Inconsistant Tobacco or Inconsistant Tongue ?

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

New Cigars




PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Drucquers Banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

shermnatman

Lifer
Jan 25, 2019
1,030
4,862
Philadelphia Suburbs, Pennsylvania
Ordered one ounce bulk as a sample; loved it.
Three or four days later I put in larger bulk order for same tabak from the same online distributor, but for 1/2 pound (8 ounces) ; and the delivered larger supplied orders tastes decidedly different from the one ounce orders.
This has happened no less than three times to me this year (and it's only March).
I cannot see why this could possibly happen each time I pull the trigger on orders of more than one ounce.
Has this happened to you?
Any clues as to what gives?
Is it me? Is it them?
Perplexed. - Sherm Natman

 
Jan 8, 2013
7,493
733
I was thinking moisture level as well. Also, it could be the humidity in the air. What was the weather like while you were smoking the sample as opposed to the weather when you received your pound?

 

trubka2

Lifer
Feb 27, 2019
2,470
21,640
Yes, that's happened to me with a few different blends - loved the samples, made a bigger order, and the bigger order tasted like hell when I got it, just awful: reeked of ammonia and overpoweringly bitter. These are Burley-based blends, and I gather from forum members that Burley is sometimes sold before its time. On their advice, I just jarred them and checked back periodically. Three weeks later, they're all good (except one). I purposely kept a bit of the initial samples for two of the blends, and the two different batches of these blends are pretty much indistinguishable in the pipe now when I compare them back to back. So, I know I'm not just imagining things for once. The only explanation I could come up with is that the samples were from an older bulk batch (they certainly looked it - much more crumbly) that had been on the shelf for a while and therefore had more time to finish curing before sale, while the newer stuff I got in larger volumes still needed some more time. But who knows, maybe it's just that my tongue has turned to leather, and I can't taste anything through the cake you're supposed to build up in your mouth. Or was that in the pipe? Shoot.

 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,249
57,280
66
Sarasota Florida
Those 1 oz samplers are tobacco that has been aged 20 years and kept in vaults that are temp and humidity controlled. They suck you in with their best samples and then when you order pounds, they send their crap. It is an old con that most of us older pipe smokers know all about.

 

seanv

Lifer
Mar 22, 2018
2,958
10,405
Canada
Some say that bulk tobacco can be wildly inconsistent. I have not noticed it to such an extreme, but I have experienced smaller differences order to order.

 

recluse

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 11, 2011
147
8
Those 1 oz samplers are tobacco that has been aged 20 years and kept in vaults that are temp and humidity controlled. They suck you in with their best samples and then when you order pounds, they send their crap. It is an old con that most of us older pipe smokers know all about.
I had this happen with Boswell's Imperial English. 1oz sample was amazing. Loved it. Immediately ordered more in bulk. Had two bowls of the bulk and it wasn't anywhere near as good as that sample. It's still decent, but nowhere near that 1oz sample experience.

 

dcon

Lifer
Mar 16, 2019
2,636
21,489
Jacksonville, FL
I think this exemplifies why blending is an art. Maintaining the consistency of a blend, with all the variables that come into play, is a difficult endeavor.
Besides crop, varietal, and sourcing challenges, think about all of the things that make duplicating a “recipe” a challenge.
On a smaller scale, think about a time you may have put tobacco X in just the right proportion to tobacco Y and smoked a bowl of what you believed was a wonderful smoke. Fast forward to putting those same 2 tobaccos together in a larger (let’s say a 4oz) proportion. You smoke a bowl and it’s absolute drek.
I am not sure that even the laws of proportionality apply to tobacco blends.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.