DBall smoking blind NCs...

[akumushi]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

Turnabout is fun play! Thank you for doing this, Dom!

Dan and Clayton, I don't know what kind of NCs you're getting "tongue-coating nastiness" out of. This has never been an issue for me.

From another thread

Originally Posted by akumushi

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 to a lesser extent 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.

The topic of tasters and supertasters comes up now and then on different boards. The short and long of it is that everyone has a different amount of tastebuds, and that some people with a much higher amount than the average, "supertasters" can pick up certain traces of bitterness or sourness that others simply can't taste. I don't know whether or not I qualify for this status or not, but I do know that I often pick up funky flavors that are unpleasant to me in cigars that a lot of people enjoy without mentioning it. Whether or not that is due to something objective like the supertaster thing, or something entirely subjective such as personal taste, is another story.
I was just happy to hear that I'm not the only one that finds that "tongue coating nastiness" as a hallmark of certain NCs. When I was a newb, I simply wrote it off as part of the cigar smoking experience and powered through it. Now that I know that a cigar doesn't have to taste like you're sucking on a quarter, I stick to my CCs and the handful of Premium NCs that don't have that aftertaste. If I get a cigar that maintains that taste for more than a minute, I pitch it and find something else. Interestingly, I have never tasted it in a CC. I'm not saying I haven't had my share of nasty flavors in a handful of much too young or improperly stored CCs, but I've never had anything with this particular cloying aftertaste from The Island.
/threadjack

[PeteSB75]

Originally Posted by akumushi

From another thread


The topic of tasters and supertasters comes up now and then on different boards. The short and long of it is that everyone has a different amount of tastebuds, and that some people with a much higher amount than the average, "supertasters" can pick up certain traces of bitterness or sourness that others simply can't taste. I don't know whether or not I qualify for this status or not, but I do know that I often pick up funky flavors that are unpleasant to me in cigars that a lot of people enjoy without mentioning it. Whether or not that is due to something objective like the supertaster thing, or something entirely subjective such as personal taste, is another story.
I was just happy to hear that I'm not the only one that finds that "tongue coating nastiness" as a hallmark of certain NCs. When I was a newb, I simply wrote it off as part of the cigar smoking experience and powered through it. Now that I know that a cigar doesn't have to taste like you're sucking on a quarter, I stick to my CCs and the handful of Premium NCs that don't have that aftertaste. If I get a cigar that maintains that taste for more than a minute, I pitch it and find something else. Interestingly, I have never tasted it in a CC. I'm not saying I haven't had my share of nasty flavors in a handful of much too young or improperly stored CCs, but I've never had anything with this particular cloying aftertaste from The Island.
/threadjack

Never heard this reason for it before, but it is one of the main reasons I also smoke primarily CCs now. I seem to also notice it much more when it is there now that I am not smoking NCs very often. I have gotten it from Tatuaje, especially the newer blends/lines but never from any Padron, Oliva or Fuente product. Explains my preferences there. Interestingly, I also sometimes get it from espresso, especially when it is cheap espresso - one of the reasons I avoid most retail coffee places here in the states. When I still smoked them, I would also get it from some brands of cigarettes, but not all.

[DBall]

Cigar #2

This beast looks maduro and is 50rg x 6 7/8” (read: nowhere near anything I smoke size-wise).




1st/3rd:

Prelight draw shows perfect construction, great draw and no flavors to really write home about. Lighting it up… smoke really isn’t too strong, which is good. That said, I just found out that it’s not a good idea to push all the smoke out my nose.

Out the nose, however, when I look past the fire ants in my nostrils, I do get a very woody flavor that’s agreeable. No real bitterness or anything as of yet… the smoke is a good flavor. I just sneezed thanks to my fire ant friends.

There’s something fruity in the aftertaste of this cigar which is very pleasant… like some sweet stewed fruit. This is a decent cigar so far… the size is a bit much, but I think the reason I resist cigars of this size is because I like change. I’ve had some cigars that chance frequently throughout the smoking of it. This experience primarily occurred with CCs… NC’s could have decent flavors, but didn’t really change drastically enough to keep me interested. Perhaps it’s ADD…

As another note, I’m pairing this with coffee… now I’m going to grab some Pellegrino as well.

2nd/3rd:




That tasty fruitiness is so far in the background it might as well not even be there... the predominant flavor now is back to the woodiness, but there is also a sweetness. I’m really enjoying this cigar and, oddly, I believe this would be a good cigar with some age on it. The reason I find that odd is that I haven’t really seen many NCs that benefit from age. I know that’s an unscientific and likely unfair blanket statement, but I’ve had 02 Anejos and just didn’t dig them (and this was when I was smoking NCs predominantly).

After the half, I’m getting a little… something. How’s that for specific, eh? This cigar has some of that muddled-ness I noticed in the last cigar, either that or my palate is just weak. That’s just as likely. Still, though, I’m enjoying it.

I have gotten no bitterness from this cigar, in fact, there’s been a sweet undertone (at times an overtone) throughout the entirety of this stick.

3rd/3rd:




Not really pulling many particular flavors at this point, but still enjoying it. I’m really curious to find out what this is. There a little glue-type taste in the distant background… not enough to make this a bad cigar by any stretch. Strength is definitely picking up at this point, which is typical.

I have picked up the habit lately of finding stems in cigars and tearing them out, often to the detriment of the cigar, but it’s a habit I can’t seem to break. I’ve been holding off on this cigar, but I couldn’t hold off anymore:




Now, it’s simply become a cigar. I’ve enjoyed it thoroughly up to this point… now though, it’s getting a bit rough. At this point, I’m calling the game. The strength at this point is much more than I enjoy.




I’d rate this cigar an 89 and am curious as to what it is.