I was thinking back to the first time I smoked a cigar. Can't say I really liked it. Hell, I can't remember what I first smoked. What I do know is that I wasn't a huge fan. Nevertheless it did not deter me from trying to smoke again.The more I started smoking the more I realized I liked flavored cigars or the ones with sweetness to them.I then began going to my local cigar shop and buy more cigars at a time and found myself always in the flavored cigar section. The clerk in the store at the time used to make fun of me and say "the candy section is over there"......hahaha!
After being made fun of on a couple trips, which I didn't mind I asked him for suggestion of a cigar that was mild and did not taste like candy. Little did I know his particular tastes were very very full-bodied. I decided to take his challenge and step my game up a little bit. Wow! The cigar he suggested to me had my palate and cigar at war. The heaviness in this full bodied cigar almost deterred me from smoking any full body cigar ever again. Needless to say I never finished that entire cigar. I could not take it and realized I was a rookie with a lot to learn. What I immediately realized was that just because you're a expert doesn't mean you know what my palate loves.
Since I've now been smoking cigars for over 10 years, I have paid a lot more attention to what my palate loves and disapproves. Have you ever taken a suggestion from someone about a cigar and never actually taste what they said you would taste? Your answer should be yes. Everyone's pallet is different on many levels. Not to mention what else happened to be on your palate at the time that you smoke a cigar. Example: People love paring scotch and cigars. Did you know that most scotch drinkers drink scotch incorrectly and dull tastebuds unknowingly? The alcohol level in scotch is too high (unless you properly dilute) and will dull your tastebuds, hence altering the cigar's taste. To get a true flavor profile of a cigar, your pallet needs to be as clean as possible. It's going to take some time with many drinks and many cigars to finally find a flavor profile between the two that makes a marriage made in heaven.
Years of trial and error with research have led me to believe that cigars are art for your mouth. As you smoke a cigar it paints a beautiful canvas of flavors in your mouth. Sweetness, nuttiness, leathery, woody, etc. all blend in your mouth to produce a wonderful flavor. Only your palate, which is the artist; can explain your flavor profile. Don't just smoke a cigar, taste what your palate is telling you. As your cigar paints a van Gogh, Edvard Munch or whoever on your inner cheeks, remember that your palate alone knows what cigar or cigars create your masterpiece......no one else.
Stay lit my friends & enjoy life between cigars!