Wrapper burn and sweetness

[Bijan]

It seems to me that often a sweet cigar is sweetest when the wrapper is burning well and not so sweet otherwise. Is that actually a thing or just my imagination?

[Islandboy]

There’s been much debate over the wrapper’s influence on flavor, and I’m definitely in the camp that it’s paramount to experiencing the essence of the marca. I’m probably taking the question a few steps further, but anytime even a portion of the wrapper isn’t burning, I notice the imbalance immediately. 

[KavalanWhisky]

I also feel we end up messing with the cigar more when its an uneven burn, either touch ups, blowing on the uneven burn side to encourage it to light, drawing harder, purging and perfecdraw....so I never enjoy it as much as one I don't have to think about and can just relax...

[Meklown]

Prez's analogy worked best for me: "parmesan sprinkled on top of bolognese". No doubt it affects the taste, but to some, it's a completely different dish, and to others, it's just a slight addition to the taste. 

I also suppose touching up means burning the wrapper without us drawing on the taste - meaning we actually smoke the fillers/binder, then independently burn the wrapper to let it catch up. Undoubtedly it leaves us lacking a bit of taste. 

Once I was smoking a N carlota (3?). I kind of left it a little too long between puffs and as there were some embers, I tried to puff harder to relight it. The 2 puffs had an extremely pungent smell and was verging on the point of being unpleasant. I let it die out completely and relit, and the cigar tasted normal again. However, I could now pick out that pungent smell from within the blend. What I think was that the embers were left on one specific leaf, and for that 2 puffs I was basically smoking only one leaf. This experience didn't ruin the cigar for me - in fact it was rather educational. I think the taste works fine as part of a blend, but I suppose smoking that leaf alone was not for me. 

Makes me recall tasting all the cask samples of whiskies before they are blended. Pretty cool. Taking components and mixing them in different proportions to get a completely different final product. I suppose in cigars, master blenders would go around smoking individual leaves to get a handle on the flavours, before "guessing" which leaves may go well together, roll them, and smoke them to confirm. I do admire that level of taste expertise!

[NSXCIGAR]

Good wrapper burning generally indicates good overall burning meaning the cigar is combusting in accordance with its blending. The best cigars I've had burned very well and were able to be smoked slowly, and I doubt that's a coincidence. 

Unless you have the dreaded fireproof wrapper it's not always the wrapper that is causing the poor burning of the wrapper. Improperly fermented volado or binder can cause it, or a poor roll (e.g. seco where volado should be, soft/loose spots).

[Meesterjojo]

8 hours ago, KavalanWhisky said:

I also feel we end up messing with the cigar more when its an uneven burn, either touch ups, blowing on the uneven burn side to encourage it to light, drawing harder, purging and perfecdraw....so I never enjoy it as much as one I don't have to think about and can just relax...

I don't think I've had more than a dozen or so cigars in the past twenty years or so that I haven't had to touch up. It gives me pause to wonder what I did before? Did I become super critical of the burn aesthetic, did cigars change something, or did I change? 

 

Regardless, I just accept that it happens now and I'll casually fix the burn line now and then. 

 

As for the original post, I had this very thought yesterday while puffing on an El principe. At least with those I really believe the wrapper influenced the taste and smell. Tootsie roll for me. Or flan.

[La_Tigre]

Definitely a consideration in skinnies. Certainly. Beauty of skinnies being the burn is often the best (unless you are served a tent peg).

[Nevrknow]

One of those things I had not thought of until I read it. Looking back I go damn, this kind of makes sense. ( And I will monitor going forward). See how it pans out for me.

This is why I love this forum.

[rcarlson]

19 hours ago, Bijan said:

It seems to me that often a sweet cigar is sweetest when the wrapper is burning well and not so sweet otherwise. Is that actually a thing or just my imagination?

Can't say as I've noticed a correlation.  In fact, some of the sweetest I've had were wrapped in God awful looking leaf.  

[Fezztone]

Interesting question and making me think about how I approached my recent sampler of the Monte Dumas, Maltes, Leyenda releases. When I opened the sampler pack they literally smelled like a bag of  chocolate.  I had the Maltes and immediately ordered a box as a dessert cigar. It was amazing and the sweetest cigar I have ever had. Then I had the Dumas and it fell short, but to your point  the burn was not as consistent and I may have rushed it.  I have yet to try the Leyenda and will see what happens.  I'm sure it also boils down to other factors, but I'm anxious to keep investigating.

[KavalanWhisky]

10 hours ago, Meesterjojo said:

I don't think I've had more than a dozen or so cigars in the past twenty years or so that I haven't had to touch up. It gives me pause to wonder what I did before? Did I become super critical of the burn aesthetic, did cigars change something, or did I change? 

 

Regardless, I just accept that it happens now and I'll casually fix the burn line now and then. 

 

As for the original post, I had this very thought yesterday while puffing on an El principe. At least with those I really believe the wrapper influenced the taste and smell. Tootsie roll for me. Or flan.

I don't want to go down the rabbit hole of counting how many cigars i've smoked where I don't touch up but one trick @El Presidente taught me was to help fix a runaway burn was to lick your finger and moisten the faster side to try to help slow down the burn and let the other side catch up.  This has helped me no end in not having to light the other side to try to even it out and thus improve the smoking experience.   

[Meesterjojo]

1 minute ago, KavalanWhisky said:

I don't want to go down the rabbit hole of counting how many cigars i've smoked where I don't touch up but one trick @El Presidente taught me was to help fix a runaway burn was to lick your finger and moisten the faster side to try to help slow down the burn and let the other side catch up.  This has helped me no end in not having to light the other side to try to even it out and thus improve the smoking experience.   

That's pretty slick. Pun partially intended. I'll try that later. Thanks.

 

Where I live now it's very windy and super dry which mat account for some of my issues.

[Habana Mike]

KW is dead on for moistening the wrapper. Can help immensely and is a regular practice when required.

[Hammer Smokin']

the doobs canoeing. 

moisten the canoe. 

(harder on a cigar than a joint, but the practice is the same)

[Bijan]

46 minutes ago, KavalanWhisky said:

I don't want to go down the rabbit hole of counting how many cigars i've smoked where I don't touch up but one trick @El Presidente taught me was to help fix a runaway burn was to lick your finger and moisten the faster side to try to help slow down the burn and let the other side catch up.  This has helped me no end in not having to light the other side to try to even it out and thus improve the smoking experience.   

I've definitely used that trick. Still use it whenever I get bad canoeing. However if things are not so bad you can often recover from a slight unevenness by rotating the cigar strategically. Having the slow burning side face down, taking a puff and then rotating to 45 degrees or so on other side of that and puffing there too to get the bottom side of the wrapper lit up again.

[jonnyfromiranny]

My guess is that cigars with a proper burn probably tend to be rested, rolled, blended, stored, etc. properly and will tend to be less bitter. 

So if your storage and all that is perfect and you still have a bad burn, my guess is the blend of tobacco is less ideal. Perhaps there were some leaves that have a higher moisture content, needed more aging or curing, or are less desirable for whatever reason and more of those made it into that particular cigar.