La Aurora Cameroon Robusto posted on February 8th, 2012
You & Your 5 Senses
After my humidor tour I received a lot of questions about how I know if I’m properly taking care of my cigars since I don’t use a hygrometer. I thought the best way to to answer that question was to demonstrate how you and your 5 senses can be used to get a good feel for a cigar all before lighting up.
Video runs a little over 11:30 and I hope you go easy on me…I’m not known for my “how to” or “educational” videos but I did try my best.
That instructional video was SMOKEY HEATY!
Dang, wow. Now that is a sensory breakdown on smoking a cigar. That was interesting information on the rolling to hear the slight crackling and the new information was the taste of the cap on the tongue. Your the first person I’ve ever heard that from.
I have to admit though, I kind of like that slight tanginess in taste but it can make a cigar be a bit odd. I equate it to a tanic taste and I get it quite a bit from Don Pepin cigars which when coupled with the pepper taste he adds in, gives me a nice array of flavors to taste. I just smoked a Padilla 1932 and the frist third was heavy on the tart tanic flavor which paired wonderfully with the Macallan scotch I was drinking. But I have a bunch aging so curious to see how they age.
Oh, loved the music at the front of the song!!! Rocking for Rocky heh.
Dave
I don’t think I am expert enough to go without the Hygrometer. Interesting stuff I will have to try some of them when I have lots of time to enjoy a longer pre-light ritual.
First off, good vid. One thing that irks me when I go to my local B&M are the guys who must run a cigar that run a cigar right up against their nose, then put the shit back. How do I know that guy doesn’t have cold or dried up snot up in those nostrils. Of course they only do this to cigars that aren’t in cellophane. I saw a sign at one cigar shop which I believe was at CI’s Bethelehem shop, if you put a cigar up to your nose, consider it bought.
You know Jerry, I have to agree with you. Your own senses are a better judge than a hydrometer at the condition of your cigars. I 86ed mine too a while back and I am fine. Too many worries, now I just relax and smoke ‘em.
Cheers, thanks for the video! You are on an all time roll for cranking these babies out!
Jerry, With all that said, is it wrong to briefly inspect a cigar before you buy it at the shop? Not going to the lengths that you spoke of, demonstrated on the video or not even going so far as to take the cellophane off. Just a closer look, ya know. Too many times I will get it home and discover a problem that was slightly hidden, that could have allowed me to simply pick another one. The reason that I ask is that one time when I was looking at cigar in a shop , the owner flipped out and told me that they are all the same and to just take one. Have not been back since!! He was a real ass.
I like your reviews, but I still disagree that you can tell whether your humidor is at optimal humidity without a digital hygrometer. I could see where you could use your five-senses technique to tell if a cigar has gone totally bad, but that’s about all. Just my opinion.
JAC – I don’t own a cigar shop so I’m looking at this straight from a consumer stand point but I don’t see anything wrong with removing a cigar from its cellophane before buying. You wouldn’t buy a pair of shoes without trying them on or produce without inspecting it. I think you can use all the techniques before buying except the clipping of the cap and smelling the cigar up and down.
Chris – Feel free to disagree. I like socializing and hearing other opinions. Its what this is all about. I don’t think my humidor is “optimal” but it is to my liking and I trust in The Puck as my humidification device. Also, I do send out a lot of cigars and I’m always asked what temperature and RH I keep my humidor so they can adjust theirs. They are usually surprised when I tell them I don’t don’t know since I don’t use a hygrometer but everything smoked well.
Nice one Jerry. I use beads as well and while I haven’t disposed of my hygrometers yet they are placed in my humidors so that I have to pull them out to look at them. I go by the way my cigars smoke and only occasionally check to see what the RH is as a confirmation.
Thanks for your informative video.I enjoyed it very much. I have a question regarding the cellophane of of the cigars.According to the video of ”Humidor tour” you did a while a go, I noticed that you leave them on some cigars and you don’t on the others in your humidors. Is there any reason for that? Which do you usually prefer to do in you humidor?
Shn – ah the great cello on or cello off debate. Personally, I prefer to take the cello off. Mainly just for looks.
There are times where I do leave the cello on if its a bunch of cigars (from a huge bomb or a box purchase) that I may use for trading or giveaways. In this case, the cello on adds a little extra layer of cushion for shipping.
Nice video. Good info.
Long F’ing Ashes!!!
Jerry,
Interesting video. I go through a similiar ritual before every stick….maybe not as long as your, but I still do. I assume that you go through the humidor and perform these “sensory checks” on smokes every so often (even when you not gonna smoke that particular stick) and that’s your substitute for the hygrometer. Personally, I just don’t trust myself to be that attentive and perceptive to the “state of the sticks” and the hypgrometer, if nothing else, is my mental security blanket that all my cigars are safe and happy in the box and all is good in the world.
Anyway, thanks for another good vid.
I always wet the cap of the cigar before cutting it. I was once told in a shop to do this because otherwise the cut might damage the cigar… is this a myth? because from your video I cannot conclude what’s the best approach for this…
Nice review I like those ‘tips and tricks’ video’s! Keep ‘m coming!
Doo Doo. HaHa. You crack me up.
Good stuff, Jerry.
uh…huh huh huh…you said “nutsack”.
do do and nutsack.
classic vid jerry!
dk
Good movie. It was informative. I do some of this stuff but not all. I especially did not know about the piece of cigar on the tongue thing.
Another Awesome Video!!! Very informative and as a new cigar smoker, I learned alot!!
“A JJ Cruz Production”…I like it.
Thanks for the video Jerry.
Burp, Mmmmm Lasagna………
Jerry, I thought this was a great video. Do more like this!
Love your vids, Jerry. I, too, have gone away from using my hygrometer frequently (I still keep it in there and check it bi-weekly). I’ve been doing the cap tasting thing for maybe a month and a half now, and it does seem to be a decent indicator of the cigar tasting experience. The rolling of the cigar by the ear is new to me, but makes sense. Keep up the good work, man!
a JC educational?…..
CLICK.! roll it!!!!!
OR …. you can simply just get a fuckin hygrometer!
It’s a cigar, not Rice Krispies cereal, its not going to talk back to you. Why was it in your ear?? LOL
Use a hygrometer, re-fill it with distilled water once a month and you are good to go. It doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to it. If you don’t have 5 minutes to spare each month, somethings got to change in your life. Keep a little sticky next to your humidor with a date you re-filled the humidity if you need to, that way you know by when you should change the distilled water again.
If you do this “senses” shit for every cigar you smoke, you are wasting precious time. It’s time that you can make a Cappuccino! (which by the way you are good at) Or guess what? It’s time that you can use to change your distilled water! LOL
J, i love you man, but if you do some shit like this when we smoke. Which I am sure we will do plenty of for the rest of our lifes. I am kicking your ass!
- Dennis
liked this… some of the suggestions in the cigar.com booklet were over the top…