Sour Vs. Acidic?

[akumushi]

After a holiday period full of wonderful CCs, I'm back to trying to smoke through my remaining NCs (to make more room for the evergrowing CC collection) and tonight I realized what it is about NCs that turn me off; even when they have pretty decent flavors otherwise, I often find that they often have a sour aftertaste, whereas the CCs are generally more acidic on the tongue. Has anyone else found this to be the case? I wonder what the conditions are (soil, processing, etc.) that determine that quality in tobacco. Anyone know of any NCs that have that nice acidic bite to them without the sour?

[ZachF88]

acidic and sour are the same thing. The word "acid" is from the Latin "acidus" meaning sour. Acids, or acidic compounds, have a pH below 7, thus a higher hydrogen ion activity, creating a sour taste. Sorry, chem was one of my best subjects in university....

[JJG]

after going through a CC-only period as well, I realized my tastes had completely changed. Cigars that I liked before didn't appeal to me anymore and ones I never appreciated, suddenly tasted great.

One thing I've noticed is that CCs tend to have a sharpness thats missing from other cigars. I would describe it as a sort of salty leatheryness, whereas NCs tend to tastes a little more "dull" and sweet. We're probably tasting the same flavors, just describing them with different adjectives.

Anyhow, as far as NCs that have that same sharpness I'm describing, nothing is exactly the same, but lighter wrappers tend to be less sweet. The AVO XO line is more mild than a typical CC, but its kinda got that salty leathery taste I'm talking about. Fuentes, which i used to think were overpriced and mediocre, taste great to me now. The Chateau Fuente pyramids are really good, not sweet like the Don Carlos.

Notice that both my suggestions were Dominican. just my opinion, but I think in general Dominican cigars, (the good ones) tastes more Cuban to me than Nicaraguan tobacco. The exception being, LFD. These are great, but they actually taste more like a Nicaraguan cigar than a Dominican.

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by ZachF88

acidic and sour are the same thing. The word "acid" is from the Latin "acidus" meaning sour. Acids, or acidic compounds, have a pH below 7, thus a higher hydrogen ion activity, creating a sour taste. Sorry, chem was one of my best subjects in university....

Though I doubt that the pH is the determining factor on whether a cigar tastes sour or not.

[wayner123]

Which NC's are you smoking through?

Which CC's have you had? Vitola, marca and age?

IMO, In answering these two questions we can determine more closely to the "acidic" flavors you are getting.

Also, has your diet changed? How about you accompaning beverage (if there is one)?

There are a lot of factors that come about when discussing taste.

[akumushi]

There's a huge difference between sour, and acidic in my mind. The Cuban acidity I'm talking about is a biting tartness that doesn't really have a taste, and is more of a mouthfeel that you get towards the end of a cigar, and it spreads all over, like the bite you get from a good balsamic vinegar. I think it is just the tanins and or tar buildup, and is in no way unpleasant. The NC sourness I'm talking about is an actually sour taste that I get on my tongue. It may be a more metallic in some smokes, so it may be from some mineral in the soil, but I call it sour because it reminds me of the cloying artififcial sour taste you get from sour-apple flavored candy. The guilty NCs are most often Honduran, then Dominican, and seldom Nicaraguan. Luckily I haven't experienced it in any DPG, Tatuaje or Illusione products, so those are about the only NCs I still track down and buy. These NCs I'm smoking through are left over from my first few noob purchases, and the biggest guilty parties are anything by General Cigar, most lines from Camacho, and to a lesser extent, a few of the lines by Padilla and LGC. It's purely a function of the tongue, rather than any aroma, and seems to accumulate on the tongue as you continue to smoke. Some of these cigars smell fine on the nose, but the sourness on the tongue is just too distracting to tolerate.