Tuesday, October 12 2010
Q:Â I have two separate
humidors and one is kept at about 68% humidity and the other is around 70%. The temperature can vary a little bit more with the temperature of my house and can get a little warm in the summer although I try to keep it in the low 70's. I am fairly new to cigars and will not claim to know a lot but recently cigars I have been smoking from both humidors have had something I can only describe as a bitter taste/aftertaste. Some of my cigars (
Padron and some
Rocky Patel) will only get this taste on the last 1/3 of the cigar while others (sometimes the same cigar) have this bitter taste for the whole smoke. I have experienced this very recently with one Padron (
while I smoked another of the same a few days later and it had no such taste),
Rocky Patel Honduran Classic, and a
Camacho 10th Anniversary.Â
I am not sure exactly what people mean when they describe "spice" as a flavor in a cigar but could this be it? I understand each person has a different palate but when some people describe a coffee-filled cigar with flavors of toasted nuts and chocolate and I only get a bitter smoke I wonder what I may be doing wrong.
- Andrew in Knoxville, TN
A:Â I doubt it's the humidity that's causing this, but if you'd like to know more about "acceptable" RH levels, I suggest you read my blog, The 70/70 Myth.
Now to the issue at hand: It's not unusual for a lot of cigars to turn bitter in the final act, especially some of the more full-bodied cigars which have a higher ligero content. It could be that you're drawing to hard or too often on your cigars which will cause more juices to build up along the journey.
Re spice: I define "spice" two ways. 1) "Peppery" spice, where your palate and the back of your throat experience something similar to eating a hot pepper. 2) "Sweet" spice, like cinnamon, nutmeg, that kind of thing.
Re other flavors that you don't taste, it could just be your body chemistry. I've spoken to a lot of cigar smokers in your camp. Moreover, we did a survey a while back asking about this, and the majority of smokers said that they do taste these flavors; I know I do.
A stable environment will help your cigars smoke better, but rather than point to the humidity, I would re-think the way you're smoking your cigars. Other than that, it's important to note that some cigars can vary from box to box, year to year. If you find that some cigars are a bit "off," try giving them few weeks in the humidor for a little extra "settling" time. Even that can make a world of difference in the long run.
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