Impugn My Tastebuds, Will You?

Impugn My Tastebuds, Will You? February 6th, 2010

So I’d been smoking nothing but VaPers for the past three weeks until last night, when I broke my latakia fast with an incredible bowl of Three Oaks Original.

I see I’m already off-topic. This is about VaPers, isn’t it?

Actually, no. This is about tastebuds, mine specifically. Though there are indicators that these observations obtain for others of us as well.

As I say in my first post over at our forum discussion about VaPers, I wanted to know what I was missing. I’ve long had the impression that VaPer lovers considered themselves a special club within our fraternity, almost a different, even exclusive breed of piper. Well, I refuse to admit that I couldn’t belong to such a club, so I was determined to see what was so special about this VaPer thing.

My initial forays into the genre were dispiriting. When I started up the pipe again fifteen months ago I was indiscriminate in my sampling. I had fallen in love with two sublime McClelland’s blends, Dark Star & British Woods, both belonging to their Personal Reserve Series, so I figured I’d try another in the series, St. James Woods, a VaPer. I didn’t care for it. Not that it wasn’t quality, it just didn’t seem to have much flavor to me. Bland. I was already wondering what the big deal was with VaPers if this was at all representative.

A few months later I traded a tin of the dreaded 965 for a tin of Butera’s Kingfisher, a VaPer hybrid with burley. (I will admit to not understanding what anybody sees in burley, but that’s a different matter.) I didn’t taste anything here, either. Nada.

It was around this time that I began to delve deeper into latakia experiences. I couldn’t get enough of McCelland’s Three Oaks blends (Original & Syrian). But this wasn’t enough. I was on a bender. I wanted to find a blend that crossed the line for a latakia lover like myself. The quest eventually led me to Hermit’s Captain Earle’s Ten Russians, an orgy of latakia that’s like triple chocolate decadence to a chocoholic — too much yet still not enough.

Then I got a bug up my ass to finally see what the deal was with VaPers. I suppose I’d read one review too many where I bristled at the smug, supercilious attitude of these VaPers lovers. Oh, so I’m not good enough to appreciate it, am I? Is that what you’re saying? Think you’re better than I am, do you? You’re not going to prevent me from joining your club — not before I have the opportunity to reject it first.

Enough was enough. I was determined to show them that I could be one of their number too. The gloves were off.

So I started a forum topic about VaPers, challenging them to tell lowly latakia-loving scum like me what the hell was so special about their beloved blends. Bob responded with:

I have heard from a lot of different pipers that smoke heavy Latakia blends, that they don’t get much from VA/Per blends. I think that is because that continuous smoking of heavy Latakia blends deadens the taste buds some so that you can’t detect a lot of the nuances of a VA/Per.

Oh, so my tastebuds are dead, are they? I can’t appreciate the subtlety and nuance of your precious VaPers, eh? Impugn my tastebuds, will you?

So now the challenge was put back on me. No one’s going to tell me that I can’t detect nuance! I’ll show ‘em all how much subtlety I could appreciate!

This all started when I read a review of Solani’s 633 by a reviewer I respect whose taste accords with mine. If he likes a blend, odds are I’d probably like it too. So I got a tin and lit it up.

I didn’t taste anything all that special. It was certainly a quality leaf, and it was okay, a little grassy with the vaguest hints of something spicy, but nothing that rang my bells. I had another couple bowls over the next couple of days and it got a little more interesting, but still nothing special.

So I did a test. It’d been a long time since I’d had a bowl of the sublime Dark Star. But I didn’t taste anything special in it. Why did I think this was such a great blend?

Oh Holy Zeus! Oh Dreaded Crap! No — it couldn’t be! Bob was right! Something had happened to my tastebuds!

I was not happy about this, not happy at all. I don’t mind being proven wrong, even by smug VaPer lovers, but I didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t taste one of my favorite blends. I felt loss, and fear, worried that I’d never again experience Dark Star, and other past favorites, as I once had. This was not a good prospect.

I decided I was going to smoke nothing but 633. It was time to cleanse my palate. So for the next two weeks I smoked nothing but 633, with an occasional guest appearance of some other pure Virginia. No aros; nothing with even a hint of latakia.

Then, after a week I started noticing things in the 633 I didn’t notice at first, a subtle play of spices and sweetness amidst the bright hay and grass. I was growing to like it. It appeared my tastebuds were coming back.

I decided it was time to try Dark Star again. With trepidation I lit up. It came back! My beloved Dark Star returned to me! My tastebuds were resurrected, Hallelujah!

It was time to try another VaPer, since I understood that VaPers have their own broad flavor spectrum within the single genre. Was it time for that King of VaPers, A & C Peterson’s Escudo Navy Deluxe? Yes it was.

Upon opening the tin and unfolding the paper doily I saw those famous coins. Already there was something special about this blend. I took two, rubbed them out, packed my volcano (which turned out to be great for VaPers), and lit up. Wow. As I say in my review, the moment that first sip of nectar hit my tastebuds I understood why Escudo has such a stellar reputation. This is an extraordinary tobacco. A unique, ever unfolding taste sensation. Was I finally experiencing what was so great about VaPers? Yes, I believe I was.

So I think it’s fair to say that I can join the club of VaPer lovers (though I promise never to scoff at avowed latakia enthusiasts). I look forward to trying many of them in the future. I am now on a VaPer quest. I may find others that equal Escudo, but I shall be very surprised if any surpass it.

But I am concerned about something. My experience confirms that an overabundance of latakia can deaden the tastebuds to the nuance and subtlety of pure virginias. This was not a happy discovery. Does this mean that I must choose between the two? Does it mean that I must commit to one genre then cleanse my palate to appreciate the other? In responses to a previous post of mine both Kevin and dunendain admit to having had similar experiences. But now that I know I can’t trust my tastebuds as I had once assumed I could, how do I know whether or not my experience of a blend is fair and accurate? How do professional blenders account for this? Do they? Must they cleanse their palates when moving between genres?

But even though I now have this niggling concern, I’m nonetheless very grateful for the experience of the past few weeks, since a whole new genre has opened itself up to me, promising new playgrounds of pleasure.

And returning to my beloved latakia blends has made them come alive again for me as if for the first time.

I suppose the lesson for me here is that, if I must go on benders when I’m smitten by something — even VaPers — be patient when I return to the larger fold: don’t panic, cleanse the palate, and it’ll be like the first time all over again. And that’s not so bad.

I think now I’m going to have Captain Earle deliver me to those Ten Russians… I think I’m ready for another visit.

Tags: 633, Add new tag, challenges, cleansing the palate, Dark Star, deadened senses, Latakia, McClelland, tastebuds, Ten Russians, Three Oaks, VaPers

6 Responses to “Impugn My Tastebuds, Will You?”

Kevin said:

This has been an interesting quest to follow Garrett.

I just acquired a tin of Escudo Navy Deluxe. I am looking forward to trying it soon.

Welcome to the Va/Per club. And you were already a member of the Latakia club, which I think leads many of us to the overall pipe tobacco lovers club.

I always enjoy reading your posts.

February 7th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Bob said:

Great read ST!

I enjoy your posts as well. Always full of interesting stuff.

I’m glad to see that you are finally tasting some of the flavors that make Va/Per’s so great. Not that Latakia isn’t great. Although they are both pipe tobacco, they are almost too different to compare.

February 8th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
sinistertopiary said:

Thanks, guys. I’m glad someone appreciates my little reflections. I have fun writing them if I know someone has fun reading them.

Hey, it appears I’m in good company: no less than G L Pease himself shares my reflections. I would appreciate an answer from a master blender such as himself whether or not he’s had a similar experience, and whether or not he must cleanse his palate when switching from latakia to virginia blends.

February 9th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
dunendain said:

Come on Sinister, you know we appreciate you. I am in the same boat. Va/Pers have rocked my English world.
By the way, I asked Pease the other day about the status of Syrian Latakia. He was polite: He also he let me know that he was blue in the face, about be asked the Syrian question. He said he would be addressing it soon in his blog.

February 10th, 2010 at 10:39 am
sinistertopiary said:

So that was you, was it? Yeah, seems to be a hair-trigger button for Mr. Pease.

He’s recently posted two very interesting articles about it.

February 10th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
cortezattic said:

Thanks for a great read ST. I don’t know how this blog piece slipped under my radar, but I’m glad Bob linked to it in a related thread currently alive in the forums. And by all means, keep up the stellar reviews!

March 28th, 2011 at 6:22 pm

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