Tips for Cleaning your Palate

February 13, 2020

Tips for Cleaning your Palate

In order to optimize your cigar smoking experience, it is imperative that you can enjoy each cigar the way it was meant to be enjoyed.  This might sound silly, but having a tainted palate can really affect your overall perception of a cigar.  That is why it is essential to clean your palate in between cigars.

If you are starting your day off with something a bit more full-bodied, then move to a cigar that is more in the mellow range, your palate might be shot and you will be unable to enjoy that next cigar to the fullest. You don’t know how to clean your palate? Don’t worry, we’ve put together a list of different ways you can cleanse your palate between cigars in order to get the fullest experience.

Coffee

Coffee has always been my go-to for cleaning my palate.  First off, I love coffee and it always makes a great pairing to cigars.  Secondly, coffee is a natural palate cleanser.  In perfume stores, smelling coffee beans in-between testing perfumes is done to clean out the nasal passages and give you a clean sense of smell for the next perfume.

Enjoying an espresso or even regular coffee with cream will do wonders for giving you a fresh, clean palate.  Considering how important your sense of smell is to enjoy a fine cigar, it is also recommended to smell coffee beans in between smokes as well.

 

tips on cleaning your palate

 

 

Bitter Lemon

Bitter lemon is a carbonated drink that has long been used as a mixer for different cocktails.  With several famous brands, including Schweppes, this citrus-based fizzy drink uses a mixture of the pith of lemon with an alkaloid known as quinine.  This combination makes it great to cleanse the palate in between cigars.

While the carbonation is effective in cleaning a palate on its own, lemon is known to help break down fats, making this a great option to clean out your mouth and getting the full taste and experience of your next cigar.

 

tips on cleaning your palate

Dark Chocolate

While eating dark chocolate has been known to cigar aficionados for a while, I actually discovered this by accident.  Several years ago, while smoking in the retail store, I had a few pieces of dark chocolate I brought from home.  Expecting my next cigar to have a more muffled flavor, I was pleasantly surprised to find that its taste and aroma were more refined and distinct than I thought.

This is since dark chocolate, much like coffee, has a strong neutral taste that will clean out the olfactory sensors, which helps form your sense of taste.  Dark chocolate also goes great with a cigar, so it’s a win-win.

 

Bland Crackers

Look no one likes a rich buttery cracker more than me.  However, when it comes to cleaning out the palate, you want something more bland and neutral, like a water cracker, or water biscuit.  They are baked only with water and flour with no added fats or flavor.  Water biscuits are traditionally used to eat with cheese or wine, so as not to affect the flavor of the item.

Eating some water biscuits is a perfect way to clean out your palate.  Similar to their use with cheese, these crackers will help absorb the fats and flavors from heavy and bold cigars to give you a crisp and clean experience for next time.

 

 

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