I have it and find it useful. At least until you can afford The Mother!
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I have to say this is one of the best posts I have read on figuring out how to discern notes of flavor in a cigar thanks so much for the post.
Josh
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Great Post,

I started getting into cigars last year and am only now tasting them thanks to the tips from this post. Makes me want to kick myself for all the cigars I have had in the last year that I know I didn't really taste.

I sat down yesterday and had a CAO Brazilia and for the first time tasted some cherry in it. I am definatly going to follow these tips from now on. :-)
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Glad it helped! (thanks for saying so)

Happy smoking!

~Mark
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Mark, this is the post I was looking for!

:-)
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Very good post, Mark.

On another board, and in response to discussion based on a flavor wheel, I excerpted the following from a post I made:

When I start to "THINK" I can detect the difference between Dutch and Baker's chocolate, please take all my cigars away from me and put me in the funny farm - where I belong already.

I respect those who can pinpoint flavors that I have a hard time putting my finger on. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with wanting to get better at describing what you taste; however, I think you can get WAY carried away with this tasting/describing endeavor because what you taste one day may not be the same you taste another day.

What matters most is whether you enjoyed the cigar. In other words, did it suck or not? That may sound very "pedestrian" and not sophisticated, but I believe you can have an outstanding palate and truly appreciate a terrific cigar without being able to use 15 descriptive words to verbalize the flavor. And, of course, that appreciation comes with smoking different marcas and vitolas from different eras.

Sometimes less is more and being able to appreciatively differentiate the elegant from the banal can make you a very happy man.

Again, excellent post, Mark and great to hear more talk about the "nose exhaling" technique!!
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When I start to "THINK" I can detect the difference between Dutch and Baker's chocolate, please take all my cigars away from me and put me in the funny farm - where I belong already.

ROFLMAO!

I completely agree Allan, it all comes down to enjoying the cigar more than begin able to describe it :-)
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Mark, this was an excellent post. I always wondered how you get the tastes out of the cigars and a lot of them tasted the same (I'm a noob) but I do a lot of the things you say not to in ur guide. so, thanks a lot for it!! I can't wait to try it out!
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Thanks a lot. I'm still mastering smoking technique and this will most likely help me to get in to it easier. I still smoke maybe too fast, even thought I'm trying to keep that one minute break. I'll keep you posted next time I light up a cigar and we will see if I do notice a difference.:-)
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Glad you dig it and hope it helped!
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Great post, I wish it was around when I first started. I have one question though, should a smoke slower? Thanks.
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Great information, nice to see I'm not the only one still looking for the perfect flavors in a cigar.
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Just read this again.... great post.
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