Cigar Science with Rob II: Ability to detect flavors

[bobbyg29-cl]

Originally Posted by Shelby07

Being the analytical SOB that I am, this has raised a question.

If our sense of smell has a large part in determining what we "taste" and our taste buds are limited to 4 basic sensations, how is it that those with denser taste buds can pick up more of the "subtle" flavors. It almost suggests that the amount of taste buds we have has something to do with our sense of smell or that taste is very dependent on the interaction of the 4 tastes.

Yes, you are right on the money Shelby! It has been proposed that any taste can be described as some combination of sweet, salty, bitter and sour. Similar to the way any color can be broken done into some combination of the three primary colors.

So all tastes fall somewhere on the "taste tetrahedron":

[bobbyg29-cl]

Originally Posted by ldostlund

intersting, but at the same time, that was freakin sick looking. If I saw close up pictures of my wifes tongue, I know it would pop into my head at the most inoportune time!!

Yeah, I knew that this could open the door for lots of crude jokes...thanks everyone for the restraint

[mills]

Originally Posted by Shelby07

Being the analytical SOB that I am, this has raised a question.

If our sense of smell has a large part in determining what we "taste" and our taste buds are limited to 4 basic sensations, how is it that those with denser taste buds can pick up more of the "subtle" flavors. It almost suggests that the amount of taste buds we have has something to do with our sense of smell or that taste is very dependent on the interaction of the 4 tastes.

Similar to the super tasters, I read an article a while ago that said some women have an extra type of cone in their eye that enables them to see about 10 times as many shades of colors as normal people. It's a gene on the x chromosome, so that's why only women can have it.

[countnikon]

Very informative. Now I don't feel so bad for coming up with different flavors on Gatorman's Blind Review.

[g8trbone]

Great again Rob! Thank you so much for the information.

[AngryFishH]

Holy Crap!

Great post, now I've got to find some blue food coloring and a cool story to tell people when I have a case of "blue mouth".

[Cigarista-cl]

Rob, that was really impressive. Wow and thanks.

[LouZava]

Good post, thanks.

[genettim]

*furiously scribbles down notes* . . . I think I would have done better back in college if more of my teachers were like you. No homework, no tests, interesting subject material I can directly relate to things I am interested in, where do I go to fill out the "rate the teacher" survey?

[bobbyg29-cl]

Thanks Mike!

[novasurf-cl]

Rob,

I've just checked out both of your posts here. Very nicely done. Thank you.

[Cigarfiend1]

Very interesting Rob, I always wondered why some BOTL pick up weired flavors out of cigars. I think I need to try this to see where I am in the scale.

[lifeslittleobserver]

This maybe off topic, but can someone explain what it means when there are "notes of..." and so and so "undertones?"

[bobbyg29-cl]

Originally Posted by lifeslittleobserver

This maybe off topic, but can someone explain what it means when there are "notes of..." and so and so "undertones?"

I think those phrases are used to refer to flavors that are not as prominent as the main flavors. Similar terms you see are "hints of" and "lying under the surface".

[burritosdaily]

This is amazing! For informatiion junkies like myself... this was definetly worth the price of admision! :mrcool: