Understanding Premium Cigar Strength Body and Flavor

Every premium cigar is the result of blending leaves. Growing, harvesting, fermenting, and aging all precede blending. Getting the right blend for the best premium cigar smoke is a mix of science and art! Leaves that get more direct sunlight tend to have more nicotine. While there are really two primary kinds of tobacco plants (each with different names for the sets of leaves), we at Bailey's discuss ligero, veso, and seco leaves. Ligero leaves are at the top of the plant - the strongest.

Body, strength, and flavor are all relative. The best way to determine what you like is to smoke a variety of cigars. Each cigar smoker's journey is personal. Enjoy your's!

Body is NOT the same as strength. The best explanation comes from Tobacconist University: Body, in terms of flavor (taste+aroma) profile, does not necessarily correlate with the Strength of a cigar. Strength refers to nicotine potency or the intensity of spice – two separate factors. Body is a flavor descriptor which can refer to the depth, breadth, and richness of a tobacco (flavor). So, a strong cigar can be medium bodied, while a full-bodied cigar can be mild or medium strength. As an example, imagine that chicken has a mild body, while beef has a richer body, yet both can be spicy/strong, depending on how they are seasoned. Body comes primarily from a cigar’s filler.

At Bailey's, we rate body on a scale of 1-5 (mild, mild-medium, medium, medium-full, full). We also differentiate between spice and pepper. Pepper is what you would think - a heat that comes from the tobacco. This isn't the same as the heat generated from lighting the cigar, but is more like putting pepper on food (think Tobasco). Spice is more like seasoning a meal. One might even detect the flavor of certain spices from a cigar!

Both Tobacconist University and Holt's Cigar 101 equate cigar strength with nicotine content. Holt's: "The strength of a cigar exclusively refers to its nicotine content. Because premium cigars are handmade entirely from whole-leaf tobaccos, their nicotine content is not measured in a laboratory setting like cigarettes...."

The TU explanation has a bit more depth: "Nicotine is a naturally occurring organic compound in the same family of substances (alkaloids) as caffeine: it is found in tomatoes, green peppers, potatoes, and tobacco. Traditionally, we do not think of nicotine as something we touch, but it is definitely something we feel. As with caffeine and alcohol, every person has a different tolerance level to nicotine: too much nicotine can induce nausea and a light head: if this ever happens to you, consume a little sugar and it will subside. The effects and/or level of nicotine will determine the strength of a cigar."

Flavor is just what it sounds like and can vary from person to person. Some of the more common flavor notes/terms are cedar, grass, coffee, chocolate, leather, nuttiness, sweet, pepper, and spice. Flavor comes primarily from the cigar wrapper.

You'll often read about a cigar having particular notes, or a fellow premium cigar smoker may say they get hints of something. In both cases, the real topic is cigar flavor. This isn't to be confused with flavored cigars, and is a bit more than taste alone.

The folks at Cigar Sense offer courses and assistance in choosing cigars. They have done quite a bit of research and take a pretty scientific approach to evaluating cigars. They have found that "87% of cigar lovers consider flavor as the most important criterion when choosing a cigar". They also discuss the benefit of "some sensory knowledge of other gourmet products" and assistance from trained professionals.

Tobacconist University refers to flavor as "what we perceive when taste and aroma are combined." The result is a synergy between taste, smell, context, and memory. A true mix of the tangible and the intangible, the quantifiable and the qualitative, of generalities and preferences.

There is a story that Jorge Armenteros includes as part of the TU discussion of The Human Senses. It is a good story about discerning flavors in a premium cigar that also illustrates the value of smoking premium cigars - especially among friends. We use it as a way to emphasize the individuality of experiencing a cigar. We may discuss flavor in general terms, but each individual will experience a different flavor.

Remember, don't let anyone tell you what you should smoke or that what you taste is wrong! Enjoy each and every cigar. Maybe even light one up as you read Jorge's story about Moe.