“To overanalyze a cigar, or a mate, is to destroy the mystery. . .While we want to know what makes a cigar taste great, we don’t want our pleasure reduced to a chemical analysis of smoke and tobacco. In essence, we want the romance to continue with each new cigar encounter.” — Cigar Aficionado, 1993

Have you ever been to a cigar tasting? These types of gatherings are held all over country, but one place claims to host one of the country’s longest running weekly cigar tastings — The Party Source in Newport, Kentucky. (Currently, they hold their tastings at The Beer Cellar on Tuesdays, just as an FYI if you happen to be in the neighborhood).

Cigar + Ash Tray

If you go to this cigar tasting or any other, no one is going to run you out of the room if you don’t know what you’re doing or saying; most fellow cigar enthusiasts and tobacconists want to pass on their tasting tips and hints to you, answer your questions, and explain to you how cigars are made.

But, if you want to go in with a little more preparation on the “proper” way to assess the taste of a fine cigar than your average cigar smoker, please take note.

To make an educated assessment, simply putting the cigar in your mouth won’t do; you must smoke your cigar of choice from beginning to end, suggests Cigar Aficionado. You need to experience the cigar with all of your senses — including hearing.

Most cigar lovers agree that taste and smell go hand-in-hand. But there are differing philosophies on how to actually assess or “quantify” a cigar’s taste. Some are believers of the “taste is either there, or it isn’t” school of thought, while others take a decidedly more studied view, using the four basic tastes (sweet, salty, sour, and bitter) and aroma to describe cigar flavor. While some reject using “food terminology” to describe cigar taste and aroma, others use words like oaky, nutty, spicy, burnt, peppery, earthy, chocolate, roasted, creamy, fruity, and leathery as descriptives.

Wanna know more? Click here to read the full “Cigars 101” article.

So how do you personally assess the taste and quality of a cigar?