Cigar Weekly

PB207 · 01-04-2005, 06:48 PM

This is an observation that I thought I would pass along. If it has been addressed before, my apologies.

I have noticed numerous times while reading posts here that some guys have characterized a cigar as having a "metallic" taste. By accident, a friend and I discovered what I believe is the over-whelming cause of this condition.

About 6 months ago my friend came over to Maui for 10 days and stayed at my house while my wife and son were on the Mainland visiting family. Finally, we could smoke all day and night without hearing from our wives how badly we stunk.

My friend shipped several thousand dollars worth of rare and aged Cubans over from California for us to smoke while he was here. He shipped them ahead of time and put them in Tupperware with 100% Propylene Glycol to keep them humidified. His thinking was he didn't want to take any chances of the cigars drying out too much, hence the 100% PG.

Well...the cigars tasted like crap. Every one we smoked had a rosy, very "metallic" taste and no flavor otherwise. PG is a solvent and I suspect that 100% PG broke down the oils in the cigars robbing the cigars of all flavor other than that of the rosy, metallic flavor. We touched our fingers to the PG filled blocks of florist Oasis and then tasted it. No doubt about the flavor of PG and that was exactly what we were tasting in the cigars. Months after, these cigars still had no flavor. There went several thousand dollars worth of cigars down the drain. That was a hard lesson to learn, but you don't have to hit me over the head with a 2 x 4 more than once.

I have never used any PG since. I have received some cigars from vendors since then that had the slight rosy and metallic flavor of PG. I immediately let them dry out and slowly re-humidified them. Now I use only 100% distilled water. I realize that 100% PG is twice a potent as the typical 50/50 mix, but I am personally convinced that PG in any amount can't be good for cigars.

Some of you may have a differing opinion of PG than what my experience suggests. I just offer this as food for thought.

I could be full of crap, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

01-04-2005, 06:48 PM	#1
PB207 Starting Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 28	Cigars with metallic taste. This is an observation that I thought I would pass along. If it has been addressed before, my apologies. I have noticed numerous times while reading posts here that some guys have characterized a cigar as having a "metallic" taste. By accident, a friend and I discovered what I believe is the over-whelming cause of this condition. About 6 months ago my friend came over to Maui for 10 days and stayed at my house while my wife and son were on the Mainland visiting family. Finally, we could smoke all day and night without hearing from our wives how badly we stunk. My friend shipped several thousand dollars worth of rare and aged Cubans over from California for us to smoke while he was here. He shipped them ahead of time and put them in Tupperware with 100% Propylene Glycol to keep them humidified. His thinking was he didn't want to take any chances of the cigars drying out too much, hence the 100% PG. Well...the cigars tasted like crap. Every one we smoked had a rosy, very "metallic" taste and no flavor otherwise. PG is a solvent and I suspect that 100% PG broke down the oils in the cigars robbing the cigars of all flavor other than that of the rosy, metallic flavor. We touched our fingers to the PG filled blocks of florist Oasis and then tasted it. No doubt about the flavor of PG and that was exactly what we were tasting in the cigars. Months after, these cigars still had no flavor. There went several thousand dollars worth of cigars down the drain. That was a hard lesson to learn, but you don't have to hit me over the head with a 2 x 4 more than once. I have never used any PG since. I have received some cigars from vendors since then that had the slight rosy and metallic flavor of PG. I immediately let them dry out and slowly re-humidified them. Now I use only 100% distilled water. I realize that 100% PG is twice a potent as the typical 50/50 mix, but I am personally convinced that PG in any amount can't be good for cigars. Some of you may have a differing opinion of PG than what my experience suggests. I just offer this as food for thought. I could be full of crap, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!