One of the most exciting things about trying out new cigars is when you blind test them. When engaging in this activity, you get to try out new blends and flavors without being influenced by external factors such as the brand and perhaps prior prejudice. But blind tasting should be done in such a way that you really do things in the dark, so to speak. Here are some tips that you might want to consider when blind testing cigars.
Prepare carefully.
If you are organizing your own blind tasting, you should prepare well before the event. A good thing to do would be to ask someone who will not be participating in the event to take the original labels off the cigars and then label them with numbers. Of course, this person has to have a master list as to which cigar is which. You need to refer to this at the end of the activity. You can also specify the qualities by which you will be judging the cigars on and have a sheet of paper for each person doing the blind tasting.
Don’t overlook the visual aspect.
I am talking about the cigar itself here. Of course, the main idea is to test the flavor of the cigar. However, you also cannot overlook the physical attributes of the cigar. How is the wrapper? How about the size? Make sure that you make it clear to everyone that this aspect is to be judged as well.
(to be continued)
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Originally posted on June 20, 2008 @ 8:09 am