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A Tobacco Flavor Wheel

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mso489

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,459
A flavor wheel, for those who aren't familiar with it, is a diagram based on a circle that

shows many of the varieties of flavor in a particular product -- commonly wine, coffee,

and cigars. I have not seen a flavor wheel for pipe tobacco specifically, but have seen

the cigar wheels borrowed for the purpose of discussion. No wheel can capture all of the

flavors in said product. For example, the alleged ketchup flavor in McClellands red

Virginia cake I haven't seen on cigar wheels. If anyone has a good, well-developed

flavor wheel for pipe tobacco, I'd be interested in knowing about it and having a copy,

if it is available. Or, if this hasn't been done, or done well, I'd like to encourage some of

the knowledgable blenders or other tobacco people to at least take a shot at it. There

are always more tastes than can be shown on a wheel, but a really good wheel gives a

good basis for discussions and reviews, and is a challenge to others to exceed that wheel

with a better one. Each wheel is like part of a conversation, not a final chart.

 
kashmir

kashmir

Lifer
May 17, 2011
2,712
64
Northern New Jersey
The thing about wines, coffee, teas, cigars, foods, and beverages in general, is that they are all not impacted by the vessel used to consume them. So a given wine will taste the same regardless of whether it is drunk from a $500 crystal glass from the 18th Century, or a coffee cup from Target for $1.99. Likwise a cigar will taste the same whether a white gloved hand is holding it or whether a pipe welder on the bridge is clenching it. Not so with pipes. Each pipe - tobacco combination is unique. Smoking a given blend in one pipe may give a magic smoke, while in another produces only a lowly gurgle. In our field the pipe and the blend interact profoundly. The only similar analogy I can think of is the violin, where the player and instrument create a unique blend.

 
northernneil

northernneil

Lifer
Jun 1, 2013
1,390
1
Kashmir, wine will tase different depending on the glass. I have done an experiment where we had a basic wine glass, the "proper" wine glass and a decanter. We poured the wine straight from the bottle into the basic glass and the "proper" glass, and the taste was noticeably different. Then we decanted the wine and poured into the two glasses. Again a very noticable difference.
I couldn't believe it, but one bottle of wine offer 4 distinctly different flavour profiles, depending on how it was served. There was no question that the decanted wine in the proper glass was far more complex and flavourful than the straight from the bottle into a basic glass. There is a whole science behind wine tasting.

 
kashmir

kashmir

Lifer
May 17, 2011
2,712
64
Northern New Jersey
OK. Well, I stand corrected. Perhaps. But I still think pipe smoking is much too complicated to confine flavors to a simplistic flavor wheel. Too many variables involved. Greg Pease once said pipe tobacco flavors are infibately more complex than wine flavors - in that with the pipe, weather, mood, technique, etc. are too difficult to standardize or quantify. And therein lies the mystery of pipe smoking. It is an Art in the true sense of the word.

 
pylorns

pylorns

Lifer
Aug 20, 2013
2,116
353
Austin, Texas
www.thepipetool.com
Right, but a wheel is used to help you describe the tastes. Not to "classify" per say its to help you describe for yourself and others what you tasted and thought about a blend. So regardless of how "complex" something is - a flavor wheel or chart is simply a tool to help you along the way.

 
mso489

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,459
The human anatomy, genes, and intellect are an even more variable vessel, from

person to person, and from time to time, than the wine glass or the pipe variables.

I think a flavor wheel is a map, but like a paper or electronic map, it will leave off

some of the features of the terrain. A flavor wheel could just be too rigid a standard,

but alternately, it could give some prompts to expand the conversation. I think good

flavor wheels can have that positive effect. As with a map (or GPS!) you have to know

when to ignore it and report and explain what you are tasting instead.

 
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