cigar science

Humidity Beads vs Superabsorbent Polymers

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:17:52 -0700

by David P. Diaz, Ed.D.

Fed up with having to swap out the foam or sponge humidifiers in your humidor because they're no longer effective or have developed mold? The past 8 years have introduced newer hi-tech products that have become popular as humidification devices: I'm talking about silica gel, popularly called "Humidity Beads," and superabsorbent polymers.

A humidifier is a device that is placed inside a humidor to emit moisture into the air and wood of the box. These can come in two types: active and passive. Our discussion today is centered on the so-called passive humidifier, which is usually a piece of sponge or foam that is placed into a cassette made of plastic or metal and placed into the humidor.

Below: "The Puck-ifier" Silica Gel Humidifier
There are several weaknesses in using foam or sponges as humidifying elements. Since they are so porous, they pick up the byproducts of fermentation in your box, like ammonia, which clogs the humidifier and reduces its functionality and shelf life. This type of humidifier will also pick up impurities in water, which will negatively affect its capacity. Finally, these porous materials serve as a natural breeding ground for mold and fungus and need to be carefully treated for prevention of the fuzz. Sponges and foam must be replaced on a regular basis, approximately every year or so.

Recently, a few synthetic products have been modified for use as passive humidifiers. Silica gel and superabsorbent polymers are two products that have tremendous potential to help us better preserve our stogies.

Silica Gel
Silica gel is not new. It's been around for many years. It was patented in 1919 for use in the adsorption of vapors in gas mask canisters in World War I. It was first recommended for use in museums as a buffering agent to control relative humidity (RH) as far back as 1959. The current form of silica gel that is used for cigar humidor applications is a moisture-sensitive material that absorbs and desorbs moisture in order to offset changes in RH. The goal is to create a microclimate in the humidor that is suitable for the proper aging and storing of cigars.

Silica gel has been used successfully in art galleries to regulate the humidity levels inside display cases with precious art. Since the gel can regulate humidity by adsorbing and desorbing water, it can be adapted for use as a humidification agent in helping you keep your cigars fresh. The beads come pre-treated from the retailer and you simply need to add distilled water as prescribed. These "silica" beads will last for 10 years or more and, at less than one dollar per year, represent a real bargain.

You can buy pre-humidified beads preset to 65% or 70% RH. I have reviewed the silica gel "Humidity beads" that are sold by Heartfelt Industries. You can find this review in the Stogie Fresh Cigar Journal.

Superabsorbent Polymers
Superabsorbent Polymers, as the name suggests, absorbs water. Lots of it. The polymer beads will soak up 400-500 times their weight in fluid and will also release that fluid, helping to regulate humidity.

Below: Superabsorbent polymers, dry and wet

Polymers have had many industrial used over the years. They have been used in agriculture to prevent erosion and conserve water. They have even been used in diapers!

I have retrofitted my foam type humidifiers, both active and passive, by removing the foam and replacing with polymers. The polymers are clean and efficient and work well as a humidifier. Like silica gel, the polymers have a very long shelf life and are very inexpensive, a one-pound bag will last you a lifetime.

Comparison
There is no perfect humidifier. Both silica gel and superabsorbent polymers have their respective strengths and weaknesses. Below, I give my list of the relative values of each media type.

Click on button to Expand Chart:

Silica Gel is very easy to use, though you must use the correct amount for the size of your humidor. Heartfelt industries has a helpful Calculator and Chart. There is no chart that I am aware of for how much of the superabsorbent polymers to use. Since the polymers expand greatly, you should be able to reduce the amount vs silica gel by 1/3 to 1/2.

Both Silica Gel and Superabsorbent Polymers should last you for many years. Silica Gel is mold resistant when you use distilled water only. You should not use propylene glycol (PG) or other humidity mixtures with Silica Gel. This will impair the adsorption/desorption qualities of the beads. On the other hand, Polymers may develop mold if you use only water as the moisturizing agent. I recommend mixing in a small amount of a PG humidifier mixture to prevent mold growth. If mold does develop, just toss the Polymers and mix up a new batch. You will find my recipe for mixing Polymers at the end of this article.

Although both Silica Gel and Polymers have the ability to adsorb and desorb moisture, in my experience, Silica Gel works best when ambient temperature and humidity are within temperate ranges. Warm, dry summertime conditions and/or the use of home air conditioning systems wick moisture out of the beads and they dry quickly. Superabsorbent Polymers, on the other hand, work best when more moisture is needed in warm, dry conditions.

When humidity levels are high, Silica Gel is better at reclaiming excess moisture, while Polymers tend not to adsorb as efficiently when humidity levels are high.

David Diaz is the president of Stogie Fresh and the editor of the Stogie Fresh Cigar Journal. He has served as an educator, researcher and writer and has taught in the Health Education and Health Science field for nearly 30 years. He possesses an earned doctorate from Nova Southeastern University.

Cigar Magazine Comparisons

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:14:06 -0700

by Colin Ganley with David P. Diaz

BACKGROUND

Since the early nineties, many cigar magazines have come and gone from tobacconist’s shelves. Some have longevity (i.e., Cigar Aficionado, European Cigar Cult Journal) while others are relatively new (i.e., Cigar Press, Florida’s Cigar Snob).

As Americans have increased their consumption of cigars since 2001, the number of cigar magazines has grown. Today, no fewer than nine cigar magazines are printed regularly in English and are available in the United States.

How do these magazines differentiate themselves? How can we decide which ones to read? Do some have more cigar content than others?

Cigar Research and Stogie Fresh have teamed up to compare these magazines based on strictly objective criteria. Readers prefer different magazines for different reasons; not all of which are easily quantifiable. In order to be fair, the comparison we conducted includes variables that can be strictly quantified. We made no attempt to discern the quality of the magazines or their articles because such a determination is subjective. Nevertheless, by looking carefully at these magazines, we were able to come up with some interesting facts that may help you decide what magazine may fit your preferences.

VARIABLES

What can be quantified, and is of interest to cigar connoisseurs, includes the following variables:

Price per issue: This is the shelf price, not the average issue price based on subscription rate. Most of the time the shelf price is higher than the average price based on subscription rate, but when perks or gifts are added along with the subscription, the averaged price will be higher. (e.g., ECCJ provides ‘gift’ with subscription)

Annual subscription price: The subscription prices sometimes reflect the inclusion of perks like gifts or additional issues, which can artificially drive up the price.

Number of issues per year: This number ranged from 4 to 6 issues per year on the magazines we rated.

Total Pages: Total number of pages in the magazine, not including the front or back covers.

Pages with cigar-related content: The number of cigar-related pages is a variable we examined with the assumption that readers are interested in learning as much as possible about cigars. To calculate the number of cigar content related pages, we examined each page and only included it in the count if the content was textual and not an advertisement. We did not include advertisements because of the obvious bias in such pages. Most advertisements are primarily images. We also did not count pages that contained only images with captions.

Number of cigar-related articles: Since the number of pages, may not accurately depict the number of topics covered, we also quantified the number of cigar or tobacco-related articles in each magazine. The variable, ‘cigar related articles’ is a count of articles. We included short news pieces and long feature articles.

Number of cigar reviews per issue: Since many magazine readers are interested in cigar reviews, we examined the number of reviews each magazine contained. Some magazines contained as few as 16 reviews and one had as many as 83.

PHOTO: Bi-lingual ECCJ provides reviews in German and English

Average number of words in a cigar review: The quantity of reviews does not necessarily reflect the quality of those reviews. Therefore we counted the number of words in each review. Not all words are equally useful. We did not feel that it was appropriate to subjectively decide which magazine reviews were most informative. What we could do, however, was proxy the usefulness of reviews by the number of words used to describe cigars.

We used a rigorous set of rules to determine which words would be counted. Our system can be seen below.

To measure words per review, we used the first full page of reviews. One page could include 2 reviews or 6 (for example). Once the words on the page were counted, that number was divided by the number of reviews on the page to find the average.

Abbreviations and Hyphenated words were counted as one word.
Numbers were counted as one word (ie. 45 = one word).
Acronyms were counted as one word (ie. MX3 = one word).
Name, Size, Origin, etc. These headings were not included but descriptions were counted. (ie. Wrapper: Corojo; “Corojo” was counted as one word but not “wrapper”)
Summaries of multiple reviews were not included in word counts for individual reviews.

Percent of cigar related pages. This variable included the number of cigar-related pages divided by total pages.

Cost per cigar-related page. This variable included the number of cigar-related pages divided by the 1-year subscription price.

We also asked the question, how much of the cigar-world does each magazine cover? To measure that, we looked for the following types of coverage:

• Habanos Cigars (i.e., Cigars manufactured in Cuba)
• Non-Cuban Cigars
• Cigar events
• Non-product, cigar industry related topics

RESULTS OF REVIEW

The results were fascinating. The purpose of this comparison was not necessarily to determine which cigar magazine is the best but rather to differentiate between the many different magazines offered today.

Our results show that there are definite differences in coverage among the various cigar magazines. While some showcase cigar content, others focus on local cigar events or even men’s lifestyle products. The matrix and graphs provided identify some of these differences, but in some cases the strengths of certain magazines must be explained in this essay. To do that, we will briefly explain the findings about each magazine.

Cigar Aficionado
Perhaps the best-known cigar magazine, Cigar Aficionado contains very little cigar related content, other than reviews. Only 12% of its pages are devoted to cigar related content. The issue we selected contained only seven articles on the topic of cigars out of 197 total pages. The explanation for this is that Cigar Aficionado is devoted to “the good life…for men.” Its focus appears to be luxury lifestyle goods/services of which cigars are only a part. Though its newsstand price is the highest of any magazine we reviewed, when the subscription price is averaged using total number of issues per subscription, Cigar Aficionado has one of the lowest per issue prices ($3.32), second only to the regional Cigar Snob magazine $2.00/issue). If cigar information is your focus, you can do better than Cigar Aficionado, but if you are looking for information about a wide variety of lifestyle interests for men, CA may be for you.

Cigar Clan
We were conflicted about including Cigar Clan Magazine in this comparison. The reason is that this magazine is not currently being printed in English and distributed in the US. Our emails to the company were not returned. At the recent IPCPR trade show, this magazine was present and representatives claimed that they intend to distribute in the United States again soon. For this reason we included it in this comparison. Unfortunately, we were unable to use any pricing information but the content comparison was interesting. As you see, it has extremely descriptive cigar reviews. This and beautiful photography are among the magazine’s strengths. From what we have been able to gather, it is currently being printed in both Russian and German.

PHOTO: Cigar Magazine provides long, well-written
articles on a variety of topics
Cigar Magazine
A tremendous amount of cigar-related content and a wide range of coverage are among this magazine’s strong points. As seen in our data, Cigar Magazine was one of only two magazines (also ECCJ) to cover all four topics we sought. Additionally, it contains the second highest percentage of pages with cigar-related content and, when calculating the cost per cigar-related page (6 cents), Cigar Magazine holds the highest value (i.e., lowest cost per page). Cigar Magazine provides long articles, which explore many facets of the cigar industry from vintage cigar-box art, to modern cigar factories.

Cigar Press
This one-year-old magazine is a newcomer. It strives to reach a younger cigar smoking demographic with edgy cartoons and unique cover art. It is the smallest (page count) magazine in the bunch but the quality of writing is high. Its focus is on the U.S. cigar consumer. Though this magazine has in-depth cigar-related articles, it also branches out into non-cigar related topics such as reviews of beers and includes event pages that are mostly photos.

Cigar Report (The)
The Cigar Report is a small format magazine (much smaller pages than the other magazines). Its articles are short but full of information. With only 88 pages in the issue we examined, it is perhaps the smallest magazine in the comparison. It is sent to subscribers of other magazines for free and therefore has wide distribution. While the recipients are not necessarily cigar smokers, they are affluent. It ranked in the middle of the pack in nearly every category.

Cigar Snob (Florida’s)
As a single state publication, this magazine is unique among its competitors. While it does not have much cigar-related content (11% of total pages), the writing is of high quality and it has a specialized focus. It provides extensive coverage of cigar events in Florida, including a calendar of events and pictorial coverage of those events. This magazine, therefore, appears to not compete well nationally, but in fact it suits its local readership very well. As a local magazine it does not have the broad appeal we looked for, but that is not its aim.

European Cigar Cult Journal
This magazine covers the entire breadth of topics we sought for this comparison. It has the highest ratio of cigar content to total pages (67%). Due to the inclusion of a gift, the subscription price of this magazine is higher than many of the others, but the shelf price places it in the upper-middle of the group. This magazine has one of the highest numbers of reviews, the most cigar related articles and the highest percentage of tobacco-related pages. It also has one of the lowest prices per cigar-related page.

Smoke Magazine
Statistically, this magazine fell into the middle of the group for most quantifiable variables. This magazine is printed in low-gloss or matte finish and has been published longer than most magazines in the group. The magazine covers Cuban and Non-Cuban cigars but not (or rarely) events or industry news.

Tobacconist Magazine
This industry insider magazine is published by the IPCPR, the industry trade group. It has the highest number of pages of any cigar magazine considered. Because it is a trade magazine it does not do cigar reviews and is the most expensive magazine in the group. It does, however, cover the US market with long, in-depth articles. Because of its U.S. focus, it does not cover Habanos but does cover other topics in great detail.

Note: Magazine Coverage
To determine what topics the magazine covered, we reviewed the articles and reviews in the magazine to assess what topics were written about. Because we looked at only one issue per magazine, it is possible that this issue was not representative. Considering our prior knowledge of these magazines, we are confident that these findings are generally representative of each magazine.

Click to download charts and graphs
in a PDF document

Colin Ganley MSc. is a teacher and researcher at Oxford University. He specializes in Economics and Early-Modern World History. Colin is also a freelance journalist and runs the website www.cigarresearch.com.

David Diaz is the president of Stogie Fresh and the editor of the Stogie Fresh Cigar Journal. He has served as an educator, researcher and writer and has taught in the Health Education and Health Science field for nearly 30 years. He possesses an earned doctorate from Nova Southeastern University.

Nicotine Tolerance and Cigars

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:28:47 -0700

By Rob Gray, Ph.D.

“For Experienced Smokers Only”
If you read many cigar reviews you will frequently encounter comments such as “this mild cigar would be perfect for a novice smoker” or “this full-bodied cigar is for experienced smokers only!” Why does the ability to handle stronger cigars depend on smoking experience? As most readers would probably guess, the answer lies in the changes that in occur in your body in response to repeated exposure to nicotine --- called nicotine tolerance.

Nicotine Tolerance
Tolerance occurs when the same dose of nicotine produces decreased psychological and physiological effects with repeated use. In other words, a greater dosage of nicotine will be needed to produce the same effects you experienced when you first started cigar smoking. In order to understand how and why tolerance occurs, we first need to consider the basic behavioral effects of nicotine.

Nicotine is a psychoactive drug that has incredibly complex effects that depend on a multitude of factors. Its effects can be both adverse and pleasurable. So on one hand it may produce nausea, while on the other it may produce a feeling of calmness.

Nicotine can produce both acute and chronic effects. An example of an acute change would be an increase in blood pressure lasting roughly 1 hour, while chronic effects include permanent changes in brain structure. Nicotine can also act both as a stimulant, enhancing alertness, and as a relaxant.

The specific effects that are caused by nicotine, and the magnitude of those effects, will depend on a host of factors including: the level of the nicotine in the particular cigar, your smoking experience, your expectations about the cigar, the time of day, your blood glucose level (i.e., what you consume before and during smoking), your mood, and the surrounding environment. Since the focus of this article is nicotine tolerance we will consider only the first two of these factors: nicotine dose and experience with nicotine. But keep in the mind that the other factors are always in play and can explain why the perceived strength of a particular cigar brand can vary from “stick to stick” even in an experienced smoker.

Factors that Determine Nicotine Dose
The total quantity of nicotine in any given cigar can vary between that found in a single cigarette (roughly 1 mg) to many times this amount (up to 400 mg). The amount primarily depends on three factors. The first factor is the vitola. Typically, a larger vitola like a Churchill will administer a larger dose of nicotine than a Petit Corona of the same brand and line of cigar.*

The second factor is the duration of fermentation/aging. The nicotine level in cigar tobacco can decrease by 35-85% during fermentation depending on how long it has been fermented and at what temperature. The fermentation process “sweats” the tobacco. As the tobacco is subjected to sustained high temperatures, a good portion of the nicotine will be lost in the process.

Finally, the nicotine dosage in a particular cigar depends on the tobacco leaves used. Nicotine levels vary from tobacco plant species to species (e.g., corojo leaves have a greater nicotine content than Connecticut broadleaf) and the location on the plant the tobacco leaves are harvested from. Leaves taken from top of the tobacco plant (ligero) have a much higher level of nicotine than leaves taken from the bottom (volado). This is because the top of the plant is exposed to more stressful conditions (e.g., sun, wind, and rain) and thus must draw more nutrients to survive. These nutrients become the source of nicotine development in the plant.

Behavioral Effects of Nicotine on the Cigar Smoker
The subjective effects of nicotine can generally be classified into both adverse and pleasurable. Figure 1 illustrates how nicotine can mediate between adverse and pleasurable effects depending both on experience and nicotine dose (Perkins et al., 1993). In this study, the subjective responses to different doses of nicotine were compared for smokers and non-smokers.

Figure 1. Subjective Responses to Different Doses of Nicotine in Smokers and Non-Smokers [POMS=Profile of Mood States; VAS=Visual Analog Scales.]

Click on Figure above for larger image

Adverse Effects: Whereas adverse feelings such as “light-headed”, “jittery”, “dizzy”, and “head rush” are larger in non-smokers than smokers, the pleasurable feelings such as “relaxed”, “vigor” and “arousal” tended to be higher in smokers. Notice that the magnitude of many of these effects is dose dependent—increasing from left to right. Figure 1 clearly shows that, while non-smokers experience more negative effects from nicotine administration than smokers, both smokers and non-smokers will increase in negative perceptions as more and more nicotine is ingested.

Why are there such larger differences in the experiences associated with nicotine usage for non-smokers and smokers? Tolerance is the answer of course. First consider the adverse effects. The dizziness, light-headedness and nausea experienced during smoking are primarily due to the effect of nicotine on the organs in our inner ear responsible for maintaining our posture and balance (vestibular system). The binding of nicotine to the receptors in the vestibular system effectively produces motion-sickness-like symptoms. With repeated exposure, the nicotine receptors in the vestibular system produce a smaller reaction to a given dose of nicotine often called persistent inactivation (Sparks & Pauly, 1999), so that it takes a much larger dose to produce these adverse effects in an experienced smoker. It is important to note that adverse effects will still occur at the highest doses even for experienced smokers (see Figure 1). If the level of these effects is very high (as is often the case with a novice smoker), they tend to completely mask any pleasurable sensations from smoking.

Pleasurable Effects: It has been shown that the brain areas involved in the pleasurable effects of nicotine are the same ones that are involved in the pleasurable effects experienced from certain drugs, from food, and from sex—the areas in our midbrain that use the chemical dopamine. With repeated usage of nicotine there is some evidence of “persistent inactivation” (i.e., a decreased response to nicotine) in these dopamine receptors, however this process is partially counteracted by an effect called up-regulation where your brain increases the number of dopamine receptors that respond nicotine (Perkins, 2002). In other words, we do not become fully tolerant. This explains why the pleasurable effects of nicotine can be experienced at relatively small doses in experienced smokers, as shown in Figure 1.

To summarize, the adverse and pleasurable experiences a smoker has in response to the nicotine in a cigar depend both on dosage and experience. In most cases, when an inexperienced cigar smoker tries a cigar with high nicotine content, like a La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero or Opus X, the effects in the vestibular system and dopamine system will be very strong but the adverse vestibular effects such as nausea and dizziness will completely mask the pleasurable effects. That is why cigar reviewers frequently recommend that only experienced smokers try stronger cigars. Without the nicotine tolerance, it is likely smoking one of these cigars will be highly un-enjoyable, thus negatively affecting the results of the review.

After an individual has more experience with smoking cigars, tolerance will begin to occur whereby the nicotine receptors will produce less of a response in the brain for a given dosage. This will mean that the adverse effects will be much less intense, allowing the pleasurable effects to be unmasked. Furthermore, as a result of increasing the number of dopamine receptors in the brain (up-regulation), the pleasurable effects may become even stronger with repeated exposure.

* Note: This may not always be the case since manufacturers will often use different tobacco blends for the different vitolas in a particular cigar line.

References:

Perkins, K. A. (2002). Chronic tolerance to nicotine in humans and its relationship to tobacco dependence. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 4, 405-422.

Perkins, K. A., Grobe, J. E., Epstein, L. H., Caggiula, A., Stiller, R. L., & Jacob, R. G. (1993). Chronic and acute tolerance to subjective effects of nicotine. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 45, 375-381.

Sparks, J. A. & Pauly, J. R. (1999). Effects of continuous nicotine administration on brain nicotinic receptors. Psychopharmacology, 141 ,145-153.

Rob Gray is Stogie Fresh’s resident “Cigar Science Guy.” He is an educator, researcher and writer. Rob conducts research in Human Factors Psychology at Arizona State University.

Rob is a regular contributor to the Stogie Fresh Cigar Journal.

Cigar Wrapper Blisters-Leaf Grain

Tue, 3 Jun 2008 13:00:48 -0700

by David Diaz, Ed.D.

Some time ago, I received an interesting correspondence from one of my Stogie Fresh readers. He told me he purchased a super premium cigar (whose name shall remain a secret) that had an unusual characteristic. It seems that this cigar had many little spots on the wrapper leaf and when burned, these spots turned up on the ash as well. (See photo above).

He wanted to know if this cigar was a fake, or just "irregular," and if I knew what these little bumps were. Well, I scratched my head and said to myself, "Self, I'm not sure exactly what the hell that is." But I knew whom to turn to. I have a friend who works with an experienced tobacco grower. This person has been a tobacco researcher for 40 years and has likely seen it all. So, I forwarded the picture and asked him his thoughts.

He said it was evidence of high concentrations of magnesium and potash levels in the leaf, from fertilizers. It is very common to use magnesium and potash (among other chemicals) to enrich the soil for the betterment of the tobacco, however sometimes the plant leaf apparently stores a bit too much. Especially when you add too much of these chemicals to the soil.

One of the chemicals, Potash, is a "potassium compound commonly used as a fertilizer, and helps the plant resist disease." But the real key in this display of bumps on the leaf is magnesium. Magnesium, is "vital in the formation of chlorophyll, the green "blood" of plants. Without sufficient magnesium, tobacco leaves lose their rich, deep emerald color. It also contributes to the generation of oils in tobacco, the oleoresins that contain the nicotine and flavor. A magnesium deficiency leads to dry, brittle, flavorless leaves; a magnesium-balanced plant displays that silky sheen we all recognize and admire. Magnesium is also important in the combustion of tobacco. A black ash indicates incomplete combustion of the carbon in the leaf, and is a sign of insufficient magnesium."

So anyway, these little bumps or "pimples" are referred to as leaf "grain" and can appear naturally because of the natural levels of magnesium and potash in the soil. An example of this effect as it occurs naturally was sent to me and is seen below.

By the way, some have mistakingly referred to the wrapper in the first photo as simply "toothy." Just be be clear on the difference between "tooth" and "grain." Tooth refers to the sandy bumps on a wrapper, which is a naturally-occurring characteristic of certain tobacco strains (e.g., Cameroon). Grain is the white speckles on the wrapper ash, and is the sign of excessive magnesium and potash. You could have a wrapper that was toothy and also grainy, but you could also have a wrapper that didn't have tooth and yet exhibited grain.

The moral of the story is, if the first photo appears like a cigar on "steroids" it's because essentially it is: the effects are most likely chemically induced by the addition of unnatural amounts of natural chemicals.

So, did these little grains affect the burn or flavors of the smoke? I asked the guy who sent me the original photos that question and he said "The burn and draw were perfect. I think it tasted pretty good but the overall experience was diminished because I was constantly looking at the specs/dots thinking that I was smoking Beetle Eggs."

All in all, it was an interesting lesson and I thought I would pass it along.

David Diaz is the president of Stogie Fresh and the editor of the Stogie Fresh Cigar Journal. He has served as an educator, researcher and writer and has taught in the Health Science field for nearly 30 years. He possesses an earned doctorate from Nova Southeastern University.

Second Hand Smoke and Health

Mon, 3 Dec 2007 11:21:03 -0800

By Terry Simpson, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Introduction

The 1964 Surgeon General Report, which declared that the inhalation of cigarettes would likely cause lung cancer and heart disease, had a profound impact in the United States. This report started America thinking that the practice of inhaling cigarette smoke was unhealthy and began a long series of studies, lawsuits, and laws, that changed the face of America from a primary smoking society—where over 60 percent of adults in the U.S. smoked—to a number that is now about 30 percent.

On June 27, 2006, long after the first Report and yet likely based on its long-lasting impact, Surgeon General Richard Carmona issued the following statements regarding second hand smoke:

(a) The scientific evidence is now indisputable: secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance. It is a serious health hazard that can lead to disease and premature death in children and nonsmoking adults.
(b) Secondhand smoke contains more than 50 cancer-causing chemicals, and is itself a known human carcinogen
(c) There is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25 to 40 percent and lung cancer by 20 to 30 percent.

The Surgeon General also stated that 49,000 deaths per year were caused by second hand smoke. As a surgeon, I was stunned, because I had never seen an autopsy report listing second hand smoke as the cause of death. Nor had I seen this as a secondary cause of death. So I asked six pathologists if they had ever listed second hand smoke as a cause of death – not one had. In my years of clinical practice, I have seen patients die from many devastating diseases, and yet I have never seen anyone who has been disabled by, or has died as a result of, second hand smoke. This was my first clue that perhaps there was more hyperbole than science involved in the reports issuing from the Surgeon General’s Office. To give a contrast: 33,000 people die per year of pancreatic cancer – all of the pathologists have listed pancreatic cancer as a cause of death.

Composition of Smoke

Second hand smoke, also called Environmental Tobacco Smoke, is a combination of Mainstream Smoke, which is exhaled by smokers and Sidestream Smoke, which is released directly from the burning tip of cigarettes or cigars. Sidestream smoke is the primary constituent of environmental tobacco smoke, providing most of the vapor phase and over half the particles. Hence, at events such as “The Big Smoke”, the majority of particulate matter comes from sidestream smoke. Exhaled mainstream smoke contributes between 15 and 43 percent of the particulate matter in environmental tobacco smoke. Sidestream smoke is generated at lower temperatures and a higher alkalinity than mainstream smoke, and as a result has a different chemical composition.

During environmental tobacco smoke formation, both sidestream smoke and exhaled mainstream smoke are diluted by many orders of magnitude and subsequently undergo physical transformation and alterations in chemical composition. For example, nicotine and many other semi-volatile compounds of tobacco smoke tend to be present in the particle phase of inhaled mainstream smoke, but evaporate into the vapor phase as exhaled mainstream smoke is rapidly diluted during the formation of environmental tobacco smoke.

Second Hand Smoke and Lung Cancer

If second hand smoke exposure is a significant risk factor for developing lung cancer, then we should expect to see increased numbers of cancer cases in non-smokers who are exposed to regular doses of second hand smoke. Has there been an increase in the incidence of lung cancer among nonsmokers over the last 40 years? The answer is quite simply… No.

Data from national mortality studies show that rates of lung cancer among non-smoking women remained stable between the 1950’s to the 1980’s (very few women smoked during those years) and didn’t rise until substantial numbers of women started smoking in more recent years. These non-smoking women were included in numerous studies as control groups for examining lung cancer rates in their smoking spouses. As anti-smoking logic would dictate, the longer one is exposed to second hand smoke the more we should see a rise in lung cancer. However, when we examine the data from the studies noted above, we do not see such a rise in cancer rates for these non-smoking women.

In 1992, second hand smoke was labeled a Class A carcinogen: one that causes lung cancer and is responsible for the deaths of 3,000 Americans annually (U.S. EPA, 1993). However, there were no autopsies, no bodies, nor one person that could be claimed as a victim. The EPA did not base their classification on their own independent study but examined over thirty epidemiological studies (i.e., studies that attempt to correlate various risk factors with early death in different populations). Eleven of those studies were done in the United States, and of those eight found a positive risk, three found a negative risk but none of them were statistically significant (that is, none of the U.S. studies could make the statement that there was a causal relationship between second hand smoke and cancer).

In medical research, a statistical confidence level of 95% means that there is only a five percent chance that a significant finding could be due to chance (i.e., a random result). In their interpretation of the epidemiological studies, the EPA made a critical procedural statistical alteration. They changed the confidence level to 90%. This statistical manipulation made it more likely that their findings would show significant negative health effects of second hand smoke, but also made more likely the potential for erroneous conclusions. Furthermore, the EPA did not take into consideration the factors independently associated with both the development of lung cancer and exposure to second hand smoke, factors that certainly could account for the purported relationship between second hand smoke and early death. Finally, they did not attempt to assure that the subjects were properly identified into the correct experimental group. The EPA left several important questions unanswered such as: Were the exposed cases truly ill with primary lung cancer? Had the subjects been smokers previously? Were they truly exposed to second hand smoke? And, did the subjects accurately report their exposure levels?

The EPA also classified second hand smoke as a carcinogen based on chemical “similarities” between inhaled mainstream smoke and environmental tobacco smoke. Their logic was that since inhaled tobacco smoke is a carcinogen, environmental tobacco smoke must also be. Inhaled mainstream smoke, however, contains chemicals at concentrations of up to one million times those found in environmental tobacco smoke (which is a combination of exhaled mainstream smoke and sidestream smoke). Further, deep inhalation affects the degree of exposure to those chemicals, as well as the deposition of those chemicals into the respiratory passages of the smoker. One of the frustrating issues is we do not know the chemical, or chemical compounds responsible for the link to lung cancer and/or heart disease. This leads to another difficult issue – the length of exposure to the chemical might not yield a linear relationship to the formation of cancer (also known as the exposure-risk relationship). Single dose exposure likely does not yield 100 percent incidence of carcinoma. For example, low exposures of materials in drinking water does not yield disease, but higher and longer exposures of materials – such as arsenic, certainly produce disease. Much as a single aspirin may produce the effect of headache relief, a large dose of aspirin will be toxic. What was not evident in many of these studies was a dose-response curve to second hand (passive) smoking and disease.

At the behest of Congressman Henry Waxman (D-Ca), the Congressional Research Service (CRS) spent two years examining reports and came up with the following conclusions regarding second hand smoke and lung cancer (Redhead and Rowberg, 1995):

(a) The statistical evidence does not appear to support a conclusion that there are substantial health effects of passive smoking.
(b) It is possible that very few or even no deaths can be attributed to second hand smoke.
(c) If there are any lung cancer deaths from second hand smoke, they are likely to be concentrated among those subjected to the highest exposure levels (e.g., spouses).
(d) The absolute risk, even to those with the greatest exposure levels, is uncertain.

The CRS found that, what was considered an “obvious” conclusion by the EPA was, in fact, flawed. The EPA reasoned that if the smoke inhaled by a smoker was close enough in composition to that which is exhaled, then if one was carcinogenic the other must also be carcinogenic. This assumption is chemically incorrect and was rejected.

The CRS examination of the various studies concluded that someone exposed to significant second hand smoke—a spouse for example—might increase their risk of dying from lung cancer to 2/10 of one percent, while those who are exposed on the job would have less risk: 7/100 of one percent.

The most devastating opinion about the EPA’s decision to classify second hand smoke as a class A carcinogen, came from Federal Judge William Osteen who interviewed scientists for four years and in 1998 opined,

The Agency disregarded information and made findings based on selective information… [The EPA] deviated from its risk assessment guidelines; failed to disclose important (opposing) findings and reasons; and left significant questions without answers… Gathering all relevant information, researching and disseminating findings, were subordinate to EPA’s [goal of] demonstrating [that] ETS was a Group A carcinogen… In this case, the EPA publicly committed to a conclusion before research had begun; adjusted established procedure and scientific norms to validate the Agency’s public conclusion, and aggressively utilized the Act’s authority to disseminate findings to establish a de facto regulatory scheme…and to influence public opinion… While doing so, [the EPA] produced limited evidence, then claimed the weight of the Agency’s researched evidence demonstrated ETS causes cancer. (Osteen, 1998)

Because the EPA report was “advisory” and not “regulatory,” Judge Osteen’s indictment was reversed. However, it is important to note that the decision was reversed on a technical distinction, not the merits of the EPA’s report.

In another large-scale study, and in contradistinction to the EPA conclusions, the World Health Organization International Agency on Cancer published a report concluding that there was no statistically significant risk of lung cancer in non-smokers who lived or worked with smokers (Boffetta, et al, 1998). This study was the product of ten years of data gathered from seven European countries.

Health Risks of Second Hand Smoke

In a study spanning 16 U.S. cities, the U.S. Department of Energy researchers placed monitors on nonsmoking bartenders and waiters who worked in smoke-filled bars and restaurants to measure the amount of environmental tobacco. The conclusion was that the monitors detected minuscule amounts of tobacco products. (Jenkins, et al, 1999) The harm that might come from such minuscule amounts of exposure was calculated as “none” to “improbable harm”. The anti-tobacco forces have condemned this study because it was partly funded by the R.J. Reynolds Company. Later, a group of individuals visited the establishments and concluded that since they saw few individuals smoking, the study was flawed. In spite of this study being done by Oak Ridge National Laboratories, it was painted with a broad brush because of the funding from the tobacco industry.

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is considered by many authorities to be an important component of indoor air pollution in part because it is often viewed as being equivalent to mainstream cigarette smoke (MS). It has been clearly demonstrated that ETS is not the same as MS. Side stream cigarette smoke (SS) is a major contributor to ETS. Side-stream smoke is generated under different conditions than MS, and as a result, has a different relative chemical composition. Exhaled MS, the second primary contributor to ETS, is a different material from that which leaves the cigarette butt and enters the lungs. Exhaled MS has been substantially depleted in vapor-phase constituents, and the particulate matter is likely to have increased its water content in the high-humidity environment of the respiratory tract. As the cigarette smoke, both SS and exhaled MS, enters the atmosphere, it is diluted by many orders of magnitude and subsequently undergoes both physical transformation and alterations in its chemical composition. Upon standing, or during air exchange from other sources, ETS continues to change… (Guerin, et al, 2000)

The science and chemistry of this field of research are complex, and if the conclusions reached do not meet with current public policy, the research scientist is often stereotyped as being “pro-tobacco”. Because these studies are expensive, and because tobacco companies often supply the grant funds to purchase the supplies, anti-tobacco advocates will often say this is equivalent to bribing the researchers. They sometimes fail to mention, however, the anti-tobacco-funded individuals who personally receive thousands of dollars to vent anti-tobacco research and lend their name to the anti-tobacco movement. One of those individuals, Stanton Glantz, a Ph.D. whose field of expertise is aerospace engineering, attempted to convince the EPA to accept that there were over 50,000 deaths a year, from cardiac events, attributed to second hand smoke. The Congressional Research office examined the statistics related to second hand smoke and cardiac events and determined that those numbers were implausible (Gravelle and Redhead, 1994)

And yet, the anti-smoking advocates continue to march their cause…

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) withdrew a 12-year-old petition that smoking be banned from all indoor workplaces. The withdrawal was based on a lack of evidence. The decision was taken to court in an attempt to force OSHA to reverse its decision. OSHA stated that it would regulate based on permissible levels of the various ingredients in environmental tobacco smoke, and the lawsuit was withdrawn on the grounds that OSHA would do nothing. (Henshaw, 2001)

It’s no wonder OSHA decided to withdraw its complaint, since even its own people couldn’t agree on a position. In 1997, Acting Assistant Secretary of OSHA, Greg Watchman aired his own view:

Field studies of environmental tobacco smoke indicate that under normal conditions, the components in tobacco smoke are diluted below existing Permissible Exposure Levels (PELS) as referenced in the Air Contaminant Standard (29 CFR 1910.1000). It would be very rare to find a workplace with so much smoking that any individual PEL would be exceeded. (Letter from Greg Watchman, 1997)

As with arsenic content in drinking water, for example, setting scientific numbers to permissible levels would compel the scientific community to make real statements as to levels that are acceptable. Given that science had already answered the question with a number of chemicals in tobacco, such a regulation would be a blow to all anti-smoking advocates and their contention that there is no “safe” level of second hand smoke.

With no scientific evidence to back his statement, Mayor Bloomberg of New York City proclaimed that bartenders inhale the equivalent of half a pack of cigarettes a day. In fact, a study from the U.K. showed that the average London bartender inhaled the equivalent of six cigarettes annually (about one quarter of a pack). (Matthews and MacDonald, 1998)

Perhaps one of the better studies was published in the British Medical Journal by epidemiologist James Enstrom and Geoffrey Kabat (2003). Their study of 35,000 Californians showed that lifelong exposure to a husband or wife’s smoke produced no increased risk of coronary heart disease or lung cancer among the non-smoking spouses. As with most who oppose the anti-tobacco lobby, Enstrom was forced to defend his study on the basis that it had received funding from a tobacco company. The study was condemned as biased, even though it was published in a peer-reviewed journal, the statistics were not flawed, and the conclusions were sound.

When the cigar lounge at Seattle's El Gaucho restaurant was closed because smoking in public places in the state of Washington became illegal, one of the reasons cited was to “protect the workers”. The premise of this law has no evidence. Suffice it to say, there is far more evidence to ban the sale of alcohol in bars and restaurants than cigar smoking. Every day in every major city there are deaths from people who have consumed alcohol and driven. Alcohol is directly responsible for about 100,000 deaths a year and an estimated 2.3 million years. Alcohol prohibition didn’t work. So why attempt to prohibit tobacco?

The press frequently overlooks inconsistent data when reporting about environmental tobacco smoke. The most recent example was when a group of radiologists noted that one-third of patients who had never smoked, but were exposed to “high levels” of second hand smoke, showed MRI changes in their lungs similar to the changes seen in smokers. What failed to make the mainstream news was that two-thirds of the patients who were listed as non-smokers, but exposed to “high levels” of second hand smoke, paradoxically, had lower diffusion through the lungs than the “low exposure” group. That is, they showed the opposite of changes seen with heavy smokers. Again, what made the news in most circles was that this was more proof about the negative effects of environmental tobacco smoke. What did not make the news was that the paradoxical report might prove the opposite of their conclusion. (Science Daily, 2007)

The Surgeon General was incorrect. Second hand smoke may be an irritant and an annoyance, but it’s not a cause of death. There are no body bags filled with those who have developed tumors or heart disease as a result of second-hand smoke. The body bags are filled, however, with scientists and physicians who dare go against the anti-smoking lobby and state the obvious—the science isn’t there. As much as they want to ban all smoking in all places, the health risk is grossly overstated. Whenever someone dies of lung cancer, such as Diane Reeves, the late wife of Christopher Reeves, the anti-smoking lobby uses the news as a media circus. They want to relate the unfortunate death to something… even if such a relationship has no basis in solid scientific research.

In 1633, the Catholic church condemned Galileo for asserting that the Earth revolves around the sun. Galileo was forced to recant his scientific findings to avoid being burned at the stake. This was a clear conflict between faith and science.

Terry Simpson is a physician - surgeon, writer, and avid cigar smoker. He is a regular contributor to Dog Watch Social Club -- and on occasions plays golf. This is his first submission to the Stogie Fresh Cigar Journal.

[Editor’s note: Most of the studies referenced in this article examined the effects of ETS where cigarette smoke was the major contributor. Since cigarette and cigar tobacco, though similar, have some substantive differences (see previous Cigar Science article), the specific effects of cigar ETS on health await future elucidation. Nevertheless, we believe that the current article identifies the kind of fuzzy logic that is often used by anti-tobacco researchers and demonstrates clearly that current legislation regarding ETS is based on faulty research, faulty logic, or both. Further, the current article has several points that are applicable to cigar smoke, including the fact that inhaled smoke is chemically different than exhaled smoke and that ETS is highly diluted and therefore cannot be compared equally with mainstream smoke.]

References

Boffetta, P., Agudo, A., Ahrens, W., et al. (1998). “Multicenter Case-Control Study of Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Lung Cancer in Europe.” Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Vol. 90, No. 19:1440–50.

Enstrom, J. E. and Kabat, G. C. (2003, May 17) “Environmental tobacco smoke and tobacco related mortality in a prospective study of Californians, 1960-98.” British Medical Journal, 326(7398): 1057. Available: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=155687

Gravelle, J. G., and Redhead, C. S. (1994, March 23). Congressional Research Office Memorandum “Discussion of Source of Claims of 50,000 Deaths from Passive Smoking.” “in response to request for information on the possible source of an estimated premature 50,000 deaths from passive smoking effects.” Available: http://www.nycclash.com/Cabinet/CRSDiscusses_50000_Deaths.html

Guerin, M. R., Jenkins, R. A., Tomkins, B. A. (2000). “The Chemistry of Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Composition and Measurement.” (Second Ed.) CRC Press.

Henshaw, J. L. (2001). "Withdrawal of Proposal." U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA, Notice, Indoor Air Quality - Federal Register #66:64946. Available:
http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=FEDERAL_REGISTER&p_id=16954

Jenkins, R. A., Palausky, A., Counts, R. W., Bayne, C. K., Dindal, A. B., and Guerin, M. R. (1999). “Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke in Sixteen Cities in the United States as Determined by Personal Breathing Zone Air Sampling.” Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology. Oct-Dec;6(4):473-502.

Letter from Greg Watchman, Acting Ass’t Sec’y, OSHA, to Leroy J Pletten, PhD, July 8, 1997.

Matthews, R., and MacDonald, V. (1998). "Passive Smokers Inhale Six Cigarettes a Year." UK News Electronic Telegraph, Issue 1178. Available
http://www.forces.org/evidence/files/passmok2.htm

Osteen, W. L., United States District Judge (1998). "Flue-Cured Tobacco Cooperative Stabilization Corporation, et al v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, et al." United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, Winston-Salem Division, 6:93CV00370, 89-90. Available: http://www.forces.org/evidence/epafraud/files/osteen.htm

Redhead, C. S. and Rowberg, R. E. (1995, November 14) CRS Report for Congress. “Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Lung Cancer Risk.” Retrieved November 2007 from the WWW. Available: http://www.forces.org/evidence/files/crs11-95.htm

Science Daily. (November 27, 2007). “Second hand smoke damages lung, MRIs show.” Available: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071126104424.htm

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (1993) “Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders. ” National Institutes of Health. Monograph 4, NIH Publication No. 93-3605, August 1993.

Becoming an Expert Cigar Taster

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:39:32 -0800

By Rob Gray, Ph.D.

One of the great joys of cigar smoking is correctly identifying flavors and aromas associated with a particular cigar. Noting the coffee and chocolate flavors in an earthy Maduro or distinguishing between the “pepper-spice” in an aged Corojo and the “sweet-hay-spice” in a Cameroon wrapper, is a rewarding and pleasurable experience. Correctly and consistently naming flavors and aromas helps us to better relate our cigar experiences with other cigar smokers and helps us to identify the characteristics we enjoy in a cigar.

As I discussed in detail in my previous article, “Cigar Flavor Recognition and Identification”, using our memories to describe and label the tastes and aromas associated with smoking a cigar is not something that comes easily and naturally to us. Instead, it is a skill that we must develop through practice and by using proper cigar smoking techniques. In this article I will present 10 guidelines for becoming an expert cigar taster.

The first question we must ask is whether there are really any differences between expert and novice tasters? Are experts really more skilled at detecting and labeling flavors or do they just blow a lot of hot air? While there is no research on this question for cigar smoking, we can look at a similar hobby for answers: wine tasting. Research on wine tasting has shown that experts reviews of wines are shorter in length but contain more descriptive terms. In other words, the wine experts descriptions favored quality not quantity. In an article published in 1990, cognitive researcher Gregg Solomon found that wine experts were more consistent in their use of flavor labels than novices and were able to reliably match wines they tasted (blindly) to descriptions of wines written by other experts. Apparently, expert wine tasters have learned a vocabulary that enables them to consistently communicate flavors and have also developed links in memory that pair a particular flavor with the correct term. So, indeed, there are some significant differences between expert and novice tasters.

In order to become an expert cigar taster there are two different types of expertise that must be developed: Perceptual Expertise and Verbal Expertise. 
Perceptual expertise is the kind of expertise gained through tasting lots of different kinds of cigars (actual sensory experiences). By trying many types of cigars (from mild to full bodied, earthy to spicy, sweet to woody), a cigar smoker will develop a larger catalog of flavor memories that can be used when trying to label the flavors in a new cigar.  
Verbal expertise involves experience in describing and labeling the flavors during cigar smoking. That is, by attempting to describe and label the flavors and aromas when smoking a cigar, cigar smokers will develop a better ability to organize and access their flavor memory catalog.

Now let’s turn our attention to the $64,000 question: how can YOU become an expert taster? Or even just a better taster than you are now? Below are some specific guidelines that can be used to develop your cigar tasting skills.

Practice, practice, practice describing your cigar experiences
By far the biggest reason why most cigar smokers are not very proficient at distinguishing and labeling flavors is that most of us just don’t have a lot of experience describing tastes and smells. Think about it… how often do we try to pick out the spices used in a gourmet dish or tell our co-worker exactly what flavors we notice in our cup of coffee? We normally use very general labels like “that dish was spicy” or, “this coffee tastes rich”. As the research on wine tasting suggests, becoming an expert taster requires one to develop verbal expertise by being more specific in flavor descriptions; giving more precise labels for flavors such as “that dish had a nice white pepper spice” or “this coffee tastes like dark chocolate”.

For cigar smokers, I think the best way to practice this skill is to keep a cigar journal. Jot down anything and everything you notice when you are smoking a cigar. Think of it like the word association test that psychiatrists use… say the first thing that comes to your mind when you take a draw. Don’t worry about whether the flavor labels you generate match those you have read in reviews or those detected by other smokers. Research on wine tasting has shown that novices can improve their ability to remember and recognize different tastes by trying to verbally describe the flavors, even if they do a very poor job at it at first (Solomon, 1990). The key is just to do it. As you practice labeling flavors in a cigar you will develop better connections between the analytical, language areas of your brain and your flavor processor in your gustatory cortex. Finally, when you are first starting to keep a journal, try not to read any cigar reviews right before you smoking and describing a cigar. As discussed in my last article, this could easily lead to verbal overshadowing where your brain will “detect” a certain flavor in a cigar because it is “supposed” to be there not because you are actually experiencing it.

Smoke slower, taste better
Another hindrance to correctly discerning flavors in a cigar is smoking too fast: draws on a cigar should be separated by at least 1 minute. Smoking faster than this rate will cause problems for distinguishing cigar flavors. Smoking too fast will cause the tobacco to reach too high of a temperature, resulting in strong bitter flavors that will mask the more subtle flavors in the cigar. Unfortunately, these “hot”, bitter flavors in a cigar also leave a long aftertaste, so it is difficult for your palate to recover from overheating. Smoking too fast can also lead to tar build-up in the end of the cigar, which will make the last third of the cigar almost unsmokeable. The final third of a cigar is where a lot of the complex flavors occur in cigar smoking. Finally, smoking too fast is not conducive to flavor identification because it does not allow time for your brain to properly process the taste and aroma signals and access your flavor memories. Leaving enough time to focus on and savor the flavors after each draw will greatly enhance your ability to identify them. If you think you smoke too fast try keeping a watch beside you and taking a draw every minute. After you have done this for awhile it will become second nature.

Try a wide variety of cigars
Another key to being able to recognize and identify the flavors in a cigar is to develop a large catalog of flavor memories (perceptual expertise) that can be used to compare with the flavors you are currently experiencing in a cigar. The most obvious way to do this is to try a wide variety of cigars with a lot of different flavor profiles, wrapper types, and countries of origin. Be sure to try different length cigars and a variety of ring gauges, which not only helps us to better distinguish flavors, but is also the best way to find which cigars we prefer.

Get more adventurous with your eating and drinking habits
While the obvious way to achieve perceptual expertise is by smoking a large variety of cigars, your catalog of flavor memories can also be improved by trying a variety of different cuisines and libations. Many of the flavors we pick up in a cigar are also present in the substances we eat and drink. Personally, I have picked up some really interesting “food flavors” in cigars such as barbequed chicken and cinnamon. By trying different cuisines (e.g., Indian, Moroccan, Mexican) and drinks (e.g., wheat beer, cognac, wine) will help train our palate to be better prepared for cigar smoking.

Smoke in an environment free of distractions
As most of us know, our perception of the world is dramatically different when we are concentrating and focusing our attention on something, as compared to when we are multi-tasking. Trying to do too many tasks at once will cause many things to go completely unnoticed. Therefore, your ability to distinguish flavors in a cigar will be lessened if you are engaged in a heated conversation at your local cigar shop, distracted by your laptop computer, or engrossed in a big football game. While of course these activities can all be enjoyable companions to cigar smoking, it will be beneficial to your cigar expertise if you can also set aside some time to smoke a cigar by yourself in an environment (no TV or music) where you can focus your full attention on the tastes and aromas you are getting with each draw.

Use a flavor chart
Novice cigar tasters will very commonly experience “the tip of the tongue” phenomenon when trying to describe flavors. This is the feeling of knowing what the flavor you are experiencing is, but not being able to get the name out. One way to overcome this hurdle is to use a cigar flavor chart (see example below). If you think the flavor you are experiencing reminds you of some type of vegetation, scan the list of flavors in the vegetal section. In many cases one will suddenly jump out at you and voilà you will identify the flavor!

Learn how to retrohale
As I discuss in my previous article, “Smoking in Retro-spect: How the Nose Affects Cigar Flavors”, channeling the smoke through your nasal cavity as you expel it (“retrohaling”) can substantially enhance and intensify the flavors in a cigar. Therefore, for some smokers, the very subtle flavors that are barely detectable when the smoke is expelled from the mouth will be “turned up a notch” when retrohaling. But be sure to take your time developing this skill; begin with mild cigars and only retrohale two or three times during the duration of the cigar. Jumping into retrohaling too quickly and/or with full-bodied cigars can lead to unpleasant sensations that may hinder your ability to distinguish cigar flavors.

Smoke the same cigar several times over a short period
As anyone who has sat at a piano for hours and hours playing the same song, or shot basketball free throws over and over will tell you, a major key to learning is repetition. When we repeat the same action, the connections within the brain that control these actions get strengthened (both physically and chemically), making the action much more efficient and effective in the future. Conversely, if we try to learn too many new skills at once, learning happens at a much slower rate.

Repetition can also be helpful in developing cigar expertise. Smoking the same cigar several times in a short period (e.g., 5 times in one week) will produce stronger and more persistent flavor memories. It will also help you develop the ability to detect subtle differences in flavors, since even cigars that come from the same batch will have some small differences between them.

Start with water, and then experiment with other cigar-drink pairings
As I discuss in my article “The Science of Cigar-Drink Pairings”, the beverage we pair with a cigar can have a substantial influence on the cigar’s flavors. For this reason, it is best to pair a cigar with plain water the first few times you smoke it. Drinking only water while smoking a cigar will allow you to experience the cigar’s unaltered flavors. I don’t recommend that you drink nothing at all when smoking a cigar since our taste buds do not work as efficiently when they become dehydrated.

After experiencing a cigar’s flavor with only water, it will then be beneficial if you try it with other beverages such as soda, coffee, beer, whiskey, cognac, wine or bourbon. When paired with just the right libation, some cigar flavors will be stronger and easier for a novice smoker to detect and identify. Furthermore, alcohol can actually help to break down some of the chemical components of cigar tobacco that do not dissolve in water (or the saliva in your mouth). When the alkaloids, acids, and esters in cigar tobacco are broken down by alcohol, volatile oils are released that greatly enhance the flavor and aroma of the cigar.

Compare observations to some good reviews of that cigar
After making your own observations about a cigar, it can very beneficial to read some highly detailed reviews of that same cigar. Reading cigar reviews can help improve tasting expertise in a few different ways. First, if the reviewer identifies some of the same flavors that you experienced it will increase your confidence in your cigar tasting abilities. Second, you may find that an experienced reviewer can pinpoint a specific flavor that you were having difficulty labeling precisely; a flavor that you could only label as “sweet spice” an experienced reviewer may more specifically identify as nutmeg. Finally, when a reviewer describes some flavors that you did not notice at all in the cigar, try smoking the cigar again to see if you detect these same flavors. Knowing what flavors you should taste in a cigar can greatly help you correctly identify flavors in the future. The reviews that will be most helpful for developing your cigar tasting expertise will be one’s that have the characteristics I discussed in the article: “The Master Blend: Ingredients of an Effective Cigar Review”.

If you practice the guidelines I have listed above, I believe you will be able to improve your cigar tasting expertise. More importantly, as you begin to correctly identify and associate the flavors and aromas in cigars, you will be able to enjoy your cigar smoking experiences in new ways. You will enjoy more rewarding interactions with others who have smoked the same cigars and you will become better at recognizing the characteristics that you like in cigars.

References

Solomon, G. E. A. (1990). Psychology of Novice and Expert Wine Talk. American Journal of Psychology, 103, 495-517.

Rob Gray is Stogie Fresh’s resident “Cigar Science Guy.” He is an educator, researcher and writer. Rob conducts research in Human Factors Psychology at Arizona State University.

Rob is a regular contributor to the Stogie Fresh Cigar Journal.

Cigar Flavor Recognition and Identification

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:44:04 -0700

By Rob Gray, Ph.D.

Memories of Barnyards Past

Flavor recognition and identification
Imagine yourself sitting back enjoying a new cigar. As you take a nice long draw and retrohale the smoke you think to yourself: “Mmmm, that tastes like something I have had before but I am not sure what.” As you take another puff, your thoughts continue: “Perhaps the flavor reminds me of wood or maybe cocoa or maybe… barnyard!”

That churning sound you hear coming from your head is your brain trying to access its hard drive…your long-term memory storage for flavors. An essential part of our experience with a cigar is linking the sensations we are currently receiving from our taste buds and olfactory receptors with the memory of something we have tasted in the past. Flavor recognition is the feeling that we have experienced the flavor before – kind of like a flavor déjà vu. At this stage we cannot connect a name with the flavor; we just know it is familiar. Flavor identification occurs when we give a name to the flavor we are experiencing. Our ability to recognize and identify flavors in a cigar will essentially depend on two things: the catalog of flavor memories we have stored away, and the efficiency with which we can access them.

 Types of Flavor Memories

Memory experiences One of the difficulties we will have in recognizing and identifying a cigar’s flavor is that we actually have two different types of flavor memories; and these types of memories can often interfere with each other. The first type is memories generated from actual sensory experience. For example, when you were a child and tried a cup of hot cocoa for the first time, the chemical reactions in your taste buds and olfactory receptors were converted into electrical signals that were sent to the “flavor processor” in your brain. This processor, called the gustatory cortex, is located deep in the center of your brain. Your experience of the flavors in the cocoa was then filed away in your gustatory cortex as a flavor memory. Certain cigars (like a sweet maduro) can produce a very similar pattern of brain activity and thus trigger your childhood memory for cocoa, resulting in flavor recognition.

The quantity and quality of this first type of flavor memory will depend on a variety of factors including: 1) childhood experiences, 2) current eating and drinking habits, and 3) “taster-type”. Let’s look at each of these in turn.

Research has shown that our most vivid and persistent memories are formed when we are children. This is largely because at this stage in development the connections in our brain are “plastic”, that is, they can easily be changed based on the experiences we are having. When we become adults these connections become “hard-wired” and are harder to change. This explains why it is much easier to learn a new language as a child. Therefore, the catalog of flavor memories you have will depend, in part, on the richness and variety of experiences you had as a child (e.g., foods eaten, places visited). For example, a cigar smoker who lived exclusively in a city environment as a child is unlikely to have memories based on actual sensory experience of “barnyard” flavors and aromas.

Although it is more difficult to form flavor memories as an adult, it does still happen. That is why the current eating and drinking habits of a cigar smoker will influence their memory catalog. People that are more adventurous eaters and regularly try foods and libations from different countries and cultures will have a wider array of memories that can be called upon when trying to recognize and identify the flavors in a cigar.

Finally, the quality of your flavor memories will depend on your “taster-type” (see my article: Distinguishing Flavors in Cigars: Are you a Supertaster?). “Supertasters” will have much more vivid and detailed flavor memories than Nontasters. Supertasters store memories in “high resolution”. An analogy would be saving a high-resolution photo on your computer. When opened later, a “hi-rez” photo will reveal more details of the scene that was photographed.

Memory representations
The second type of memory is what I will call mental representations not associated with any actual sensory experience. This is a “memory” for what we think a substance should taste like based on our factual knowledge about the substance. For example, when someone says “this cracker tastes like sawdust” it is highly unlikely that they have ever eaten sawdust. Instead, the dry taste of the cracker in their mouth activates the language areas of their brain for words like “dry”, “powdery”, and “woody”, and the brain identifies an item which seems consistent with these qualities: sawdust. In this case we are not remembering an actual sensory experience we had in the past, but rather generating a label based on our knowledge. I think that this happens a lot with cigars too…how many of us have actually chewed on a piece of cedar? We are more likely triggering a representation of what we think cedar would taste like if we actually tried it. Mental representations of what substances should taste like are stored in the language areas of our brain, which are located on the outside of our brain in the temporal lobe.

It has been shown that a mental representation of this type can actually interfere with memories generated from actual sensory experiences, an effect called verbal overshadowing. For example, as wine-tasters read more and more about the types of flavors associated with different wines, this knowledge can actually override their actual sensory experiences when tasting a wine (Melcher & Schooler, 1996). This also likely occurs with cigars. For example, as you read more and more reviews telling you that a certain type of wrapper produces a cedar flavor, the mental representation of “cedar” might get immediately activated when you begin tasting wood flavors in a cigar, possibly blocking a real taste memory for the actual flavor you are experiencing.

 Flavor Identification
 One of the main reasons “verbal overshadowing” occurs is that it is very difficult for us to describe the sensory experiences we get from taste and smell. Applying descriptions and labels to the flavors we are experiencing is called flavor identification, and it’s the next stage in the process of describing cigar flavors.

As I look at the cigar sitting in my ashtray right now, I can think of dozens of words to describe the visual sensations I am observing: “chocolate brown”, “smooth”, “torpedo-shaped”, “thick ring gauge”, “veiny”, “white ash”, and “red and gold banded”. On the other hand, I can only generate a couple of words for the flavor: “sweet” and “nutty” (and I am far less confident in the accuracy of these). This is in a large part due to the fact that unlike vision and hearing, the brain areas involved in flavor sensations are not well connected to the language areas of our brain. The flavor areas are heavily linked with the emotional parts of our brain. For example, it has been found that one of the early signs of clinical depression is a loss of the sense of taste. This occurs because the brain chemicals serotonin and noradrenaline, that are found in lower levels in depressed patients, play a crucial role in the areas of our brain involved in the senses of taste and smell. When people are given antidepressants, which raise the level of these chemicals in the brain, they actually report that foods taste more bitter and sour (Heath et al, 2006). This may partially explain why the mood we are in when smoking has such a profound effect on the experience we have with a cigar. A cigar that is fantastic when smoked to celebrate a wedding (positive mood = high levels of serotonin) will often taste very different when smoked after a hard day at work (negative mood = low levels of serotonin) because the chemical levels in the taste and smell areas of our brain will be different. Returning to flavor identification; because we have difficulty converting our experiences with smell and taste into words, we often rely on the factual knowledge of what a substance should taste and smell like leading to “verbal overshadowing”.

The memories we have of flavors are complex, often emotion-laden, and can be very difficult to verbalize. Furthermore, an individual’s catalog of memories that are used for flavor recognition and identification during cigar smoking, will vary greatly from person to person depending on both the number of different cigars we have tried and our non-cigar smoking experiences (e.g., type and quantity of foods tried). Some cigar smokers have a “Sears catalog” of experiences to browse through while others have only a sales flyer. Our ability to use this catalog will also vary -- some cigar smokers can easily find the “page” they want (effortlessly distinguishing flavors in a cigar), while others don’t even know what they are looking for. Fortunately, the quality and quantity of our flavor memories and our ability to access them are all things that can be improved – a topic that I will discuss in the next article in this series on distinguishing flavors in a cigar.

References

Heath, T. P., J. K. Melichar, et al. (2006). Human taste thresholds are modulated by serotonin and noradrenaline. Journal of Neuroscience, 26, 12664-12671.

Melcher, J. M. & J. W. Schooler (1996). The misremembrance of wines past: Verbal and perceptual expertise differentially mediate verbal overshadowing of taste memory. Journal of Memory and Language

Rob Gray is Stogie Fresh’s resident “Cigar Science Guy.” He is an educator, researcher and writer. Rob conducts research in Human Factors Psychology at Arizona State University.

Rob is a regular contributor to the Stogie Fresh Cigar Journal.

The Critical Difference: Premium Cigars vs Cigarettes

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:01:51 -0700

By David Diaz, Ed.D.

Introduction

This past year, at the annual board of directors meeting, the membership of the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America (RTDA) decided to change the name of the organization. The membership voted to adopt the name International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers association or, the IPCPR. Recognizing the reality and strength of the current anti-tobacco movement, the organization felt it was necessary to better represent the focus of the organization and make clear its distance from cigarettes and even machine-made cigars. After 75 years of existence, the organization conceded that the generic reference to “Tobacco” in the name of the organization could refer to any type of tobacco and was too closely associated with, or better, maligned by, cigarette tobacco.

There are, indeed, many differences between premium cigars and cigarettes. The main purpose of this article is to compare cigarettes and cigars with respect to construction and contents. In describing the fundamental differences between cigarettes and cigars, I also hope to elucidate how these differences are related to the potential for addiction, toxicity, and disease, and to describe how we as cigar smokers might lower our risk for all kinds of health conditions, diseases and early death.

Historical Sketch

Public interest in the dangers of cigar smoking has been spurred by many scientific publications, but none were more historic or groundbreaking than the first report to the U.S. Surgeon General on smoking and health (U.S. Public Health Service, 1964). The Surgeon General’s report portrayed moderate cigar smoking (less than 5 cigars per day) as having nearly the same low risk of early death as for non-smokers and started a debate that still rages to this day.

Cigar consumption had languished since the introduction of modern blended cigarettes in 1913 and suffered further negative effects due to the Great Depression and World War I (National Cancer Institute, 2000). The Surgeon General’s 1964 report warned of the disease risks associated with smoking cigarettes and probably did much to encourage the increased consumption of cigars. What was written about cigars in the report was positive: “The death rates for men smoking less than 5 cigars a day are about the same as for non-smokers. For men smoking more than 5 cigars daily, death rates are slightly higher.” Given these remarks, cigars were likely viewed as a safer alternative to cigarettes.

Encouraged by the favorable remarks regarding cigars in the Surgeon General’s report and favored by a loop-hole in the 1969 law that banned cigarette (but not cigar) advertising, the cigar industry began television advertising for small cigars (i.e., cigarillo’s). The sales of cigars increased dramatically until 1973 when a subsequent T.V. advertising ban restricted the advertising of cigars. This started a decline in the popularity of cigars that lasted 20 years. However, in 1993, fueled by a public interest in wealth, success and the finer things in life, Cigar Aficionado magazine hit the newsstands and created even more interest in cigars and cigar smoking and helped pave the way to the “cigar boom” of the mid-1990s.

This modern popularity of cigars has prompted government and related health organizations to ask and investigate several important health questions related to cigars: Who is using cigars? What are the health risks of cigar smoking? Are premium cigars less hazardous than regular cigars? What are the risks if you don't inhale the smoke? What are the health implications of being around a cigar smoker?

Intense scientific scrutiny of cigars has led to the appearance of countless studies and published papers and has shaped current public opinion. Subsequent research has not been as favorable toward cigar smoking as was the first Surgeon General’s report. Cigars have now been lumped together with cigarettes and other tobacco products with regards to disease risk and have suffered similar fates with respect to anti-smoking legislation. But is this really a fair assessment?

Cigars and Health

First let me say that cigar smoking is not a healthy activity. Anybody who thinks it is probably missed out on the common sense gene. We don’t smoke cigars because they’re healthy. We do it because we personally enjoy them, because smoking cigars with friends and acquaintances is a great social or celebratory activity, and because collecting cigars and their accoutrements can be a fun and interesting hobby. That said; cigar smoking doesn’t necessarily have to translate into high risk for morbidity or mortality.

Cigar smoking is a lot like eating food and drinking alcohol. The risk of eventual disease is related not only to what you consume, but how much you consume. Eating a hamburger with French fries and a Soda is unlikely to lead to disease. What leads to poor health and eventual disease is eating that same meal every day for a period of many years. So, for example, while heavy alcohol consumption can give rise to various diseases, moderate alcohol consumption may have no effects, or even beneficial effects on health. Those who smoke 1-2 cigars per day will likely experience lesser negative effects than those who smoke 4-5 cigars per day. Plus, many cigar smokers report that sitting and enjoying a fine premium cigar provides them opportunities for regular diversion from the stresses of life, time to reflect and refocus, relaxed social activity with friends and family, and a satisfying intellectual activity consistent with an engaging hobby. Such activities have been shown to reduce stress and improve overall health.

The process of assessing the risk of suffering from a disease as a result of cigar smoking is often based on some form of odds ratio that may, or may not, successfully predict an outcome. For those of you who play poker, you would probably realize that, even though the odds favor you if you hold a straight, you might still lose to a person who holds a straight flush. On the other hand, you may only hold a pair of 10s, and still win. There are way too many factors, in both poker and health, to accurately predict how every situation will turn out. That is why most research on the effects of smoking and health report their conclusions in terms of averages and probabilities.

Differences Between Cigars and Cigarettes

Processing differences
For the purpose of our discussion, when I talk about a cigar, I am referring to a premium cigar. A premium cigar is one that uses 100% tobacco and does not contain, non-tobacco products like reconstituted tobacco. I will not be referring to short filler or machine rolled cigars, only to long-filler cigars whose tobaccos have been fermented and aged naturally (i.e., without additives) and are totally hand-made products.

A cigarette can be defined as “a tobacco product that is wrapped in paper or other substance that does not contain tobacco” (NCI, 2000). The typical US-made cigarette contains a blend of heat-cured and air-cured tobaccos, but the tobaccos are not fermented. This is one of the fundamental differences between cigarettes and premium cigars. Premium cigars are air-cured and undergo an extensive fermentation process.

Above: Inside of a cigar tobacco curing barn

The tobacco curing process involves hanging green leaf tobacco inside temperature and humidity-controlled barns. This will eventually dry the tobacco leaves and turn their color from green to brown. Subsequent to curing, cigar tobaccos are fermented. Fermentation involves stacking the tobacco leaves in large piles called, “pilones,” which are repeatedly torn down and restacked until the leaves have achieved the proper state of flavor and aroma. The tobaccos are basically “cooked” in the pilones, which are carefully monitored for temperature. It is during fermentation (“sweating”) that cigar tobacco is reduced in protein, sugars, phytosterols and polyphenols (Baker, F., et al. 2000). Fermented tobacco is also reduced in nicotine by about a third and ends up slightly alkaline (i.e., with high pH). Cigarette tobacco, which is not fermented, loses some of its nicotine during curing, but doesn’t lose the extra nicotine that cigar tobacco loses during the fermentation stage.

Above: a large “Pilón” being assembled in the fermentation warehouse

The process of fermentation is not completely beneficial, however. Although fermentation does serve to reduce the amount of nicotine in the tobacco, this benefit is partially offset by the introduction of some toxic and carcinogenic compounds that are formed during fermentation. The high nitrate levels in cigar tobacco eventually form nitrosamines (nitrites are reduced to N-nitrosating nitrite, which then reacts with amines to form nitrosamines). Two other tobacco-specific carcinogens (NNN and NNK) are also formed during fermentation (Baker, 2000).

Manufacturing differences
Major differences also exist between cigarettes and cigars at the manufacturing level (Figure 1). A finished US cigarette contains only 50% tobacco, which is treated with sugar to mask bitterness and enhance absorption. Another 30% is reconstituted tobacco (RECON), which is made from stems and tobacco from factory leftovers. RECON is shredded, emulsified and sprayed on a paper substance that is finely chopped before being added to the cigarette blend. A final 20% consists of expanded tobacco (tobacco product that has been expanded with carbon dioxide) and reclaim (cigarettes that have passed their prime and are sent back to the factory). The cigarettes are then rolled into paper and most (97%) are fitted with a filter made of cellulose acetate.

Figure 1. Comparison of contents of cigarettes vs. premium cigars (Tobacco, 2006)

It is well known that flavor additives are used in cigarettes to reduce bitterness. Plasticizers, like glyceryl triacetate and triethylene glycol triacetate, are also added to the filters of cigarettes, where they function to reduce nicotine delivery and improve the mechanical efficiency of the filter.

Potential for toxicity and abuse
The chemistry of cigar tobacco is not as established as that of cigarettes. Depending on whom you are referencing, processed tobacco contains between 3000-4000 different compounds. Most of these compounds are present in green tobacco leaf, but some are also formed during curing, fermentation and aging. (NCI, 2000). Though only a portion of these compounds have been identified in cigar tobacco, it is likely that, prior to processing, the contents found in cigar and cigarette tobacco are similar (Baker, 2000). What have not been adequately reported are the different levels of concentrations of compounds present in cigar and cigarette tobacco, and the difference in chemical additives used while growing and processing the plants.

Wald and Watt (1997), in a study of the effects of switching from cigarettes to cigars or pipes, noted that regular cigarette smokers consumed a greater total volume of tobacco than regular cigar smokers. They also concluded that the total volume of tobacco smoked by subjects in their study was the most significant factor responsible for the increased risk of dying from heart disease, lung cancer and chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD). While cigarette smokers have been shown to increase their consumption of cigarettes over time, cigar smokers “maintain patterns of intermittent use and smoke fewer cigars per day than is seen in cigarette smokers” (NCI, 2000). Thus, based on the risk factor of total consumption of tobacco, cigar smokers are most likely at lower risk for heart and lung disease than cigarette smokers.

Nicotine is the primary psychoactive ingredient in tobacco and represents the component most likely to be abused. Though the nicotine levels in cigar tobacco are lower than in cigarette tobacco when measured per gram of tobacco (possibly due to the effects of extended fermentation), the total nicotine in any given cigar can vary from an amount equivalent to a single cigarette, to the quantity generated by a pack of cigarettes, or more (Blake, 2000), depending on the size of the cigar. Today’s trend is toward larger cigars, which likely contain the nicotine equivalent of several cigarettes.

Another important factor in the delivery of nicotine, as well as the delivery of other toxins and cancer-causing agents, is the manner in which a person smokes. The difference in composition of cigarette versus cigar tobacco is likely the cause of the differences in smoking patterns. Cigar smoke is alkaline (i.e., has a higher pH relative to cigarette smoke) and as a result is difficult to inhale without severely irritating the respiratory airways. The nicotine produced in a high pH environment is termed “free nicotine” and is a type that more readily absorbs through the mucous membranes of the mouth. Thus, cigar smokers can deliver a substantial amount of nicotine to the brain via transport through the oral mucosa. However, the rate of delivery is slower.

Cigarette smoke, on the other hand, is mildly acidic, making it much easier to inhale and produces a type of nicotine that is termed “protonated.” Protonated nicotine is not readily absorbed through the oral mucosa and must be inhaled to produce substantial nicotine delivery.

The practice of inhaling smoke has been shown to increase the rate of delivery of nicotine to the brain. On the other hand, nicotine absorption to the brain is slower when nicotine is absorbed through oral mucosa. The ability of any drug to bring on addiction appears to be related to the speed with which its messages are delivered to the brain. The more quickly the brain feels the effects of what the body takes in, the more easily it is able to connect/associate this action with the reaction of pleasure. Though both cigarette and cigar smoking can deliver substantial amounts of nicotine to the brain, if the speed of ingestion is a more important factor when it comes to nicotine addiction, then cigar smokers who do not inhale will be at a lower risk of suffering nicotine dependence.

Furthermore, while the vast majority of cigarette smokers report that they inhale the smoke into their lungs, the majority of cigar smokers who have never smoked cigarettes say that they never inhale (NCI, 2000). Cigar smoke is often partially inhaled by current and former cigarette smokers (Baker, 2000) who seem to be unable to break themselves of the habit of inhaling. Cigar smokers who inhale, particularly those who smoke several cigars per day, have a higher risk of suffering from several diseases. However, non-inhaling cigar smokers tend to have lower rates of coronary heart disease, COPD and lung cancer, than either inhaling cigar smokers or cigarette smokers (NCI, 2000).

Mainstream smoke, which is the smoke pulled through the burning cigar or cigarette and taken into the mouth and lungs, delivers its constituents directly to the oral mucosa and the lungs (if inhaled). In most cases, cigarettes filter the contents of mainstream smoke, before they make contact with the mucous membranes and the lungs. However, cigar smokers have more direct contact with the tobacco. Since there is no filter on a premium cigar, the moistening of the tobacco with saliva found on the lips and tongue, facilitates the extraction of nicotine into the oral mucosa. Further, the tars in cigar tobacco tend to concentrate toward the head of the cigar as the smoke progresses, accumulating more tar at the point of entry into the mouth.

The lungs and oral mucosa of cigarette and cigar smokers serve as filters, in a sense, since a certain portion of the constituents of the tar and particulate matter of smoke remain in the body. Some of these chemicals affect the mouth and tongue directly, some are swallowed and affect the esophagus and stomach, and the rest is inhaled and exhaled where it will affect the lungs and nasal mucosa. No matter what pattern of smoking one chooses, the body will absorb and filter some of the constituents of cigar smoke.

Besides nicotine, carbon monoxide, benzene, benzo(a)pyrene and ammonia are found in high quantities in both cigarette and cigar smoke. However, these chemicals are most dangerous when inhaled into the lungs as a part of mainstream or sidestream smoke.

Another factor that should be considered by cigar smokers is the type of tobacco used in making a cigar. Tobacco that comes from the highest part of the plant is called ligero. The ligero stays on the plant longer before it is primed (systematically removed), thereby increasing its exposure to nutrients from the soil. As a result, ligero tobacco is more full in flavor and possesses more nicotine. Cigar-makers, who want to blend a stronger cigar, will often use more ligero in the blend.

Non-inhaling cigar smokers receive high smoke exposure to the mouth and tongue. There is also particulate matter in their saliva, which they swallow. Thus, cigar smokers, even though they do not inhale, may have increased risk of cancers of the mouth and esophagus.

Environmental Toxicity

As noted earlier, tobacco smoke produced by cigar and cigarette tobacco is likely to have the same or similar toxic and cancer-producing chemicals. Besides the potential danger associated with ingesting the constituents of tobacco smoke via mucous membranes and/or directly into the lungs when smoking, there is also a potential toxicity through breathing or rebreathing the pollutants in the environment. A good deal of research supports the notion that regular, sustained exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) poses a danger not only to the smoker, but also to non-smokers who are exposed to the same environment.

The major difference in the contribution to environmental toxicity between cigars and cigarettes is size. A standard US-made cigarette usually has less than one gram of tobacco and is smoked within 7-8 minutes. A large cigar, depending on the length and ring gauge, may contain between 5-17 grams of tobacco and is smoked over the course of 60-90 minutes. Though cigars may produce similar ETS per minute compared with cigarettes, they continue producing ETS over a longer period of time. The contribution of ETS by a single cigar will be much higher than by a single cigarette.

There are two primary sources that contribute to ETS. Sidestream smoke (i.e., that which comes off the burning end of the cigar or cigarette) is the major contributor. Exhaled smoke, whether it is first inhaled or simply taken into the mouth or retrohaled, is the second contributor to ETS. Given the earlier discussion of the effects of inhaling cigar or cigarette smoke, it would seem prudent to avoid regular and/or sustained environments where ETS is high.

Conclusions

Cigar smoking will always carry some level of risk. But there is also risk associated with many of our daily activities; from eating and drinking to driving and flying, there are many things that we do that could potentially kill us. On the other hand, cigar smoking can be enjoyed with only a low to moderate level of risk, if one observes some or all of the following recommendations:

Smoke premium, handmade cigars that have been well cured, fermented and aged. The best premium smokes have gone through extensive fermentation and aging and are not laced with harmful additives. The fermentation process has been shown to reduce nicotine and other harmful chemicals.
Smoke in moderation. The total volume of tobacco consumed has been shown to be the most important factor contributing to the risk of disease. Therefore, it would be wise to moderate the total number of cigars that you smoke to no more than 1-2 per day. Smoke less, but better.
Don’t inhale. Inhaling mainstream smoke will likely increase your risk of nicotine addiction and will increase your risk of suffering from coronary heart disease, lung cancer and COPD.
Don’t chew your cigars. Chewing will cause a higher level of accumulated tars to pass into the mouth where they can more substantially affect the oral mucosa and esophagus.
Smoke outdoors or in well-ventilated areas. Cigar “Smokers,” “Herfs,” and special events should provide opportunity for inducing fresh air into the environment, or removing smoke-filled air, or both. My personal practice has been to smoke outside whenever possible. However, those who must smoke indoors should provide plenty of air circulation. The use of fans, open windows, air-ventilation systems and/or air purifiers should help to reduce the concentration of ETS.

References

Baker, F., Ainsworth, S., Dye, J., Crammer, C., Thun, M., Hoffmann, D., Repace, J., Henningfield, J., Slade, J., Pinney, J., Shanks, T., Burns, D., Connolly, G., and Shopland, D. (2000) Health risks associated with cigar smoking. JAMA, 2000; 284: 735-740.

National Cancer Institute (July 7, 2000). Cigars: Health effects and trends. Bethesda, MD: US Dept of Health and Human Services. Public Health Service. Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No. 9. NIH Publication 98-4302

Tobacco. Writer, Sean Dash. Nov 8, 2006. DVD. The History Channel, 2007.

U.S. Public Health Service (1964). Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. PHS Publication No. 1103. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health Education and Welfare, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control.

Wald, N. J., and Watt, H. C. (1997). Prospective study of effect of switching from cigarettes to pipes or cigars on mortality from three smoking related diseases. BMJ 1997;314:1860 (28 June).

David Diaz is the president of Stogie Fresh and the editor of the Stogie Fresh Cigar Journal. He has served as an educator, researcher and writer and has taught in the Health Education and Health Science field for nearly 30 years. He possesses an earned doctorate from Nova Southeastern University.

Distinguishing Flavors in Cigars: Are you a Supertaster?

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:46:25 -0700

By Rob Gray, Ph.D.

Part of the enjoyment of cigar smoking involves seeking out and finding cigars that we really like. It is helpful if we can describe the body, flavors and aromas in cigars so we can match those descriptions to our own taste preferences. In the end, these descriptors can be useful in finding other cigars we might like and guiding our future purchases.

Why are some people better than others at picking out the different flavors in a cigar? How does one improve this ability? This article is the first in series that will explore detecting flavors in cigar smoking. Making a distinction between flavors like cedar or leather in a cigar can be thought of as a three-stage process that is illustrated below.

The first stage, flavor detection, involves the receptors on your tongue (the taste buds) and in your nasal cavity (the olfactory epithelium) interacting with the molecules presented in the tobacco and in the smoke. When these molecules contact the receptors a pattern of electrical signals is then sent to memory areas of your brain. During the second stage, flavor recognition, your brain looks for a match between the flavor you are currently experiencing and one you have experienced in the past (stored in memory). In the final stage, flavor identification, the language areas of the brain spring into action and generate a label for the flavor you are experiencing. For example, “That tastes like bitter chocolate”, is a label for a flavor memory. A person can create such a label based on their prior consumption of bitter chocolate. It is fairly common for us to have difficulty with flavor identification because most of us do not have a good vocabulary for describing flavors and do not have a lot of practice at doing it. This can lead to a “tip of the tongue phenomenon”: the feeling that you know you have tasted a particular flavor before but just can’t get the name out.

Differences in sensitivity at each of these three stages can account for variations in the ability to pick up flavors in a cigar from smoker to smoker. In this article, I focus on stage 1 – in particular individual differences in the anatomy of our taste buds. Research in this area has shown that some people are much more sensitive to the molecules present in things we consume.

What is a “Supertaster”?

Research by Linda Bartoshuk at Yale University (Prutkin, J., V. B. Duffy, et al., 2000) has shown that there are large differences in the number and density of taste buds on the surface of the tongue and mouth from person to person. About 25% of the population have an abnormally large number of taste buds and have been dubbed “super-tasters”. You are more likely to be a “super-taster” if you are a woman: 35% of females are “super-tasters” vs. only 15% of males. “Super-tasters” get stronger sensations from sweet and bitter foods and get more burning/pain from spicy foods. For example, it has been shown that “super-tasters” tend to dislike grapefruit juice more than other people. Another 25% of the total population have an abnormally small number of taste buds and have been dubbed “non-tasters”. It has been shown that “non-tasters” can chug a glass of bitter liquid that makes a “super-taster” gag. The remaining 50% of people are “normal tasters”. The most common method for identifying the different type of tasters is to have them drink the chemical 6-n-propylthiouracil (called ‘PROP’ for short) and rate its bitterness. As can be seen in the figure below “supertasters” find this substance to be unbearably bitter while “non-tasters” do not detect any bitterness at all.

These differences have now been linked to the expression of one dominant allele (genetic code) on our DNA, called “T” for short. It works pretty much the same way as your eye color. People with two recessive alleles, tt, are “non-tasters”. People with one of each, Tt, are “normal tasters”. And people with two dominant alleles, TT, are “super-tasters”. So, like eye color, you are likely to have tasting traits that are similar, but not necessarily the same, as your family members.
How do you know if you are a “super-taster”? There is a fairly simple test that you can do to find out. To illustrate how this is done I will describe the results for myself and my wife Tyra. From our eating habits we went into this test with the assumption that I was a “non-taster” or “normal taster” while she is more likely a “super-taster”: I will eat just about anything including incredibly hot and spicy foods while she is more of a picky eater.

The Super-taster Test

What you will need:
Blue food coloring (available in the baking section of most grocery stories)
Cotton balls
A piece of white paper with a 0.5” diameter circular hole cut in it
A high resolution digital camera. Try using your macro feature.
Someone to take the photographs

Steps:
1) Dip a cotton ball in the food coloring and spread it all over the tip of your tongue. Swirl the coloring around in your mouth and then spit it out. Give your tongue a few seconds to dry.

2) Press the paper against the tip of your tongue so that your tongue sticks through the hole in the paper.

3) Have someone else take a picture. Or alternatively you can have them hold up a magnifying glass to it.

4) From the photo or using the magnifying glass count the total number of pinkish, blister-like bumps (see picture below) on your tongue that you can see through the hole in the paper. These are called fungiform papillae and each one has a taste-bud on top of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taste_bud

Scoring:
15 bumps or less = “non-taster”
between 15 and 35 bumps = “normal taster”
35 bumps or more = “super-taster”

Results

Here is my photo. The large pink bumps are what we are looking for.

I have a total of roughly 22 papillae on the tip of my tongue (marked with black circles in the bottom image) which puts me at the low end of a “normal taster”. [Note: the image I used to count was much clearer than the one shown here.]

Now here is Tyra’s photo. You can see right away she has a lot more papillae…

… a total of roughly 34 which puts her on the high end of “normal” and just below a “super-taster”. So it looks like our initial impressions based on our eating habits turned out to be pretty accurate.

What does this mean for cigar smoking?

A good way to conceptualize this is to think of it in terms of vision….a “non-taster” or “normal taster” has a more blurry perception of flavor than a “super-taster”. As a “normal taster”, I will not be as sensitive to the fine details as an eagle-eyed “super-taster”. In terms of cigars, I think the research suggests that “super-tasters” would be more sensitive to the spicy/peppery flavors in some cigars and would be better able to pick up the very subtle flavors. They also will be more sensitive to the bitter ammonia flavors you get from low-quality cigars. So being a “super-taster” is not always a good thing…you may be overpowered by some really full-flavored/strong cigars that taste okay to a “non-taster”. And, of course, it goes without saying that you can enjoy cigars no matter what type of taster you are, though your preferences for different cigars will likely be related to your “taster type”.

Taster types can, in part, explain why reviews of the same cigars by different people can produce widely different results and reactions, and why it is important to find a reviewer who seems to share your preferences in cigars. The bottom line is that there are genetic differences in our “tasting anatomy” that will lead to individual differences in the ability to detect subtle flavors in a cigar.

Reference

Prutkin, J., V. B. Duffy, et al. (2000). Genetic variation and inferences about perceived taste intensity in mice and men. Physiology & Behavior 69, 161-173.

Rob Gray is Stogie Fresh’s resident “Cigar Science Guy.” He is an educator, researcher and writer. Rob conducts research in Human Factors Psychology at Arizona State University.

Rob is a regular contributor to the Stogie Fresh Cigar Journal.