Smoking and Wine Tasting

Background: I have been a smoker for a few yrs. Am going to Israel this summer for three weeks and am using it as a quitting event.

I was just wondering if you ex-smokers found that you enjoyed wine more when not smoking. Do you feel that you can taste better, etc?

3 and a half years now, after 9 years of regularly smoking. It’s very different. What’s interesting is that you get used to tasting wine when you smoke, and it’s almost as if you have to re-train your palate. It takes time, but I do find that over extracted fruit, oak and alcohol are offensive, and never did before.

Maybe that explains why the Ordonez and Kacher wines taste the way they do

BTW, you do feel a hundred times better after quitting. Stick with it, don’t even take a drag. It sucks to quit cold turkey, but I haven’t gone back even once.

I can’t speak for other people but everytime you came back from a smoke I couldn’t smell MY wine.

You’re going to Israel to QUIT smoking??!?!?! …don’t they smoke like chimneys over there???

I say (and have heard) just the opposite.

When I quit, I lost my ability to discern flavors in wine dramatically. It took quite a while to recalibrate my palate.

The story I heard from my old wine teacher, who knew André “The Maestro” Tchelistcheff (of BV fame in the 40s and 50s), was that he complained endlessly how he lost the ability to taste once he quit cigarettes. His theory was that taste buds are like vines in that they thrive in a tough-love environment. The worse they are treated, the harder they fight back - hence, your taste buds do not have to work as hard anymore… and don’t.

Clearly, quitting smoking is the right thing. You may in the process, though, lose your ability to discern more delicate flavors for several months.

You beat me to it. I was going to say the same thing.

My father was from Israel and he smoked non-stop. When I went to visit EVERYONE was a smoker. G-d speed to you Zach.

that is an interesting theory, but one wholly based in anecdotal fiction and hypotheticals. taste buds aren’t like vines and multiple components of cigarette smoke affect your ability to taste and smell in a negative fashion. i do like his thinking though, creative analogy. Mr Tchelistcheff could of had a career in big tobacco.

I think it’s a great idea to pick a date and stick to it. Mine was an annual checkup at the doctor’s where I knew he was going to say when are you giving up smoking and I’d throw my pack at him and say now. I had my last smoke before going in and haven’t had one since - over a dozen years.

I can’t speak to the wine tasting but food got a lot better, on the down side, I gained significant weight so right after you get back from Israel join a gym, and go every day. And spend a lot of time on those damn cardio machines.

Good luck.

the israel trip is with a bunch of people who always complain that I smoke - since I’ll be with them the whole time, I wouldn’t have been able to smoke much anyway…should be ok!

Good Luck on the quitting. Take something like a golf tee to hold in your hand or mouth. I find that with glass in hand, I’m missing the cigarette in the other.

You are making the right choice; I celebrated 1200 days tobacco free on Monday. Popped the cork on a '94 Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon to mark the occassion. I found that my sense of taste and smell improved dramatically.

Just remember, quitting tobacco is a CHOICE that is 100% within your control!

I quit cold turkey 4 months ago. My sense of smell and taste changed instantly for the better, it was weird at first but now I’m used to it…I feel so much better.

Have fun in Israel and yes the cafes there are littered with smokers…

Use the Nicoderm CQ (clear patch). Cold turkey on a trip to Israel is just a recipe for disaster without the patch. It eliminates the crave and you feel like you just had a cigarette all the time so you never want one. Highly recommended. Also eliminates all physical withdrawl symptoms which always killed me.

Zach,

I almost forgot about the electronic cigarette. The company has been offering it to us for months. We just thought it would be an oxymoron to sell tobacco products and the electronic cigarettes.

http://www.electroniccigarettesource.com/

I has to impair your ability to judge wine. It makes sense to me why pappa pakkar seems to get a lot of smoke and tobacco in his bordeaux notes.

Hmmm. Perhaps he should lay off the Maroborough Lights. Good thing he’s not someking Newport.

I didn’t know this Leah. Congrats!

Quitting smoking 26 years ago was one of the smartest things I’ve ever done to counter one of the dumbest things I’ve done, starting smoking. You just have to make up your mind and do it. It was very difficult and tormented me for several years. And yes, everything tastes better plus I whipped a couple of nineteen yr olds last week at PT.

Just grow a pair and do it.
David

No way that Parker smokes…

Zach, I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic. You do have the power to quit, it is all in your ability to do so. My parents smoke, and because of it, I never felt interested, beside one cigar a year. I’ve wondered about this topic since a lot of winemakers smoke, from what I’ve seen. Either way, keep us updated on your quitting and sense of taste after quitting. Good luck!

thanks to all…

Lyle, when i say cold turkey, I just meant no more cigarettes…I probably will try the patch and see how that goes.

Any other smokers on here want to be part of the challenge? We can have a virtual offline - taste a bottle before we quit and revisit it in a few months!