What does a fireplace taste like? Liz answers a question about cigar tastes

The following question was sent to Bob, Dale and Liz by Wes Molaski (Chatroom name:  FragmagnetEOD). Liz's response appears after the question.  Tune in to Episode #353 to hear Bob's and Dale's responses.   By the way, you can join the chatroom during the live broadcast of DogWatch Cigar Radio most Fridays starting at 9 pm EST and talk to Bob, Dale, Liz and other listeners about cigar related topics.

Hey all,

       Guess I should start off by saying that my wife and I are huge fans and that I have not found a show that I enjoy more than DogWatch. With that out of the way, I got a question that has been bugging that crap out of me and after listening to virtually every show I haven't heard it talked about on the show so here it goes.

      My wife and I have recently taken up the hobby of cigars and after listening to the show and other cigar reviews we both give each other a puzzled look when the flavor notes that are stated start coming up. Flavors like cedar, oak fire place(Liz), earthy, pepper, etc.... My question is, how do you go about knowing what these things taste like? Do you walk around chewing on a piece of cedar, dirt or ashes from the fire place. Is it something to the affect of relating a smell to a specific taste or visa versa? We both are looking to further better our experience of smoking wonderful sticks. Any words of wisdom and guidance you can share would be greatly appreciated.

Wes Molaski(FragmagnetEOD)

Here is Liz's response:

Hi Frag and Mrs. Frag!
 
I think this is a great question and I know that Bob and Dale will use it on the show.  Here's my answer to your question.  When I associate tobacco to a "flavor,"  I am referring not only to the actual taste of things, but also to aromas that I  am familiar with and  even to past experiences.  I really  like cigars that have a coffee, dark chocolate or cocoa taste and I associate those flavors with something that I have actually tasted before.  (By the way, to me, spice or pepper flavors refer to the degree of how much they make my mouth sting -spicy:  a little; peppery:  a lot).  Hay, grass and barnyard flavors really are tied to smells that I have experienced and now equate to a cigar taste.  When I describe something as tasting like a fireplace, what I am describing is what I smelled in front of a roaring oak or pine log fire and when I say something tastes "woodsy,"  it is reminding me of camping trips with Bob and the smell of  dried forest tree limbs on the campfire. In those cases, I am using the experience to describe the smell.  
 
Smell and taste are just so inter-related that its hard to separate the two and certain experiences just seem to invoke a specific smell or taste so I find that I use all three -smell, taste and past experiences-  to describe cigar flavors.   It doesn't really matter to me if what I associate to describe a cigar  flavor is not the same as Bob or Dale because we can only use our own senses and experiences to describe something.  I find that it is important to have my own flavor associations so that I can remember what I liked or didn't like about smoking a cigar.  Describing flavor is very personal because we are each unique individuals with vastly different experiences and we just have to do our best to describe what a cigar tastes like.  I don't have a real discerning palate like Dale.  It seems like he can break down a cigar's flavors like a watch repairer breaking down a watch.   Bob's palate is more like mine with an emphasis on general description flavors such as sweet, bitter, and salty.  Sometimes it's fun for Bob and I to smoke the same cigar and compare flavors.  It's interesting because I am never sure if what I am tasting is the same as what Bob is tasting and we are just calling it different names; if he is getting a flavor that my taste buds are just too dull to get; or if I am just so much more discerning than he is.  Sometimes we taste the same flavors and sometimes we don't, but we've learned each other's palate enough that we have a good idea of the type of cigars that the other will like (who am I kidding - Bob likes all cigars). 
 
Another note on being able to put your own name to a cigar flavor - it will help you find new cigars that you might like.  I tried using my descriptors to let a retailer know the type of cigar that I liked, but I ran into the same problem that I have with Bob.  We use different words to describe the same flavor.  Now I keep a little notebook and tape the cigar label and include my description and whether I liked it or not.  When I go into a retailer, I can give him or her the names of cigars that I like and the retailer can find a cigar in that same flavor profile.  Just recently I have started looking up the wrapper, binder and filler of the cigars that I smoke to see if there are certain types of tobacco that I like better than others.  This will add another dimension to my quest for new cigars that I will like. 
 
Just remember there are no wrong answers when you are describing what flavors you are tasting in a cigar even if someone else uses different words to describe it.   I think it can be frustrating to hear someone describe a flavor and not have any idea what he or she means by it.  The only real way to tell is to smoke the same cigar and see what YOU call the flavors.  I am looking forward to hearing Bob and Dale's discussion on this. 
 
Thanks again for writing Wes.   

 
Liz
DogWatch Cigar Radio
www.cigarmedia.tv 
 

Historically Relevant

When aficionados, enthusiasts and weekend cigar smokers think of premium cigars and their history, Cuba is the country that first comes to mind.  Seldom is the United States included in a discussion of cigar history except in the context of being the largest cigar consumer in the world.  As the largest premium cigar market in the world, the United States is coveted by cigar makers from around the globe including those in Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.  However, at one time the U.S. was also a leading producer of tobacco and premium cigars.

Large Philadelphia Cigar FactoryTobaccos from countries around the globe, including Cuba, the Philippines and Sumatra were shipped to U.S. shores and then dispersed throughout the country to as many as 250,000 cigar makers in places like Illinois, Florida, Pennsylvania and New York.  These entrepreneurs combined imported tobacco with the varieties from Connecticut, Wisconsin, Florida and as far west as Washington to produce regional brands across the U.S.  These were only a few of the cigar tobacco producing locations in the U.S. and by the mid to late 1800’s, tobacco had become one of the largest domestic cash crops of the day. 

During the 1800’s cigars were manufactured in almost every state of the union by mostly small regional factories employing 1 to 6 people.  Rippa Brothers Family Cigar ShopQuite often cigars were manufactured in the back of a house and sold out the front.  But America’s fascination with the devil weed did not begin there and has roots deep in its origins as a people and a country.

Commercial tobacco production can be traced back as far as 1614 during the earliest colonization of what would become the United States.  The new colony at Jamestown, in what is now Virginia, was a death camp of starving colonists with little hope of survival.  Chartered by King James I in 1606, the Virginia Company led by Captain John Smith sought the discovery of gold and a water route to the Orient.  Ill-suited for the rigors and hardships of early colonial life, the gentlemen pioneers were crushed by the realities of their task.    The Indians were not on good terms with them; the London Company was tired of sending supplies to the colony; and their ranks of artisans, gentlemen and craftsman were decimated by disease and famine.  As a settlement they faced the very real possibility of fading from history with hardly a whisper. 

By 1609 there remained only 60 of the original 214 settlers.  Captain Smith was barely holding the company together with his disciplined structure and occasional trade support with the Powhatan Indian tribe. John Rolfe, who married Pocahontas, had learned to smoke tobacco while in London and decided to take a shot at cultivating tobacco in Jamestown.  But Rolfe decided against using the Nicotiana Rustica of the local Indians, instead choosing the coveted Nicotiana Tabacum strain then being grown in Trinidad and South America--though Spain had declared a penalty of death to anyone selling such seeds to a non-Spaniard. 

In 1614, in what has been called by at least one historian, the most momentous event of the 17th century, the first shipment of Virginia tobacco was sold in London. Two years later, in June 1616, Rolfe and other leaders of the colony arrived in London to discuss the newly successful crop.  Despite King James’  disapproval of the colony's dependence on a crop he despised, he realized that the very survival of his namesake colony could be at stake. And, of course, King James could not ignore the enormous import duties that Rolfes' Virginia tobacco, "Orinoco," brought to the royal treasury.  Londoners and others around the world liked its taste and began demanding it. Since all sales had to be made through London, the English treasury grew with every transaction. 

Tobacco became such a popular crop that a law had to be passed to force some food cultivation in the suddenly affluent colony.  By 1619 Jamestown had exported 10 tons of tobacco to Europe and was on its way to becoming a successful colony.  Over the next twenty years, Jamestown would export 750 tons of tobacco. Tobacco was the American colonies' chief export. The Jamestown colonists had not found gold, or a route to the South Seas, or the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island, but they had found tobacco. Tobacco and the cash it created lifted the settlement from wretched failure to giddying success. Tobacco had created the need for labor at any price (even institutionalized slavery), and, since it wore out the soil every 4-7 years, the mad rush for land began all through the waterways of the Chesapeake Bay The entire area soon became known as "Tobacco Coast."  Tobacco production continued to be a major industry and its influence spread all the way north to Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to say where exactly the cigar industry began in the U.S. but there are several geographic locations that are significant in its history.  Most surprising among the manufacturing meccas of the 1800’s was Manhattan, which at one time boasted slightly less than 2000 cigar factories of which nearly 4% employed 100 or more people.  Havana Cigar Shop Key WestBy contrast, around that same time in 1886, Florida had a mere 134 cigar factories.  During the 1800’s tobacco production had spread as far north as Wisconsin which produced over 19 million pounds of mostly binder tobaccos at its height. Tobacco had become the primary cash crop for farmers from Pennsylvania to Florida.  In 1880, tobacco taxes were reported to be one third of the national take with cigars providing 40% of those receipts.

Florida Cigar RollingThe manufacture of cigars was a hands-on labor intensive endeavor and the U.S. boasted the largest, most diverse and accessible population of rollers in the world.  Entrepreneurs from Europe and the States provided capital to fuel the flow of tobacco from the Philippines, Asia, South America and, of course, Cuba to fuel the production of the finest cigars in the world.  Cigar consumption in the U.S. was at its height in 1899 with an average consumption of 5 lbs. per person, making the U.S. the second heaviest (the Netherlands was top dog in this category) consumer on the globe.

Two reasons for the decline of the cigar industry beginning around this time are the proliferation of the machine roller and the rise of cigarettes.  Driven by the availability of better tobacco, packaging and marketing, the now cheaper-to-produce cigarettes rapidly destroyed the market for premium cigars.  Machine made cigars also became more popular during this time, but even though more affordable cigars were now accessible to the masses, the cigar industry could not overcome the creation of millions of cigarette smokers who returned from first World War I and later World War II after having been rationed a regular supply of cigarettes by the various armies.  Hand rolling using the "Spanish" methodA single rolling machine could replace 6-10 trained cigar rollers and although we may not consider the product to be of equal quality, the reduction in price was crucial to the success of machine rolled cigars and cigarettes as the world fell in to what we now call The Great Depression. 

The cigar industry never fully recovered from that transition and although today we enjoy some of the finest hand rolled cigars ever produced, our annual consumption of around 2 billion cigars at the turn of this century pales when compared to the approximately 8.5 billion cigars produced in 1912 in the U.S. alone.  The next time you find yourself in a discussion of cigar history or the wonders of the Cuban cigar, don’t forget the role played by U.S. growers and manufacturers before Cuba was crowned the queen of the cigar world.

Sidebar:

Thanks to Tony Hyman for much of the information and inspiration for this article.
Tony Hyman at the National Cigar History Museum (cigarhistory.info) has spent a lifetime chronicling cigar history through the collection of memorabilia such as cigar boxes, labels and more importantly, documentation including journals and tax records. According to Mr. Hyman, “the domestic cigar industry is almost 250 years old, and is much larger than previously recorded, involving a quarter million cigar factories, hundreds of label printers, a thousand box factories, hundreds of thousands of salesmen and millions of wholesalers and retailers.”  This is not exactly the view that most cigar consumers have of the past.  Mr. Hyman further states with great conviction and plenty of proof “that cigars had more to do with the development of modern advertising and packaging than any other industry, creating more than 2 million brands of cigars in the process.”  Visit Mr. Hyman’s self-supported web site (cigarhistory.info) to learn much more about the history of cigars.

Fundraising with Vices

The following article appeared on Courant.Com from West Hartford, Connecticut.   http://www.courant.com/community/west-hartford/hc-school-fundraiser-is-saturday-20111012,0,7465207.story

School Fundraiser Is Saturday
 
West Hartford—
St. Thomas the Apostle School will hold a beer and wine tasting fundraiser Oct. 15 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the school, 105 Bloomfield Ave.

School alum Dana Lauren, a jazz musician, will perform at the event. A cigar roller will also be available, and there will be a silent live auction.

All proceeds will benefit the school, which is trying to replace its roof. Tickets are $45 per person.
______________________________________________________________

I cannot help but wonder how this event fits in with the local anti-smoking efforts and of course the local MADD or AA chapter?  It is apparent that banning smoking and railing against drinking (we all agree that drinking and driving is a VERY dangerous combination) is a national pastime unless, it is an expedient means of raising funds.  Whether the funds be taxes or local charity contributions it is fine so long as the funds are for a good cause, say a new roof for the local school.  But if the question is the freedom of adults to enjoy a good cigar, then all hell breaks loose about the damage it does to innocent bystanders.  And of course we continue to pass ever more stringent anti-smoking regulations to protect our children.  But its OK to use cigars and liquor to raise funds for a new school roof.  What message are we sending to our children?  Will they not be enticed to try tobacco or alcohol after being made aware of the contribution those industries and vices made to fixing the leaking roof in their school?  Have the attendees at this event been properly educated on the potential health effects of drinking and smoking?  Obviously not.

Pairing Jelly Belly Bean flavors with cigars

With Easter just around the corner I thought it would be interesting to work on some cigar pairings with jelly beans. When I speak of jelly beans I refer only to the best jelly bean on the market, Jelly Belly. Jelly Belly is the gourmet jelly bean on the market offering a base of 50 flavored jelly beans. Some specialized flavor offerings have arrived recently and those are not part of this exercise. The base flavors run from the quintessential Very Cherry (a personal favorite along with Sizzling Cinnamon, Sour Cherry and well the list goes on) and the esoteric French Vanilla. So the first step in conducting a pairng test is to sort the flavors.

Click to read more ...

Best of Cigar Travel

The evening was cool but comfortable on the roof of the Hotel Los Arcos in Esteli, Nicaragua.  Rum was flowing freely and an aromatic haze of cigar smoke hung in the still air.  Around the lone rooftop table sat 9 cigar enthusiasts from diverse backgrounds and locations across the US and Canada basking in the events of the day.  Today had begun with a trip to the My Father Cigars factory for a tour led by Jaime and Pepin Garcia that culminated with a wrapper rolling contest won by yours truly.  Believe me when I say that rolling wrappers onto cigars under the watchful eye of Pepin Garcia is a stressful endeavor.  After the time at My Father Cigars the group had travelled to the Padron factory for a tour with Cesar Gudaya.
But at this moment all attention was on the current dilemma of pairing three rum vintages with a My Father cigar.  The end results of the pairing experiment were less important than the exercise itself.  One of the insights gained in the group effort was that the older vintage rums taste better but do not necessarily pair as well with this particular cigar.  The debate was vigorous but good humored and difficult to direct often getting off-track into a plethora of topics, some cigar related and some not.
The evening aroma and camaraderie was typical of the four evenings spent together as a group on this excursion to cigar country hosted by CigarTourism.com.  One of the impressive characteristics of this group by now was how comfortable they had become with each other since arriving in Esteli via Managua and Leon.
Making new friends is one of the more subtle gifts of travelling with CigarTourism.com to experience the wonders of tobacco growing, fermenting, aging and cigar production.  For a cigar enthusiast, getting up close and personal with cigar makers and the people that make these wonderful premium cigars that we smoke today can be a life changing experience.  For example, I can tell you over and over again that each cigar you smoke is touched by at least 100 pairs of hands in its creation, manufacture and delivery but when you see the rolling salons, the women sorting wrapper leaves or the fields being tended by hand that fact will finally hit home and become resident in your cigar brain.  Then you will perhaps realize how many people's lives are dependent on the premium cigar industry.  The families of the torceadors and the field hands to the local shop owners are all dependent on what we allow our legislature to get away with in stealing our right to choose.
Sharing comes easy with fellow cigar smokers and on each trip I have been involved with there has been at least one non-cigar smoker.  On the most recent trip it was Vincenzo who, while not exactly a non-smoker, was certainly a much lighter smoker than the rest of the crew, at least in the beginning.  By the end of the trip Vincenzo had found at least two cigars he really enjoyed in addition to the 12-year old rum.  It was exciting to share Vincenzo’s journey from novice to knowledgeable as we travelled the factories of Esteli.
If you have an inclination to travel and experience the wonders of the cigar world, then you owe it to yourself to click on up to CigarTourism.com and sign up for next year's trips.