Flavor chemistry lecture.
 

Lignin is an essential element of wood, and of most vascular plants, including tobacco. (The word itself is derived from the Latin lignum, meaning wood.) Lignin fills the spaces between the cell walls of many plants, provides strength, and is thought to be responsible for moving water through cell structures. This would be of no interest to cigar smokers except for one fact: lignin is the most abundant natural organic aromatic polymer found in the vascular plant kingdom. Lignin accounts for 4 to 5 percent of tobacco weight; far less than hard wood, but significant nevertheless. When burned, lignin produces phenols with specific aromatic properties, the most evident of which is the smell of wood burning. Two of these phenols, guaiacol and syringol, are responsible for the flavors of smoked foods. That is one of the reasons why more highly lignified woods (hardwoods) are preferred for barbeque. Guaiacol is associated with smoky flavor, and is present in roasted coffee compounds, while syringol is associated with the aroma of wood smoke. Guaiacol is also a precursor to other phenolic compounds that contribute to flavors commonly found in cigar smoke: vanillin and eugenol. We all know what vanillin is, but the term eugenol is derived from the scientific name for clove, and its aroma is exactly that: clove-like. It has also been extracted as an essential oil from nutmeg, cinnamon, and basil.

Other phenols produced include cresols, which have a petroleum-like scent. Cresols are also found in coal tar, crude oil, and creosote. Cresols are also, apparently, a component of Sharpie markers. I’m already on the lookout for a cigar review that includes “a whiff of Sharpie marker.” These phenolic constituents are also produced as pheromones by certain insects. The desert locust is ardently attracted to guaiacol, and the orchid bee is erotically aroused by both eugenol and p-cresol. So don’t be surprised if these guys crash your next herf. They only want to make friends.

It’s difficult to say what chemical compounds are specifically responsible for the flavors and aromas of cigar tobacco –there are thousands of them —but it seems reasonable to me to say that we aren’t hallucinating when we find vanilla, or clove, or related aromas in cigar smoke. Some cigar smokers are more sensitive to subtle aromas than others, and some people are just better at putting names to sensations; but I don’t think that it’s fair to say that an unexpected flavor, like honey or aniseed, is the product of an overactive imagination. Different people won’t always agree on the flavors they find in a particular blend, but to deny that those flavors are there seems unwarranted when there is a basis for it in chemical analysis.

/end chemistry lesson

Re: Flavor chemistry lecture.
 

Cool, makes sense even if I can't pronounce half the words in your post

Re: Flavor chemistry lecture.
 

Yeahs Latin is not even kind of easy to pronounce.
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Re: Flavor chemistry lecture.
 

The sad thing is that I was a biology major & took 5 years of Latin.

On topic, though, the chemistry related to our sensory organs was always fascinating to me.

Re: Flavor chemistry lecture.
 

Fantastic information....thank you for taking the time to both research and write all that. Just curious, was it a defensive post? Someone hassling you about the flavor descriptions in reviews?

Buck up man! Can't please all the philistines!

Personally, I really like the super detailed reviews. Several times I've smoked a cigar, enjoyed it. Then later read a detailed review on that cigar and it actually brought back flavor memories of smoking it. For "new to me" cigars, I try and smokes at least 1 before reading reviews so that I am less biased. Other times, it is the detailed review that encourages me to try a new stick.

Re: Flavor chemistry lecture.
 

I just like smokin' cigars.

Re: Flavor chemistry lecture.
 

Thanks, Mychal. It's interesting to see the biological components which go into this consuming hobby of ours. :ss:

I'm eager to meet you and other new BOTLs when I get back to Seattle eventually.

Re: Flavor chemistry lecture.
 

I love this post. That's probably the nerdy chemist talking.

:tu

Here's more about Vanillin and it's link to eugenol and Lignin.

Re: Flavor chemistry lecture.
 

So where does the meat come from? :o

Re: Flavor chemistry lecture.
 

Not defensive, was just doing some reading on it and found some good information that I thought everyone here would enjoy. I think it is really cool to see and understand all of the connections that go on in our mouth and how things we may assume are very far apart are actually so similar that they are made up of some of the same compounds.

Re: Flavor chemistry lecture.
 

Hopefully by the time you get back here we will have somewhere nice within city limits to sit down and have a cigar.

Re: Flavor chemistry lecture.
 

I had a One Shot One Kill last night and got some of my first anise/clove like flavors in the first 1/4 of the cigar. I've never really tasted this spice-like flavor before.

Re: Flavor chemistry lecture.
 

Thanks for the info, Mychal.

I knew there was a reason I enjoyed smoking sharpies so much.

Re: Flavor chemistry lecture.
 

We used to have El Gaucho, but since cigarette smokers feel that they're entitled to light up ANYWHERE unless expressly forbidden by law to do so, we lost that.

Re: Flavor chemistry lecture.
 

The best we have right now is a tent on lake union.
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