Gauging the Room Note When Alone?

canvas · Aug 2, 2017

I have really been enjoying reviewing every pipe blend I encounter on tobaccoreviews. One part always perplexes me however; the room note. On a rare occasion I am smoking with others around and I can get an honest opinion of how my pipe smells, but more often than not, I am smoking by myself. Not wanting to leave this part of the review blank, I mainly guess how I imagine it must smell to others.
Does anyone else attempt to review this aspect solo, or is there a trick to figuring it out by yourself?

pipesmokingtom · Aug 2, 2017

Leave the room. Walk around the block. Reenter the room.
Less effective if you're bearded, as you can carry it with you, but it'll get ya most of the way there.

bluegrasspipe · Aug 2, 2017

I find it difficult since I am the one smoking, however leaving and walking back in helps.

Recently my wife stated that the blend I was smoking was disgusting and reminded her of mothballs. It was Dunhill's Elizabethan. 8O

warren · Aug 2, 2017

I can usually get the room note from my mustache, shortly after I finish a bowl.

philobeddoe · Aug 2, 2017

Step outside for a minute(without the pipe)and breathe some fresh air, when you reenter the home, it should be apparent to you.

mawnansmiff · Aug 2, 2017

I have the exact same dilemma. I live alone so have no one to ask and I have done the leaving the room and coming back thing but all I can detect is tobacco smoke...nothing to directly indicate the blend I just smoked therefore on reviews I always opt for the 'Pleasant' option :roll:
Regards,
Jay.

Bulldog · Aug 2, 2017

I am typically giving a best guess as to the quality of blend's room note, often selecting the vague 'pleasant to tolerable' as a default - unless my wife is around to offer some advice. A pipe smoker gauging room note may be akin to asking a person what their own voice sounds like. We can give an answer, but it is likely not identical to what others perceive.

saintpeter · Aug 2, 2017

Well into the 20th century, coal miners brought canaries into coal mines as an early-warning signal for toxic gases. As pipe smokers, I recommend a modified version, a graduated system if you will. We start with the canary. If it dies you might want to change your aro, Working our way up to a California Condor...if it drops from it’s perch you need to rethink your home blend of Mixture 79, Brown Bogie and Lat. Thus room note is scientifically established.

deathmetal · Aug 2, 2017

Leave the room. Walk around the block. Reenter the room.

Generally: go outside, reset the nose, then come back in. The above'll work just great.

mso489 · Aug 2, 2017

The stepping out method is probably the best you can do. You still have some aftertaste from the blend, and since you are a pipe smoker, your reaction is likely to be quite different than a non-smoker. I'm still mystified by what the dots or stars for room note mean on web sites and in catalogs -- are four or five dots pleasant (to the average non-smoker) or unpleasant. I always read it as, more dots more smell, more challenge to the non-smoker. A second person who does not currently smoke is always the definitive test. I don't ask, but when my wife says it really smells great, I know the room note is good; when she says, what is that you're smoking? Maybe it doesn't smell so great. Mostly I don't smoke in the same room with her, though she has supplied me with some of my best pipes and blends.

JimInks · Aug 2, 2017

I ask m'lady and my assistant for their opinions on room notes.
Bluegrasspipe: I had to laugh at your Dunhill Elizabethan room note comment. I used to smoke the Murray's version. It was one of the very few blends m'lady openly complained about. When they quit making it, she was very happy. A few years back, I tried the Match for the first time. Five minutes after I started smoking it, she came back to the studio and said, "Are you smoking that crap again? I thought they quit making it."

paddypiper · Aug 2, 2017

Less effective if you're bearded, as you can carry it with you, but it'll get ya most of the way there.

I agree with this.

canvas · Aug 2, 2017

Thanks for all the input. Not sure why leaving the room hadn't occurred to me. I smoke in the garage with the main door open, so it is not completely contained, but I'm sure it holds a good amount of the aroma.
** Also, I feel honored to have JimInks respond to my question. The sheer volume of your reviews is astonishing, I imagine you must be the world's authority and keeper of all pipe lore (I also get a kick out of watching the race for most reviews between you and Pipestud). **

pappymac · Aug 3, 2017

My problem is the only place I normally smoke indoors these days is the garage if it's raining. When I'm smoking outside and the wife or daughters are around, they will occasionally make a that smells good or that stinks. Most of the time they don't say anything at all which is preferable to "that stinks." Either way, they never say anything like, "That smells like a freshly scrapped vanilla bean or it reminds me of toffee."
I was outside smoking Mac Baren Cherry Ambrosia the other day and first daughter came outside. She asked me if I had smoked that blend when we lived on Governors Island in New York and said it reminded her of back then. She was about 5 years old back then.

cosmicfolklore · Aug 3, 2017

When it is just me, room notes don't even cross my mind.

bedollae · Aug 6, 2017

I work at a public transportation facility. So when I'm curious about a room note, I'll go out to the yard and "inspect" a bus interior. Once done, I'll leave it for a few minutes and then return and take a whiff. If it's pleasant I know the passengers are gonna have a great day...but if it smells like a wet dog, then their day just went down hill 8O

But I guess I can't really say anything about a room note cause this is more of a "bus note"...

condorlover1 · Aug 6, 2017

The only room notes I notice are the ones created by a good curry and delivered by a different pipe! :rofl:

cortezattic · Aug 6, 2017

I can never detect the room note of what I'm smoking, and ShoeLady (Mrs. Cortez) complains about the odor of everything I happen to like. There was one exception: she liked Lane's HG-2000, which to her smelled like cookies baking in the oven.

roddypiper · Aug 6, 2017

Not an expert on pipe smoking by any stretch of the imagination but I have a couple of ideas. I was smoking while walking my dog on a particularly windy night. I noticed when I held my pipe at arms length I got the 'room note' smell I was talking about in my 1st post on this forum. So my theory is that room note really is (at least partly) a function of particle density. Close to the pipe more ppm. Further away less ppm. To that end I would suggest 2 things-
1) turn on a fan, light your pipe, and hold it arms length in between you and the fan so the particles are quickly dispersed.
2) would be to light a piece of incense charcoal in your ashtray and sprinkle your tobacco on it. Stand 10 or 15 feet away and wait for the room note.

winton · Aug 6, 2017

My wife told me years ago to ignore room note. The smoke itself bothers her asthma. Thus smoke whatever I like, away from her. Then take a shower before getting near her. Problem solved.

Gauging the Room Note When Alone?

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