Strange things are afoot with my tastebuds

[FlyersFan]

I'm a 2 to 3 a week smoker and over the last 2 days something strange has happened - I'm no longer enjoying my cigars.

Due to the crap weather I hadn't had a cigar in over a week, but the weather was tolerable enough last night to camp out with a RyJ 1875 robusto that's been resting for a couple of months. I'd never had one but it came highly recommended so I picked one up. The initial light was kinda harsh but I've had that happen before so I just powered through the first 1/2 inch and waited for it to settle down. Never happened. I made it through about halfway before I finally gave up and crossed it off my list as not my style.

Today the weather was still tolerable so I grabbed a favorite short smoke, Guerrilla Warfare petite corona, and headed outside. And ended up with the same result - a harsh tasting smoke that felt like my tastebuds were burning. I smoked it to the end hoping that something would change but it never did.

I hope this is a temporary thing and not an indicator that my cigar smoking career is coming to an end. I'm not getting sick and I was only drinking water so I don't think any outside factors are coming into play. Maybe I need to just give it a couple of weeks off and try again because I really do enjoy the down time associated with a good stick but it won't be as enjoyable if this keeps up.

[AlanS]

How's your humidity the cold can drive it way down?

[Billb1960]

I had this happen a few months back and I'm still not sure what caused it. The good news is that after a couple of days everything came back to normal.

[Bruck]

Dr. Bruck prescribes Connecticut

[projectsunfire]

had this happen last year. no matter what I smoked I just didnt enjoy it. so I took a few weeks break and slowly eased back into smoking...and BAM everything returned to normal. never force a smoke on yourself.

[Redneck_toy]

Wow. That's gotta suck. I hope it never happens to me. There have been times that I light one up, only to wish I'd waited till later to burn one. Only ever happened when I smoke more than one a day. Hope it goes back to normal for you

[Tman]

Sounds like you're smoking a dried out or over humidified cigar. Being it's middle of winter, I would guess it's the former. Also, people tend to puff on it fast during cold season. Slow down on your puffing interval if you can. Your draw should be like sipping on the cigar and not like you're sucking on McD's Shamrock shakes.

[Ropey]

If you've only been smoking for 2 to 3 weeks, I assume that you're smoking sticks right off the truck. They're going to change and change again as they acclimate to your humidor. That's why most people let them rest for 2 to 3 months before smoking them, so they can come to some sort of steady state.

If you got them from a B&M ( or, as you said, rested them for a while) then that might not be the case. In that case it could be your taste buds. Sometimes I go a week or two where nothing tastes good, and then sometimes I go a week or two where everything tastes good. That's when I smoke Gurkhas.

[Horseshoe]

Sean, send me some of your sticks. I will smoke them and get back to you. We really need to rule out the sticks from being the issue


Give it a few more days. I bet your taste buds are off. Mine have been known to do that. Did you have any spicy food, or really hot food that may have messed with your taste buds? Even high acid foods may mess with them. But just to be cautious I can PM you my address

What are BOTL's for?

[FireRunner]

I'm a 2 to 3 a week smoker and over the last 2 days something strange has happened - I'm no longer enjoying my cigars.

Due to the crap weather I hadn't had a cigar in over a week, but the weather was tolerable enough last night to camp out with a RyJ 1875 robusto that's been resting for a couple of months. I'd never had one but it came highly recommended so I picked one up. The initial light was kinda harsh but I've had that happen before so I just powered through the first 1/2 inch and waited for it to settle down. Never happened. I made it through about halfway before I finally gave up and crossed it off my list as not my style.

Today the weather was still tolerable so I grabbed a favorite short smoke, Guerrilla Warfare petite corona, and headed outside. And ended up with the same result - a harsh tasting smoke that felt like my tastebuds were burning. I smoked it to the end hoping that something would change but it never did.

I hope this is a temporary thing and not an indicator that my cigar smoking career is coming to an end. I'm not getting sick and I was only drinking water so I don't think any outside factors are coming into play. Maybe I need to just give it a couple of weeks off and try again because I really do enjoy the down time associated with a good stick but it won't be as enjoyable if this keeps up.

A few factors to take into consideration:

1. Per your profile you're in GA, that's not a state that's used to cold weather. Your cigars could be slightly dry and be smoking differently due to faster burn, etc. This will change the flavor.

2. Temperature matters. Something I was taught several years ago, and I've found to be true, is smoking in cold weather is not as enjoyable as smoking in comfortable weather. The reason is our bodies are not comfortable. But, more importantly it's our sinuses. When it's cold our sinuses aren't operating as normal. If you smoke "Cigar A" in a 75 degree room, and then smoke the same cigar in a 40 degree room...the flavors are different. Also, people tend to smoke faster when it's cold. This leads to a hotter cigar which can lead to a "harsh" taste.

There are other possible factors of course, but take into consideration the above two.