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Generic Flavor?

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 2:39 pm
by kurtdesign1
I'm struck by something recently. I smoked the first cigar out of a box with good results. Blend integrity, fine construction, good flavors. The second was good. A few weeks later the more I smoke, the more they are losing their essence. The initial light and subsequent few puffs taste like the cigar should but it quickly transitions to a "typical" twangy taste. I'm familiar with the cigars and love what the blend is supposed to taste like. The cigars now do not taste like that. The flavors I get aren't truly important (until I start asking if anyone tastes the same thing... But that's not happening yet).

Do you ever notice this? Do you ever get a suggestion of a specific profile, a profile you expect to taste throughout, then have the cigars change? It's like the cigar is transitioning RAPIDLY. Or, perhaps, segments of the blend hold the expected profile and other leaves within the cigar do not. It's hard to objectively describe but it is an experience I've had numerous times. It typically happens with Cuban cigars or cigars with Habano tobacco. Cubans aren't made with true Habano leaf anymore but perhaps N/C cigars marketed as being Habano are not either. The seeds would have to be over 15 years old or NOT be first generation Cuban as the tobacco varietal has changed (a lot!) since then.

The cigars are not always young. The cigars are not typically from a singled drawer, but rather a box or other closed container. Do you have anything to add here? I'm half tempted to think it is my own palate reacting or detecting certain things in the cigar but I can't be sure.

Re: Generic Flavor?

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 7:59 pm
by 815DC
I'm gonna go ahead and blame the Bears coaching and management on this one... :ugeek:

At least the taste of the season has thrown my palate off

PS Go Atlanta..?

Re: Generic Flavor?

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 6:08 am
by jledou
In all seriousness it might just be you that is changing. If you open the first one out of the box you might be a little more excited or your mindset might be a little more in a mode to look for flavors. Next time you smoke it you are a little less so or you may think "bam this is going to be an 11/10 and your expectations overshot and you think it is a 8/10. Round number three has a little bit of that lost expectation and you don't pay as much attention to the cigar so maybe it disappoints a little more.
I have also experienced cigars that the first time I try one it is something great. I will smoke other cigars with different profiles in between the next one and then come back and the second time is "not as good" or different than the first time. I don't think they really change that much as I change or may be in a different mindset.

Re: Generic Flavor?

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 6:25 am
by Kip
My worn out palate hasn't picked up on this in cigars - which is also likely because I rarely age a whole box...can't keep my hands off cigars once they come in the door.

However, I have aged many tins of pipe tobacco and this effect is quite pronounced. When you pop open an old tin of pipe tobacco (assuming it's not over the hill, which tends to give less flavor), the first bowl is always "more." It may be less to your liking than when fresh, or it may be more so...but it is "more" of whatever changes have occurred during aging - more pungent; more sweet; more of whatever characteristics are added during the aging process for that particular blend. The next bowl, next day, next week - whenever - you'll notice marked dropoff in this "essence" of whatever occurred during the aging process. It becomes less itself. I believe this is mainly attributable to the reintroduction of air into the process. It's been speculated that pipe tobacco goes through a lot of changes at the hand of anaerobic bacteria once the aerobic bacteria have faded into dormancy in that little closed-up tin. So, dormant aerobic cysts can "wake up" when air is brought back into the mix. It may be for the better, or for worse...but it makes a change.

In my little world, there's no better example of this than a specific GL Pease blend called Abingdon. After the 5 year mark, a freshly opened tin will be deep and pungently sweet - much unlike when its fresh. Within a couple days of opening this aged tin, this sweetness (probably from the inclusion of some sweeter Virginia varietal) has faded, leaving the latakia more prominent (like when it's young).

My guess is you can slow down the impact by protecting it as much as possible...but a done bun can't be undone. Once you let that cat out of the bag, it's out. If it really bothers you, maybe you could age smaller denominations?

Maybe I just over complicate things.

Re: Generic Flavor?

Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 5:17 pm
by Zedman05
I notice a marked difference. It is not just you. The part that makes this yours is the palate changing. To your point though; I have seen it a few times. Loved the cigars fresh, but they just seemed to lose that magic later. (TAT TAA 2011 ). I find NC stuff is prone to "losing" qualities and CC stuff seems not so much to gain, but to remove the original unwanted stuff.

I opened up my box of Sir Winnies in the middle of '14 and smoked one. It was by far the strongest cuban cigar I had ever had. Sweats. Nic buzz. It was crazy. I waited almost 4 months until I did a tasting with 2 others that I gave cigars from the same box to. They were absolutely magical ! We all agreed they were a 96-97 point cigar already. The anarobic changes that occured once that box was opened and (I believe) all the amonia'd aging air was released, caused a quicker aging outcome and thus changed all the flavors.

Re: Generic Flavor?

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 12:05 pm
by IWinchester
Don't always get it, but when I do I think its usually b/c I overhipe the first one outta the box.

Re: Generic Flavor?

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 9:34 am
by kurtdesign1
IWinchester wrote:Don't always get it, but when I do I think its usually b/c I overhipe the first one outta the box.
I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on the Hoyo that I gave you last week.

Re: Generic Flavor?

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:06 am
by IWinchester
kurtdesign1 wrote:
IWinchester wrote:Don't always get it, but when I do I think its usually b/c I overhipe the first one outta the box.
I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on the Hoyo that I gave you last week.
Once it warms up a bit I'll let ya know!