Cigar Jack's Flavor Wheel

I've been smoking since I was 16. Surprisingly enough I didn't start with cigarettes, I started with cigars. Back in the day we'd smoke whatever we could con the gas station attendant into selling us, or the stogies we managed to swipe from our fathers. I was in college before I developed any kind of palate. By no means an aficionado, I decided I prefer maduro tobacco and a cooler smoke. For some reason, I also prefer the tapered cigars: curly-heads, torpedoes, and pyramids. That may just be a Freudian thing, however.

Recently I came across an excellent cigar blog, Cigar Jack. There is some good writing, and great reviews, in the archives, but the best info Jack ever provided went up earlier this month. It's a cigar tasting wheel.

It may look simplistic, but this is the best tool for the cigar lay-enthusiast since the invention of the wooden match. Jack states, "This should help you identify the flavors in a cigar easier," but it does so much more. It lets you identify the cigar you want to smoke. Chose the flavors you like, match them with the descriptive on the interior and start browsing the shelves. No longer faced with trying to guess what the two sentence description provided by the seller is trying to say, now I know "A very smooth earthy smoke with notes of cedar and a light espresso flavor," is a cigar that I am interested in, and "Floral overtones with a strong citris finish," is not.

"Twenty minutes of sweet followed by a robust climatic finish," sounds like Sunday afternoon sex with a couple of sorority girls. Who wouldn't be interested in that?