borndead1 wrote:Maybe I've just been unlucky, but I've had so many bad experiences with Oliva (poor construction, weird chemical or 'off' flavors, etc.) in the past couple of years that I've written off the name. I recently stopped buying Pepin stuff for the same reason, and AJ is a few bad sticks away from it as well. A box of Enclave that still tasted like ammonia after 1.5 yrs of humi time made me really scale back my purchases of his smokes.
Very interesting. I haven't experienced this with these brands, nor have I heard anyone else making such complaints.
No offense, but it may be you. Possibilities to consider:
1. Are you getting enough water? Dehydration can play hell with one's palate. You'd be amazed at how much!
2. Any dietary or vitamin/supplement changes awhile back? Again, can affect the palate a lot.
3. Humidity too high in the humidor? Check with a calibrated hygrometer, or a second one, if you haven't already?
4. Try dryboxing the cigars 24-48 hours before smoking them, perhaps?
5. Change toothpastes awhile back? Or maybe your tastebuds have had aging-related changes that are causing your toothpaste to mess with your palate's abilities? Check this out: http://www.botl.org/threads/changing-toothpaste-made-a-huge-difference-in-cigar-flavor.90514/
6. Smoking on days where it's very humid, is raining, or has recently been raining? This means you're drawing very moist air through the entire cigar with every puff, which can easily cause many of the problems you describe.
Just some ideas....
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