Palate Development 101

Most of us spend a fair amount of time contemplating ways of developing a more refined palate in order better appreciate this great hobby. In all my years of cigar smoking, the single-best way I've found is doing reviews.

When I take the time to write a review of a cigar, I am far more focused on the task at hand. When I know I'm going to be sharing my experience with others, I pay much closer attention to the little details and nuances of the event. Rather than just sitting down and sucking my way through a cigar, I'm thinking of comparative, qualitative and quantitative aspects in a much more refined way. Then, when it comes time to actually write, or edit the review, I'm reliving the entire experience and processing the applicable information in a completely different way.

Over time, doing many different reviews on a variety of smokes, I've found that my powers of discernment have improved immeasurably. An added benefit is, provided I post my reviews on the forum, I have an eternal journal of my experiences. If I want to recall my previous impressions of a cigar from, say, a year ago, I just go back and look at my old review. It also enables me to compare others impressions against my own. For instance, maybe everyone doesn't taste raisins in an Opus X. If I want to determine how a cigar may have changed with age, I can compare to the old review. I can also see how my palate has changed/improved in that amount of time.

Reviews are great tools! Not just for the sake of the reader, but particularly for the author. Not to mention nothing earns you more respect and props from the community than a well-constructed review.

Anyway, just a thought. What's yours?

Couldn't agree more. A review shouldn't be a seat of your pants endeavor. Take your time give the description some thought. Other people are going to view and decide where to spend they're hard earned dollars. Don't sell them short with 1/2 assed reviews. Try to find the time and have the mind set to enjoy your cigar while embracing the review, nothing worse than a reviewer whose half cocked thinking of other things while telling us..the readers how good or bad a stick is!


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Good thoughts, Don. I like to go back and check out my old reviews to compare them to my current experience of the same cigars. And sometimes just to relive the experience.

Good approach to the process, too. Readers aside (because, as you point out, flavors are subjective), knowing that you plan to write about your experience tends to make you a bit more focused on what you're doing. This will inevitably sharpen your taster, so that your day-to-day smoking will usually be more enjoyable as you catch notes of things you might have overlooked before.

I don't really review cigars per se, but I do offer my brief opinions and perceptions when warranted.

When I'm trying out a new (to me) cigar, I try to avoid reading reviews of them beforehand, as I'm quite susceptible to the power of suggestion. In this case, I prefer to read reviews after, or maybe during the smoke.

I do like to read the cigars international ad copy beforehand - it's often entertaining and usually bears little relationship to the cigar's actual qualities :)

When I first got serious about cigars a FOG in a local shop told me to write my own reviews on everything. He told me not to worry about how crappy my reviews were, they would get better. I'm glad I listened to him. I gave myself guidelines for reviews. Drink plenty of water that day, nothing very spicy/sweet/sour to eat beforehand and only have room temperature water to drink with the cigar. That kept my palate good and clean and neutral. I tried to not listen to music or anything else. Just sit and focus on the cigar. At first, I would just get things like sweet, salty, dry, creamy, bitter, etc. The more I smoked the more defined things got. I was more able to pick up on things like, dark chocolate, coffee, stone fruits, cinnamon, vegetal, etc.

I also think there is great value in getting multiples of a new cigar and smoking them over time. I learned a lot from getting a 5 pack of a cigar and smoking one every 3 months. If nothing else, I feel like it helps you better identify what you want to smoke fresh and what can do well with age.

Thanks for the kind words, fella's. I truly believe this to be a uniquely synergistic tool for palate development.

Enjoyed reading this thread so far. One thing, reading reviews has helped me in identifying different flavors that I would've never been able to put a name to. I suppose if I did take the time to write a review I would be much more focused on all notes more. I do feel under experienced especially writing reviews, however after reading these responses I believe the writers may benefit just as much or more then the readers

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Originally Posted by jhedrick83

I also think there is great value in getting multiples of a new cigar and smoking them over time. I learned a lot from getting a 5 pack of a cigar and smoking one every 3 months. If nothing else, I feel like it helps you better identify what you want to smoke fresh and what can do well with age.

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THIS! Oh, this is dead-on!

One of my favorite smokes early on was the Sancho Panza Double Maduro - especially the Quixote. For the money, they were (and still are) SO good ROTT. So I figured they MUST get better and better with age, right? Well, yes - to a point. After 2 years the flavor begins to decline dramatically. I ended up with a lot of "meh" smokes. If I had known the "fiver" time test, I'd have been much better off.

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Originally Posted by Sir Lancerolot

THIS! Oh, this is dead-on!

One of my favorite smokes early on was the Sancho Panza Double Maduro - especially the Quixote. For the money, they were (and still are) SO good ROTT. So I figured they MUST get better and better with age, right? Well, yes - to a point. After 2 years the flavor begins to decline dramatically. I ended up with a lot of "meh" smokes. If I had known the "fiver" time test, I'd have been much better off.

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It was very helpful to me when I got more into CCs as well. There's a tangent there but I'll post it in the Habanos section so I don't clutter this up.

The other thing that I think is very helpful is to play with RH. As long as you give the cigars about a week per percent change to acclimate you might be shocked how different the same cigar smokes at 68,65 and 62%. When I started I dreaded my cigars getting below 65%, I thought it would all be dried up crap! I store everything at 62-63% now and I feel like I taste more, have fewer burn issues, fewer draw problems and never get a tarry stick. YMMV, don't take what someone tells you about temp and RH as gospel, everyone has different tastes, find what works for you.

I agree and I do taste raisins in opus

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Originally Posted by Scott W.

I agree and I do taste raisins in opus

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Now if only I could taste Opus in raisins ...

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Originally Posted by Sir Lancerolot

Now if only I could taste Opus in raisins ...

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That's just funny right there

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Originally Posted by jhedrick83

It was very helpful to me when I got more into CCs as well. There's a tangent there but I'll post it in the Habanos section so I don't clutter this up.

The other thing that I think is very helpful is to play with RH. As long as you give the cigars about a week per percent change to acclimate you might be shocked how different the same cigar smokes at 68,65 and 62%. When I started I dreaded my cigars getting below 65%, I thought it would all be dried up crap! I store everything at 62-63% now and I feel like I taste more, have fewer burn issues, fewer draw problems and never get a tarry stick. YMMV, don't take what someone tells you about temp and RH as gospel, everyone has different tastes, find what works for you.

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THIS! It changed my cigar life getting the RH down to 62-63.....