There are cigar smokers who could care less about where their cigar came from, ashow it was made, how the leaves were fermented, and how it was brought over into their humidor. I, however, like to know everything about the cigars I love. Tasting the cigar, and admiring its flavors are a few of the most pleasurable parts of analyzing a cigar smoke.
Unless you are a walking cigar tasting encyclopedia, you might have a hard time picking up all of the cigar notes by smoking through your mouth only. The tongue is capable of picking up around 5 different flavors (bitter, sweet, sour, salty, and umami.) The nose, however, is much more capable of picking up flavors.
Try smoking through your nose to pick up the most flavors from your cigar. First, take a decent puff from a well lit cigar. Let your mouth fill up with smoke and exhale around 80-90 percent of the smoke. Allow the remainder of the smoke to be exhaled through your nose. You shouldn’t do this every puff by any means. Once or twice per cigar will be plenty enough.
What are your cigar tasting techniques? Leave a comment!