Describing The Flavors of Pipe Tobacco

[peregrinus]

Recently there was a thread where the OP was asking for recommendations for an “earthy” tasting Virginia. In reading the responses it was obvious that earthy is (naturally) a very subjective adjective, and while there were some overlapping suggestions it seemed that the term meant much different things to different people, again no surprise, but it was kinda all over the map: from wood, to mushrooms to grass, all earthy flavors to be sure, but dissimilar. Here’s where the value of multiple reviewers becomes apparent. Try and find someone (or someones) who’s tastes you can either relate to or calibrate to your own.
Still, it would be nice have a defined communality of relevant terms.
I have seen “flavor wheels” for cigars, something like a color wheel, that defines terms commonly used in describing cigar tasting and then places related terms adjacent to one other and the opposing flavors likewise. I am aware of data basis for wine tasting terms and definitions using specific fruits, woods etc. so that tasters can attempt to give an objective description of the wine's taste by taking a systematic approach to describing the components of what they taste.
I am curious, has anything been done like these two examples for pipe tobaccos?

 

[milehighpiper]

When I first started smoking pipes, about a year ago, I downloaded a couple of flavor wheels and would sit back and smoke away and stare at them when a specific flavor hit my palate and I could not figure out how to describe it. For instance in one aromatic blend I smelled several sweet flavors in the bag, using the flavor wheel I found that instead of sweet or the dreaded raisin term, I was smelling molases, cedar, honey and cinnamon. Upon smoking the same blend I was getting a woodsy flavor and some sweets. A more descriptive term for what I was experiencing would be burning fatwood, with a hint of nutmeg and a dark brown sugar flavor.
In my opinion, the flavor wheel is a great tool when you try a new blend, if you want to articulate what your palate is experiencing. Not for everyone but worked for me!
However, to answer your question, I never did find a pipe tobacco flavor wheel...

 

[unadoptedlamp]

Someone should make a flavour wheel for pipe tobacco. A trusted reviewer who has a wide following would be my nomination to make the first prototype. Maybe based on different types of leaf, processing styles, and regions? Who knows. But someone already devoting a lot of time to detailed reviews may have some good starting points. ahem Jim ahem

Then let people bash it out in the forums as it gets refined.

Seriously. Initially, I thought all wine tasting was bogus. It was so foreign to me. Wet cement? In wine? Get the F&*k outta here! You're pulling my chain.

But then I began to realize that it wasn't necessarily "wet cement" in the strict sense, but more akin to an impression that a number of people eventually agreed upon. You train yourself to find that note in the confusion and use the descriptor when you find it elsewhere. Eventually, you can have a pretty good idea of what to expect (and buy) based on these descriptors.

It makes a lot of sense. But it requires a consensus. Hard to find in the pipe community. And the wine community too, for that matter, but there is some common ground. I think it can be done.

 

[logs]

"Earthy" is a problematic term. Unlike most other flavor terms, earthy doesn't have an immediate food connection. For me, the thought of dirt or soil comes to mind, but who wants that flavor in their pipe tobacco?

My guess is that when people say they want earthy tobacco, they're asking for something that's not sweet.

 

[Chasing Embers]

but who wants that flavor in their pipe tobacco?

Many of us. It's more about olfactory sense than taste, retrohale is everything. Earthy is like moss on old wood or leaf decay after a rain. Tastebuds alone don't pick up the full profile of a blend.

 

[JimInks]

I've never seen a taste chart of any kind, and wouldn't want to. I prefer to make up my own mind.

I mostly agree with Chasing Embers comment, but I'd add that most of us have smelt dirt and earth. Maybe some have even eaten it? ?? If you're familiar with any of that, it's easy to discern it in tobacco. Same goes for grass, the kind you mow in your yard, not the other kind.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I'd add that most of us have smelt dirt and earth.

You get heavy dose of earthy from beets and ginseng as well.

 

[trubka2]

I always figured people have petrichor in mind when they say "earthy". It's a distinct scent nearly every human (and most animals) can identify. I don't mean that the tobacco is releasing pertichor, of course, but that there's something reminiscent of it in certain blends.

I don't like the idea of "communality" in matters of taste, but I do see OP's point. It's so difficult to find a reference point for anything because there's so much variation in everything. "What does perique taste like?" -- well, there's perique, and then there's perique. I think I know what people mean by "grassy" when speaking of VAs, but it doesn't taste like grass smells to me at all. Then again, I guess I'm glad it's so hard to educate one's palate - otherwise, what would be the fun?

 

[bluegrassbrian]

For me, the thought of dirt or soil comes to mind, but who wants that flavor in their pipe tobacco?

raises hand

 

[cortezattic]

Don’t Think of a Purple Giraffe

By G. L. Pease In some ways, what follows is sort of a continuation of my last column, The Fickle Nature of First Impressions, so if you haven’t read it, it might be a good idea to give it a look. Basically, I discussed how our perceptions can be somewhat capricious when exposed to novel […]

pipesmagazine.com

Also follow the discussion after the article.

 

[logs]

Well, for you soil lovers... may I suggest Mississipi River Special Reserve. It's the closest thing I've found to smoking soil. (And I'll admit I like the stuff, at least from time to time.)

 

[David_Lawrence]

This is a good point, I recently realised that most people use earthy as an undesirable flavour and likely aren't referring to what it means to my mind; I think of the scent of freshly tilled soil or autumn woods after rain (but without the fungus).

I tend to characterise flavours in terms of colour (take that, American English) - shades of brown, maybe even black and a sort of blueish grey hue if I'm only tasting hot air and butane. It's all pretty useless to anyone besides myself but then that's how I feel about most connoisseur reviews.

Language is as problematic as the subjective nature of taste - I know exactly what a scent is and can conjure it up in my mind but I can't convey it to anyone else; at best the signpost words can point to a shared reference point but I don't even know if people taste and smell the same thing, I know we don't all like the same scents and tastes - if something tastes the same but one person loves it and another hates it, is it really tasting the same? Luckily I don't care.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Beets are definitely the number one thing that comes to mind as tasting "earthy." Deep burgundy wines on the dry side are definitely earthy. Some coffees. But, I think of peat, and some people will refer to some alcohols as having a peat aroma or flavor, bourbons for example.
If Virginias have an earthy favor, then it most likely comes from a Darker African Virginia or one of the Empire Virginias, or a burley element.

 

[peregrinus]

Beets are definitely the number one thing that comes to mind as tasting "earthy." Deep burgundy wines on the dry side are definitely earthy. Some coffees.

Agree with all!

Language is as problematic as the subjective nature of taste...

Agreed!

Earthy is the smell of a red dirt road in Oklahoma after a thunderstorm, it is a loamy fragrance you can taste in the rainforest on the Washington Olympic coast, it is the rich smell of freshly turned earth in a newly plowed spring field in Iowa , it is what rises up and envelopes you when you plant fall bulbs under a Vermont maple.... and so on.

“Earthy is as earthy does”
Apologies to Forest Gump

 

[Chasing Embers]

the scent of freshly tilled soil or autumn woods after rain

Both are quite heavenly.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Mississipi River Special Reserve

The Latakia content in that one overpowers the earthiness for me.

 

[SpookedPiper]

I enjoy searching for the umami or the je ne sais quoi in my tobacco's flavors.