The great Fyodor blind taste test!

[anvil]

This is very interesting...IMO, what you have just said may have skewed your earlier findings. If you are accustomed to smoking with a,b, or c and then you suddenly change your consistent ritual, the cigar, may taste a lot different. Add into the equation that you are searching for familiar flavors with a missing component, your taste buds will not be accustomed to the sudden change. IMO, if you had not changed anything, just sat down and smoked, you may have come up with different results. ???

Either way, well done!

What do you think Moki, does that make sense?

I absolutely agree. What you pair a cigar with can affect the taste of the cigar, and also, if you're drinking something that puts you in a good mood, you'll likely enjoy the cigar more as well. That's why I listed mood first for What affects the taste of a cigar?

May not be right for everyone, but it seems about right for me...

I agree bro. You have to be in the right frame of mind I feel.

Although... Sometimes when I have had a very bad day at work and I come home pissed off a nice cigar just melts me

 

[Infinity]

Although... Sometimes when I have had a very bad day at work and I come home pissed off a nice cigar just melts me

In most cases that will work because your mindset is to relax after that stressful day. If it doesn't, the cigar will take on your emotions, usually it burns badly or keeps going out.

Brian

 

[anvil]

Although... Sometimes when I have had a very bad day at work and I come home pissed off a nice cigar just melts me

In most cases that will work because your mindset is to relax after that stressful day. If it doesn't, the cigar will take on your emotions, usually it burns badly or keeps going out.

Brian

LOL :laugh: TRUE

 

[MindRiot]

Damn nice cigar, I have yet to smoke one.

 

[moki]

OMG! Moki, you really shouldn't have. My goodness! Well thank you for including it. I would never have thought it possible. This would have really been the end of me if I would have given it a bad rating.

You gotta admit... it would have been kinda funny if you panned it!

 

[Fyodor]

OMG! Moki, you really shouldn't have. My goodness! Well thank you for including it. I would never have thought it possible. This would have really been the end of me if I would have given it a bad rating.

You gotta admit... it would have been kinda funny if you panned it!

Funny as hell for you guys and terribly confusing for me. ???

 

[enerjay]

Fyodor:

At least you were not this guy. Going for his first Davidoff.

LINK

But wait, the rest of the storie.

LINK

 

[Allofus123]

Andrew, I know without a doubt I can tell a Château Latour from a Château Haut-Brion from a Château Margaux from a Dom Pérignon from a 5000 from a...........


You have my address.

 

[bfreebern]

Nice Kenny, LOL.

 

[Strayvector]

I'm guessing Andrew's not going to want to smoke the White Owls I'm bringing along to Rochester next week.

 

[moki]

Andrew, I know without a doubt I can tell a Château Latour from a Château Haut-Brion from a Château Margaux from a Dom Pérignon from a 5000 from a...........


You have my address.

 

[Fyodor]

Cigar no. 10




Prelight aroma revealed some pleasant barnyard-esque qualities. After Lighting it I was hit with a raw full bodied woody flavor which I wasn't really appreciating and was a complete shock to my palate. I thought to myself, I'm not going to like this one at all. Well luckily after about three puffs it settled down quite a bit. It had some cedary flavor with copious amounts of orange flavor. It also had faint hints of cocoa, but mostly wood and citrus. The finish was very tangy. And for me that means the chances are it's Cuban. Not at all a refined smoke, I considered it very rustic if that makes any sense. No real complexity but nice and flavorful. Over all a swell cigar. 8/10



Verdict- Cuban





I matched this cigar with The Balvenie DoubleWood scotch and thought it a pretty good match.

 

[moki]

Cigar no. 10

Prelight aroma revealed some pleasant barnyard-esque qualities. After Lighting it I was hit with a raw full bodied woody flavor which I wasn't really appreciating and was a complete shock to my palate. I thought to myself, I'm not going to like this one at all. Well luckily after about three puffs it settled down quite a bit. It had some cedary flavor with copious amounts of orange flavor. It also had faint hints of cocoa, but mostly wood and citrus. The finish was very tangy. And for me that means the chances are it's Cuban. Not at all a refined smoke, I considered it very rustic if that makes any sense. No real complexity but nice and flavorful. Over all a swell cigar. 8/10

Verdict- Cuban

Cigar #10 results

Fyodor says:

Cigar rating: 8/10
Origin guess: Cuba
Cuban/non-Cuban: Cuban

Survey says:

Actual origin: Dominican / Nicaraguan
Cigar #10 is a: non-Cuban La Gloria Cubana Robusto (1996) (5" x 50)

Commentary:

From the mighty aged Cuban Davidoff to the humble non-Cuban La Gloria Cubana Robusto (Wavell). I put this one in there as a balance to some of the more pretentious cigars included... and with the hopes that we show that cigars from anywhere can benefit from some age.

I'm glad you enjoyed the cigar... this 12 year old La Gloria Cubana was in some seriously yellow/crusty cellophane. I'm glad you enjoyed the cigar, and it had a nice tangy finish for you, but it was not Cuban in origin!

Well, that wraps up the test... thanks for participating, Fyodor... I'll post my closing thoughts in a separate post.

Results so far:

#1 - Cuban Montecristo Tubos 1970s -- (5/10) guessed non-Cuban, Domincan or Honduran - Incorrect
#2 - non-Cuban Cabaiguan WCD 120 -- (9/10) guessed Cuban - Incorrect
#3 - non-Cuban Tatuaje Black Label -- (1/10) guessed non-Cuban, "a country not meant to be growing tobacco" - Correct!
#4 - Cuban H. Upmann Sir Winston -- (7/10) guessed non-Cuban, Dominican - Incorrect
#5 - Cuban Montecristo Reserva No.4 -- (8/10) guessed non-Cuban, Nicaraguan - Incorrect
#6 - non-Cuban Tatuaje Maravilla -- (9/10) guessed non-Cuban, Dominican - Correct!
#7 - non-Cuban Don Pepin Garcia Blue Label Delicias -- (6/10) guessed Cuban - Incorrect
#8 - Cuban Cohiba Seleccion Reserva Robusto -- (3/10) guessed non-Cuban, Nicaraguan - Incorrect
#9 - Cuban Davidoff No.1 (1985) -- (9/10) guessed Cuban - Correct!
#10 - non-Cuban La Gloria Cubana Robusto (1996) -- (8/10) guessed Cuban - Incorrect

Final Score: Cigars 7, Fyodor 3

 

[Fyodor]

D'oh

 

[moki]

Well, it looks like yet another blind taste test has come to a close. I said most of what I wanted to say in my first post in this thread, so I just have a few parting comments here.

Final Results:

#1 - Cuban Montecristo Tubos 1970s -- (5/10) guessed non-Cuban, Domincan or Honduran - Incorrect
#2 - non-Cuban Cabaiguan WCD 120 -- (9/10) guessed Cuban - Incorrect
#3 - non-Cuban Tatuaje Black Label -- (1/10) guessed non-Cuban, "a country not meant to be growing tobacco" - Correct!
#4 - Cuban H. Upmann Sir Winston -- (7/10) guessed non-Cuban, Dominican - Incorrect
#5 - Cuban Montecristo Reserva No.4 -- (8/10) guessed non-Cuban, Nicaraguan - Incorrect
#6 - non-Cuban Tatuaje Maravilla -- (9/10) guessed non-Cuban, Dominican - Correct!
#7 - non-Cuban Don Pepin Garcia Blue Label Delicias -- (6/10) guessed Cuban - Incorrect
#8 - Cuban Cohiba Seleccion Reserva Robusto -- (3/10) guessed non-Cuban, Nicaraguan - Incorrect
#9 - Cuban Davidoff No.1 (1985) -- (9/10) guessed Cuban - Correct!
#10 - non-Cuban La Gloria Cubana Robusto (1996) -- (8/10) guessed Cuban - Incorrect

Final Score: Cigars 7, Fyodor 3 -- actually the inverse of the goal of 7/10 right.

Average non-Cuban score: 6.6
Average Cuban score: 6.4

If we take the obviously skewed 1/10 rating given to the Tatuaje Black label out of the picture, we have:

Average non-Cuban score: 8
Average Cuban score: 6.4

What did we prove? Nothing, really. But what did we accomplish? Ahhh, that's the question. Hopefully what we accomplished is helping people to understand that preconceptions don't always match reality... but they can alter it.

I hope you all enjoyed the test, and would encourage people to do more blind taste testing on their own, and less band/country of origin idolatry.

And with that, I give the floor to Fyodor... any closing thoughts? Most memorable experiences? Things you might take away from this test?

 

[septumus]

Congrats to Fyodor for seeing this all the way through with an absolutely great attitude about the whole thing. And to Seth for rigging the Fyodor blind taste test contest so he would win!

 

[tomthirtysix]

Moki, Fyodor, I want to thank you guys for one hell of a thread. I really enjoyed reading through all of this.

 

[siriusstoogie]

:thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: to both of you! thanks for taking us along for the ride.

 

[Sportsdls]

Everytime I see a new post in this thread I can't wait to tear into it. Thanks for taking the time guys, I really enjoyed it.

 

[Boomer52]

Thanks guys for this thread. It really gave me some insite into the reality of taste. I really enjoyed it.