Cigars are an acquired taste, and it can be an intimidating thing to approach for the first time. The reality is that it’s not difficult at all. There are no right or wrong answers: the cigar tastes like whatever you think it tastes like. Only your own opinion really matters. What one person says is an absolute dog rocket, you may rank amongst your favourite stogies.
That much being said, there are a few observations that I can pass on that maybe of use to those just venturing into the hobby.
The truth is that I’m a relative novice myself; at 31 I’ve lived less than half the time that some real cigar aficionados have been smoking. Nevertheless, I have acquired some kind of taste and opinions on the subject. I doubt I’ll be saying much that the grizzled veterans of the cigar world don’t already know, so it would be most accurate to consider this a Cigar Tasting Guide for Beginners. If you fit into that category, read on, and hopefully this article will help as an introduction to the cigar tasting experience.
Cigars taste like cigar smoke
This observation is hardly an epiphany. Nevertheless it’s something I have found a lot of people forget in their rush to experience those flavours of dry roasted arabica coffee beans and dark chocolate overtones that they may have read about in some review.
The first thing to realise is that, rather logically, burning cigar tobacco tastes like burning cigar tobacco; and if it’s a good cigar, that can be a very aromatic and enjoyable thing by itself.
While it seems to be true that the more cigars you smoke, the less you taste the “smoke” and the more you are able to pick up some other interesting tastes, don’t expect to be blown sideways by the “nuances of rhubarb pie and vanilla essence”; or whatever other flowery and purely fantastical descriptor that some over-enthusiastic aficionado has decided to apply.
Often I can’t quite put into to words the exact flavour that I am experiencing, but I can recognise that it is unique to this particular cigar, and noticeably different to some other cigar. I just lump those unrecognisable tastes together as “the tobacco flavour” belonging to that cigar and leave it at that.
You needn’t worry if you can’t taste or identify specific flavours in your smoke, that’s not a perquisite to enjoying a cigar. In any case, as you gather more cigar smoking experience and your palette matures, you will be able to pick out more varied and stronger tastes in your stogies.
Overtones, undertones, nuances, hints, etc.
As much as the natural tobacco flavour dominates, there are times when some other unique and identifiable flavour is detected along with “the tobacco flavour”. These other flavours will come in the form of “hints” and “nuances”, which are words I’m sure you’ve read a thousand times over if you’ve ever browsed through a wine or cigar magazine. Simply put, it means the flavour is slight.
Flavoured cigars
Some cigars come in flavoured varieties such as vanilla or chocolate. I wouldn’t describe those tastes as “undertones”, “overtones” nor any kind of “hint” or “suggestion”. They overpower the the tobacco and are something else all together. Personally, I don’t go for flavoured cigars, so I couldn’t comment too much further than that.
I prefer to use the words “undertones” and “overtones”, which I think can be used most accurately to describe the strength of the flavour.
Overtones
An “overtone” is a flavour that, although subtle, is easily detectable and often readily recognisable. It’s a layer on top of the expected tobacco flavours and forms a significant contribution to the taste of that particular cigar at that particular stage (see Complex & sophisticated cigars below). The dominant taste will always be “cigar tobacco smoke”, so any overtones will be somewhat muted, but will still go a long way to defining the unique taste of that particular smoke.
Undertones
An “undertone” is a suggestion of “something else” in the smoke, maybe even a “feeling” of some other flavour. It’s often a barely perceptible hint that maybe tasted not with every puff, but every now-and-then, maybe even only a handful of times throughout the entire cigar. Often it’s difficult to “put your finger on it”, or to think of a suitable analogy for the taste.
While I can usually detect undertones in the cigar I am smoking, it’s not always that I experience overtones.
Nuances, hints, suggestions, etc.
These are just words used to describe a slightly detectable taste; don’t let them intimidate you, take them for their literal meaning.
Complex & sophisticated cigars
What exactly does this mean? What is a “sophisticated cigar”? Believe it or not, a “sophisticated cigar” is not one that is capable of arguing the intricate details of foreign diplomacy, or is qualified to rebuff the complex and fine computations in the science of climatology; nor is it one that imbues the smoker with that ability (although it seems that some believe that simply holding the cigar qualifies them to do so).
Just like with wine, a “sophisticated” cigar is one that offers a variety of tastes and flavours, sometimes even contradictory, and often of which seem to appear at certain stages in the smoke, only to be replaced with some other, seemingly unrelated taste a few puffs later. For the novice smoker, “confusing” might be a more apt descriptor. A more flattering assessment might be, “interesting”.
In con
trast, an “unsophisticated” cigar is one that offers a level, steady and foreseeable experience from start to finish; a cigar that offers mild doses of a more “standard” range of cigar tobacco flavours such as cedar wood, earthiness or coffee.
Sophisticated is better, right?
Although it is true that the finer cigars tend to be more sophisticated, that’s doesn’t necessarily mean that complex is better. It would be untrue to say all sophisticated cigars are better than all unsophisticated cigars. It is true, however, that sophisticated cigars are usually more interesting due to the variance in tastes and flavours.
However, sometimes you might not want a complex experience. Sometimes you might prefer to sit back with an old favourite, confident in it’s ability to deliver the expected notes of woody cedar underlying the familiar scent of aromatic cigar tobacco. Whether you select a sophisticated, or an unsophisticated cigar really depends on your mood and your personal tastes.
In fact, it often happens that when I try a complex wine or cigar, I’m left so confused at the end of the experience that I’m not even quite sure if I liked it or not! Such is the nature of “sophistication”.
It is easy to imagine that hardcore cigar aficionados and regular smokers could get so bored with the “standard” kind of cigar tastes; that they start to long for something a little different and a bit surprising, so it’s easy to see why the more sophisticated smokes are generally held in higher esteem. But that doesn’t automatically make them “better”.
Just remember that smoking a sophisticated cigar, or drinking a complex wine, doesn’t make the smoker a better, more sophisticated or complex person. Like everything cigars, it’s all up to your own personal preferences.