A true source of pleasure, cigars offer a wide variety of aromas and flavors that make each tasting experience unique. Although some people have a more developed sense of taste and smell than others, the perception and recognition of different aromatic notes, even the most subtle, is not generally an instinctive process. To take full advantage of the aromatic richness and complexity offered by cigars, you need to train your palate in the different aromas and flavors. In this article, we give you the keys to developing your palate effectively, so as to transform each of your tastings into an unforgettable sensory voyage.
Knowing how your palate works
Taste perception is a complex process that involves much more than just our taste buds. While the taste buds play a central role in our gustatory system, sensory perception in the mouth relies primarily on the sense of smell. Of the 5 senses, it is the only one to be directly linked to certain brain structures involved in emotions and memory, which explains why certain smells are capable of awakening memories. Taste only comes second. The taste buds are only capable of detecting 5 flavors: bitter, sweet, salty, acid and umami, while the nose is responsible for perceiving aromas.
If you want to improve your palate, it's essential to develop your olfactory memory by repeatedly exposing yourself to a particular taste. The more often a taste stimulus recurs, the easier it will be to perceive its aroma when tasting a cigar. The development of your palate should therefore begin with the exploration of different aromas and flavors.
Exploring aromas and flavors
While the perception of aromas remains a highly subjective experience, certain notes and flavors are more commonly found in cigars than others. You can therefore begin to educate your palate to cigars by taking the time to explore these specific aromas and flavors (see list below). This exploration can be done by testing these foods individually, by gradually adding them to a dish to see how they modify its taste profile, or simply by associating them with a cigar. a drink. Country walks are also an excellent way to develop your sensory memory. They give you the opportunity to discover a wide range of aromas by familiarizing yourself with the smell of oak trees, hay or humus.
As you discover new things, take the time to analyze what you perceive. Ask yourself how flavors and aromas interact on your palate. Ask yourself what reactions a particular scent provokes? Examine your overall sensation.
To help you in your explorations, we've compiled a (non-exhaustive) list of the main aromas and flavours found in high-end cigars :
- Visit woody and vegetal notes The aromas of cedar, hickory, oak, green tea, undergrowth, grass and humus.
- Visit natural notes leather, earth, hay, salt, ooze, barnyard aromas.
- Visit spicy notes Black pepper, white pepper, cumin, cinnamon, saffron, vanilla, nutmeg.
- Visit nutty notes These include cashews, peanuts, chestnuts, pecans, almonds and pistachios.
- Visit sweet notes coffee, molasses, honey, chocolate, caramel, maple.
Blind tests and tastings
As with any training course, it's important to compare your theoretical knowledge with practical tests to measure the impact of your explorations on your skills. To do this, you can, for example, organize taste and smell tests with your friends.
Very easy to perform, this type of test simply requires you to blindfold yourself and try to recognize different ingredients using only your nose or palate. For this test to be interesting, you'll need to choose ingredients whose aromas are frequently found in cigar profiles.
Adopt good tasting habits
Careful detection of cigar aromas and flavors also involve adopting good tasting practices. To amplify the perception of aromas, many aficionados practice the retro-olfactionor retro-haling. This technique consists of exhaling between 80% and 90% of the total volume of a puff through the mouth and exhaling the rest through the nose. Direct contact of the smoke with the olfactory epithelium not only confirms impressions already perceived in the mouth, but also detects new, more subtle aromas.
We can't stress this enough: cigar tasting requires you to take your time. Throughout your tasting session, take care to draw at a rate of about one puff per minute. Excessively rapid puffing will heat up your cigar and increase deposits of certain chemical compounds, such as tar, in your mouth. These deposits have a negative impact on aroma perception.
What's more, by smoking more slowlyIn this way, you give your palate time to detect certain flavors that only come through in the aftertaste. These tobacco undertones contribute to the aromatic richness of a cigar, and are often taken into account by experts in their assessments.
Keep a tasting diary
Keeping a tasting diary is an excellent way to refine your palate. It enables you to carry out a more in-depth sensory analysis of your modules, and keep a record of your impressions over time. Practiced on a regular basis, this exercise will enhance your knowledge of different terroirs and help you discover your tastes in depth. After all, developing your palate should first enable you to identify the aromatic profiles you like, and thus help you to better understand your cigar tastes.
To find out how to keep a tasting diary, please consult our article "How to make a cigar tasting sheet?".
