"Full Bodied" vs "Strength" - How do YOU classify them?

[N2Advnture]

I ran into a topic when someone asked for a suggestion for a "full bodied" Habanos. Two people said that the RyJ Cazadore was not "full bodied" in their opinion and went on to site Anejo, Opus, etc...as being able to "knock you on your ass".

This got me to wondering...so...

My question to you is what is YOUR description of "full bodied"? (i'll post my thoughts later as not to sway anyone).

~Mark

 

[CWS]

I always saw cigars classified as mild, medium and full bodied. A cazadores is a full bodied cigar as is an Opus. From there personally I look at full bodied cigars based on their strength. A very strong full bodied cigar is a La Flor Dominicana double ligero, Joya de Nic anatona etc. I guess Opus would fit into that category how ever, I never got the spins from and Opus but a La Flor chesiel caused me to pull over and stop driving once. 2 cents.

 

[Frank N]

Sitting here drinking a glass of Zin makes me try to relate the same thing with wine. About the best I can explain what it means to me is full bodied = flavor and strenght = nicotine effect/qty. In wine I would say the same, Full bodied = flavor, strenght = alcohol effect/qty.

 

[DocLogic77]

Very good question N2A. I have wondered this myself. It's probably why I rarely use it in describing a cigar. My personal definition of full bodied is a cigar that's in your face, you know you are smoking a cigar....full of punch, powerful flavor, lots o nicotine to knock you back a little. Medium/Mild bodied cigars I would say you have to concentrate a little more on to discern flavors. But, as I said earlier a good definition has eluded me.

 

[tedski]

I've always thought of "full bodied" cigars as those having thick, almost chewy smoke and with bold flavors that lasted on your pallet for awhile. They did not necessarily have to be super strong smokes.

 

[Jwrussell]

What Ted said.

 

[Electric Sheep]

About the best I can explain what it means to me is full bodied = flavor and strenght = nicotine effect/qty.

That is pretty much what I think.

"Body" = amount of flavor
"Strength" = amount of nicotine power

I've smoked cigars that I consider "full bodied" in flavor, but had very little nic strength. I've also smoked some that were mild in flavor, but made me flat-out light headed.

 

[Wasch_24]

I've always thought of "full bodied" cigars as those having thick, almost chewy smoke and with bold flavors that lasted on your pallet for awhile. They did not necessarily have to be super strong smokes.

Me too.

 

[Headbanger]

Your thread title is confusing a little. "Strength" and "bodied" mean two different things in cigars to me. On one hand is how powerful the the cigar is in it's which we call strength. How much one knocks us on out ass or give a buzz or does not. On the other hand is how varied or complex a cigar is. We can use the smoke tastes we gather while we smoke. The later I would call that the body. How much that cigar varies or changes is how I would call that it's own body.

The RyJ Cadadore I would call full strength, but less bodied in my meanings. I could not classify an Opus as I never smoked one. A few other examples for me would be a Bolivar PC is medium strength and goes to full and full bodied with lots of complexity. HdM du Prince I would call them mild to medium in strength but full bodied as it has tons of flavors. A HdM du Gourmet is mild, but medium in body as there is less variance of flavors to me. A Padron 4000 is medium to full, but I would say weak in terms of complexity as is mostly mono dimensional to me. Hope this helps.

 

[Jwrussell]

I know he asked "how do YOU classify it", but complexity is typically not included in "body". They are two separate things. A cigar can be very one dimensional (not complex) yet very full bodied.

 

[MichiganM]

I would compare wines and cigars.

Wine Strength would be amount of alcohol as well as the strength of flavor and ability to stay on the palate.
Wine Body would be complexity of flavor and ability to change and discern in flavors.

Cigar Strength would be amount of nicotine and strength of the smoke and ability to fill your mouth with powerful flavor.
Cigar Body would be complexity of flavor and the ability to change a wide variety of flavors as the cigar burns to the end.

Like has been said, a cigar can be very powerful but not have any body. (One dimensional).

 

[pharmgator]

For me body refers to flavor, whereas strength refers to nicotine content.

 

[Terrasco]

I've always thought of "full bodied" cigars as those having thick, almost chewy smoke and with bold flavors that lasted on your pallet for awhile. They did not necessarily have to be super strong smokes.

I agree with tedski. I think of "full bodied" in terms of meaty, flavorful and even (as I recently saw posted somewhere else) "umame". I like the "chewy" description. Strength I would think in terms of just that, strength.

 

[Jenny]

I would relate full body to flavor, rather than strength. That said, it seems that most of the strong cigars happen to be full bodied.

 

[Dogwatch Dale]

I've always thought of "full bodied" cigars as those having thick, almost chewy smoke and with bold flavors that lasted on your pallet for awhile. They did not necessarily have to be super strong smokes.

Pretty close to my description too....
I think of body as the mouth feel of the smoke. Smoke that coats your mouth heavily and feels (not tastes, but feels) like cream coating your mouth is full bodied smoke. Smoke that feels like water - leaves no significant after feeling is a mild bodied smoke.
You can have a mild bodied smoke that is full flavored. I don't think flavor & strength necessarily match up with body. Often times a full flavored smoke is also full bodied, but I think they are two different things.

 

[Headbanger]

Hmmmm. I better just keep learning and smoking then. The more I smoke, the more I learn what I like and what I do not like.

 

[avid toker]

Here's what I posted on VCC....

Simple way that I look at it....."body" describes the complexity, flavors, texture and finish that are exhibited in a cigar....to some degree it might include nicotene strength.

"Strength" refers to the nicotene levels in a cigar.

The confusion often lies in the fact that people tend to categorize a cigar that's bold in flavor, complexity, texture, finish while high in nicotene strength as being full bodied. It occurs so often that it takes on a meaning like the word "irregardless." No such word ever existed but it was used incorrectly so many times that it was eventually included in the dictionary.

In my opinion, when assessing body, one should exclude nicotene strength.

 

[Terrasco]

This is a really great thread so I thought I would bump it up.