Come on Tadım ...

Tasting in cigars is a concept we often hear about right after we start smoking. And yet, no matter how much we hear about it, I see it as a subject that we struggled with at first. After all, I have mentioned it in my previous articles, unfortunately, we cannot evaluate the taste of our cigar as easily as the taste we get from a meal.

Of course, by the way, I have a taste, I have a taste. Tasting with friends in an environment where everyone smokes different cigars, and tasting on your own, when there is a calmer head and no distractions, will give different results, even for the same cigar.

Now, I will approach "Tadım" a little more methodically and try to explain "taste for taste" in 3 steps, which I learned and used in my own tastings.

In the meantime, before reading what I have written below, if you haven't read it, I suggest you read the articles "Tasting your cigar " and "The taste of your cigar" that I shared earlier. Even if you read it, it wouldn't hurt to refresh the information. Also, for reference flavors, you can see the article "Keep the Taste on Your Palate", where you can find the Puro Flavor Wheel.

As I mentioned above, even the environment you are in will affect the taste you will get from that cigar. Now we are tasting for tasting; then we have to adjust our environment accordingly. First of all, we need to make your mouth taste as neutral as possible. So, now, any drink (except water and apple juice) coffee, other juices, alcohol, etc. We will put aside drinks that will change our taste for a while. Also, during this period, we will keep aside foods that may cause hazelnut, peanut or other taste differences. After adjusting these physical conditions, during the tasting, it will cause any confusion or distraction, telephone, television, etc. We also need to eliminate external factors such as. An important point; Tasting with a calm mind in a spiritually relaxed moment will also help us get the healthiest results.

Before we get to the first step after burning our cigar, we need to look at how our cigar appeals to our eyes and skin, as we always do. How does it look and feel? How's it smell then? How does the filling smell, how does the wrapper smell? Is the cigar wrapped tight or is it soft? How is the air flow when we cut the hat part and inhale, is there any obstruction? And finally, what kind of taste does it leave on our palate before burning it? These are all points to be considered and noted before we start smoking our cigars.

So what are the next steps?

Step 1: OBSERVATION

After lighting our cigar and starting to smoke, there are a few points to observe. These:

• Burning quality: Properly lit cigars will allow us to get the flavors they contain in the most accurate way that the manufacturer wants us to get. In addition, the burning of your cigar too strong will be one of the factors that will reduce your smoking pleasure, as it will spoil the taste. Not keeping your cigar in your mouth like a cigarette will reduce this risk. Does it extinguish itself too often or does it burn constantly?

• Ash of your cigar: You may think that the ash of your cigar doesn't mean much to you in the first place. But cigar ash, I think, is one of the points that should be paid attention to the most. You cannot even imagine how much it will affect the taste and pleasure you get from the cigar, from its color to its length. So again, we must take care that the ashes of your cigar fall off by itself, rather than shaking it out as if it were cigarette ash. Until it falls off on its own, the ash will help your cigar burn level and get the full flavor. The color of your ash will give information about the quality of the soil where the tobacco grows. You can read more about ash in the article titled "The importance of ash".

• Airflow when lit: When your cigar is on, is it able to provide the airflow before it burns, or is it blocked?

• Smoke: Is it a smoky cigar, or is it minimal smoke when smoking? If it emits too much smoke, is it burning heavily?

In order to observe them in the most accurate way, my advice to you is to finish your cigar in one sitting. Therefore, it is useful to choose your cigar to be tasting according to your time. In one sitting, you will both catch the changes in the points you need to observe and catch the taste harmony that your cigar wants to give you. Most importantly, at the end of your cigar, you will be able to catch the Finish Taste. This Ending Taste that remains on your palate will differentiate and mature in your palate even after the cigar is finished.

2. Identification and Comparison

What we need to do in this step is to describe the flavors that it offers us while smoking our cigars in the most accurate way. At this point, other flavors you experience will come to your aid. You can describe and describe the flavors you get from your cigar with the flavors you have previously eaten or drunk. The Cigar Flavor Wheel will be a pretty good reference for you. At the same time, it is possible to describe the taste of the cigar you smoke by comparing it with the cigars you have smoked before. For example, even within the same brand, a cigar wrapped in Dominican Republic tobacco will be less spicy than a cigar wrapped in Nicaraguan tobacco. Such comparisons will also shed light on your future cigar choices.

3. Evaluation

Our third and final step will be to evaluate our findings in the first two steps I mentioned above according to our own scale. As a result of this evaluation, we will score how much the cigar we smoke appeals to our eyes, skin and palate. Different tasters use different scales, but as an example for you, I share a scoring chart below, which is accepted as the norm by many cigar magazines.

In fact, tasting is both that easy and not that easy. The more you "taste" and smoke cigars, the easier it will be. In addition to these, instead of remembering all of the above, one by one, for each cigar, instead of straining your memory, it is my last recommendation for you to write down somewhere to create comfort for you.

Enjoyable tastings and pleasant smoking already ...