Can Pipe Tobacco Flavor Change During Smoke?

[wallbright]

I had a bowl of GL Pease Lagonda tonight and I swear it changed flavors in the last third of the bowl. Before this point I thought it was an okay blend but once it reached the final third the blend really came together. I recounted this to my friend tonight and he states that pipe tobacco, unlike cigars, does not change during the smoke. So what say you guys, can a blend change flavors during the smoke?

 

[cortezattic]

I say that most blends do change as the smoke progresses from top to bottom. The leaf on the bottom can't possibly taste the same as the upper portions of the bowl that haven't been bathed in smoke, moisture, and heat-released resins for the same amount of time. Whether this change is a benefit can vary from one blend to another. Virginia's are famous for growing less citrus and increasingly more caramel like as the smoke progresses -- to the point that in some blends, the heel of the bowl has a carbony, burnt marshmallow taste.

 

[philip]

I wasn't sure if the flavors were changing or if I was just reacting differently to the flavors that were there. Either way, I guess it amounts to the same thing. The experience changes as the bowl progresses.

 

[baronsamedi]

H&H Magnum Opus is very complex and changes many times throughout the smoke!

 

[igloo]

Gotta love a complex blend , try GLP Piccadilly .

 

[alistairjames]

As you smoke a bowl the condition of the tobacco will change (the heat, moisture, oxygen levels etc will change as well as any chemical changes through the combustion process). In addition to this, as your palate becomes used to certain flavours your brain will focus on them less, so you're likely to notice other aspects of the tobacco you might not have previously.
...I think anyway...

 

[tobakenist]

I have always loved the changes of a smoke, some times I love the first 1/3 sometimes the middle and sometimes the last, this depends on the pipe I'm smoking and on whatever tobacco I smoke.

 

[spyder71]

Thats part of the fun!

 

[judcole]

Certainly a blend can change over the course of a bowl. Not all do - some blends will smoke the same, top to bottom. But a good complex blend will change. Your friend's views may be based on personal experience with blends that are the same, top to bottom.

 

[bigvan]

McClelland's 221b Black Shag is like this for me. The first 1/3 of the bowl is VERY overpowering, but then all of a sudden it evens out into a very smooth smoke.

 

[olderthandirt]

Does your friend smoke a pipe?

hehe, most blends do indeed change in flavor throughout the course of a smoke for me.

The only one that comes to mind at the moment that does not change is FMOTT. For me mind you.
I'm in the crowd that enjoys that final part of bowl the most, richer, darker, smoother just plain all 'round tastier. I also love the last cup from a pot of coffee that's been on for hours! (-;

 

[lordofthepiperings]

I first noticed this when I had my first bowl of 7 Seas Regular Blend by MacBaren. It started out with a nice vanilla flavour, then moved into a good chocolate flavour, then the two kind of morphed together, and lastly the golden burley seemed to come to the front. I love how the falvours mingle and intertwine throughout the smoke. It makes it more enjoyable to me.

 

[cortezattic]

IMO, alistairjames provides the most complete answer. :clap:

I totally overlooked the psychological and physiological aspects of the situation, which may include satiety and palate fatigue.

 

[jcsoldit]

I've got agree your friend either doesn't smoke a pipe or what ever blends he has smoked are not complex enough for his palette to pick up on the differences. I'm far from an expert but it has been my experience that the complexities in a blend are easier to notice in English or Balkan blend as the Latakia, Orientals, and sometimes Perique take turns trying to be the dominant leaf. I can however still notice and enjoy the changes in my normal VA and VaPer choices.

 

[yoru]

I've noticed Altadis blend turn to rubbish at the heel of the bowl, every single time unless in my tall clay-bowled pipe with an 8" bamboo stem. I think its the height and slim diameter of the bowl itself that facilitates a nearly perfect burn straight to white ash every time that prevents what is likely fluid accumulation that produces that awful end. Particularly because, while a large amount of fluid does end up at the bottom of the stem and in the shaft of the bowl, it never makes it way up, and never seems to sit in the bowl.

 

[markw4mms]

Yes, if smoking a complex blend, the flavors will change, and that's the beauty of smoking them!