I have noticed something, and it is a bit confusing.

For my entire smoking career I have considered the "finish" to be the flavor profile and how long it lingers on the palate after each puff is expelled from the mouth. This would correspond with the term in describing the "finish" in wine, the flavor that linger on the palate - and how long they remain.

I have noticed a number of people talking about finish in a way that it appears they are speaking about the last portion of the cigar, "how it finishes." I have always thought of that simply as the last part of the cigar.

Have terms changed over the years, and I'm just behind the times?

Thanks.

Peace of the Lord be with you.
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:-)
Todd, you are correct Sir.
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I agree with your interpretation of finish. Maybe they just mean that's how the cigar ends, or finishes.?.?
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Your interpretation is correct. :-)
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I'm with you, Todd. Being one of the young whippersnappers, I still use finish as you do. The last part of the cigar is my "final third" as I call it. (I usually separate cigars into thirds, as I have seen other reviewers do before).
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Just as long as we don't confuse it with "Finnish"... that would be like - Don Fernando. :-)

And I do agree with the good reverend. :-)
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Wouldn't he be more like.... "Dutch-ess?" :-)

And, yes, a cigar's finish is how you define it, Rev.
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close...but to me...finish is.

for as long as i hold the smoke in my mouth(learn to breath with a mouthful of smoke)i continue to experience/taste pleasant flavours.

what comes after that is to me simply aftertaste.

sorry if i am different
derrek :-)
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I agree with the Rev. I always refer to the finish as what's left on the palate after I exhale the smoke or drink the scotch.

That's another thing, I never understood why dividing the cigar into thirds was the best for reviewing. Why not halves, or fourths? Is it just arbitrary?
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My long held interpretation of finish is the "experience" after exhale. Some cigars have a long slow comedown from the flavor peak experienced from a single draw of the cigar. These I describe as having a "long finish". Cigars that "coat" the palate tend towards the long finish.

In the opposite extreme there are cigars that immediately after the exhale the flavor experience drops off / disappears. Generally describe these as having a short finish.

Aftertaste is probably a large component of my definition. If you continue your contemplation of the intricacies of the flavors of a cigar for a period of time after the exhale... to me it has the characteristics of a long finish. If those flavors disappear from your palate almost immediately upon exhale... short finish.

It's in the extremes that I notice the topic and comment. Most cigars are middle ground. Some have characteristics that fall outside of the norm and bring to mind the topic and cause the comment on short or long finish.
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I make a distinction based on where there is a clearly defined "evolution" or change in the taste profile. Sometimes that works out to thirds, other times halves, and other times not at all. But that's just how I do things, I am by no means a sophisticated professional reviewer!
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i have always ment finish the way u mean it rev
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For me, this is the best way to divide up the cigar, imho. Halves are a bit too large to review, and quarters seem too small, especially when the cigar sometimes balances out in the first quarter. *Most* (and this means the most that I have seen) use the thirds-method.
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X2
If I need to talk about the flavor in the last few puffs of a cigar at the nub, I use the word "finale" so as not to confuse it with finish.
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I imagine it is easy to tell the difference in what they mean by simple context. I've always used finish though the way you describe.
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very educational thread :-)!
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I guess there is still quite a bit of newbness in me after over 20 years smoking cigars. I always thougt the finish was the last third of the cigar. Yes, I am admitting this to everyone who reads this thread. Thanks for the education and I am a noob!

MCS
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so let me get this straight...almost universally everyone agrees...what you wake up tasting the next morning...is finish???

sorry...still think of finish as something different than the "aftertaste".
derrek :-)
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I'm kind of with the majority on this one...and think Dave's explanation is fantastic. But does anyone else additionally think of it as the lingering after effects ("aftertaste"?) once you are done the cigar? Meaning the 15 minutes of yum on your palate after you have finished a great cigar. When one is like that I often think, "Wow, what a great long finish." I typically associate that after effect as finish moreso than the minute(s) between draws.

Guess my newb self has been taught a lesson this afternoon. :-)
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No that is ashtray breath. :-)

Hey its just my opinion and to be more specific its the flavors over the course of a matter of seconds vs minutes or hours in my frame of reference.

Have you ever smoked a cigar that the nature of the enjoyment of flavors just stopped upon exhale? I've had a few and describe them as having a "short finish", good bad whatever, upon exhale its pretty much gone. Conversely.. those special cigars that even after exhale the smoking flavor experience lingers on a bit (5-10-15 seconds) making you zone while jonesn on their slowly receeding flavors to the point that you realize that... hey its time to hit that beauty again.
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