I'm looking for feedback from primarily the more experienced, everyday pipe smoker but I'm not limiting it to just those types as I welcome ALL the answers that I can get.
I'm curious if others ever experience what I've gone through over the last several days as it relates to tobacco taste. We are dealing with the same 3 open tins of English/Balkan blends and they are being smoked in a rotation of both high to mid grade briar as well as a couple cobs thrown in for good measure. The blends in question are Dunhills EMP, Ashton's Artisan and Bill Baileys Balkan Blend. I generally start my mornings with coffee and a bowl of EMP, the rest of the day and evening depending on what life throws at me will usually allow for another pipeful or 2 of one or both of the remaining blends.
Everything was going along swimmingly up until this past weekend when suddenly, without warning, I stopped tasting the tobacco!! What I mean is that the usual sweet and nutty bursts of flavor just weren't happening for me. It was as if all my tobacco had gone through the washing machine or something got sprayed on it, I don't know what it was. I became mindful of my packing ritual, my cadence, breathing, etc. and before you ask, yes, all my pipes were clean as they always are. All this was going on for like 4 days and then this morning rolls around and I load a LaRocca billiard of mine up with EMP, grab my coffee and go out on the porch to enjoy the morning and BAM! It's like I hit the pipe smoking lottery! All the tastes and nuances that make us think and talk and write about pipes and smoking are coming through in high definition, it's almost dream like. Determined to make sure this was not some kind of anomoly, after finishing my first pipe of the day and running some errands, I load up my Radice billiard with some Artisans blend and WOW! It was like I was tasting this delicious tobacco for the first time again ( it is a wonderful blend) and so it went for the rest of the day. I'm enjoying the same blend in a cob right now and will consider another, it's been that kind of a day.
My question to all of you is this, has this ever happened to you and if so, what's your explanation? I just can't pin down why my taste or perception of taste for my pipe tobacco just dried up on me and this has happened before but not for a while. I'm not getting a cold or any other illness (that I'm aware of) and food and drink tasted normal while this all going on as well. I'm interested in hearing what others have to say about this kind of phenomenon.
I'm curious if others ever experience what I've gone through over the last several days as it relates to tobacco taste. We are dealing with the same 3 open tins of English/Balkan blends and they are being smoked in a rotation of both high to mid grade briar as well as a couple cobs thrown in for good measure. The blends in question are Dunhills EMP, Ashton's Artisan and Bill Baileys Balkan Blend. I generally start my mornings with coffee and a bowl of EMP, the rest of the day and evening depending on what life throws at me will usually allow for another pipeful or 2 of one or both of the remaining blends.
Everything was going along swimmingly up until this past weekend when suddenly, without warning, I stopped tasting the tobacco!! What I mean is that the usual sweet and nutty bursts of flavor just weren't happening for me. It was as if all my tobacco had gone through the washing machine or something got sprayed on it, I don't know what it was. I became mindful of my packing ritual, my cadence, breathing, etc. and before you ask, yes, all my pipes were clean as they always are. All this was going on for like 4 days and then this morning rolls around and I load a LaRocca billiard of mine up with EMP, grab my coffee and go out on the porch to enjoy the morning and BAM! It's like I hit the pipe smoking lottery! All the tastes and nuances that make us think and talk and write about pipes and smoking are coming through in high definition, it's almost dream like. Determined to make sure this was not some kind of anomoly, after finishing my first pipe of the day and running some errands, I load up my Radice billiard with some Artisans blend and WOW! It was like I was tasting this delicious tobacco for the first time again ( it is a wonderful blend) and so it went for the rest of the day. I'm enjoying the same blend in a cob right now and will consider another, it's been that kind of a day.
My question to all of you is this, has this ever happened to you and if so, what's your explanation? I just can't pin down why my taste or perception of taste for my pipe tobacco just dried up on me and this has happened before but not for a while. I'm not getting a cold or any other illness (that I'm aware of) and food and drink tasted normal while this all going on as well. I'm interested in hearing what others have to say about this kind of phenomenon.