Stogie Tip: Smoke Through The Nose
Monday, August 14th, 2006On July 31, I told you about a private cigar tasting we attended with Mike Copperman at Bethesda Tobacco. In that post, I said it’s amazing how refined your palate can be if you (1) pay attention to the geography of your tongue, (2) smoke through the nose, and (3) have a human cigar encyclopedia at your disposal.
While you can revisit that post to study the geography of the human tongue and how it relates to cigar tasting, you most often won’t have a human stogie information bank at your side. But – in order to further your understanding and appreciation of cigars – I’d like to share with you how to smoke through the nose. It’s a relatively simple strategy to maximize the flavors you’ll get from each stick and, no, it’s not inhaling.
First, take a decent puff from a properly-lit stogie. Not surprisingly, your mouth will fill up with delicious smoke. Good. Next, slowly release about 80 to 90 percent of that smoke by gently blowing out.
After that, close your lips, trapping the remaining smoke in your mouth. This time, instead of releasing, literally swallow the smoke (as you would any food or beverage). Then, with your mouth still closed, blow out through your nose. If you see smoke, congratulations…you’ve just smoked through your nose.
Why go to all the trouble? Well, let me answer that question with a question: Ever notice you can’t taste food when you have a cold? That’s because flavor information can’t make it to the odor receptors in your nose.
Our noses can tell the difference between many different tastes, but our tongues can only detect a few flavors: bitter, sour, salty, and sweet. Only about 10 to 20 percent of flavor information comes from our tongue. Smoking through the nose, therefore, will allow you to detect flavors and aromas on the palate you otherwise wouldn’t be able to by just smelling cigar smoke.
Now you certainly shouldn’t do this on every puff – once or twice per cigar should do the trick. Just give it a try and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Happy smoking!
Note to our readers: As you probably already noticed, the picture to the right has no relation to this particular post. I just had some trouble finding a good image and thought a hot Asian chick smoking a cigar wouldn’t be a bad choice. Sue me.
-Patrick A
Interesting…will have to give that a try. No complaints about the picture from me!
I know what you mean by pulling the smoke back to push out your nose, but I’m not sure I would compare that with swallowing the smoke. You may end up with a lot of readers with a nasty case of nausea.
I frequently do what you are describing, and let me tell you, it’s much easier to actually do than to describe it
Its almost like rolling your tongue back slightly to close off your throat, then exhale through your nose and gently force the smoke to the back of your mouth. If done correctly the smoke will get pulled out of your mouth and through your nose.
From what i have seen, people can either do it easily, or get sick trying. Its worth a shot if your not afraid of possibly swallowing or inhaling a little smoke. It most definately adds to the flavors of the cigar just as Patrick mentioned
Walt- Thanks for your input. “Swallowing the smoke” is how it was described to me, and it works for me. But thanks for chiming in…some readers may find your description helpful. Good input.
I would have to disagree with Mark and Patrick…that picture is a little out of line. First off, she’s not even smoking the cigar in the picture. It was digitally altered to make it look like the stogie had been lit. Secondly, as a female cigar I’d like to see pictures of women smoking a cigar on your website…not pin-up style photos with a cigar awkwardly stuck in there.
[quote]First, take a decent puff from a properly-lit stogie. Not surprisingly, your mouth will fill up with delicious smoke. Good. Next, slowly release about 80 to 90 percent of that smoke by gently blowing out.
After that, close your lips, trapping the remaining smoke in your mouth. This time, instead of releasing, literally swallow the smoke (as you would any food or beverage). Then, with your mouth still closed, blow out through your nose. If you see smoke, congratulations…you’ve just smoked through your nose[/quote]
Bad,bad advice. I tried that and puked. if you do try, be careful. there has to be a better way to taste the flavors.
[...] Pre-light this cigar gives off a rich aroma with sweet chocolate notes. It lights easily and the smooth, easy draw becomes immediately apparent. The smoke is not at all hot or harsh despite the quick burn. Coffee and milk chocolate notes abound, but as the cigar progresses a slight peppery spice develops. Hints of clove were noticed when smoked through the nose. [...]
[...] After lighting, the first thing I noticed was an extremely mild and airy taste. In fact, the flavor was almost indiscernible without smoking through the nose. But once I did that, creamy almond, milk, and vanilla tones shone through. [...]
[...] The cigar features deep rich earthy flavors with chocolaty tones. Also, as cliche it sounds, there was a slight but distinct saffron flavor present, particularly when smoked through the nose. [...]
Smoking through the nose…
It’s pretty much all I do when smoking. You see, my tongue isn’t exactly very sensitive to smoke. As a matter of fact, if I used just my mouth for tasting a cigar, I probably might just as well have a sip of water.
So, naturally, I started smoking through the nose pretty early on in my cigar tasting life. Why you’d advise to do it only once or twice for the duration of a cigar is beyond me. Unless you all have extremely sensitive palates, it seems like a waste not to get the full monte on each puff. Here’s what I do:
I take a good mouthful of smoke. Shortly after letting it play around on the tongue, I start exhaling through my nose. In order to do so, I exhale air while diminishing the volume of my oral cavity (this is starting to sound dodgy). That way, the smoke is forced backwards where it will be caught safely in the airstream. Don’t make a swallowing motion (I never even tried it). Stop before it gets too strong. Overall, on a cigar of average strength I will exhale about 75% of the smoke through my nose. The slower you breathe, the better the “flavour”.
I can’t see a reason not to do it, nor to blow out loads of smoke first. Some cigar smokers probably don’t go for it because it is such a strong sensation. It takes some getting used to. Everyone who smokes cigarettes will be able to tell you the first couple are hell on the trachea and lungs. Fortunately this is a much kinder process. Start with little bursts, then as you get used to it you’ll notice how you can vent larger and larger clouds through your nostrils. In no time, your nose will be your most valuable asset in tasting a cigar.
As an added bonus, slowly exhaling smoke through your nose while your mouth stays close, unperturbed by anything and fully absorbed into the tasting process… well… it looks cool!
[...] Then, after a few minutes, those flavors were pushed to the background by delicious, mild tastes of creamy butter, hazelnut, and ginger. This is the flavor I was hoping for, and it fortunately stuck around for the vast majority of this 60 minute smoke. (If you’re having trouble picking up all of these flavors, try smoking through the nose.) [...]
[...] I wanted to delve deeper into the many tastes and found that, when smoked through the nose, the flavor is very well-balanced on the palate. The powerful, bitter tastes are canceled out by sweetness; the dry, salty notes are countered by acidity. [...]
As far as the picture goes, I have no problem with it. In fact I kind of like it. I would rather that she be actually smoking it but it is very nice to look at all the same.
Thanks for the tip. I’ll try it out tonight. That hottie would be my dream girl if she was really smoking that stogie and was covered with a Yakuza-style body tattoo!
Learned how to do this a little while back and you can really get the full flavor of a cigar doing it. You can also get a whole fit of coughing too. I would imagine it would be much much easier if you were a current or ex cigarette smoker.
Like they say above do not swallow or inhale the smoke, you are moving smoke from your mouth and out through your nasal passages. I litterally sat at work training my self how to do it on regular air one day and the next time I smoked a cigar it worked like a charm.
I would definitely try a milder cigar the first time, the smoothest one you can get your hands on. If I try to do a harsher cigar or too much smoke I end up coughing a bunch. If fact thats usually how I judge how smooth a cigar is by how much smoke I can blow thru my nose