Scares about ghosting and English/Latkia vs Aromatic

snarfindorf · Jun 23, 2014

Hi!
So, I'm brand new to pipe smoking. I smoked a few times with my cheap as hell 'Falcon Coolway' pipe that I used to get me into the hobby and I'm sold! I love sitting out and smoking!
Anyway, I'm having a real scare. I bought a brand new Churchwarden and the thing's a beauty. The main problem is the term I hear quite often called 'ghosting'. How can I detect which blend with ghost my beautiful Churchwarden?
Another question I had which I have trouble finding a condensed answer to is 'what's the difference between English/Latkia blends and Aromatics?'. As I understand it, you should have a pipe purely for E/L and one purely for Aromatic. Is this true?
Thanks for any help that you can give me. Being a newbie, all of this is quite intimidating :puffpipe:

grouchydog · Jun 23, 2014

Hey, welcome to the forums!
I don't have many pipes, they're dedicated to broad blend genres - 2 to English, one to aros, etc. For a newb (i.e. me) I think that's probably sufficient. Based on my pipes, both English and aromatics will "ghost" a pipe, so I'd probably dedicate one to each category, and smoke and enjoy both.
What 'baccy's are you smoking and liking?

snarfindorf · Jun 23, 2014

Hi,
I have
Alsbo Vanilla Pipe Tobacco
Century Black Cavendish American
Mac Baren Cube Loose Pipe Tobacco
I have some
Gawith and Hoggarths Kendal Dark Aroma
Peter Stokkebye Balkan Mixture Loose
Kentucky California Dream Pipe Tobacco
Peter Stokkebye Bulwark Flake Loose

Currently being delivered and should arrive by tomorrow.
The main problem is discerning which one is aromatic or not. Is there any way to tell?

daimyo · Jun 23, 2014

My advice would be to pick one blend at a time and smoke through the tin. Then move on to the next one and, if you get any ghosting at all, it will be gone quickly. The only ghosting I worry about is really hardcore aro's like Devil's Holiday.

yaddy306 · Jun 23, 2014

I ain't scared of no ghost!
If you smoke a bowl of PS Balkan, and it has the barest hint of vanilla from the last bowl of Alsbo you smoked, big flippin' deal! That might be precisely what you're looking for.
If it bugs you to no end, by all means dedicate a pipe to a specific blend.

snarfindorf · Jun 23, 2014

My advice would be to pick one blend at a time and smoke through the tin. Then move on to the next one and, if you get any ghosting at all, it will be gone quickly. The only ghosting I worry about is really hardcore aro's like Devil's Holiday.

A whole tin!? I like to mix and match, and I'm not exactly an avid smoker. Maybe a bowl every few days.

snarfindorf · Jun 23, 2014

I ain't scared of no ghost!
If you smoke a bowl of PS Balkan, and it has the barest hint of vanilla from the last bowl of Alsbo you smoked, big flippin' deal! That might be precisely what you're looking for.
If it bugs you to no end, by all means dedicate a pipe to a specific blend.

I'm just super scared of a really bad ghosting and my beautiful, beloved pipe gets ruined 8O

pipesinperu · Jun 23, 2014

I haven't smoked a whole lot of aros, but as daimyo said, I think any traces of the taste of most of them will go away after 3-4 bowls, usually less. Same goes for latakia blends. If not, there are simple cleaning procedures you can ask here about that will get rid of almost any stubborn ghost. The only one I saw on your list that you probably want to avoid mixing and matching is the G&H Kendal Dark Aroma. Haven't smoke that particular tobacco myself, but some of those G&H and Samuel Gawith tobaccos do have a reputation for ghosting. I would recommend getting yourself a cheap corn cob and dedicating it to those until you figure out if you like them and then you can get a briar specifically for them, if you want. I've been smoking my first G&H offering (Rum Flake) out of a cob lately and really enjoying it!
Also, as far as figuring out what's aromatic, what's English, etc., etc., you should check out tobaccoreviews.com. Great resource!

snarfindorf · Jun 23, 2014

I haven't smoked a whole lot of aros, but as daimyo said, I think any traces of the taste of most of them will go away after 3-4 bowls, usually less. Same goes for latakia blends. If not, there are simple cleaning procedures you can ask here about that will get rid of almost any stubborn ghost. The only one I saw on your list that you probably want to avoid mixing and matching is the G&H Kendal Dark Aroma. Haven't smoke that particular tobacco myself, but some of those G&H and Samuel Gawith tobaccos do have a reputation for ghosting. I would recommend getting yourself a cheap corn cob and dedicating it to those until you figure out if you like them and then you can get a briar specifically for them, if you want. I've been smoking my first G&H offering (Rum Flake) out of a cob lately and really enjoying it!
Also, as far as figuring out what's aromatic, what's English, etc., etc., you should check out tobaccoreviews.com. Great resource!

That's a good idea; I have a cheap briar I can use.

daimyo · Jun 23, 2014

A whole tin!?

Yes and here is why. As a self described non smoker, it's easy for the lines to blur between blends and a lot of impressions will be lost in the shuffle. If you can stick to one blend long enough to get a good impressions of the blend, before moving on to the next, you will know your own tastes much more quickly and decisively. Of course they will change in time regardless (unless you are like Condorlover :wink

but you will definitely have a better understanding of the blends you have had. Also, smoking several bowls in a row of the same thing will give you a more honest impression, helping smooth out issues of packing, cadence, drying and pipe choice. Just my 2 cents but do whatever makes you happy, that's what it is all about.

snarfindorf · Jun 23, 2014

Yes and here is why. As a self described non smoker, it's easy for the lines to blur between blends and a lot of impressions will be lost in the shuffle. If you can stick to one blend long enough to get a good impressions of the blend, before moving on to the next, you will know your own tastes much more quickly and decisively. Of course they will change in time regardless (unless you are like Condorlover :wink but you will definitely have a better understanding of the blends you have had. Also, smoking several bowls in a row of the same thing will give you a more honest impression, helping smooth out issues of packing, cadence, drying and pipe choice. Just my 2 cents but do whatever makes you happy, that's what it is all about.

I get'cha, what I have now (the vanilla blend) is too mild, but good enough to keep smoking over and over and still feel warm and fuzzy. Gotta love it!

juvat270 · Jun 23, 2014

I'm just super scared of a really bad ghosting and my beautiful, beloved pipe gets ruined

My 2 cents: It won't. The issue of ghosting a pipe, imo, is a tempest in a teapot. In my experience, I've smoked English blends in a pipe that was previously dedicated to cherry aromatics and vise versa, and the taste (ghost) of either was barely perceptible and what was there was gone within 2-3 bowls.
Having said that, there's really no right or wrong in this. If you wish to dedicate a certain pipe to certain type of tobacco or even a specific blend for fear of ghosting, do it! If not, thats fine too. You're accountable to no one but yourself in regards to how and what you smoke, so do what makes YOU happy.

allan · Jun 23, 2014

Snarf
Welcome to the forum.
There a several camps in this matter. There are some smokers out there who will actually dedicate a pipe to each individual blend of tobacco, many others who will separate their pipes depending on 'English', Oriental, Virginia, and Virginia with Perique, and others who will simply keep Aro's, English, and Va's separate. Probably many that fall in between, depending on the number of pipes that they own.
I have tried to separate English and the Orientals from the straight Virginia's and Va/perique blends, but I'm not that much of a purist in this regard. I've stopped being so anal about it and have found ho real 'ghosting' that bothers me enough to take the trouble to segregate them. I do keep one pipe aside for any aro's that I may want to experiment with.
In the end, as others have mentioned, it is your choice and the pipe police will not come and hunt you down for your transgressions.

As as the difference between aro's and other blends, aro's have an additive added to the blend at the very end of the process; usually a flavoring to make it sweet. Poly propolene glycol, if i have it correctly. Often found in so called drug store blends like Captain Black, and the like.
Hope this helps

settersbrace · Jun 25, 2014

Ghosting is a term that IMO gets thrown around a little to freely. The average Aro will temporarily linger in a briar if you switch over to a lat blend but will eventually fade out. The only tobaccos that I know of that will really get into a pipe and hold on are blends that contain Deer Tongue or the Lakeland blends that contain Tonquin. Those scents/flavors are hard to smoke out of pipe and usually require an invasive procedure to get rid of it.

flapomalley · Jul 21, 2014

Personally, I'll smoke any tobacco out of any pipe. Any ghosting has been minimal at best and usually gone after 2-3 bowls. But, I'll admit, I don't have the most refined palate either.

Perique · Jul 21, 2014

The issue of ghosting seems to be a very personal matter of taste. I am very sensitive to ghosts and, as such, tend to dedicate pipes not only to styles but also to my favorite blends in order to get the full experience of the blend with no residual spillover. Others don't seem to have this problem.

mountainman · Jul 21, 2014

If you smoke a bowl of PS Balkan, and it has the barest hint of vanilla from the last bowl

That is actually pretty nice.

. My problem is when you want to smoke a light aromatic and taste Latakia. It's just too overpowering. I dedicate pipes to English/Balkan blends. I also dedicate pipes to VA and VA/PER blends. I tend to smoke aromatics (rarely) out of Va pipes. This is why PAD gets us all. Rotating, dedicating, etc etc.... : puffy

:

necron99 · Jul 21, 2014

Iran has nukes, we are on the threshold of ww3 , Florida is sinking, There is a humanitarian crisis on the American border, Yellow stone park may blow and kill us all, 1,600 people were killed this year on just one major city's highways, and ghosting scares ya? Huh?

frozenchurchwarden · Jul 23, 2014

-snarfindorf
A whole tin!? I like to mix and match, and I'm not exactly an avid smoker. Maybe a bowl every few days.

That sounds like a good pace to me. My mouth still gets sore if I smoke more than a few days in a row. Ideally I'll only smoke twice a week (and once a week is probably even better).

I do smoke multiple bowls per sitting though, at only two bowls a week it would take forever just to figure out what I like.
As for ghosting, I have a feeling it only really matters to people who are dissecting flavours for a review. You don't have to have the exact flavour of the blend you're smoking to enjoy a pipe.
Since you don't have a VaPer (Virginia Perique blend) on your tobacco list yet, I highly recommend getting a tin of Escudo if you can. It pretty much sets the bar for all others.

tuold · Jul 23, 2014

Everyone has their own level of tolerance for having a favorite blend over run by but whatever was in the bowl beforehand. For myself, I like my balkans free of vanilla or cherry or Irish cream or whatever other flavorings happen to bleed through. If you have more than three or four pipes it's not that big a deal to smoke flavored aromatic tobaccos in one pipe and natural tobaccos in the others if you have to. It's probably more important to do so when experimenting with various blend in order to find out what you like.

Scares about ghosting and English/Latkia vs Aromatic

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