Turk10mm
Just smokin
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2007
- Messages
- 782
I've received some wonderful comments on my cigar reviews. It makes me feel good that people enjoy reading about my experiences. However, I often get comments that people don't understand how I'm getting all the flavor profiles and putting them all together. I must admit, a lot of it just takes imagination. When something tastes like leather and or nuts, or straw, or fresh, or vanilla, cocoa, coffee, etc etc its just an experience. The flavor reminds me of these particular things. I've read reviews where I didn't pickup the same flavors, and in some cases didn't even see any resemblance. I think that this is the wonderful thing about reviewing a cigar. The moment, the imagination, the drink, the food, your mood all make up a large portion of the flavors and feelings that a cigar instills in you. So here are a few tips that I can give, being a newb, to help someone write a review.
Give it a shot. Take some time and make it an evening of cigar enjoyment for you, and you alone.
I guess the one thing I've found is that if I'm going to seriously review a cigar, I need to pair it with the right drink. I've found that water doesn't cleanse enough for me. I think Coke is probably the best thing to pair a smoke with. Even bourbons and whisky's alter my experience with the same cigar. But coke is uniform and sweet which, to me, makes a cigar the most enjoyable. It may not be the most sophisticated way to smoke, but I like it.
The second thing I do is make sure I do it alone. If there's conversation going on its not worth the time to try and take notes as you smoke. Its not fair to the person your talking to and doesn't do a good cigar justice. I wait till the missus is in bed, and at least somewhat happy with me, and collect my utensils for my review. I get my 3x5 cards out (they hold up to the humidity on summer nights here in Houston better than paper) a pen, my camera, a flashlight (for writing the review and screwing with my dog), smoke, cutter, lighter, and a tall glass of coke loaded with ice (cause it'll melt away in the hour + I'm outside).
I turn the radio on low with some good country music and I sit down. I spend a couple minutes examining the smoke and smelling the wrapper and the foot. I almost stick the foot in my nose to get a really good sniff. I write my notes on it, make my cut, and then gauge the prelight flavors and draw, write more notes, and then toast and light.
I immediately take notes from the first puff. Mostly its chicken scratch short hand so that I can fully write my review later. I try to keep the ending of the smoke unbiased when I write my full write-up, so I stick to my notes and progress through the smoke as if I'd written it bit by bit. I write down the times of when things change and when pictures are taken. Basically every time I take a picture I'm writing another blurb in my review of what I'm experiencing in that moment. I try to bring it all together from the last blurb and into the next blurb when I write the full review.
I take my time when tasting. I exhale a bit through my nose to get the full impact, although if I do too much it burns the hell out of my nose. I also try to inhale a small amount from time to time. There are flavors in doing these things that aren't as pronounced by just puffing away. I'll also vary the speed of my puffs, sometimes intentionally heating the smoke up by puffing quickly until I find the right temp for this particular cigar to smoke. Some smokes just plain test better if you give them a double or even triple puff to heat up the ash.
I let the smoke linger in my mouth, and as I blow out I gently sniff through my nose so I get the maximum number of flavor and smell receptors working together at the same time. Smell is more important to taste than people realize. Don't review when its windy, cause you'll lose a lot of the senses that make a great smoke tasty. Not to mention, half the idea of smoking is seeing the billows of white smoke, when it’s windy I often feel cheated, almost as if I'm not smoking at all.
My single biggest tip for reviewing is to purge the cigar from time to time. If the flavors aren't changing, or aren't exactly what you want at that moment, puff through the cigar. When I purge I puff through the cigar while holding my torch to the tip. Often I can just light the gases and they'll stay lit on their own as I puff through the cigar. I inhale through my nose as I puff outwards constantly until the flame on the end of the stick goes out on its own. This is just the way I purge. When the flame is gone, the next two to three puffs of the cigar are in my opinion, the absolute best flavor you'll ever get from a smoke. This is where you get the huge flavors of nuts and leather that make my mouth water as I type this now. Its what makes a good cigar absolutely stunning. I highly recommend purging at least two or three times through a cigar. I especially do it nearing the end of a cigar to revitalize a smoke that may have gotten a tad bitter or when the flavor starts to change because of the tar buildup.
Take your time. Enjoy the moment. Write your thoughts, no matter how dumb they seem. You don't have to put them in your full write-up, but they will bring you to an overall sense of how the hour you spent with your smoke impacted your evening.
I always smoke with my dog. He's the best silent companion I ever had. He's okay with just sitting there in the moonlight, completely quiet, while I review a smoke.
I hope this helps in some way.
Give it a shot. Take some time and make it an evening of cigar enjoyment for you, and you alone.
I guess the one thing I've found is that if I'm going to seriously review a cigar, I need to pair it with the right drink. I've found that water doesn't cleanse enough for me. I think Coke is probably the best thing to pair a smoke with. Even bourbons and whisky's alter my experience with the same cigar. But coke is uniform and sweet which, to me, makes a cigar the most enjoyable. It may not be the most sophisticated way to smoke, but I like it.
The second thing I do is make sure I do it alone. If there's conversation going on its not worth the time to try and take notes as you smoke. Its not fair to the person your talking to and doesn't do a good cigar justice. I wait till the missus is in bed, and at least somewhat happy with me, and collect my utensils for my review. I get my 3x5 cards out (they hold up to the humidity on summer nights here in Houston better than paper) a pen, my camera, a flashlight (for writing the review and screwing with my dog), smoke, cutter, lighter, and a tall glass of coke loaded with ice (cause it'll melt away in the hour + I'm outside).
I turn the radio on low with some good country music and I sit down. I spend a couple minutes examining the smoke and smelling the wrapper and the foot. I almost stick the foot in my nose to get a really good sniff. I write my notes on it, make my cut, and then gauge the prelight flavors and draw, write more notes, and then toast and light.
I immediately take notes from the first puff. Mostly its chicken scratch short hand so that I can fully write my review later. I try to keep the ending of the smoke unbiased when I write my full write-up, so I stick to my notes and progress through the smoke as if I'd written it bit by bit. I write down the times of when things change and when pictures are taken. Basically every time I take a picture I'm writing another blurb in my review of what I'm experiencing in that moment. I try to bring it all together from the last blurb and into the next blurb when I write the full review.
I take my time when tasting. I exhale a bit through my nose to get the full impact, although if I do too much it burns the hell out of my nose. I also try to inhale a small amount from time to time. There are flavors in doing these things that aren't as pronounced by just puffing away. I'll also vary the speed of my puffs, sometimes intentionally heating the smoke up by puffing quickly until I find the right temp for this particular cigar to smoke. Some smokes just plain test better if you give them a double or even triple puff to heat up the ash.
I let the smoke linger in my mouth, and as I blow out I gently sniff through my nose so I get the maximum number of flavor and smell receptors working together at the same time. Smell is more important to taste than people realize. Don't review when its windy, cause you'll lose a lot of the senses that make a great smoke tasty. Not to mention, half the idea of smoking is seeing the billows of white smoke, when it’s windy I often feel cheated, almost as if I'm not smoking at all.
My single biggest tip for reviewing is to purge the cigar from time to time. If the flavors aren't changing, or aren't exactly what you want at that moment, puff through the cigar. When I purge I puff through the cigar while holding my torch to the tip. Often I can just light the gases and they'll stay lit on their own as I puff through the cigar. I inhale through my nose as I puff outwards constantly until the flame on the end of the stick goes out on its own. This is just the way I purge. When the flame is gone, the next two to three puffs of the cigar are in my opinion, the absolute best flavor you'll ever get from a smoke. This is where you get the huge flavors of nuts and leather that make my mouth water as I type this now. Its what makes a good cigar absolutely stunning. I highly recommend purging at least two or three times through a cigar. I especially do it nearing the end of a cigar to revitalize a smoke that may have gotten a tad bitter or when the flavor starts to change because of the tar buildup.
Take your time. Enjoy the moment. Write your thoughts, no matter how dumb they seem. You don't have to put them in your full write-up, but they will bring you to an overall sense of how the hour you spent with your smoke impacted your evening.
I always smoke with my dog. He's the best silent companion I ever had. He's okay with just sitting there in the moonlight, completely quiet, while I review a smoke.
I hope this helps in some way.
