Earth, Grass, Molasses and Citrus

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kanse

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 9, 2016
548
5
How does one learn tasting all the fruits and foods in their tobacco?

And even more perplexing to me, earth and grass.

Do reviews taste earth for reference and then compare tobacco to it?

 

pipebeast

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 20, 2016
155
0
I would think that all tobacco should taste like earth a little bit?
I'm not the one that would know though. I can't say I've ever tasted earth or grass in my smokes.
Maybe I should lick the ground first.

 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,249
108,349
It's more in the nose than on the tongue. Ever smelled a garden after rain? Earthy. Every smelled hay in the fall? Hay and grass. Retrohaling really brings these flavors out.

 

mortonbriar

Lifer
Oct 25, 2013
2,652
5,661
New Zealand
I think it is just difficult to describe the 'taste' of smoke using the language we ave available, and grass, earth, leather etc are kind of close enough in description for me to understand what the reviewer is picking up from the smoke.
for example

Its not like smoking dark fired kentucky leaf is the equivalent to chewing a lump of leather, but when ever I come across DFK in a blend there is what I describe as a 'leathery' taste...to be honest I cannot even describe exactly why that makes sense but it has something to do with smells and memory I think, because the leather smell reminds me of horse saddles, and old furniture...

 

bigpond

Lifer
Oct 14, 2014
2,019
13
You already know how to taste, what you need is a frame of reference to help you isolate and identify what you are tasting. Try using a tasting wheel while you smoke your next bowl. If you're looking at the chart, you may make a connection with a general taste or aroma, like "citrus", for example. From that point you might be able to refine what you're tasting to something that is a bit more specific like orange, or not. That's all part of the fun.
Generalities like wood, earth, citrus may help you to understand how tastes work in relation to each within a blend, but they don't create a very vivid "taste snapshot" of the blend.
For example, I smoked Sam Gawith Golden Glow last night for the first time.
Sidebar: I'm a big fan of FVF and BBF and was curious how this blend would compare as all three blends share the same recipe, only the amount of time in a steam press differs. GG has zero steam time, BBF 1.5 hours, FVF three hours.
Generally, I would say BBF has a lot of earthiness (chocolate) and citrus, while GG is sweet and fruity. Taking things further, I would say the strongest flavors in BBF are milk chocolate, orange and brown bread. While GG I noticed white peach, plum, honeycomb and graham cracker.
It doesn't matter how fine of a point you can put on things so long as it adds to your enjoyment and appreciation of your smoke.
Here are a couple of tasting wheels that may be of some assistance. You'll notice that neither is specific to pipe tobacco but they should be able to get you in the ballpark. Someone needs to make one specific to us.
https://bcpassets.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/cigar-flavors-wheel-large.png

http://www.suedafrika-wein.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Chenin_Blanc_Tasting_Wheel-.jpg
Tons of people (probably all of us) have had this same issue. Here's a thread with some good tips:

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/smokers-palate

 

sthbkr77

Starting to Get Obsessed
Mar 17, 2015
221
0
MD
If you want a good example of earthy, try Solani burley flakes, it's easy to pick out the fresh soil taste.
Grassy, Orlik golden sliced would give you a solid grass flavor.
These are just two of the easier ones to pick out, I'm sure you guys can round out the list.

 

jvnshr

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 4, 2015
4,616
3,868
Baku, Azerbaijan
What an amazing post by bigpond. I was about to write almost the same thing. Especially this one:
what you need is a frame of reference to help you isolate and identify what you are tasting.
I also would like to add that you have to taste everything in order to remember the taste and flavor of it. Few months ago, we were discussing this issue, I found and shared the chart below:
coffee_flavor_wheel.jpg

Here are a couple of tasting wheels that may be of some assistance. You'll notice that neither is specific to pipe tobacco but they should be able to get you in the ballpark. Someone needs to make one specific to us.
Back then I wanted to make a chart for pipe smokers, somehow I couldn't find time for that. I'll try to give it another shot.

 
Tasting and understanding reviews was the hardest part for me. It was easy to associate one tobacco to another one. "It tastes a lot like Red Cake or FVF." But, when reviewers noted caramel verses brown sugar or molasses, I am lost. I did figure out that I don't like coffee flavors in a tobacco, and I avoid earthy. Esoterica's Tillbury is often noted as earthy, and I do taste the dirt flavor. And, coffee flavors usually refers to a coating on the back of my throat taste that I don't like. However, I love coffee the drink, just don't like it in my smoke. But, all in all, I just don't give too much thought to reviews. All I really want to know from a review is, what is the genre, is it cased, topped (usually reviewers seem to be ignorant of what these terms mean), and what are the main leaves used. Other than that, I know that I am just not going to get into the raisin, apricot, lime, words, etc... I might better respond to sour, sweet, savory, etc... But, I respond even better when a reviewer associates a blend with other blends, "tastes like LBF," or "similar to Astleys 44." etc...
All in all, I think that we all go to reviews for different reasons at different stages of our hobby. At first, I think we all read reviews while smoking to see if we can taste the things listed. Then when frustrated with that, we find other uses for the reviews.

All in all, God bless those who donate their times to trying to review this stuff. It adds a fantastic dimension to the hobby that I can't find in cigars at all. I just wish there was one single great place to read reviews on cigars that isn't a tobacco shop trying to sell me more cigars.

 

perdurabo

Lifer
Jun 3, 2015
3,305
1,575
^^^^^^^^^^^^^At this point, the advice couldn't get much better than this. :clap:

 

pappymac

Lifer
Feb 26, 2015
3,272
4,267
Sometimes I wonder if my nose and tastebuds are shot because I fail to pick up the varying notes associated with some of the tobacco.

Then I realize it may be similar to a story I read a few years back about a big wine tasting where people stood around raving about the "nose" and flavors of these expensive bottles of wines they were sipping. At the end of the night, the organizers let everyone in on the secret - the wines were all counterfeit!
The counterfeit labels had been printed and glued to bottles of less expensive California wines.

 

davet

Lifer
May 9, 2015
3,815
330
Estey's Bridge N.B Canada
I like stories of blind taste tests, McD's coffee beat all the big names in one. Everybody is different, tastes differ and I'm sure our own likes weigh in as well. I don't get all of the nuances when comparing a blend to reviews but I get some and it's interesting to compare. Some blends get rave reviews and I get the opposite opinion, but tastes change and go back and try them again and it's like OH WOW I get it now.

 

toobfreak

Lifer
Dec 19, 2016
1,365
7
I deal with the review issue by simply not caring to read most reviews. The ones I do read I read mainly for their literary skill and superb organization and flow of thought. Then I try tobaccos and decide for myself what I think. I smoke what I like not for what others think of it. Every time I listen to someone tell me I ought to try this or that, more often than not I am disappointed.

 

kanse

Part of the Furniture Now
Jul 9, 2016
548
5
Thanks guys, your input is very much appreciated.

Especially those tasting wheels, they look very practical.
toobfreak

I noticed only recently that most blends out of 70 or so I've tasted, that blew my mind, were rated 4 by JimInks,

Which made me reconsider my position on appreciating other peoples opinions.

 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,625
44,836
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Sometimes I wonder if my nose and tastebuds are shot because I fail to pick up the varying notes associated with some of the tobacco.

Then I realize it may be similar to a story I read a few years back about a big wine tasting where people stood around raving about the "nose" and flavors of these expensive bottles of wines they were sipping. At the end of the night, the organizers let everyone in on the secret - the wines were all counterfeit!
The counterfeit labels had been printed and glued to bottles of less expensive California wines.
Yep. Happened in the early 1970's at a blind tasting, held in Paris IIRC, of what were supposed to be Premier Cru wines. The various attendees sang the praises of their beloved French wine, so superior to that swill bottled in California, only to find out that they had been drinking California wines. When the news broke, it put California wins on the international map. I can't remember if it was a Clos du Val, or a Clos du Bois that won the competition. So long ago.
Experience helps develop a palate, to the extent that it can be developed. Not everybody has the same chops. The comment about a leather taste makes perfect sense to me, considering that leather has a scent from tanning, which some blends also contain. Most of these descriptors make sense when considered as scents.

 

toobfreak

Lifer
Dec 19, 2016
1,365
7
I noticed only recently that most blends out of 70 or so I've tasted, that blew my mind, were rated 4 by JimInks, Which made me reconsider my position on appreciating other peoples opinions.
Yes, IMO, Jim is about the best tobacco reviewer out there I've seen, not only in the structure of how he writes them, but in the conclusions he draws. I actually just read a review of a blend I know very well posted by one of the 'pros' and found it very wanting---- it really didn't say much of anything! It didn't leave me feeling like I had really leaned anything about the tobacco at hand, but I cannot say the same thing about JimInks reviews; substantive, evoking a clear feel for how he experienced the tobacco.

 

jkrug

Lifer
Jan 23, 2015
2,867
8
So you're telling me I went out and ate dirt, urinal cakes and grass for nothing? Boy do I feel foolish.
:clap: Well played sir...well played!! :puffy:

 
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