only seriously since 2006 when my son was born. So actually almost exactly 2 years.
 
Great reviews, Gentlemen. Very interesting to see each BOTLs smoking background, particularly Anthony's family history.

I know this is hard for you guys :D , but keep up the good work :thumbs: :thumbs:
 
Great news... sinnyc's cigars finally arrived. Who knows what happened to 'em, but he says he got them today in good shape.

He's not read the read, and will be smoking #1 & #2 today, and submitting his reviews. :thumbs:
 
My cigars arrived this morning - &(@^$^@ USPS. The smokes were fine so that put a big smile on my face. :thumbs:

I have not read this thread (other than to copy the review criteria from Moki's first post) since before the reviews started. I just submitted my review for #1 to Moki and am now going to read what I have been missing for the last few days!

I'll be doing #2 later today or tonight.
 
That's great news...I'll be hitting #2 in a bit as well.
 
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