A Question About Different Types of Tobaccos

[Highlandpiper]

I suppose our grandfathers are the same as us in that here will be regional and personal preferences in their tobacco choice and therefore our fond memories or room note will be different. My childhood was filled with English tobacco aromas, spicy and smoky, and that is the 'Grandfather' note I craved and has guided my choices. Relatively new, compared to the wealth of wisdom on this forum, to all this, but what has worked for me is experiment with as many different tobacco types and blends you can and let your taste guide you to what works best for you.
English and Balkan blends very much provide the room note I remember.

 

[jerry]

This is a great thread!

 

[pappymac]

Let see if I can phrase this correctly...

I sometimes wonder if the tobacco blends our grandfathers smoked really smelled that good or if the fact that we are remembering a loved one has an effect on our memories.

Do we really love the room note of their tobacco, or do we love the room note because of the happy memories?

 

[Jacob74]

For me, it is the warmed briar aroma that makes the pipe distinct from cigarettes and cigars. It may be hard for the pipesmoker to understand, because of this weird cruel thing where we pipesmokers can’t easily smell our own roomnote.
But, I can load my pipe with cigarette tobacco and smoking it in a pipe does NOT smell like a cigarette. It smells like old fashioned pipe smoke.

I have been smoking straight Virginias, and people have walked up and told me that my smoke reminds them of their grandpa’s pipe. Same with a Virginia burley mix. Now, you can’t tell me that in the 1960’s in backwoods Alabama that their grandpa was smoking anything other than a codger blend… but yet the smell of the same tobacco type used predominantly in cigarettes triggers their olfactory memories. It’s the pipe, and that warmed briar aroma that makes pipesmoke smell different. Or, literally everyone who tells me this is stupid.

Warm briar could be part of it I suppose, but any time we are smelling something, it's because small particles are present in what we are inhaling, and our olfactory nerves are being stimulated. If the briar is giving off enough particle matter to be perceived along with the burnt tobacco, I'd think it would mean your pipe was being degraded.
Plus, wouldn't, clays, corncobs, and meers give off different aromas that should be perceivable?

I wonder if could also be the absence of burnt paper smell?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Warm briar could be part of it I suppose, but any time we are smelling something, it's because small particles are present in what we are inhaling, and our olfactory nerves are being stimulated. If the briar is giving off enough particle matter to be perceived along with the burnt tobacco, I'd think it would mean your pipe was being degraded.
Plus, wouldn't, clays, corncobs, and meers give off different aromas that should be perceivable?

I wonder if could also be the absence of burnt paper smell?

I have never been able to stand being around a corn cob when smoked. After years of cleaning out corn silos, the smell of one being smoked makes me nauseous.
I've never been around someone smoking a clay pipe.

It doesn't take but a microscopic amount of an oil in the air to create an aroma. It's not an overwhelming aroma, just a slight hint. Cedars will radiate an aroma for over a hundred year. My wife has a chest of cedar that is nearly 200 years old that still gives off a cedar aroma.

 

[Jacob74]

"It doesn't take but a microscopic amount of an oil in the air to create an aroma."

Subatomic farticles.

 

[ThermionicScott]

I wonder if could also be the absence of burnt paper smell?

That's what I've long chalked it up to. I mean, it's probably not the whole explanation, but I noticed years ago that if I rolled cigarettes of my pipe tobacco, it didn't smell as good.

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

That's what I've long chalked it up to. I mean, it's probably not the whole explanation, but I noticed years ago that if I rolled cigarettes of my pipe tobacco, it didn't smell as good.

And that paper has been chemically treated to regulate burn rate, etc.

 

[Singularis]

Another one similar to "that smell of my grandfather or father or uncle smoking a pipe" is the smell of someone outside somewhere -- down the street, or what have you -- smoking a pipe and catching a delightful whiff of that characteristic sweet, warm smell when the wind blows your direction.

Honestly, anything with black cavendish and a vanilla top note, with some sweetened, mild burley thrown in, is probably what does it for most people. Since that is what Captain Black White is mostly comprised of, and since that is the most popular tobacco blend in the world (or something), I wouldn't be surprised if that's what most screams "pipe smoking" when you catch a whiff of the smoke.

 

[mso489]

To echo others, smoking a pipe isn't the scent wafting past you in the wind or from across the room, so it would never be just the same.

 

[greysmoke]

It's the tins.

My maternal grandfather smoked Half & Half, and always had a half empty tin around. I remember seeing a new one on the kitchen counter from time to time after a shopping trip.

My paternal grandfather was more of a cigarette smoker but he usually had Prince Albert in a can.

 

[fishmansf]

In my youth, I fondly remember my Grandfather and his pipes. Especially his meerschaum pipe carved into the likeness of Uncle Sam. I am unsure what type of tobacco he smoked, whether he stuck to a particular brand, or if he enjoyed many different types. What I do remember was that each time he smoked there was that very distinctive smell of pipe tobacco. A smell you could not mistake for a cigar or cigarette.
The first tobacco I tried was Captain Black original. After that I went to my local B&M and tried a few house blends (explaining to them my affinity for Captain Black and desire for something similar).
Unfortunately, after getting back into pipe smoking, I found that particular shop is no longer in business. I found another and have begun experimenting with their house blends. My first non-aromatic was a Flake or Navy cut Burley. I was surprised to find the distinctive "pipe tobacco smell" was not there for this one. It tasted similar to cigarettes to me. At first, I didn't like it too much but after smoking half an ounce it started growing on me.
I would like to experiment with more blends trying some Virginia, English, Oriental, etc.
I am curious, are aromatics the only blends with that distinctive "pipe tobacco smell and taste?"
I have seen people get very creative and meticulous when describing a tobacco, its smell and its taste. However, I have found that all the aromatics I have tried, while having differences, have that similar pipe tobacco smell. Is this true for the rest of the different types

I would say that aromatics are the "pipe tobacco smell" you're experiencing. Most items today that are branded "pipe tobacco" whether candles, those scent sticks, body spray, air freshner, etc. are modeled after vanilla aromatic tobacco. If you liked the taste of Captain Black there are a lot of aromatic blends that are great and similar. One you might like that definitely has the quintessential pipe tobacco smell is Lane 1-Q or Mac Baren Vanilla Roll Cake (also any house blend from the Country Squire). Non aromatic tobaccos are going to smell much more cigarette-y than aromatics though I have come to quite enjoy all of their scents. The one non-aromatic tobacco that probably smells the least cigarette-y is Virginia tobacco. A couple of good starter recommendations there would be Peterson Flake or Orlik golden sliced. Nothing wrong with aromatics if that is what you enjoy though, just get ready for a really caked/gooped up pipe and some tongue bite once you learn the cadence right for you.

 

[Smoking Pipe402]

Gentleman Caller has that aroma that I remember as kid.

 

[The Clay King]

I have never been able to stand being around a corn cob when smoked. After years of cleaning out corn silos, the smell of one being smoked makes me nauseous.
I've never been around someone smoking a clay pipe.

It doesn't take but a microscopic amount of an oil in the air to create an aroma. It's not an overwhelming aroma, just a slight hint. Cedars will radiate an aroma for over a hundred year. My wife has a chest of cedar that is nearly 200 years old that still gives off a cedar aroma.

@cosmicfolklore I don't notice the classic pipe smell as much with re-enactors smoking clay pipes; it may be something to do with the baccy but there's a couple of times I did notice the classic pipe smell from a clay pipe; if I met them now I'd ask them which baccy they were smoking!

 

[PipeIT]

Aromatics are not the only blends with that distinctive "pipe tobacco smell and taste”.

It can also very from one blend to another, depending on how it was Cased or Topped, effecting smell and taste.

Ken in my opinion is the small Boutique maker of blends, you will want to check out his blends.

And one, I highly recommend, with all that distinctiveness, and an absolutely amazing blend is Sakura.

KBV Sakura – KBV

kbven.com

P.S. New Haven Connecticut, that was the first place I went to my first concert to see Boston in 1977. LOL

May 06, 1977: Boston at New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States | Concert Archives

Boston info along with concert photos, videos, setlists, and more.

www.concertarchives.org

 

[OverMountain]

My step grandfather smoked George Washington until they stopped making it around 1974. I once asked my older sisters and my cousins if they remembered what he smoked and everyone of them said, "George Washington."

I found it interesting that none of them could remember what he smoked after he couldn't buy it any longer.

What was GW like? Anything like existing codger blends?

 

[pappymac]

I found it to be a little sweeter than Prince Albert or slightly less flavorful than Carter Hall.
A few years ago, I was able to buy a 14 oz. tin from pipestud and I will occasionally open the storage jar and smoke a bowl of it.

I know I've smoked a sample of a bulk that was close but can't exactly remember what it was. I think it was Cube Cut Burley.

 

[krizzose]

All great replies, and I’ll add that you might want to try Sutliff Match Ready Rubbed. It’s meant to imitate Edgeworth ready rubbed, which was a burley topped with cocoa and molasses. It’s hard to get more “classic” than that

 

[Doctor Chopper]

For me, it is the warmed briar aroma that makes the pipe distinct from cigarettes and cigars. It may be hard for the pipesmoker to understand, because of this weird cruel thing where we pipesmokers can’t easily smell our own roomnote.
But, I can load my pipe with cigarette tobacco and smoking it in a pipe does NOT smell like a cigarette. It smells like old fashioned pipe smoke.

I have been smoking straight Virginias, and people have walked up and told me that my smoke reminds them of their grandpa’s pipe. Same with a Virginia burley mix. Now, you can’t tell me that in the 1960’s in backwoods Alabama that their grandpa was smoking anything other than a codger blend… but yet the smell of the same tobacco type used predominantly in cigarettes triggers their olfactory memories. It’s the pipe, and that warmed briar aroma that makes pipesmoke smell different. Or, literally everyone who tells me this is stupid.

While this may seem implausible, I have to agree. I have walked into a room and smelled the delicious aroma of a pipe without seeing the source. I have never enter a room and enjoyed a cigarette smell.

 

[kcghost]

A lot of tobacco has a pipe smell, but it can be difficult to tell which one you want because you didn't tell us what a "pipe smell" means to us.