Refining Your Palate

The key reason for refining your palate is to aide in picking up the subtleties in your smokes, so here are a few tips that I believe will help you out:

1.) A "refined" palate doesn't come over night and isn't available to everyone. Genetics has a lot to do with it as well, so don't get discouraged. The main key is to try a WIDE variety of cigars and to concentrate on them when smoking. (ie: Don't be working on your car or mowing your lawn.)

2.) Smoke slower! Remember the one minute rule between draws. This is the most common reason people don't pick up certain flavors. For one, they smoke too fast which causes a cigar to get hot and bitter. Secondly, because they are smoking to quickly, they don't have a chance to savor the flavors and don't concentrate on them. Try it, I guarantee you will pick up more flavor.

3.) After taking a draw and expelling the smoke, take some air in through your nose and mouth (at the same time if you can do it). By drawing air through you mouth and nose you pull some concentrated flavors across your olfactory receptors and can usually pick up a ton of subtle flavors this way.

4.) Drink water. Try not to drink anything that will over power or effect the flavor of your smoke. As you get good at discerning what flavors are in a smoke, you can then pair beverages that will compliment those flavors. (Rums, scotches, coffees, etc...)

5.) Read reviews. I am a firm believer in the "smoke what you like and like what you smoke" but reviews (and MRN's book) are a great GUIDE to leading you in the direction of smokes that fit your preferred flavor profile(s). I am not saying go buy a box of ANYTHING based on a review. If a review or a couple of reviews describe flavors that seem to be in your preferred flavor profile, then pick up a couple to try for yourself before committing to a box.

6.) Smoke a cigar that has been reviewed and try to follow along with the reviewer. You'll be amazed at how smoking along with someone else's notes will help you pick up flavors that you couldn't put your finger on.

7.) Take notes for yourself! Break the cigar down into thirds (first 1/3, second 1/3, final 1/3). Most cigars change flavor in these areas so it's a good general rule to follow. By taking your own notes, you slow down and concentrate on the flavors.

8.) SMOKE SLOWER! - It is worth mentioning twice.

9.) Once you get these basic techniques down and manage to concentrate on flavors and not techniques (like smoking slower!) I HIGHLY recommend blowing a little smoke through your nose about 2-3 times during each third. Some may argue that they do it every time but I do think there can be too much as the nasal cavity is sensitive and the hot smoke may effect it's ability to discern flavors later in the smoking experience. (You need to find a happy medium for yourself though).

I remember when I first tried it I did too much smoke and I thought my nose was going to burn off...my eyes wouldn't stop watering! LOL!

10.) Try new cuisines & beverages! Foods & beverages are a great way to develop a palate. Concentrate on each bit and try to pick up the herbs, spices, etc...

*Side note - I was smoking a small stick one time on my drive home from work and it had a certain flavor that I just couldn't relate to what it was. I was driving my crazy! So when I got home I opened the spice cabinet and sniffed through (and tasted) them all. I couldn't figure it out. A week later, I was enjoying dinner at one of our favorite places and BAM! I tasted the flavor in my meal that I had tasted in the smoke. Dried Apricots!

I hope this helps and happy smoking!

~Mark


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Wow, Thanks a ton for this post!

I'm going to re read it while smoking and hopefully be able to gain even more enjoyment from my smokes.
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Great stuff....So, what was the apricot cigar?
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Excellent post! Trying it right now.
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Excellent post Mark. Thank you very much.
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What is 'MRN's book' ??
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Min Ron Nee's An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post Revolution Havana Cigars

You can purchase it here
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Ouch that is an expensive book!
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It's well worth it if you dig cc's (i see in your profile that you do :-) )

~Mark
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I do dig the CC's but for that price I could have a box of PSD4's! lol

What about Perlmans CC book, not in the same league?
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Thanks, Mark. You hit my worst habit...twice. :-)
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Quality post, Many thanks, gonna try em all.:-)
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Not in the same league
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I figured, for $9 I guess you get what you pay for.
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Great Post, this is something that I am trying to do more and more
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Wow, that's some pretty heavy info. I am trying to pick up scents and flavors myself, and the last cigar I smoked (before reading this topic), I suppose I had done some of these things instinctively. While smoking, I drank water, I smoked fairly slow as I smoked the first 2/3, but when I got down to the last 1/3 of the cigar I would draw quite a bit more frequently, leaving a burning sensation on my tongue. But I just kept smoking, it tasted so good!

As I was smoking on the second of the thirds, I would keep trying to exhale through my nostrils, in an attempt to pick up more flavors. At one point I had taken WAY too much smoke in through my nostrils, and had a painful experience, close to the pain of a brain freeze, but for smoke-filled nostrils.

All in all, I was able to discern 2 flavors from the cigar I smoked, and I am still searching for ways to improve this sense. I believe reading reviews will probably help the most, as I hadn't done done so BEFORE I smoked (as opposed to after), and I also found that one of the flavors I picked up on this particular cigar were not to be found in ANY of the reviews I had read! I don't know if this is just a mistake on my behalf, or if it can turn out differently for everyone, especially those with an unrefined palate.
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I'm in the camp of blowing some smoke out your nose with every draw. The difference in what you get out of the smoke is huge. It does require practice to learn to do and to regulate the amount of smoke so you don't fry your sinuses. A little smoke out the nose goes a long way. I also like to smell the smoke from the foot of the cigar by gently wafting if under my nose, but maybe just a few times during the smoke.
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I go to this book time and time again , every time I read a review that interests me I grab it and start reading . If you don't have it yet I highly recommend getting one . I got mine as part of a group buy and saved a few bucks . If I remember correctly it was around a $100.00 as it was a large group buy . I'm holding out hope that MRN writes an updated version someday .
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keep hoping for a a couple few more years (think 2010-2012)
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Sticky!
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