Has Anyone REALLY Experienced Pipe Ghosting?

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puffndave

Starting to Get Obsessed
Apr 9, 2015
208
1
I have been smoking pipes for a few years now, and am interested in your comments which may sort out, confirm or bust the myth of ghosting. I generally reserve very strong blends (extreme Lat-bombs, and ultra-fruity aromatics) for my cobs, I have several usable pipes for each day of the week, but I don't have nearly so many favorites. Plus I find it very difficult to keep track of what I've been smoking in the few pipes which I smoke several times a week. While Nightcap followed by an aero would be an example of of a combination which I would do only in a cob, (and all my pipes have thick cake buildup), I never notice a problem between a non-fruity aero, a light Latakia such as Early Morning, and any Virginia flake in my briars. Does anyone else have similar experience? Guess I'm really wondering if I smoke so much that I need to slow the consumption and allow my tongue to recover sensitivity :)

 

woodsroad

Lifer
Oct 10, 2013
11,568
15,208
SE PA USA
I have bought used Estate pipes that are so badly ghosted with either 1Q or Lakelands that it is impossible to remove, despite my best efforts.

 

unkleyoda

Lifer
Aug 22, 2016
1,126
69
Your mom\\\'s house
I do notice 'ghosting' when I smoke heavy lat mixes, then switch to a Virginia based blend. I just push through it. Once the first half of the bowl is done, I can't taste it anymore. I don't smoke 'aros' and I have yet to try a lakeland, so I've never had those issues.

 

jefff

Lifer
May 28, 2015
1,915
6
Chicago
I don't smoke Aero's but I have noticed that lat can leave a strong impression on a briar. I often use it to my advantage by smoking a straight Va in a dedicated Lat pipe.
It adds a touch of smokiness to the blend.

 
Dec 28, 2015
2,337
1,003
I once smoked something that I really liked in my Eric Nording signature (and I don't remember what) but a week later I smoked some Dunhill flake in same pipe and could not taste ANY Virginia only tasted the ghost of whatever I smoked before. Wish I could remember what it was. Maybe black frigate but not sure. Maybe condor.

 

prairiedruid

Lifer
Jun 30, 2015
1,998
1,116
Crooner pipes will smell like deertongue months after they were last smoked.
I have found this to be very true, I have a cob that is used only for enjoying Crooner; that deertongue is some tasty stuff.

 

philobeddoe

Lifer
Oct 31, 2011
7,403
11,569
East Indiana
I have a meerschaum pipe that still tastes of Ennerdale, even though I've smoked something like 30 or 40 bowls of other tobaccos in that pipe since that regretful bowl of Ennerdale! Yes, ghosting is real.

 

josephcross

Part of the Furniture Now
Dec 30, 2015
963
93
I used a Proton Pack on the ghost in my pipe.

That being said, Frog Morton Cellar can be pesky. Luckily the ghost of the frog mixes very well with Carter Hall!

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,337
Let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in your pipe bowl............

 

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
I was gifted a pipe from a fellow at work (a nifty Tinderbox bent Dublin) that he hadn't smoked in about 30 years. All he had smoked in it were various cherry aros. The pipe was heavily ghosted, and cherry flavor came through no matter what I smoked in the damned thing. Which is unfortunate for me- I hate all cherry flavors, natural or artificial. I finally got it exorcised to the point where the cherry doesn't taint the flavor of whatever I smoke in it. When the pipe is empty and cold, though, you can still smell cherry in the bowl.
In the early '90s, I only smoked a pipe occasionally, and only had two pipes, a Grabow Savoy I used for Captain Black and Middleton's apple, and a Grabow-branded cob that only saw Carter Hall. The Savoy always, always reeks of vanilla, even if I haven't smoked it for a year or more. Lat bombs ghost my pipes less than cherry and vanilla, is the takeaway.

 

ray47

Lifer
Jul 10, 2015
2,451
5,610
Dalzell, South Carolina
I've only noticed ghosting with one blend, Mixture 79. I have cobs and briars dedicated to that blend. Haven't noticed any ghosting with Crooner or Ennerdale. I smoke those blends in pipes I use for burley, so the burley blends may just get rid of the ghosts. I've gotten rid of ghosts, even Mixture 79, by smoking about 5 bowls of Five Brothers thru the pipes.

 
Latakia only leaves a faint hint of a ghost for me. One that smokes away after a few bowls. Aromatics, depends on which ones. Fruity tooties seem to be the worst, but Lakelands... I've had to crush a few estate pipes under the heel of my boot because of being destroyed by Lakeland use. Scraped down to wood, soaked in alcohol and salt, retorted to death, and still tasted the crap. And, I do enjoy a light lakeland smoke occasionally, but once it has ghosted inside an old pipe, it seems to go rancid or something... nasty.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Some are so sensitive they taste ghosting just going between ordinary blends. Some are bugged by Latakia. More seem to experience it with Lakelands, soapy floral taste and smell. I'm not particularly sensitive. A little residual Latakia in a non-Lat blend doesn't bother me. I don't think I'd like soapy-floral, but I don't smoke Lakeland aromatics anyway. So I don't designate any pipes, but if it bothered me, I would. It's no big deal to me. Frankly, I've never heard of ghosting with 1Q before. I guess I'm too isolated under this rock. I've smoked 1Q under various house blend names, and it has always seemed way too mild to ghost anything, and I've never been bothered by it, but my 1Q days are decades gone.

 
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