Quote:
Originally Posted by tsolomon
The question I have is when do you ever have a clean palate to start your tasting from? Your mouth will just about always have some lingering taste from the last thing you ate, smoked or drank. I find that a drink can be a nice palate cleanser similar to having a little sorbet between courses at a nice restaurant. Just like pairing wine with food, the trick is to find a good match between your beverage and the cigar which will enhanced the flavors of the cigar. I start with water when doing a review or smoking a cigar for the first time, but switching to ice tea, coffee or a nice rum later on works well for me.  |
I would actually go one step further and say that pairing and palate condition are two different things.
Pairing is the act of tasting something else, food or beverage, while smoking a cigar.
Palate Condition is the state of your palate before you start smoking. Both pairing and palate condition affect how you experience a cigar but they are different. Specifically, palate condition can affect what cigar you choose and how you experience the flavors and smoke, but it won't augment or change the flavors while you are actually smoking. Where as pairing will have an affect on flavor while you are smoking the cigar.
On a personal note, I honestly haven't had much success pairing much of anything with cigars aside from the occasional coffee or port. As a result, I drink water mostly when smoking.