A Few "Non-Smoker Newbie" Thoughts
- Thread starter mpelletier92
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I'm inclined to agree. That is where half the flavour is. I don't do it anywhere near every puff and perhaps only a few times during the bowl but think it is essential to really get to know a tobacco. I do it much more with tobaccos that are new to me.
What you are referring to is the 'room note', or how others smell your pipe smoke. It will change for any individual blend. Also, what it smells like out of the tin is not how it will taste in your mouth.
Confused yet?
Confused yet?
From my own experiance: Pipe smoking is a lot more of a subtle activity than beginners realize. The initial tendency is to light up and produce great clouds of tasty smoke, but it usually doesn't work that way. It's a lot more like tasting a fine wine. A gentle sniff and a sip is a close approximation.
If you start with a light aromatic as I did, you will definitely want to watch your pace and draw as you may not get much of the flavor at first and end up roasting your mouth. The other side of this is to start with a tobacco that is too strong for you palate. In that case you end up making yourself sick. There is a lot of trial and error to do but the rewards are absolutely worth it.
MY PIPE
When love grows cool, thy fire still warms me;
When friends are fled, thy presence charms me.
If thou art full, though purse be bare,
I smoke, and cast away all care!
German Smoking Song
If you start with a light aromatic as I did, you will definitely want to watch your pace and draw as you may not get much of the flavor at first and end up roasting your mouth. The other side of this is to start with a tobacco that is too strong for you palate. In that case you end up making yourself sick. There is a lot of trial and error to do but the rewards are absolutely worth it.
MY PIPE
When love grows cool, thy fire still warms me;
When friends are fled, thy presence charms me.
If thou art full, though purse be bare,
I smoke, and cast away all care!
German Smoking Song
mikethompson said:
One sure thing: It's definitely a trial and error thing. Surprise is part of the fun I guess. :wink:
What about the worst you've tasted? Is there any of you that has a "turn off" flavor/brand?
The more questions I ask the more answers I get so it's becoming clearer now.What you are referring to is the 'room note', or how others smell your pipe smoke. It will change for any individual blend. Also, what it smells like out of the tin is not how it will taste in your mouth.
Confused yet?
One sure thing: It's definitely a trial and error thing. Surprise is part of the fun I guess. :wink:
What about the worst you've tasted? Is there any of you that has a "turn off" flavor/brand?
I guess I've been smoking for too many decades. Tin note and flavor are exactly the same for me.
So let's see if I have that right:
Tin note: The smell of tobacco in the can
Room note: The smell of the smoke around you once smoked
Taste: Well ... the taste :lol:
Is there anything else to take in consideration?
Tin note: The smell of tobacco in the can
Room note: The smell of the smoke around you once smoked
Taste: Well ... the taste :lol:
Is there anything else to take in consideration?
If you are serious about smoking a pipe, and really want to learn. Stick around here. Take your time. Learn what works for you, by taking your time and asking questions, both of yourself and of the forum. There isn't anything about pipes that someone here can't help with. There are hundreds if not thousands of years of experience and knowledge here.
They turned pipe smoking into a hobby from a test for me. I am grateful.
They turned pipe smoking into a hobby from a test for me. I am grateful.
Thanks nevadablue I will definitely keep reading this thread and the other ones. Lots of knowledge from what I can see so far.
Nice hat btw.
Nice hat btw.
mpelletier92, yes, you've got it quite right as you describe it in your last post.
I started with aromatics. My brick and mortar's shop blend that the kind lady behind the counter recommended as 'good for beginners' (whatever she meant by that –I can only wonder at whether it was s'posed to be good for me because it was low in nicotine, or ribbon cut and hence easier to pack, or just because it had a nice room note—God knows, I don't). I haven't had much luck with it, and plenty of tongue soreness and even a sublingual tongue 'pimple'. I don't blame it entirely on the blend, but on packing and, in my personal case, poor lighting technique. When you combine inadequate lighting with lots of relights, well, it's a recipe for tongue burning.
On my next visit to the B&M, the owner suggested an English blend (again, shop's own blend). Got 25 g of that and tried it. Again, my techniques sux, so I didn't have much enjoyment: I did notice, though, that it burned me less. Based on the knowledge in this forum and on articles and books, it was confirmed that English blends do burn cooler because they have less sugars in them –sugars being what makes up most of the casings and substances that give you the fragance in aromatics. Hence, my conclusions are that English blends are easier on the mouth for those of us who still haven't mastered the essential pipe techniques yet. I still intend to, once I fully learn, to devote most of my smoking to aromatics; so, I'm not trying to discourage you or dictate to you what to smoke.
Again, I don't mean to discourage you here. Just sharing what my experiences have been in the hopes that you'll avoid my mistakes.
PS: One more thing. I was also kaflustered at first because I wasn't tasting much. When I related this to the tobacconist, he told me that the tasting of the flavours comes with time. Your tongue needs to get acquainted with the tobaccos in order to start getting their various flavours. It took me several pipes to start getting the nutty flavour from that aromatic that was initially given me. So, don't worry, if you persevere you'll get to flavour Eden.
I started with aromatics. My brick and mortar's shop blend that the kind lady behind the counter recommended as 'good for beginners' (whatever she meant by that –I can only wonder at whether it was s'posed to be good for me because it was low in nicotine, or ribbon cut and hence easier to pack, or just because it had a nice room note—God knows, I don't). I haven't had much luck with it, and plenty of tongue soreness and even a sublingual tongue 'pimple'. I don't blame it entirely on the blend, but on packing and, in my personal case, poor lighting technique. When you combine inadequate lighting with lots of relights, well, it's a recipe for tongue burning.
On my next visit to the B&M, the owner suggested an English blend (again, shop's own blend). Got 25 g of that and tried it. Again, my techniques sux, so I didn't have much enjoyment: I did notice, though, that it burned me less. Based on the knowledge in this forum and on articles and books, it was confirmed that English blends do burn cooler because they have less sugars in them –sugars being what makes up most of the casings and substances that give you the fragance in aromatics. Hence, my conclusions are that English blends are easier on the mouth for those of us who still haven't mastered the essential pipe techniques yet. I still intend to, once I fully learn, to devote most of my smoking to aromatics; so, I'm not trying to discourage you or dictate to you what to smoke.
Again, I don't mean to discourage you here. Just sharing what my experiences have been in the hopes that you'll avoid my mistakes.
PS: One more thing. I was also kaflustered at first because I wasn't tasting much. When I related this to the tobacconist, he told me that the tasting of the flavours comes with time. Your tongue needs to get acquainted with the tobaccos in order to start getting their various flavours. It took me several pipes to start getting the nutty flavour from that aromatic that was initially given me. So, don't worry, if you persevere you'll get to flavour Eden.
I came on this forum to get genuine opinions and this is exactly what I'm getting. If I'm being told not to get into aromatics as a beginner then I will listen and go with what a beginner needs to start with.
Learning from other's mistakes always saves lots of time and money.
Don't worry olkofri you haven't discouraged me at all. :wink:
Learning from other's mistakes always saves lots of time and money.
Don't worry olkofri you haven't discouraged me at all. :wink:
LOL. S'ok.
I recommend browsing the tin tobaccos section in smokingpipes.com as well as their tobacco finder to check basic 'stats' on tobaccos. The room note and strength are listed there for every blend. Just because it's an English blend doesn't mean it has to stink up the room. Some English blends like Frog Morton have ratings of 'Pleasant' for the room note.
As an aside, and hope I'm not digressing given that this discussion has been mostly about baccy and not pipes, you might find this article interesting/useful when deciding on what pipe to buy: Pipe shapes and tobacco blends. Some of us, when starting out, tend to buy a pipe because the shape and/or price appeals to us, but those might not necessarily be the most important factors. I started out with a churchwarden because I read somewhere that their long stem cools the smoke and prevents tongue burn... well, guess what: my churchwarden burns me more than my volcano or corn cob. :roll: I strongly suspect that its conical chamber has something to do with it. Anyway, hope that helps a bit.
I recommend browsing the tin tobaccos section in smokingpipes.com as well as their tobacco finder to check basic 'stats' on tobaccos. The room note and strength are listed there for every blend. Just because it's an English blend doesn't mean it has to stink up the room. Some English blends like Frog Morton have ratings of 'Pleasant' for the room note.
As an aside, and hope I'm not digressing given that this discussion has been mostly about baccy and not pipes, you might find this article interesting/useful when deciding on what pipe to buy: Pipe shapes and tobacco blends. Some of us, when starting out, tend to buy a pipe because the shape and/or price appeals to us, but those might not necessarily be the most important factors. I started out with a churchwarden because I read somewhere that their long stem cools the smoke and prevents tongue burn... well, guess what: my churchwarden burns me more than my volcano or corn cob. :roll: I strongly suspect that its conical chamber has something to do with it. Anyway, hope that helps a bit.
I plan to start with a straight corn cob pipe. I've read good stuff about it. Cheap, user friendly, good for beginners.
I'll still take a look at that link.
I'll still take a look at that link.
Thanks! That hat is a symbol of a highlight of my life. A year ago, my lady rented this over 100 year old monster for me to drive for the day. That an experience! The 93 loco was built in 1909.
That 'Gandalf' pipe is called a churchwarden style. I would suspect that he has drawn many to the pleasures of pipe smoking
you have a lengthy IM as well
you have a lengthy IM as well
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