Evolution & Tastes

[RevSmoke]

In a conversation with another BOTL, I got to thinking. Do our tastes evolve? Do they mature? Does one ever get to the point where the experimentation sort of ends, and we settle into just one, or maybe a few cigars?

I have smoked both pipes and cigars for about 28 years. Granted, now I only smoke one or the other about 3-7 times a week, so I am not a big smoker, but that's me. I do smoke more when fishing, golfing, or when camping, but that's not important.

I used to be a pipe blend whore. I used to have 30+ blends open at a time and another 50 or so available. But, I have come to a point in my pipe smoking where I reach for on specific blend (G&H Louisiana Flake) probably 90% of the time. I have a couple other blends (maybe 10) for other moods, but that's all I smoke. And, I really am not interested in trying many others.

I have a friend who only smokes one specific cigar, and only one - White Owl blunts - and he'd been smoking them for probably close to 65 yeas. He has tried different smokes, but no. He won't even accept cigars from me to try.

What's this got to do with cigars, you ask?

Good question.

I have tried countless cigars, from a myriad varieties of brands. Some of those brands are no longer in existence for which we should thank the good Lord for His benevolent mercy, while some others were indeed a great smoke. Some of those great smokes simply came about at the wrong time, at the wrong price, and went the way of the dodo.

Some of the sticks I really enjoyed, I no longer find as interesting. For example, I used to really groove on oscuros, the deep black maduros. I couldn't get enough of them. But, they are predominantly too one-dimensional for me now. The only maduros I find interested are the PAM 64 & 26s. I also find certain Colorado Maduros flavorful, but I think it has more to do with what is in the brand/blend than the fact that it is a maduro.

Another point is that in all the different cigars I have tried, I have found that given a sampling of a couple sticks, I can determine whether I want more of that brand/blend/marca or not.

And, the more I sample, the more I find myself going back to a few cigars that I really like. In fact, that is happening more and more.

Yeah, I still enjoy trying cigars, don't get me wrong. But, I find myself going to certain sticks(brands) and ignoring others. I think I could also safely say that if I only had a few carefully selected brands in my humidor, I'd be happy with nothing else.

So, do we evolve to a state of satisfaction? Do we mature? Or do we simply just get lazy or bored?