Where did the taste and smell go?

papajoe · Oct 4, 2014

Well after about 2 month of smoking pipe I can say I feel some improvement. I'm doing fairly well when I pack my pipe. Most times it gives me a good long smoke with about 2-4 relighting, which I don’t mind. I'm smoking slowly (at least it think I do), so now I don’t have tongue bites (also because I stopped smoking my first cheap Chinese pipe).

But two main problems remain. No taste and no smell of the tobacco. Well actually I do smell a bit, mainly in the last third of the bowl, but only very seldom.

So what am I doing wrong? I tried 2 blends of Capitan black, and one of Mac Barren, (where I live there isn’t a big choice of tobacco to choose from), with the same result – meaning no taste no smell.

What should I do and/or change?

Your help please

cobguy · Oct 4, 2014

If you're not getting flavor and the bowl is going out, try a firmer pack.
When this happens mid-bowl, give it a tamp to push the ember back into contact with the tobacco.
Just keep trying different packing methods, pipes and tobaccos.
As long as you are enjoying the journey, the rest will eventually fall into place.
By the way ... I like your avatar. "The seas were angry that day, my friends"! LOL

ericthered · Oct 4, 2014

papajoe said:

But two main problems remain. No taste and no smell of the tobacco. Well actually I do smell a bit, mainly in the last third of the bowl, but only very seldom.

If I may ask, how many bowls a day are you smoking? I've never experienced a tobacco with NO taste or smell, so I'm wondering if your senses are perhaps being saturated? If you smoke multiple bowls a day, give yourself a day or two rest to reset your senses of taste and smell (gustatory and olfactory senses) and see if your chosen tobaccos have more taste and aroma.

papajoe · Oct 4, 2014

Usually I smoke between 0-2 bowls a day and I can smell and taste other thing. As I said I sometimes smell a little mainly when I'm into the last third of the bowl. Taste I feel none.

drennan · Oct 4, 2014

When I first started pipe smoking I was packing the bowl way to light and I was getting very little flavour as a result, packing a wee bit tighter has really helped.
Do you snork? Taking the smoke into your mouth and then blowing it out through the nose, without inhaling, really adds ALOT of flavour to the smoke.

bulletsnbriars · Oct 4, 2014

Hey boss,
welcome aboard. Like the others have been saying, tighter packing helps. A tip that really helped me is to tamp more frequently; but less firmly. I usually give a good tamp everytime my bowl goes out, right before relight.
Please don't mistake this next part for tobacco snobbery- but you might also need to try some other tobacco out, if theres little variety in your area, online is the way to go. Maybe try pne of the many samplers at pipesandcigars? I ran into your problem early on- for some reason all my englishes lost their taste. I personally think you might have to switch up the blends you try, for me burley blends brought the taste back and after a couple weeks break my englishes started tasting great again.

papajoe · Oct 4, 2014

@drennan:

Tried snorking but it did not work. Dont I need to inhale if I want to let the smoke out through my nose? Many years ago i smoked cigaretts and then I snorked all the time , but I had to inhale first.
@bulletsnbriars:

Unfortunately pipesandcigars dont ship to Israel. I looked in some other web store but haven't found one yet. Not to mention the high cost of shipping
However I do pack lightly so I will try to pack a little more firm

bulletsnbriars · Oct 4, 2014

Oh sorry boss, I was not aware you were overseas, I can understand your predicament now . Snorking isn't just exhaling through your nose- you have to swallow pretty much simultaneously, but don't inhale.

ericthered · Oct 4, 2014

It took me a while to figure out the "snork/retrohale". What helped me out was when someone explained it to me like this: with lungs full of air, pull the smoke into your mouth like normal, then instead of expelling it immediately, push it to the back of your throat as if you were about to swallow it. At the same time, exhale through your nose. It takes some practice, but you will eventually learn how to open up the passage from your mouth to your sinuses, allowing you to "breathe" a mouthfull of smoke through your nose without inhaling it.
For my money, the retrohale doesn't add as much flavor as everyone claims it does. It definitely adds a different nuance to the flavor, but the difference isn't enough for me to say "You gotta do it!". Of course, this is just my inexperienced opinion and your mileage may vary GREATLY.

papajoe · Oct 4, 2014

Well then I guess it's time to start practice and see what happens

warren · Oct 4, 2014

I can roll the smoke out of my nose from my mouth with little effort. Taking smoke from the pipe doesn't involve inhaling. It's more of a (I hate this descriptive word, but it works here) "sip," a gentle, slight intake of smoke. Then, hold in the mouth and exhale through your nose, the smoke will follow the flow.
Also, your expectations may be set a little too high. Tobacco flavors are usually subtle, there are some exceptions, while aroma can be sublime to overpowering. You need to experiment as much as your circumstances permit. And when trying a new blend, concentrate on the pipe and smoke, no distractions if possible.
Hope this helps! You seem to have the basics down now you can begin the search for your "holy grail" of blends.

papajoe · Oct 6, 2014

A little update: I tried snorking and succeeded but I'm not sure yet if I like it better. There some flavor but it makes my throat burn. Maybe it just takes some time to get used to it. Regarding smell I found that the best way to enjoy it is smoking while sitting against a working fan. 

Seriously I think that what warren said might be the case and I set my expectation to high. I guess I'll just have to relax more and see what happens.

frozenchurchwarden · Oct 6, 2014

Ha, I wish I couldn't smell tobacco, most blends are pretty pungent, and having no exposure growing up it's still mostly undesirable.

Same goes for the taste of most blends, but the savoury/salty Latakia flavour and the sweetness of aged Virginia are pretty good. I need a highly flavoured, one direction tobacco to really enjoy it.

mcitinner1 · Oct 6, 2014

"For my money, the retrohale doesn't add as much flavor as everyone claims it does. It definitely adds a different nuance to the flavor"
I agree with Eric on snorking.

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