Day to day tastes

[leparker]

I wish I could know at the beginning of the day what going to taste good that day.
I started the day with Royal Yacht, it taste like crap. I usually love it. Next went Escudo which I love, it tasted like crap. I then tried a bowl of Sutliff's Bosphorus cruise, it tasted great.
Do others have this problem? You start to think about quitting the pipe, then a blend does it for you.

 

[mso489]

Parker, sure I've had that experience. Not often, not twice a week, but from time to time. I've guessed

that it is any one of several factors. The blend and the pipe don't match. The humidity is throwing off

the smoke, too much or too little. My taste buds and mouth chemistry just aren't liking the tobacco that

well. I may be somewhat dehydrated. Most often, a tobacco that I usually find mellow and pleasing comes

across harsh. Sometimes, if I put the pipe aside and come back later and relight, it tastes fine. It's a puzzle.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

The idea of quitting my pipes never crosses my mind. Better to quit breathing.
But yeh, taste change from day to day. And, sometimes just how I prep the tobacco makes the difference.
It's so odd. When I smoked cigarettes, I just stuck to the same brand for decades, never even considered switching. People who dip snuff, the same thing. I know a cigar guy who smokes the exact same brand every day. But, with the pipe, I've met very few guys who stick to one blend, except for a couple of codger blend guys, who only ever smoke PA or CH.

 

[leparker]

Cosmic,
I was the same with cigarettes, same brand year after year. It's weird with pipes though, it would be nice to know.

 

[cobguy]

I tend to follow my nose ... it always knows! lol
Seriously though ... if I'm unsure, I'll grab 2 or 3 jars and start sniffing.

Which ever one pleases the nose most wins.

 

[davidintexas]

I've been fighting the same thing. Not necessarily the bad taste problem. But, denying myself to opening another tin of something I haven't tried but really want to taste. I don't smoke that often, just couple times a week, and at that rate you can never finish a tin if you open up something you've never had. I would like to smoke the froggies but feel I need to finish the opened up ones first. Maybe there's no real sense to that kind of thinking, but then I feel I need to jar them up, and that takes up more room than unopened tins.

 

[otiumindignitatis]

To OT: Speaking from a somewhat similar experience, I suppose that your taste buds are simply fatigued. After a week or more of abstinence the flavours should come back full swing.

 

[johntron76]

I don't think it is because of the pipe smoking in general, I think it is just an question of mood and mindest:D

 

[moonman]

A whole new world has opened up for me.
I smoked cigarettes for 46 years, mostly the same brand. I smoked a pipe off and on during that time. Never got the hang of it. Smoked a bunch of harsh brands that would burn my tongue and say to myself, I just don't get it.
Eight weeks ago I laid the cigarettes down for good, picked the pipe up again mainly to keep that nicotine taste in my mouth to get me over the hump. Then I stated buying in opinion, good tobaccos. Frog Mortons, Larry's Blend, Black House, Town Topic, Golden Extra, etc.

I have to say, wow, what flavor, what variety, my senses are going into overload. So many years of opportunity missed trying and smoking great tobaccos.

One of my favorite parts of the day is getting off work,sitting in my den and lighting up a bowl of one my favorites and just letting my mind wonder over the daily events and enjoying life. That has become one of my simple pleasures that I never got out of cigarettes.

 

[topd]

Being a pipe smoker for more than 40 years I haven't thought about it in a while, but your post made me

consider it. I guess I've always regulated my tobacco choice to what I'm drinking, and I'm drinking

something all day long. It's coffee in the morning, and I match it with a Virginia blend like Ashton's

Brindle Flake or Butera's Dark Stoved.

Ice tea (and I drink it unsweetened) matches my taste with any Oriental. With beer I always choose something

stout in Latakia or a Balkan, and with scotch in the evening I pick a mixture with Latakia and Perique or

an English.
Now these wont work for everyone what with all the differing tastes. I don't use aromatics, which lots of

people do, and I smoke all day, which most don't. You just gotta find what works for you... Play with it,

you'll find what you like.

 

[12pups]

Parker:
If you mean in general (judging from when you said

You start to think about quitting the pipe, then a blend does it for you.

, yep. I will be smoking and suddenly think, "You know. I think I've had my fill of pipe smoking. Time to put it back in storage for another 20 years," and then later change my mind and be reunited with the calming, pleasant "moment" that it gives. Whether that takes place in the back yard by the woodpile listening to nuthatches or riding down the road, suddenly realizing my pace is holding up a line of traffic because I'm just not in the mood to speed anymore.
Yep. Happens a lot.
Others -- you've made me remember so many things. I'll share, but... probably not as interesting to others as it is to me. Taking a risk.
Cigarettes (quit in '88), I was mindlessly feeding an addiction. Sure, if I was unable to smoke for an hour or so, I *thought* I was getting pleasure from the cigarette. But upon reflection, it wasn't the pleasure of smoking so much as ending the displeasure of not smoking. I didn't like the smell or color of my fingers. I didn't like that I could never smell anything. I didn't like the morning phlegmy hack. There wasn't a *lot* I liked about cigarettes, except I disliked not being able to get one.
But I also associated the smell of smoking in the confines of a car with my dad, who smoked Pall Malls. So ... I did sort of develop a vague brand following. For instance, even long after I quit, I *did* like standing near others who smoked, stealing the scent of a brand name. LIked Pall Mall, Lucky's, Camels. And I hated the smell of some others.... most generics, when those came out, and couldn't stand Benson & Hedges, Tareytons, or most menthols.
Cigars and pipes, different. I'm not smoking them from addiction or need. I'm smoking them by choice. And having choices makes the *hobby* of smoking more... esoteric. I can be fussy. i can be artistic with it. Or go without.
And that makes all the difference in what I like this day or at this moment. Even now, I'm half-wondering, having momentary wisps of thoughts about what tobacco I *might* smoke later on. Well, till just now, when I consciously started thinking about it writing this. And I'm even choosing my pipe as we write, though it's in a box out in my truck.
Still undecided. Have to have breakfast and coffee. Those will maybe put me in a mood for one or another. Don't know for sure yet.

 

[12pups]

Actually, just talked myself *out* of a pipe. Work to do. Maybe later.
Choices. Variety. Cool.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I started the day with Royal Yacht, it taste like crap. I usually love it. Next went Escudo which I love, it tasted like crap.

Going back to the OP, I missed this, but you were trying to start the day with two flavor bombs. I love both of these as well, but latter in the day. I usually start off with a light straight Virginia or a lighter VaPer, and then work my way up these two. If I start off with the strongest flavors, I saturate my taste buds, giving me a salty taste with the rest of the tobacco that I smoke that day.