I've been smoking pipes for a while now, and I still don't feel like I'm getting the flavor of the tobacco or the room note that I thought I'd get. I've got a tin of the Mac Baren vanilla cream and other local shop blends that are awesome. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong?
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Pipes Magazine » General Pipe Smoking Discussion
Getting the Most From Tobacco
(16 posts)-
Posted 4 months ago #
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Practice, practice, practice!
It took me three months or more before I had what I considered a 'successful' smoke. And probably a couple weeks before I had another. Almost a year into this hobby, and I still get bowls that do not please me.
Pay attention when packing, puff slowly. Read what the old heads say and adapt those tricks to your technique. It's a journey. Happy smoking!
Posted 4 months ago # -
Read up about the different types of tobaccos used in pipe tobacco blends, and then try some new ones.
I actually picked up a pipe 12 years ago but I didn't take to it because I thought the only pipe tobacco in the world was the few choices at my local tobacco shop. There are lots, many many choices out there, and you probably haven't found yourself a good blend yet.
Posted 4 months ago # -
In the words of Wm. H. Harrington, of the Cape Cod Harringtons,
"Every pipe smoker understands Don Quixote perfectly. Always searching for that perfect tobacco."I find myself sitting idly on the line dividing past and future,
as if I could kill time without injuring eternity. -- Thoreau
.Posted 4 months ago # -
I just want to comment on room note. . .
For some reason, a blend will always smell different to the smoker than it does to passersby, others in the room, etc. I'm sure there's some scientific explanation for this, but I don't what it is. Unfortunately, if you're primarily an aromatic smoker, I think you're more likely to be disappointed in the aroma. In my experience, the flavors of a straight Virginia or an English blend are far more likely to appear on the palate and in the nose.
Bob
Posted 4 months ago # -
In my experience, the flavors of a straight Virginia or an English blend are far more likely to appear on the palate and in the nose.
I completely agree.
Thought in the early morning, solace in time of woes,
Peace in the hush of the twilight, balm ere my eyelids close
Rudyard KiplingPosted 4 months ago # -
Read up about the different types of tobaccos used in pipe tobacco blends, and then try some new ones.
I agree with Zanthal, primarily, the others are correct as well.
However; if you read up on the basic tobacco types, and begin to understand their roll in the blend then the nuances will begin to emerge, and your enjoyment will begin to increase as well.There are many different places to gain this information, but I recommend that you start by searching the basic types in Wikipedia. The information is rudimentary but it will put you on the right track.
Search for Cavendish, Virginia Tobaccos, Oriental tobacco, Latakia, and Burley and that will put on the path to enlightenment.A little knowledge will take you a long way.
In My Humble Opionion... (IMHO)
Good luck and welcome aboard!
"Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put." Winston Churchill
Posted 4 months ago # -
Quit trying so hard,and it will all come together.
I will give up my pipe when they pry my cold dead fingers off of it!Posted 4 months ago # -
I abandoned aromatics long ago I ended up where you are right now. look into the va/pers and english/Balkan blends andit will open up a whole new world of taste and pleasure. Smoke for yourself and not for others.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I don't know how well you clean your pipes, but if they are not really clean all the time, then you will never get the most out of your tobacco. Also it could be the types of pipes you are smoking or the size of the pipe in comparison to the blend. There are many factors that contribute to getting the most out of your tobacco. Give us a description of some of your pipes, cleaning methods, size of pipes and blends smoked in them. We might be able to give you some ideas.
In regards to room note, the smoker can never experience room note like the person not smoking in the same room. You are smoking the pipe so your senses are geared to tasting the tobacco and cannot smell it like the non smoker.
HarrisPosted 4 months ago # -
Welcome to the PM Forums, Jeff!
Great advice here. You would do well, IMO, to take it all to heart and remember that patience and research is huge in our hobby.
Have at it and let us know how you're doing, ok?
Posted 4 months ago # -
"I've got a tin of the Mac Baren vanilla cream and other local shop blends that are awesome."
Those particular blends just may not be to your taste. There are no blends that are objectively awesome - some people would probably dump vintage Balkan Sobranie on the ground while others would sell their soul to find it.
You'll just have to do a bit of reading and experiment with the different types of tobacco.
And definitely keep those pipes clean! Perhaps even OCD clean until you start having good smokes because it could very well be a factor. I have to clean mine much more than most smokers because I can't enjoy them otherwise - I can sense the difference like night and day...
Posted 4 months ago # -
It seems one of the major problems of people starting out is that they are used to experiencing the room note and not the tobacco. So when they start, they expect that same experience which is just not the case.
Especially with many aros where the room note can be better than the palate experience.I agree with the others and say to be patient, keep trying and especially trying new and different types of tobacco.
I feel like trying the different types allowed me to expand my palette and over time when learning how to smoke them i come to appreciate many of the little things i couldn't pick up when i first started.keep at it!
"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."
- John SteinbeckPosted 4 months ago # -
It seems one of the major problems of people starting out is that they are used to experiencing the room note and not the tobacco. So when they start, they expect that same experience which is just not the case.
Especially with many aros where the room note can be better than the palate experience.Well put, Hans!
Yes, I can remember 'way back when I started smoking a pipe, I was disappointed about how the taste, compared to the lovely smell of Grandpa's pipe, just wasn't anywhere near as good as I expected.
Fast forward decades later and I've yet to find any pipe tobacco that tastes as good as that wonderful smell from long ago.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I try to keep my pipes clean, after each smoke I'll let them sit for a while. I'll clean the stem with some whiskey (recommended by local pipe shop). I haven't had and issue with any foul tasting tobacco. My pipes inlude a Peterson Emerald Rustic #68, a Bjarne Viking classic (bent), Mauro Armellini, Peterson Aran Bulldog (straight). You can see everything except the Aran on my profile album. As mentioned I have a tin of the Mac Baren Vanilla Cream, Dunhill Nightcap and various others from my local shop that I think smell beautiful in the jar. That might be where I'm going wrong, perhaps I expected the flavor would match the smell. When I smoke cigars I can really tell the difference between different cigars and I can pick out the flavors.
Posted 4 months ago # -
I think a lot of puffers are turned on, or turned off by how the pipe tobacco blend smells fresh in the tin or baggie.
Certainly how the blend smells initially is important, but how important is it? IMO, not very. I feel that putting too much emphasis on that can be a mistake -- especially if getting one's head wrapped around that smell negatively affects the rest of the smoking experience.
Examples run the gamut from the nefarious "ketchup smell" of McClelland virginias to the "juicy fruit scent" of Erinmore Flake. Heck, I slit open a plug of Wessex Gold Brick today and looked for that "coffee smell" that plug is supposedly infused with. Did I smell the coffee? No. I can't taste the coffee either. Oh well, that Wessex Gold Brick is damned tasty anyway
Posted 4 months ago #
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