All tobaccos taste the same...what's the problem?

[russ]

I to am a novice, but I learned very quickly that aros were not my bag. Sure they smell amazing, but taste nothing like they smell. I am cigarette smoker, so my tastes are a bit off to begin with, I smoke more cigs then I do a pipe during the day. I was getting a little frustrated reading the reviews of tobaccos and not tasting ANYTHING like what was being described. I know I still have my packing issues at times (most) but I have learned to slow down my puffing. But the biggest thing I have learned, the one thing that has truly helped me with the taste and feel of the tobacco was to cleanse my pallet before smoking. During the day at work, I rinse my mouth out with a little mouth wash, then with a little water, when I am home, I brush my teeth before going out on the porch for a bowl. It also helps me to have a bottle of water while I puff. My mouth gets dry, and stale dry mouth will not let me taste the flavors. Tonight was the longest I sat smoking a single bowl with minimal re lights, an hour and 10 minutes. I was in heaven. I suggest from one newbie to another, read and listen to what the experienced puffers have to say, and if I may make a suggestion as far as a blend to try, go for the Spartans English on P&C, it is my all day smoke. And I would listen to Captain Bob and the rest, get rid of the paper filter, and I too say get a cob. A cob was my first pipe, and I have expanded my pipe collection immensely in the past few weeks, but I always smoke that cob at least once a day.

 

[captainbob]

Don't forget that your palate is affected by what you put into your mouth. Therefore, your body chemistry on any particular day as well as what taste residue is in your mouth, will affect your taste going forward. Especially, cigar smoke followed by a pipe. Try rinsing with water to clense the palate before lighting up the pipe. That does help when I taste test a new blend. I also find that alcohol works well as a neutralizer. Perhaps too much of a neutralizer! Bottom line, clense the palate and try again.

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[slowpuffer]

I had this exact same problem when I first picked up the pipe. At that time, I was smoking 1-2 bowls a day very regularly. Within a couple months, I noticed that my palate become much more sensitive and I could really taste the difference between blends. Unfortunately, after a couple of years I had an affair with cigarettes, went through periods where I may smoke one bowl a week, etc. Every time I have started with the pipe again, I've had the same issue. If I could do it all over again, I'd stick with one blend that was easy on my tongue and smoke it until I started picking up on all of its flavors. Then I'd start exploring other blends. It is very easy to want to sample the whole world of tobaccos at once! However, you don't want to do that if your palate isn't mature enough to enjoy them all.

 

[nmbigfoot02]

One weird trick I've found that helps: try brushing your teeth 15-20 min before you smoke. It takes a bit of pre-planning, but I've found that when I do this, the flavors jump out at me. The 15-20 min is critical; otherwise it will taste like tooth paste.

 

[drjones013]

I actually started off as a cigarette smoker, then cigars (Garcia y Vega, yikes), and bounced between those two for about a year before trying on a pipe. I still smoke all three at various times (and the pipe has just come back after an almost decade hiatus).
I've found there are a lot of parallels between wine tasting and smoking. Proper cleansing of the palate is necessary and tobacco tends to cling onto the mouth. Tobacco isn't just tobacco, either; try smoking a latakia and then reaching for a Honduran cigar after! Your pipe is ALSO gaining all of those flavors, particularly if it's a briar wood. I smoke just about everything out of a pipe that I like BUT I know that I like burleys and virginias. Anything I'm iffy about goes into a corncob OR gets a thorough cleaning of the pipe before and after.
All that having been said... when you first start off pipe smoking it's almost inevitable that the pipe bites you, meaning you get a burning sensation on your tongue. The only way to get past that initial burn is to acclimate your tongue to pipe smoking. That means... more frequent pipe smoking. I couldn't hand bourbons to someone who doesn't drink regularly and ask them to taste the difference... they'll immediately grasp onto the similarities which is the alcohol burn.