Oriental Tobaccos Spoil Subsequent Smokes

[Auxsender]

Sometimes when I wear out my palate by smoking too many bowls in a day, my ability to taste tobacco smoke wanes and I get a persistent flavor that doesn’t go away until I rest for a day or two. That flavor isn’t metallic, it’s like unflavored seltzer or soda water. It’s really weird but when I experience it, I know what it is and that it’s time to rest.

Could it be your tongue that’s making this illusory flavor happen?

 

[Yambo]

I personally find orientals quite strong, flavorwise, and it is a flavor that lingers. It will certainly ghost a pipe, and it is a ghosts that persists for some time. If I smoke a bowl with a lot of izmir, I'm going to be aware of it, taste it and smell it now and then, for the rest of the day--no matter what else I'm smoking, even if it's something fairly strong. For me this is not unpleasant, but it is to be expected. And if I've smoked anything with even a little latakia in it--all of the above is doubly true. There are the intense smoke flavors on top of the oriental flavors. So most of what you're saying seems pretty normal, by my standards.

That seems likely. I only separate my pipes between aromatic/latakia/rest so it might be that I'm more aware of oriental ghosting since I have just smoked orientals.

 

[Yambo]

Sometimes when I wear out my palate by smoking too many bowls in a day, my ability to taste tobacco smoke wanes and I get a persistent flavor that doesn’t go away until I rest for a day or two. That flavor isn’t metallic, it’s like unflavored seltzer or soda water. It’s really weird but when I experience it, I know what it is and that it’s time to rest.

Could it be your tongue that’s making this illusory flavor happen?

I've also thought that. Maybe that metallic nuance was so overwhelming that I cannot taste anything else after.

 

[Yambo]

How often do you clean the pipe? Including mortise?

I only clean when they get enough cake. And then I clean mortise and bit too.

 

[TakeThisCobAndStuffIt]

I think Auxsender nailed it. I had the same experience as you. I was freight training Latakia. Had to leave these flavors behind for a couple of weeks. Allowed me to experience VAs. Now I can dabble in a bowl or two of Latakia and taste it, but interestingly, I can't smoke it all day any more or I get that same hollow/salty dull tongue.

 

[bullet08]

I only clean when they get enough cake. And then I clean mortise and bit too.

Have you tried cleaning the pipe? Or tried a already cleaned pipe? When thing start tasting funny, that would be the first thing to try. Specially mortise. Mortise trap a lot of things. When they start going bad, it hold on to funny taste. Just a suggestion.

 

[sardonicus87]

Have you tried cleaning the pipe? Or tried a already cleaned pipe? When thing start tasting funny, that would be the first thing to try. Specially mortise. Mortise trap a lot of things. When they start going bad, it hold on to funny taste. Just a suggestion.

This is part of why I keep unused, $10 clay pipes around. Helps me figure out if it's me or the pipe I'm smoking that is the problem. If it tastes right in a new clay, I know at least it isn't my palate being messed up.

 

[stogie37]

Ok, coming at this from a slightly different perspective; I’m a pipe smoker of over 30 years. I know my palate and understand the majority of blends I smoke to a fine degree. Almost the exact same thing happened to me about three years ago - however I didn’t make a connection to oriental tobacco (which I love and smoke a LOT of). Cutting to the chase, after decades of no cavities I had some significant tooth decay under an old crown and it made many things taste metallic and really threw off the taste of my tobaccos. It went on for a while before it became infected and painful, to the point that I traded off some deeply aged tobaccos thinking I had just grown tired of them - they didn’t taste the same. Tooth removed, taste back to normal You never know? Could be something to consider.

 

[RudyG]

I've experienced that aftertaste also so I have one pipe dedicated to only straight Oriental blends