Imagine “hearing” colors, “feeling” sounds and “tasting” shapes. That’s what synesthetes like Luciano Meirelles, president and CEO of Luciano Cigars, experience. Learn how Luciano's synesthesia has helped him identify nuances of different tobaccos, categorize them and blend them to create some of cigar smokers' favorite premium cigars, including Luciano The Dreamer, Pichardo Clásico and The Sergeant.

Host of Box Press, Rob Gagner and Luciano smoke the Fiat Lux Intuition in this interview at Boveda headquarters west of Minneapolis.

According to Scientific America, synesthesia is an anomalous blending of the senses in which the stimulation of one modality simultaneously produces sensation in a different modality. In other words, synesthetes experience something through a sense that manifests itself as something entirely different e.g. a taste = some shape. For Luciano, he has an eidetic memory (Sheldon Cooper, anyone?) of tobacco flavors that help him pinpoint which tobacco will blend well together.

Highlights from this cigar podcast:

00:00 Cold open

01:02 What is the origin story of the Fiat Lux cigar?

05:56 Living to work or working to live?

07:32 Synesthesia—the disease that helps him memorize flavors

12:02 Why the other 99% of synesthesia is a pain in the ass

14:22 Becoming stronger from what you think is your weakest part

15:52 Whatever is in your hands, just do your best

17:42 Valuing knowledge more than being right

29:12 A master blender isn't a title you give yourself

33:58 Cigar Culture Blend No.3 by Adrian Acosta

35:06 Talking Ometepe tobacco and growing tobacco in Esteli, Contigo and Pueblo Nuevo

41:51 What do cigar smokers think of Maduro?

44:51 What salt has to do with your cigar palate

51:05 Maybe cigar smokers need to do a salt lick like you do before drinking tequila

59:46 Where can you get Boveda for a humidor?

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Keeping cigars fresh by storing with them Boveda preserves the flavors you taste in tobacco. The cigar packs are so easy to use. Just slip Boveda into a humidor and the packs do all the work. There's nothing to refill or manage. Boveda works automatically to protect cigars. Shop Boveda for cigars here: https://store.bovedainc.com/collectio...

Learn more about refining your cigar palate:

Pick Your Cigar Palate Apart!

https://youtu.be/TOF-KS-O1QY

Better Understand Your Cigar Tasting Palate

https://youtu.be/W-L976OtGlE

What Makes a Cigar Taste Good?

https://youtu.be/1RYXtKHUwgM?t=88

More about synesthesia:

Synesthesia and What It Has Taught Me | Melissa McCracken | TEDxUNC

https://youtu.be/kvPd3wH21z8

What Is It Like To Have Synesthesia?

https://youtu.be/ZVC3E16FCrk