What Does It Taste Like to Smoke a Pipe

That's a tricky one, as there are so many pipe tobacco flavor's out there, both natural and artificial. The only way you'll really be able to figure that out is to try it. Grab a corn cob pipe and a sampler of tobacco, try an english blend, a virginia, and a aromatic.
If you have a local tobacconist, that would be your best place to start.
Good luck.

I'd say "much better than cheap cigars", myself, as I was never inclined to smoke cigars. The aroma of pipe tobacco, however, is (in general) much nicer and even more socially acceptable. There are exceptions, of course.
As for the taste, well, that's going to vary as well. What smells good may not taste like it smells, and may be considerably worse. Conversely, some stuff that smells really odd winds up being very tasty. And what one person considers "good", "worse", "odd", or "tasty" will vary wildly from person to person.
Short answer - as noted above, get a corncob pipe and a sample and try it out. If you don't like it, you're not out much. If you do like it, try something else. :D

It taste nothing like cigars, to me. There are many different blends with very different flavors. I have only been smoking for a few months and have really enjoyed every blend I have tried so far.

Buy a Missouri Meerschaum corn cob pipe and some mild tobacco. Take your time. Watch the videos here on

packing a pipe. Sip slow, don't inhale, and don't be put off by relighting a few times, and see how you like it.

If the corn cob pipe has a filter try it with and without the filter, just so you get the full taste. Carter Hall is

a good inexpensive mild tobacco, or Lanes Q1. Pipes have a subtlety and depth I don't get so much, even with

good cigars. It's a more easeful, better experience, in my opinion, though I like a cigar now and then.

I tried my first pipe back in September. I actually did what mso489 recommends. Here is what I did, and you may find it helpful. I popped over to the local drug store (I used Rite Aid as I think CVS and Walgreens stopped carrying tobacco) and bought a $6 corncob pipe to test the pipe thing out (without breaking the bank). I also got some mild aromatic Captain Black White Label and watched a couple of videos on youtube on how to pack. discovered that you should use matches instead of a torch. And found a 10 penny nail to use as a tamp since I was testing it out. There are some excellent online resources on how to pack and smoke a pipe. All of my stogies are lonely since I first went to the pipe. I honestly smoked cigars, as a social thing...but a pipe I ENJOY! Good luck. From one newbie to another...Welcome!

pipebatman asks:

What Does It Taste Like to Smoke a Pipe (?)

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That, for me, is a VERY difficult question to answer ... I began as someone who liked the idea of a pipe, but had some difficulty finding a combination of pipe and tobacco that I enjoyed ... I found the process to be somewhat discouraging and had I not been so enamored with the concept, I might easily have never found out ...
I fully endorse the idea of getting a cob to begin with ... they're inexpensive and very neutral in that they don't influence the taste of the tobacco as a briar will ... crappy pipes, in my experience, can easily influence the taste of even the best blends in a very negative way ...
No one among us can predict what tobacco blends you will find to your liking ... we all know what WE like and each of us will be inclined to recommend those likes to you ... but, since YOUR taste is unique to you, only you can decide which blends you like and which you do not ... whatever various blends you settle on, some of us will agree with you and some will not but for you, your judgment is the only one that counts .;. it will not matter to you whether I or anyone else here shares your eventual choices ...
I cannot tell you how many blends I tried in my search for what I would like ... perhaps the number ran into three figures ... the one thing I found to be invaluable to me was a local tobacconist who could help guide me through the maze of choices ... sadly, there are fewer of those shops these days than there used to be and I hope there is one that is convenient to you ... if so, you will be able to sample choices and not have to pay for a lot of tobacco you don't like ...
You may find aromatics to you liking, or maybe not ... same with blends that are heavily influenced by ingredients such as Latakia or Perique ...
My own preferences run to VA/Pers ... that is, blends of Virginia and Perique ... but even in that single category, there are many that are not to my liking ... it's going to be a voyage of discovery for you to find what's right for you ... but, not to be discouraged ... when you find what it is you like, the answer to your original question is that the taste of smoking a pipe is like finding a new food that offers you a source of satisfaction you've never before known ...

Wow: A very simple question that's really hard to answer.
In one sense, it's easy: It tastes like burning tobacco. Yet every different type of leaf in a blend will contribute its own unique flavor/aroma profile. And just like with fine cigars, where a leaf is grown will affect its flavor/aroma as well. For instance, American Virginias tend to be "lighter" and perhaps a bit sweeter than African Virginias, which have a dark richness. Latakia, an oriental leaf that has been cured over smoke, has a very pungent, campfire-like flavor and aroma. And the category of "orientals" includes leaf that is bitter, sharp, acrid, incense-like, soft and round, and even very sweet. Burley brings a nuttiness and a weight to a blend, due to its higher nicotine content. Perique is a fermented leaf that is both higher in nicotine and spicy/peppery on the tongue, bringing a stewed-fruit aroma to a blend. What a final blend tastes like will be the result of how a particular blender combines these various tobaccos and how they're cut/processed.
And then many smokers enjoy blends that take these constituent tobaccos and add flavorings like vanilla, cherry, cocoa, etc.
Don't know if that helps at all.
Bob

It really is difficult to describe what anything tastes like unless you can compare it to something else that is very similar. Even then, the subtle differences can make all the difference in the world.
As a new smoker, I have discovered that what I taste in each tobacco ranges to "somewhat different" to "very different" than the descriptions I read from others. For that very reason, I am open to trying anything... if I like it, I'll buy more; if I don't like it (which hasn't happened yet), I'll cellar it and try it again later.

What makes this question so interesting for me is that it caused me to reflect on my own limited experience. I have found that the same tobacco tends to taste differently depending on a number of factors, and thus I suggest you not draw conclusions too abruptly. Some of the factors I’ve found that can affect the taste are: the moisture of the tobacco i.e. too dry or too moist; the amount of the tobacco you put in the bowl, as the taste of the tobacco tends to develop as you smoke through the bowl; your smoking cadence, as excessive puffing can overheat the smoke causing tongue burn, etc. The suggestion of sipping the tobacco rather than puffing on it was what helped me the most.

I have also found that some tastes are acquired, rather than love at first puff.
Dot

As someone very new to the hobby (about a dozen bowls total), I can say that I have identified sweet, spicy (in fact brown bogie is very spicy) and "burning tobacco", which I put in the same flavour category as "coffee" as one of those tastes that people acquire over time but has very little initial appeal.

Frosty Mint also tastes like mint, but I don't think that falls within the flavours of "tobacco".

Pipe tobacco smells and tastes like Sumya.
Question: What exactly is Sumya?
Answer: Sumya gonna like... Sumya aint!

I've enjoyed this thread a lot. I just hope it isn't one of those where the OP makes a single post and then never checks back in. . .
Bob

My thoughts, exactly, Bob. I'd like to know if the OP has given it a try and, if so, what are his thoughts.

I take a different point of view. I think it is very easy to say what a pipe tastes like. Think of what a BBQ smells like mixed with an oak fire place burning. Mix some apricots in and the taste is mostly like that. Smoking a pips is half a taste and half smell, the best part is the combination of the two and the relaxation that comes with the calm that smoking makes. Of course, you have to learn the process but that comes with experience. The other part is the symbiosis of pipe and smoker. Pipes are a magical tool to intake a magical smoke. And the last part is the experimentation of pipes and tobacco which can take a life time to experience. What is so hard about that?

It tastes like licking a cat's arse.
rmbittner, I sope it is, I've enjoyed the ludicrousy of these recent newbie thread.

Like Odin's breath

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba ...he's baaaaaack!

Well, I have drifted away from my cheap cigars and had been left wanting, then, I don't know why, I started thinking about pipes, then about what flavor I wanted, then member sablebrush52 recommended Balkan Saseini, so I ordered some of that.
I wasn't sure if I liked it at first, then I got to really like it, thanks to him, my first pipe experience was an awesome one!
I can't wait for a nice summer day with a backpack full of beer sitting in the woods or a field, or the time when I pull out my pipe for the first time in the presence of my brother, I will have to have a new pipe for him on that day I suppose.
In my noob opinion (3rb bowl noob) pipes 12.8754 x better than cigars. I think it's because every puff on a pipe is a bit different, because of differing burn rates, and provides a different experience for each puff.
(AM a sounding like a seasoned pipe snob yet?)
Perique will be my next try out.

I am a fan of spicy anything!