Confused beginner! Changing palate?!

[davedan]

Hi guys (and gals?),
I just had the most strange experience! I first got some Orlik golden sliced, and SPC's Mississipi River and didn't like the river that much but loved the OGS. Then got some Balkan blue and old gowrie. Didn't like the Balkan Blue but loved gowrie. Had been smoking one bowl a day of gowrie and today I just got bored of it and thought I'd give River a try and just loved it! Don't wana smoke gowrie anymore and now River is my favorite...is this normal or am I just not normal lol 8O

Is pipe smoking like food in that if you eat the same food for a week or two you'd get sick of it and would want to try something different?
edit: all this change within a couple of weeks! Also, I'm only smoking one bowl a day - maximum limit!

 

[prairiedruid]

Is pipe smoking like food in that if you eat the same food for a week or two you'd get sick of it and would want to try something different?

Sometimes...that's why I have about 10 blends open to pick and choose from depending on my mood. Early on the flavor you experience from blends will change as you become more accomplished as a pipe smoker. Learning to pack a bowl and developing a smoking pace that works best for you will dramatically change the flavor profile of a blend from when you first stuffed and puffed. One common thing said on the board is that your tastes will change as you learn how to smoke. If something doesn't appeal to you right now just jar it up and comeback to it in a few months/years.

 

[cortezattic]

prairiedruid +1
My reactions are always changing: with time of day; appetite; pipe used; weather and humidity; even emotional state, I think!

But even though there are a lot of changing variables, every now and then things come together for that moment of ecstasy we all live for.

 

[rfernand]

My choices have narrowed over time.

 

[stickframer]

Maybe go back to Gowrie again in a months time and see what you think.
I've had some blends that I loved at first get dull and boring, and after a long break they've become favorites again.
Sometimes it's good to switch it up.

 

[aldecaker]

I think what you're experiencing is completely normal. Myself, I go through "streaks". For days at a time, I'll smoke a blend, thinking, "Oh my God, this is my desert island tobacco!". Then I smoke a bowl that kind of falls flat, and get the taste for something else. Which I usually smoke the hell out of for a few days, thinking, "No, this is the one I could be happy with forever!". You get the idea. Some of us are one blend, "it's all I smoked for years" types, but some of us are "variety is the spice of life" types.

 

[mortonbriar]

Yeah that's pretty normal, jar anything up that you don't like in the moment, revisit it in 6 months you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

[prndl]

Change up your pipes, if you haven't already.
Some blends just sing in certain pipes, yet cry in others.

 

[cigrmaster]

I normally have 20 plus blends ready to smoke so when I crave a certain blend I can smoke it. I love variety.

 

[4ndrewjones]

Same experience here, sometimes I will love an English blend sometimes hate it. I can concur on the packing of the bowl and speed you smoke has a dramatic effect. Biggest flavour changer for me is my mood, standing around relaxed your mouth finds something it likes in most blends! Try something when your in a rush and it might not taste so good. An interesting video to check out on this is by Matches860 on YouTube called "the ultimate smoke." Would be interesting to hear what you guys thought.

 

[styler]

I've been at this a wee while now but I still experience what you're going through. I was solely a cigar smoker for years and I pretty much knew within a couple of sticks if I liked a cigar or not. With pipe tobacco it't totally different, I chop and change all the time.
Recently I went through a phase of thinking that I only really liked straight VAs or VApers, so I stocked up on those quite heavily during a couple of TAD attacks. Then I got a sample of Nightcap and totally U-turned, thinking that I loved latakia. All I can surmise is that my enjoyment of a particular tobacco at any given time is dependent on many factors outside of the tobacco it'self. From the chosen pipe, to the packing method, to the moisture level of the tobacco, to the current season, even to my mood on the day.
As others have said. If you have an amount of a 'generally respected' tobacco, but it's not really ringing your bell, hold on to it for a while. Chances are, it will be precisely the thing to scratch that itch somewhere down the line. This notion frustrated me initially. I wanted to hone in on exactly the tobaccos that I liked asap so that I could start building a stock-pile to age (ie. the same mindset as I had when starting with cigars). Now though, I've learned to be a lot more 'chill' about my pipe smoking, it's definitely a journey to be enjoyed rather than a destination to race to.

 

[hawky454]

My reactions are always changing: with time of day; appetite; pipe used; weather and humidity; even emotional state, I think!

But even though there are a lot of changing variables, every now and then things come together for that moment of ecstasy we all live for.

Cortez said it in a nutshell. I'm all over the place, I have at least 20 different tobaccos in my rotation at the moment. When I have that epiphany smoke, I always try to go back to that same blend and get to that same state of nirvana but everything has to be in place. I can guarantee you, if you go back to OG another time you'll fall back in love with it.