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atskywalker

Starting to Get Obsessed
Feb 23, 2015
285
2
Canada
I'm not expecting to get a definitive answer but just looking for informed/experienced speculation.
Been smoking a pipe for about 2 years now. I noticed overtime that I taste and detect tobaccos better. I find that I can now easily detect the main notes characteristic of every tobacco family and discern the the unique notes created by blending. How does the palate develop in such a way? How does it open up like that? Tobaccos that used to just taste like hot air to me are now colourful in taste and intriguing. Just curious.

 

papipeguy

Lifer
Jul 31, 2010
15,778
35
Bethlehem, Pa.
You're a lucky guy and obviously doing everything right. There are scientific explanations, I'm sure, but if you got it going on- enjoy it.

 

blackbeard

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 13, 2015
706
0
Experience in the technique of smoking and the mental capacity to describe are my main two thoughts with this. While part of it may be adjusted taste buds, I strongly believe much of it is mental over physical.
Just was thinking, when you were little if you had your first sour grape candy...it's likely you are only going to understand that it was candy and it was sour. If you keep eating it; you tolerate the sour better then begin to notice things like texture, and taste. So maybe a similar thing here?

 

hakchuma

Part of the Furniture Now
Jan 13, 2014
791
77
I know e,factly what you mean. I visited 1 year old pouch of sir walter and I experienced actual flavor. An interesting one too. It tasted like a cigarette when I first bought it. I think it simply has more to do with familiarity with tobacco in general than anything.

 

atskywalker

Starting to Get Obsessed
Feb 23, 2015
285
2
Canada
I think technique as a lot to do with it as well. For example, I'm far less likely to end up with bite which was a weekly occurrence for me (I'm sure this alone keeps a lot of people from smoking a pipe because it was not fun at all!).
Interested in other's recollections of making that realization, i.e. "I can now taste!"

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
A lot of it is noticing things, and then remembering to notice things like them.
Something similar happened to me with spices when I was first cooking... allspice smelled kind of like ginger and kind of like cloves, and then one day, the flavors separated in my mind.
Mirror neurons?

 

atskywalker

Starting to Get Obsessed
Feb 23, 2015
285
2
Canada
deathmetal, you just reminded me of something!!! When you wrote "flavours separated in my mind", I remembered reading that the brain's ability to do things (whether its noticing, feeling, or carrying a sequence of movements, etc), happens - crudely - like this:
At first the number of neurones that fire in response to something is small. But then when a neurone fires all those around it fire faintly in sympathy with it. Each time a neurone fires in a certain context its signal gets stronger causing the "ripple" firing to get wider. An illustrative crude example could be like this:
Assume, at first, the woody taste inherent in Turkish and orientals fires only one neurone (just as an example of course). At first it would fire causing say 10 neutrons around it to fire in sympathy very weakly. As the signal continues to occur the firing of neighbouring neurones gets stronger which then causes each one of the original 10 to begin to cause sympathetic firing in the ones surrounding them as well. In time the network gets stronger from the centre outward causing more neurones to respond intensifying the response and hence the taste.
Could this be it?
PS: I read about this in the context of learning complex coordinated finger movements for guitar.

 

deathmetal

Lifer
Jul 21, 2015
7,714
32
At first the number of neurones that fire in response to something is small. But then when a neurone fires all those around it fire faintly in sympathy with it. Each time a neurone fires in a certain context its signal gets stronger causing the "ripple" firing to get wider. An illustrative crude example could be like this:
Assume, at first, the woody taste inherent in Turkish and orientals fires only one neurone (just as an example of course). At first it would fire causing say 10 neutrons around it to fire in sympathy very weakly. As the signal continues to occur the firing of neighbouring neurones gets stronger which then causes each one of the original 10 to begin to cause sympathetic firing in the ones surrounding them as well. In time the network gets stronger from the centre outward causing more neurones to respond intensifying the response and hence the taste.
This sounds right to me. Stimulus provokes response, which then elicits related response, which eventually becomes a nerve net in the small which has adapted to being receptive to finer distinctions within the stimulus, prompting a categorizing impulse.

 

brudnod

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 26, 2013
938
6
Great Falls, VA
Clearly, having started smoking in 1968 I did not have the background knowledge of what each blend contained; and there were hardly that many blends to compare! Over the years and with such resources as this forum the tobaccos within a blend have become more definable. And the best part, I now know what I like by the combined tobaccos within a blend. So, to answer your question, part of this is "teaching" your taste buds what is what, and part is knowing what what actually is.

 

tarak

Lifer
Jun 23, 2013
1,528
15
South Dakota
I think the smoker's technique develops- and out of that comes the ability to appreciate more flavor. I always "oversmoked" everything...so it was too hot and bitter. Once I learned to slow down and sip much more flavor came forward.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
I remember as a child how a greasy little hamburger and a pile of french fries out of a freezer bag tasted like the grandest feast in the world. Now the same meal would only look like impending reflux to me. Tobacco is a little like that. You learn to expect better, and pretty soon you can taste the difference, one day at a time.

 

jkrug

Lifer
Jan 23, 2015
2,867
8
I agree that improved technique has a lot to do with it and I also think exposure to many blends has a part in it too. I paid close attention to the component tobaccos in the blends I was smoking to learn what each one tasted like. Eventually I was more able to pick them out myself without looking. I still have a lot to learn but am getting better all the time. :puffy:

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,347
Acquiring a taste like wine or spirit tasting. It takes time to properly process the taste of something you are unaccustomed to, so through prolonged exposure you start to single out individual elements in the smoke. Congrats on the progress, it only gets better from here!

 
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