Not that I find these all at the same time with any given source of Perique, but these are all characteristic aromas that I've picked up from Perique within a blend. I'm sure age can have quite a drastic effect on Perique and how we perceive it, especially depending upon the additional components of a blend.
I liken perique to cilantro. I love cilantro because to me, it's full of flavor and herbal complexity as though it's basil's bad ass older brother. My wife, however, is one of those in the unfortunate group for whom cilantro tastes metallic rather than herbal. She hates it and because tastes are subjectively perception-based, our respective taste discrepancy is unlikely to change. She won't go for dishes where cilantro assumes the starring role, but if I can hide it in a mosaic of flavors, she loves it.
Myself, I've made a point of repeatedly trying perique and attempting to acquire a taste for it, but it's not a natural preference. Perhaps that's because I detect a different aroma and taste from it than do others. Plum Pudding and Mad Fiddler Flake proved that I could love perique-as-condiment, but I'm still baby-stepping my way from there. I love aged Escudo, but I've yet to find myself as a contended wanderer in VaPer-land.
I had another theory too, and I read fortunate enough to be around Greg Pease when I spouted it. Namely, it could be the fermentation. I Ferment my own vinegars, ciders, sauerkrauts, and I even make Kombucha at home. As such, I believe that my regular ingestion of raw fermented products affects my tastes of
all fermented products. As a fermented foodie, Mr. Pease agreed that what you eat impacts your tobacco preference to an extreme degree, though he didn't share my taste-based reticence of perique.
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