What Is That Smell/Taste?

loadclear · Nov 13, 2017

Relatively new pipe smoker here, longtime cigarette smoker, smoked pipes (aros) off and on for a few years now. I recently decided to get serious with a new gifted briar, and a bag of MM's I forgot about.
I just cracked my first tin of non-cheap aros- Peterson's Old Dublin and there's definitely a smell and taste I've never smelled before in tobacco. Best description I can give is "phenol" or "band-aids". As a homebrewer of beer, I've smelled this in a bad batch of beer, but never in a tobacco. Is this just a smell I'm not used to?, or is it bad?
Thanks
Edited by jvnshr: Title capitalization (please check Rule #9)

jpmcwjr · Nov 13, 2017

No idea; no experience with that blend. But I recommend airing out a bowl full's worth for a few hours and re-smell and then smoke.

jazz · Nov 13, 2017

I often get a creosote smell and taste from Latakia. Maybe it is that. Old Dublin has Latakia and Orientals in it. Maybe you never had a blend with these tobaccos in before?

loadclear · Nov 13, 2017

^^^^
No, I certainly haven't had a Latakia before.
I hope it's not a normal Latakia smell, since I have over 20 tins on order with quite a few of them heavy on Latakia. As a cig smoker, and having had quite a few robust cigars, I ordered some pretty strong blends- the gifted briar came with a samplet pack of aros which I found to be bland. I really wanted something stronger and bolder.
The smell and taste (I'm on bowl 3) I'm getting from the Old Dublin is very powerfully chemical-like almost identical to band-aids (maybe kinda like creosote).

jazz · Nov 13, 2017

Well, don't panic. I've never had Old Dublin but I have never heard anyone say they got a chemical taste from it. Latakia is very strange when you try it for the first time and it is not to everyone's taste. It's a taste that can be acquired, though. I like it but I'm mainly a Virginia guy. To me, Latakia smells and tastes a little like creosote and campfires but as you get to know it there's more going on than that.
I suggest you try a few others with Latakia in and some without and research what Latakia actually is. You will soon learn if that is the culprit and if you like it or not. Honestly, pipe tobacco is a real voyage of discovery and I'm convinced there is something out there for everyone.
I would like to add that just because you don't like it today it doesn't mean you won't tomorrow. I'd speculate that everyone here disliked some blends when they started that they like now.

lazar · Nov 13, 2017

I think it's Latakia. Have you had peated whiskies such as Laphraoig? They have a very high phenol count which is what makes them smoky, and there is a definite band-aid/creosote note to them.

loadclear · Nov 13, 2017

"I have never heard anyone say they got a chemical taste from it." -- Wouldn't be the first time I was accused of being weird

--- I've enjoyed cuisine from around the world including a Shanghai street market, but I can't stand eggs or tomatoes

I'm a whiskey fan, but not the peatier blends... Never had Laphraoig specifically. Perhaps I'm just not a Latakia guy- yet.

alan73 · Nov 13, 2017

Smoke it up, you will be ok. Smell and taste will be different .

saltedplug · Nov 13, 2017

Someone who has smoked the pipe for some time forgets how confusing it was at the start. My take is that without templates to process your experience you are confused about the smell of latakia. If you don't like the way it smells its doubtful you will like its taste; on the other hand if you don't smoke it you will be unlikely to work through what you currently find obnoxious to find that which you can appreciate.

loadclear · Nov 13, 2017

I sure hope you guys are right, since the tins I have on order include some of GL Pease's strongest Lat blends: Charing Cross, Meridian, and Seattle's Plum as well as 965 and Nightcap. I also have a few VaPers on order as well.
One thing I do have to say is that after suffering through 8oz of aros in the sampler pack, is that the Old Dublin is incredibly easy to smoke coolly without relighting.
My nose may not like it, but my tongue does.

stickframer · Nov 13, 2017

Old Dublin was my first foray into English blends, and as an ex-cig smoker I found it full flavored and strong...just what I was looking for. I still smoke it often. It does have a bit of a funky room note and will leave it's mark on a beard. I'm not sure what it is, but it smells different then other English blends I smoke, to me at least. It'd be interesting to hear how it compares to the other blends you've ordered.

loadclear · Nov 13, 2017

The mailman came (perhaps saturday, but I just made the trip to the mailbox).
My Mixture 965 was in the shipment, and I opened it just to smell it.
Yup, same smell. I guess I'm just a wuss and Latakia will have to grow on me.
Kinda bums me out since I was really excited to have a REALLY strong tobacco to smoke instead of the light aros I've had recently. I hoped I would like a really strong tobacco. Good news is that I have a ton of Ball jars, and will just store these until later. Hopefully, in the next shipment, the VaPers will be strong, but the flavors that I like.
(in this shipment, I got Jacknife Plug, Dunhill Navy Rolls, 965, and Three Nuns- I'm trying not to open too many since I want to store them).

jazz · Nov 14, 2017

I'm curious loadclear, by what do you mean "strong tobaccos"? A blend need not have Latakia in to be a strong blend. Are you looking for strong in flavour or strong in nicotine or both?

bigpond · Nov 14, 2017

Ha! The phenol comment was a dead giveaway as to your hobbies. Yes, that is a character I would attribute to Latakia. Keep an open mind, if you’re still new to this. Blends often change in character a few weeks after cracking a tin.

deathmetal · Nov 14, 2017

It will grow on you. I like to "short age" Latakia blends so they lose a bit of the edge. The My Mixture 965 is one of the most perfect English-style mixture to me, but you will find that there are many good ones. My advice is to consider resetting the palate with whisky or strong tea before diving in.

jpmcwjr · Nov 14, 2017

Have you aired some for a few hours and then smoked? Like to hear your take.
And as a confirmed smoker of English/Balkan, I don't get the creosote connection, ever. But then my buds for tasting are different, or perhaps it's an olefactory phenom.

mawnansmiff · Nov 14, 2017

"I often get a creosote smell and taste from Latakia."
So that's how they make Latakia...it all makes sense now :nana:
Regards,
Jay.

badbeard · Nov 14, 2017

Also being a homebrewer, I know that exact smell from the early days using bleach to sanitize bottles. That phenolic smell(and taste) is permanently burned into my mind. It also reminds me of the way a carburetor bowl smells when it's been left to sit for too long with old gas in it and it forms a sort of varnish.

I was troubled by this in some of my English blends, and found that the dryer they were the more pronounced this was. Smoking the tobacco a tad moister than usual seemed to prevent it. Turns out that it really had to do with burn temp more than moisture level, although the two are intertwined to a certain degree.

I got really curious and bought some straight blending Orientals and Latakia, and smoked them separately to discover that the Oriental seemed to be where this taste was coming from, especially when tinder dry.

loadclear · Nov 14, 2017

Thanks again guys...
Jazz, by stronger I guess I mean both- heavier mouthfeel, more nicotine. The cheap aros so far feel like eating a rice cake.
Jpmcwjr- In progress, I'll report back this afternoon.
The more I think about it, I think it's the tin note that is bothering me more than anything. While smoking it, the taste isn't so bad, but I just can't get that smell out of my head.

mawnansmiff · Nov 14, 2017

"I know that exact smell from the early days using bleach to sanitize bottles."
WOW...you used bleach to sanitize your beer bottles?...I'll bet your homebrew beer was well popular 8O
Regards,
Jay.

What Is That Smell/Taste?

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