real or psychosematic

[icehog3]

REv, I am very careful about questions which state or imply "always" and/or "never".

I will say that I am primarily a "nose smoker", and find Cubans are much more enjoyable in general for this kind of smoking, as many of the Central and South American tobacco seems a bit harsh through the nose.

No doubt there are some wonderful Nicaraguan, Dominican, American, etc cigars. I just prefer Cubans for my tastes. If the nose smoking part implies more "smoothness", then I guess there is my answer.

[larryinlc]

There are so many variables that come into play while smoking a cigar. Most notably mindset. Cigars almost always smoke and taste better when I'm in a mellow happy mood. That being said, in my 30 years of smoking, I do recognize the cc profile and I like it. However, it's not always present. I agree with the original op assessment....not better, but different.

Larry

[Ashcan Bill]

As far as the first question, no, I don’t find any one flavor predominant throughout all the Cuban marcas. I find most to have unique characteristics, and that’s why I enjoy some and dislike others. Same goes for NCs. The one commonality I see across the board with Cuban cigars is the lack of harshness compared to NCs, especially on the nose exhale. The tobacco is just mellower.

As far as the second question, are they better? Personally, I usually prefer a CC over a NC. The CC is a bit more sophisticated in that I can identify and enjoy flavors I don’t generally get in NCs. Now this isn’t a 100% deal, as I’ve had plenty of flat CCs. And there are NCs that I inventory and smoke often enough, and I quite enjoy them. But overall, I prefer the CC for its lack of harshness and flavor profile.

The downside is the construction of CCs. I don’t know why so many are twisted, tightly bunched, or just plain plugged but they are. Conversely, it’s exceedingly rare to get a NC too tight to draw. That’s the real mystery to me.