Flavor Orgasm only last 10-20 Puff's ?

[hobie1dog]

I have been experiencing something lately that I need an answer for. When lighting up, as in a recent episode with "Beacon Extra", there is a rush of intense flavor, totally void of any burnt ash/bowl residue/nastiness, that gives me a brief olfactory Orgasm. It's a quick glimpse of pure flavor that only lasts for the first 10-15 puffs and then slips away towards a mediocre bowl of baccy. Tonite the same thing happened with my Northwoods. Does the mouth/tongue get acclimated that quickly to the taste ? I think that once a large area of baccy gets burning, that the ash smell must tend to subdue the flavor components.

Could the shallower bowls have a higher tendency to do this over a deeper bowl? I want to find out the secret to making that initial pure flavor rush last alot longer. Any input is appreciated.

 

[ohin3]

See I seem to be just the opposite. I like the bowl best after that initial blast subsides and everything settles down to slow smoulder. I guess that's just me though.

 

[menckenite]

hobie1dog,
I've had this happend several times so I'm going to take some guesses at this:
1. The casing on the tobacco is the flavor you're enjoying but once it burns off, you're left with mediocre weed that only has an ashy taste to offer.
2. Pipe mouth fatigue. Have you been smoking more than usual?
3. The bowl physics idea as you mentioned but I've put it last since I'm ignorant on this at the moment.
Anyway, that's all I got. I will be watching this thread for more information that others have to offer.

 

[hobie1dog]

No, I haven't been smoking any more than usual, so I think we can discount that one.

 

[mlaug]

Just a wild guess, but I notice my smoke/taste experience changes with what I've been eating.
We had some chili the other night, my wife likes bland. I kick mine up several notches...think liquid fire.
I had an after supper smoke that didn't taste like anything except smoke.
Eating anything spicy, hot, or super sweet?

 

[menckenite]

mlaug,
I experiance the same thing. If I plan on smoking a Virgina Flake after dinner (usually always smoke these before), I don't spice up the food or add my favorite hot sauce. Also, I've noticed this with beverages. If I really want to enjoy a VF at it's fullest potential, I have to stick with water or, at most, Earl Grey Tea. For me, English blends call for beer and I heed to that call ... often.

 

[mlaug]

It would be interesting to see what food/drink pairings would enhance or diminish a smoke.

 

[hobie1dog]

I can experience this before lunchtime, so I don't think that eating spicy things affects it.

 

[hobie1dog]

I tried more Boswell's Christmas Cookie last night, and still the same thing is going on. Lots of initial flavor, then at half bowl level, it just loses 80% of it's flavor. I would like to find a aromatic that lasted the whole bowl instead of going flat. It seems like a big waste baccy to have to dump out the last half of a bowl.

 

[mluyckx]

I have come to recognize difference in flavors as well as the bowl progresses and I am somewhat with you. I very often find the first half of the bowl to taste... I don't know... better ? Or at least more pronounced. I sometimes even have a little bitterness when getting to the bottom. Especially with an aromatic. At that point, which for me is always the signal to call it quits, I often dump what's left in that bowl.
I can't really say I have noticed a difference with deeper bowls. It just takes longer to reach that point where the flavor is starting to diminish or turn bitter. Now I think I can somewhat explain the bitterness being moisture. Nicotine when dissolved tastes bitter. Having smoked cigarettes for as long as I have, you can tell that bitter tobacco/nicotine flavor. My assumption is that a more moist tobacco would generate more steam, more moisture in the bowl, dissolving some of the tobacco/nicotine bitterness and hence influencing the flavor that way. But as far as having a diminishing overall flavor when one progresses through the bowl, I have no clue but can vouch that it does happen to me too.
I'd love to have Master Pease or Master Ouelette weigh in on this. I agree

 

[hobie1dog]

Mick, that seems to be exactly what is happening.

 

[spartan]

You can test Mick's theory by smoking your aro blend in a meer or clay.
Sounds like you need a dryer smoke than a briar can provide for you.

 

[cortezattic]

IMO, several things contribute to the phenomenon:

1. The taste of tobacco has greater clarity because it stands in contrast to the clear palate you had before lighting up
   
   The tobaccos below the ember are getting cooked as you smoke the untoasted, more exuberant flavors at the top of the bowl
   
   The taste buds fatigue somewhat, the salivary glands produce less, the soft tissues of the mouth parch slightly
   
   The flavor of a fresh bowl becomes the status quo as the smoker's senses adapt, or inure to a continuous flow of flavor
   
   The pipe changes as it heats up and is exposed to increasing moisture
   
   Past mid bowl the smoker draws through a greater amount of overlying ash, possibly changing the pH of the system

Just a WAG on my part.

It seems to me that either Pease or Ouellette did blog on this to some extend. It sounds like a Pease-type issue to me.

Paul Szabady once advised that for best results when smoking a Virginia flake, remove the overlying ash after mid-bowl. It works for me.

Some may want to read Neill Archer Roan's article The Thermodynamics Of Pipe Smoking

 

[hobie1dog]

You can test Mick's theory by smoking your aro blend in a meer or clay.

There are a couple of Meers coming my way soon.

 

[theotherspace]

I am with Ohin on that one, I enjoy the pipe more by the half way point, but my grandad used to always let his pipe go out, then tap the ash, and mix the remaining tobacco before reliting. Never actually asked him why!

 

[cigrmaster]

I always dump ash at least at the halfway point too much ash is no good. I smoke flakes and they in my opinion get better and better the more you smoke them. They develop a sweetness that gets stronger the farther down the bowl you go. I have found that aro's tend to lose flavor after a while unlike my flakes which develop flavor and strength.

 

[kabong30]

I just wanted to pop in here and say that there's already enough phallic imagery with my P-lip stems that I don't need to compound it with the thought of an orgasm in my mouth. 8O :wink:

 

[hobie1dog]

I was going to take the Christmas Cookie on vacation with me, but I'm going to leave it home now. I wanted to take an aromatic with me to have something with a good room note for public smoking, but may just take the Penzance and make them put up with the smell of horse shit. :nana:

 

[bentmike]

Some great postulations in this thread, in particular from Mick, Spartan and Cortez. It is certainly a challenge to put down into words the subtleties of smoking technique and tobacco flavors. You guys do a nice job with it!

I want to find out the secret to making that initial pure flavor rush last alot longer. Any input is appreciated.

I've been enjoying my new meer the past couple weeks and have been surprised many times to have the pipe go out only to discover I've smoked all the way down to the bottom and just a tiny bit of dry ash is all that falls out. No wet dottle or anything. The meerschaum really absorbs the condensation. Because of this the change of the flavor profile during the smoke seems to be quite less than when I use my briars. There is still a change past midbowl with the tobacco becoming more nutty or carmelly but nowhere near the drastic change of an aromatic in a briar.
So I think Spartan's is a great idea and you said you have some meers coming so do some testing once you've got your new pipes. I think you'll be impressed with the meerschaum and how it handles aromatics.

 

[batdemon]

Well, hobie, I think the solution to this problem requires more investigation. I think you should box up these offending baccys and send them off to me for further experimentation.