I like cigars. I was at my local smoke shop recently and saw a cigar called ‘Hopz, a craft beer cigar.’ I had to buy one though my expectation of the flavor was somewhere south of wretched.
It actually wasn’t bad. Yes it was a bit bitter, but hard to taste any hop flavor. I won’t buy another, and I don’t recommend that you do, but I thought it was an interesting marketing strategy and use of hops.
I really like smoked beers but only where the grain has been smoked. I can’t see how hops would absorb enough smoke character to make a positive impact on a beer.
I’ve seen those cigars before. I had a hard time imagining they would be very good since a lot of hop character comes from the oils, which all vaporize at higher temperatures.
I love hops as much as the next guy (and probably more), but that just seems like a horrible idea. Raw hops are face-meltingly bitter. I tried dipping a few Hallertau pellets once and didn’t last a minute. My taste buds were shot for the night.
I did the same a few years back ,erockrph. Really bad idea. “Ruination” , but for real and longer lasting ! And I have a fair degree of hophead-edness myself.
Tobacco is an acquired taste as well. I can remember trying to inhale…OMG…I can remember trying to
not expectorate tobacco juice…OMG… Yeah it took some doing but they were hop flowers and I
started with a low AA level variety then went up to as high as 9% AA. Tried Simcoe…yeck.
My favorite was sterling. What they did, was stimulate the same pleasure centers that tobacco
did in my mouth. There was NO lingering/returning craving for another dip of hops…non addictive.