Everyone is right on with this. You have to uderstand that like tasting anything, your nose plays a major role in it. You dont need to inhale to blow smoke from your nose, you just need to pull it to the rear of your throat. This takes practice. In the biginning it helps to kind of swallow until you get the hang of it. It is best to start with milder cigars and work your way up. If it burns, be careful as to how much or how fast you blow the smoke from your nose. Let me give a quick recap on proper tasting.
1. Before you light the cigar, put it in your mouth and taste with your lips. Take the cigar out of your mouth and run your tongue over your lips. This is your first indication of some of the flavors you can expect from the cigar. Many of the aromas you detect here will be present in one way or another. You may taste some more on your lips then you will in the smoke and vica versa.
2. Toast the foot and light up. Take a few puffs to really get it going then let it rest. While it is resting, take time to smell the aromas coming off the foot (burning end) of the cigar with your nose only. Compare these aromas to the flavors you pulled of your lips in step one.
3. Many people have their own preffered drawing method and as long as you get a decent amount of volume of smoke from the cigar as you draw, all are exceptable. I personally use a series to two shorter pulls and a third long pull. The trick is not to smoke it too hard or too fast. This will make the cigar hot and alter the way it tastes. Usually for the first inch I try to keep the cigar on my palate more then in my nose. As you draw in the smoke, also breath in a bit through your nose. This process will detect the aromas from the smoke. This is similar also to tasting wine, coffee or scotch. The nose is the most important component. Again, I am not exhaling much through the nose at this stage. At times I will draw the smoke into my mouth, cup my hands and blow the smoke into my hands. Then I put my face into my hands that and bring in as much as I can slowly through my nose. This is a kind of a signature thing I do. I cant say I have seen many other people do it.
4. At this point we are about an inch into the cigar and this is where things really start to take off and you want to start taking careful notes. By now the some of the bite from lighting your cigar is gone and you are going to want to turn up your tasting sensors. So far all we have seen is a preview, now we are going ot decide on things like balance, palate, strength, etc. At this point we are going to do one process that will help determine all three and involves the three key sensory areas in your tasting arsenol which are a. Palate (tongue) b. finish (throat) and c. aroma or nose (nose). Using your same drawing pattern bring in the smoke. Swirl it around your mouth, puff out your cheeks. Let it sit. Exhale. Now draw again, swollow a bit, blow some out of your mouth and save some for you nose. Blow some out of your nose slowly. What do you taste and just as important, what do you feel? Are the aromas earthy, spicy, food like? Stay away from super specific tastes, start at an elementary level and try to classify what family the aromas you are tasting fall into. Then as you make your way through your cigar, try to break it down more. What about the tastes you are pulling from your nose? Are they the same you tasted on your palate, probably not. Be sure to sit after exhaling also and focus on your throat. What flavors do you get on the finish? Is it long or short? Is it harsh or crisp? Be mindful that the nose is great for aromas, palate is great for flavor, throat is great for finish. But how can we deterine the level of flavor and body? This is where it gets interesting. As you blow out of your nose, this is your best indicator for strength. Use your palate or tongue to gauge how much flavor there is. This is the fundimental difference between body and flavor that most people dont understand. You feel strength, you taste flavor.
5. By now we are very well aquainted with the cigar. No doubt we have decided what we like and what we dislike and most likely have some sort of rating in mind. Now we need to move onto the key part of tasting which many people dont understand and it is a very advanced step in the tasting process, that is determining the balance and classifying the flavors. 100% of this step involves only the palate. Put the finish and nose out of the equation for a moment. As you do this you will still want to pull in the smoke and exhale through your nose, but it is only to help enhance flavors that you are looking for in your palate. First get aquainted with the the four areas of the palate a. sweet b. salt c. acid d. bitter. There is a great diagram on Cigar Advocate that goes over these areas and detials them so you know where they are on your tongue. Here is a link but you will need to create an account to view the article. Trust me it is totally worth it.
http://www.cigaradvocate.org/411/read_411_art.cfm?art_id=59 In what zone are you finding most of the flavor? If the cigar is well balanced you shoudl be tasting it equally everywhere. Is it strong in all zones meaning cigar is rich? Or is it light in all areas meaning that it is mild flavored? Is the tip of your tongue tingling? If so it is the sweetness talking? Is it salty? Is the back of your mouth watering? If so that is the acid area showing off? Is it a bitter harsh taste in the middle or back of the palate? That is the bitter area. How are these areas playing together? Is it balanced? What particular tastes are matching up with areas of the palate. Habano seed cigars and cuban cigars are typically a bit more bitter balanced. Cameroon wrappers always have a definabel sweetness. Be sure to try different wrappers and look for similar qualities.
Well I can go on and on and on here but I think this covers the basics. Any more and this is giong to turn into another book. It all comes with practice. However, using your nose when bringing in and blowing out the smoke is necessary if you want to really taste the cigar. It takes some getting used to and you need to develop it just as much as your palate. Start mild in body and work your way up. This way the strength wont be overwhelming to the point where you cant taste the flavor. Believe me it takes time. I still cringe at times when I smoke a full bodied cigar like the diploma. And dont feel like you have to blow all of it out of your nose or even large volumes. You should be able to see it if you are blowing enough out, but it does not need to be overwhelming. Also, do it slowly, this not only helps you taste the cigar, but it also will be a lot more plesant and not so hot.
