Can anyone smell what they are smoking ?

tobakenist · May 29, 2012

I have read quite a few post's discussing smoking tobacco and they say, it smells great, I have been smoking for over 40 years and have never been able to smell what I am smoking, if I lay my pipe down, go out the room, then reenter, I can smell it, but sitting smoking I can taste it but never smell it, people often say, that smells lovely and I say it does doesn't it, but I'm fibbing really. I love it when other people are smoking pipes around me, at least I can smell what they are smoking.

sajgre · May 29, 2012

I can't but I love the smell of some tobaccos when pipe goes almost out and I smell the smoke coming from the bowl.

burghbriar · May 29, 2012

Evidently, what smells good to me smells different to other people. I taste the tobacco more than I smell it, but it's there.

meech · May 29, 2012

With the pipe hanging right in front of your nose you may not notice it.. Especially after that long of a time you're used to it so it doesn't stick out to your senses. Once you go from one odor to another it changes quickly and that's when you notice it.. I'm sure there's a better explanation but it's like how fast food workers tend to stop noticing the smell of grease or garbage men learn to not mind that hot trash smell.

checotah · May 29, 2012

@tobakenist, I have the same experience regularly, and have been smoking a pipe over 45 years. Everytime I try a new blend, I wish I had someone else around to light up a bowlful before I do just so I could get know how it smells. Unfortunately, we pipe smokers are in a real minority around this neck o' the woods, and the few I know do not smoke English/Balkan blends.

baronsamedi · May 29, 2012

Maybe do a salt and alcohol treatment on your nose, or run a couple cleaners through it. :rofl:

matchstickman · May 29, 2012

If you don't know how to retrohale, i.e., blow the smoke out through your nose, you are really missing out a whole other dimension of pipe smoking, especially with aromatics. This was something that I struggled with for a long time, but once I learned how to do it, it opened up a whole other world of smoking for me that I never knew was possible. Try it sometime and see what you think, but be careful, because doing this with certain blends can bring tears to your eyes.

bigvan · May 29, 2012

"I wish I had someone else around to light up a bowlful before I do just so I could get know how it smells."
I totally agree!

weezell · May 29, 2012

Don't have any sense of smell at all.I rely on the wife to tell me. 8O

waznyf · May 29, 2012

I was just thinking that today over my evening bowl.

I even put my nose over the bowl to catch some smell and it was very faint. Strange is it not?

rcstan · May 29, 2012

@waznyf what were you smoking? most of what I smoke I am able to smell, and this is outdoors 80% unless I'm smoking in the car.
+1 Pipe Novelist ..... no retrohaling VA/Pers or certain Balkan blends, i.e. Sasieni :D

steyrshrek · May 29, 2012

If you haven't tried it try french inhaling, let a little smoke out of your mouth then inhale that through your nose. I find this allows me to smell the smoke even more than retrohaling, I find retrohaling makes the taste actual stronger.

lazydog · May 29, 2012

Is retrohale also called "snorking" ? I can faintly smell my blend if I finish a pipe, go take a shower and come back into the room. I do sniff my pipe bowls that are resting for that great smell. Almost everyone smells different. Anyone that doesn't partake of the briar, and reads our posts must think we are really nutz. Its a pipe thing. : puffy

:

jchaplick · May 29, 2012

This topic actually has a name, its called the pipe smokers curse or the pipe smokers paradox. Its usually used when two people are smoking the same tobacco and dont know it, chances are they will say something like 'that smells great' or 'that smells awful' something like that. This has been an issue forever, talk to some real old pipe men, or people who smoke pipes and have had grandparents that did the same. They can tell you

lordnoble · May 29, 2012

Actually, I can smell what I am smoking but only by leaving the room and re-entering it. I usually grab a glass of water and can smell my blend then.
-Jason

photoman13 · May 30, 2012

For me it's more about when I open the tin or jar and get that initial smell. It adds to the whole experience I suppose. I, as well, can't smell it when I actually smoke it though. I do however chose ones that smell good so people around me aren't too bothered when I smoke.

lordofthepiperings · May 30, 2012

Usually when I smoke my bent pipes I can smell the blend pretty well. Straights are a bit more difficult to smell as I'm smoking them.

metalheadycigarguy · May 30, 2012

I typically do not smell the pipe tobacco or cigar I'm smoking unless I leave the room and re-enter; however, I do sometimes smell the pipe or cigar depending on what the blend is. That smell usually goes away after a short period of time unless of course I leave the room and re-enter.

unixhelp · May 30, 2012

Thanks a bunch Baronsamadi ! Now my nose is bleeding....BTW...ANYONE KNOW HOW TO GET THEM OUT ? Rob

tobakenist · May 30, 2012

Well it seems that 50% of you can actually smell what you are smoking and the other 50% are like me who can't, for the chaps that suggest I blow through my nose, always have done it, and for suggesting I change Tobacco, in 40 years I have smoked strong latakias, strong aromatics and every tobacco that I have came across, I love the aroma of a freshly opened tin in fact I have excellent sense of smell, but I can sit in a small room filled with my own smoke and not smell it.

Can anyone smell what they are smoking ?

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