Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

What do cigars taste like? Dissecting a flavorful experience

Man in pink suit smoking and enjoying what a cigar tastes like.
Mike Fox / Pexels

From the moment you clip the head of a cigar and place it on your lips, you’ll dive into a wonderful, palatable experience awash with ambrosial flavor. I enjoy cigars, I adore the experience, and I find pleasure in picking out the various notes and flavors that cross my tastebuds. But for someone who has never smoked before or doesn’t smoke often, it brings up the question, what do cigars taste like?

The aroma of a lit cigar might give a slight hint of the flavors it can produce, but the two senses are hardly equal. Depending on how you do it, you can pick up many more undertones as the smoke rolls across your tongue and — as is highly recommended — when you retrohale.

Recommended Videos

So, what exactly are those flavors? For someone considering trying a cigar, what do they taste like?

What does a cigar taste like? Well, it depends.

Close-up of a man smoking a cigar.
Genevieve Poblano / The Manual

The cigar blend determines many flavors you’ll taste, including the exterior wrapper, the fillers, and the binder. There are different types of each, all coming from separate locations, like Nicaragua versus Cuba. The wrapper makes up most of the flavor, while the other ingredients might embolden those flavors or add more. For instance, a Maduro cigar will taste different than a Connecticut or a Criollo.

Some common flavors are earthy tones, coffee, cocoa, or chocolate, floral zest, sweet and fruity, bitter, nuttiness, and even specifics like leather or apricot. Medium to full cigars also offer a spicy blast of pepper or heat.

The basic flavors like sour, sweet, salty, and bitter are all there, and you might interpret a flavor differently than someone else. That’s why cigar reviews sometimes mention picking up flavors that you don’t, or vice versa.

You should also know that if you plan to experiment with different cigars, you will probably find some flavors you don’t like, and that’s okay.

How you smoke also determines your experience

how to enjoy a cigar
Lutendo Malatji/EyeEm / Getty Images

Beginners might think you need to puff on a cigar constantly, drawing in as much smoke as possible, but that’s not the case. In fact, if you do that too often, the cigar will burn too hotly and may even create discomfort for your lips, tongue, or the rest of your mouth.

The proper method is to draw intermittently, every few minutes or so, leaving enough time between puffs for the cigar to cool a little. That ensures that the smoke isn’t burning your mouth or nasal cavity if you’re retrohaling, but cooler smoke also introduces much more flavor.

When you do draw the smoke into your mouth, let it flow naturally instead of sucking in a great amount. Moreover, you want to avoid inhaling cigar smoke at all costs. Not only will it make you cough and hurt your lungs, but it could also make you sick. I’ve seen a fair share of beginners even throw up after their first cigar because they inhaled too much — don’t treat it like any other type of tobacco. Also, pairing your cigars with a sweet beverage, like soda, liquor, beer, or even juice, is a good practice.

Most importantly, take your time. It’s not a race.

That’s precisely why smoking a cigar is described as a relaxing or laid-back experience. Put on a movie or show, some good tunes, or relax with friends and family and have an enlightening discussion. You shouldn’t have to nurse the cigar the entire time if it’s rolled well. The exception is when the weather is extreme, like too hot or cold, which could affect how a cigar burns.

Something else to remember is that storing your cigars appropriately is paramount to keeping them in good condition, which offers a more pleasant experience. Cigars that are too dry or humid burn hotter and faster and are less enjoyable. If you plan to store cigars for any extended period after purchasing them, get yourself a humidor and read a guide like our Cigar Humidor 101.

Letting your cigars dry out will also reduce and pretty much ruin the flavors. Once a cigar loses its natural oils, you can re-humidify it, but those flavors are gone with the wind.

If you decide to light up, you might also be curious when the right time to put out a cigar is — the guide will explain everything.

Flavorful cigars for a beginner

Casa de Montecristo black ashtray close up with Oliva lighter, JFR and Rare Leaf cigars
Briley Kenney / The Manual

While this is a great list to start with, don’t be afraid to experiment and try out new cigars or blends for yourself. You never know what you’re going to like until you try it.

  • — Medium strength
  • — Mellow to Medium strength
  • — Medium strength
  • — Medium to Full strength
  • — Medium strength
  • — Mild strength
  • — Mild to Medium strength
  • — Medium strength
  • — Medium to Full strength
  • — Medium strength

You can also discover some of my favorite smokes under $8, with a few additional options that you might enjoy.

Briley Kenney
Briley has been writing about consumer electronics, technology, and many lifestyle topics for nearly two decades. When he's…
Top picks for November: The best movies on Hulu
Hulu is the place to watch movies across a wide array of genres
Movie on a person's phone

There's a lot of competition out there in the streaming world, and it can be hard to shuffle through the services to find the best movies to stream right now. Though there are plenty of great movies on Netflix and Amazon still has the platform beat in terms of overall quality, many of the movies on Hulu can't be streamed anywhere else. The best movies on Hulu can be gritty, family-friendly, and even sci-fi-oriented. So if you're looking to expand your binge-watching horizons, we've found the best movies to watch on Hulu right now.

White Men Can't Jump (2023)

Read more
The best movies on Amazon Prime to watch this November
Add these Prime movies to your watchlist this month
Remote close-up watching TV

Amazon Prime has one of the largest libraries of content in the world filled with good movies to watch. Whether you want to watch a comedy movie or a crime drama television show, Amazon probably has what you're looking for as far as the best movies to stream right now.

When there's so much to watch, it can be hard to sort through everything to find the best viewing options, though. Thankfully, we're here to help. We've already compiled a list of Amazon Prime TV shows for you to enjoy. And, if you're looking for the best movies to watch right now, we've also found a selection of the best movies on Amazon Prime for you to browse.

Read more
The best Netflix movies: Top picks for November
Pick from this definitive list that covers all genres of movies to stream on Netflix
Netflix logo on TV with red backlighting

Although it's now only one big player in an even bigger streaming market, Netflix still manages to crank out plenty of stuff to keep its users subscribing. That glut of good movies on Netflix is great if all you want is to never get bored, but it can make it difficult to figure out which things are actually worth your time, and which aren't. If that's your goal, we've got you covered. This list is a combination of great Netflix original movies, and good movies to watch that Netflix is currently housing on its service, and it even includes a few great Netflix action movies. What unites these movies, though, is that they are the very best Netflix movies currently available.
If you're looking for films to watch on some of Netflix's competitors, we've also found the best Amazon Prime movies, the best Hulu movies, and the best Disney+ movies. You can also check out some new Netflix movies at the bottom of this post.

Blackhat (2015)

Read more