My Tastes Have Changed Drastically

python · Apr 18, 2011

Some of you may already know that my tastes in tobaccos somewhat change with the seasons. With this I mean that I enjoy aromatics much more in the fall and winter than I do in the spring and summer. I don't smoke aro's a lot in the spring and summer months.
I do enjoy Latakia blends all year, but my Latakia consumption increases with the colder months.
Up until now I have loved VA/Per blends, and I do mean loved them. VA/Per's were my number 1 blend genre and I would smoke them all year round, and smoke them a lot.
That was up until about a month ago. Now for some reason I can not stand the flavor of most VA/Per blends. I don't know how to explain it. The Perique just makes me want to stop smoking the bowl, and actually I have done just that. I end up putting the pipe down after about 1/4 of the bowl and not finishing it.
It is really strange because I still taste all of the flavors of the Perique, but it just doesn't interest me anymore. I do seem to get a lot of the pepper/spice from it and it just makes me say yuck. I seem to be smoking a lot more Latakia and light aromatic blends now.
I guess it is time to move most of my VA/Per's to the back of the cellar until they come calling back to me again.
Has anyone else had a major change in their tastes like this before?

ohin3 · Apr 18, 2011

WHOAH...that's freaky because I have not only noticed the same drastic change in tastes, but the same tobacco types as what you are experiencing. I have been a long standing Va/per fanatic, but I too, over the course of the last few months have noticed that I am put off by Va/per. same sort of inexplicable aversion to it as well. I still taste the flavours that always seemed to get me going, but something about the spice and all the things that make perique perique that seems to make me want to put the pipe down. Seems to be cloying and irritating to the back of my throat. I always loved that perique spiciness but something about it seems to be repulsing me all of a sudden. I too have seemed to turn more towards latakia and lightly cased aromatics as of late. quite the coincidence Bob. I am still very fond of straight Va.

python · Apr 18, 2011

WOW! That is freaky that we are both experiencing the same thing with the same types of tobacco.
Maybe we just need a break from it for awhile and then we will start craving it again. At least there are tons of other great tobaccos to smoke.

pstlpkr · Apr 18, 2011

My wife always tells me that I'm bass-ackwards. I'm just the opposite.

I have gravitated toward VaPers lately.

kcvet67 · Apr 18, 2011

My tastes have changed frequently over the years, but I can't recall experiencing anything like you describe. I hope that whatever you guys have isn't contagious, I've got a lot invested in perique blends. 8O

mlaug · Apr 18, 2011

I had this happen years ago when suddenly nothing tasted as good as I thought it should.
I found a way that fixed it for me....smoke burleys.
I smoked burleys almost exclusively for an extended period of time, I don't recall how long now, but it was months worth.
When I slowly returned to my usual blends, they tasted as good or better than I remembered.
There are lots of quality burleys, MacB has a bunch and Uhle's offers some great smokes.
I suggest giving the ol' standard of tobacco a try and see what happens. I bet your tatsebuds will "reset" themselves like mine did.

hobie1dog · Apr 18, 2011

Last year it was nothing but aromatics, now I can't find one I can enjoy.

mowens · Apr 18, 2011

Bob Ive gone through similar phases with food and wine and now it seems my tastes and cravings go through cycles. I havnt got there with tobacco yet but I imagine I'll get got that point. You are not alone good sir.

bubbadreier · Apr 18, 2011

If you would have asked me two month ago if I like english blends I would have told you no!! I was strictly a light to medium aromatic smoker two months ago but for some reason the only aro I can bring myself to smoke these days is 1Q and I LOVE english blends!!

papipeguy · Apr 18, 2011

Yep, our tastes do change and I'm happy about it. I smoked latakia blends exclusively for over 30 years. In the past 2 years I have gravitated toward very different blends. Some aros, VaPers and others. Glad I did because I've discovered a lot of things I would not have tried otherwise.

unclearthur · Apr 18, 2011

See! That's where being like me is good! My former girlfriends all say I have no taste. And they are proof!

tiltjlp · Apr 19, 2011

My tastes have remained the same, although they have expanded some over the years, since I started back in June of 1959. And I enjoy everything, other than Lakelands. year round

lordofthepiperings · Apr 19, 2011

hobie1dog have you tried Peterson's Connoisseur's Choice? That is by far my favorite aromatic and I've heard many others place it high on their list of aro's as well.

admin · Apr 19, 2011

Different tobaccos deliver different experiences to me at different times depending on different variables. And I had that real bad smoking day about a week or so ago, where nothing tasted good.
However, I have not had the experience Bob and Phil described.
I loooove Va/Pers! Feel free to send me any you don't want Bob! :wink:

hobie1dog · Apr 19, 2011

hobie1dog have you tried Peterson's Connoisseur's Choice?

Nope, not yet...my local B&M has it though, but I'll be hard pressed to get myself to buy a tin as I'm like Bubba here lately, the only aro I can take is 1Q. I'm gonna find a new home for the tin of Sunset Breeze I have.

menckenite · Apr 19, 2011

No drastic changes in tobaccos for me Bob but in my mid to late thirties I went through some taste changes in foods. The smell of sweet peas (we call ‘em "English Peas" here) cooking would make me sick to my stomach for over 30 years and then during a very short time my body started craving them and I still love them now over 10 years later. Also during that same time my taste in chocolate drastically changed. I hated dark chocolate and was a big consumer of milk chocolate. Then during the same time as the pea thing, I did a 180. I will only eat dark chocolate now and can’t stand the taste of milk chocolate. All of this happened within a month and I’ve never experienced anything else like it (food, drink, or tobacco).
I would be curious how close in age both you and Phil are (mid thirties?).
If you or Phil have a significant stash of VaPers, I wish both of you a quick recovery of your taste for them. Otherwise, enjoy your adventures in other blends.

mjtannen · Apr 19, 2011

Same here with me. I have an open tin of OGS that I cannot finish. I'm into a great light aromatic such as 1776 Bostonian and all the latakia I can stuff into a bowl. Va/Pers just don't appeal to me at all.

maduroman · Apr 19, 2011

it's a gov't mind control program. if you put on a foil hat befor lighting up you will find no major shift in what tobacco you desire.

lagavulin92 · Apr 19, 2011

I happen to smoke mostly when I haven't eaten. When I smoke a cloying tobacco then, it always makes me sickly. Sinse I generally smoke richer blends, the perique usually gives it a cloying sweet and plummy note. I think I can relate to the Perique-malaise.
As for sweetness, I find it funny that everyone first thinks about sweet virginia. In most of my English blends the sweetness comes less from the Virginias but more from the Orientals.

ohin3 · Apr 19, 2011

I am by no means giving up on Vapers. I think I just need a break. I felt the same about latakia for a while there too but my love for the stuff has returned. I did just smoke a bowl of 4 year old Escudo to test my perique theory and I have to say that I really enjoyed it.

My Tastes Have Changed Drastically

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