Frustrated by Escudo Navy De Luxe Rolls

[fishmansf]

Escudo was what first introduced me to Virginias and I fell MADLY in love with them ever since my first smoke. They’re flavor swept me off my feet every time I’d light up a bowl but one day…. Poof…. Gone. This was about a month ago and I have been desperately trying to get my blend back. I’ve tried everything: rubbing it out, drying it, taking it right from the jar and stuffing the coin in my pipe, etc. and I cannot taste that wonderful Virginia flavor to save my life anymore. Some people say to just try and find a new blend but Escudo to me is like a long lost love: it hurts to think of the sweet memories and it would be best to just let them go and be lost to time but damn, is it sweet to think about and reminisce ! Have any of you had similar situations and it so, how did you get your taste back?

 

[NomadOrb]

Maybe give it a good long break and allow your palate to experience other flavors for a while.

 

[BarrelProof]

Stove it.

 

[sablebrush52]

Give it a rest. Familiarity breeds contempt, etc, etc.
Try something different.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

There have been a few times over the years where I all of a sudden couldn't taste my tobacco's. It's not like I couldn't taste them at all, but they all just seemed bland and I didn't enjoy them like I normally did. For me, what worked best was taking a break. As a pipe and cigar smoker, just smoked cigars more regularly for a period of time, and when I came back to the pipe the flavors had returned. Maybe take a break or switch up your daily smokes with a different tobacco for a bit.

 

[Davy]

Do you smoke it in the same pipe? Have you removed some cake from the chamber recently, or did you let it build up? Sometimes, when the cake becomes too thick, the tobacco will lose all its flavor.

If it's not the pipe, it could be just a matter of smoking another genre for a while and then returning to Escudo. I used to smoke a lot of English blends then, suddenly, they became bland. I switched to some VA/PER and BU for a while (about 6 months, or so) and tried an English again.

It was all good, everything was back to normal. I have no explanation besides some kind of taste bud saturation toward Latakias.

 

[bullet08]

Tongue fatigue. Take a break from that blend and come back to it sometime later. Try Dunhill/Peterson Navy Roll.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

There are just so many factors as to why tastes do things like this. Anxiety, palate fatigue, covid, smoking cadence, on and on... It's really hard to diagnose over the internets like this. I think that taking a break from it is a good start, not knowing all of the other possible factors.

 

[fishmansf]

There have been a few times over the years where I all of a sudden couldn't taste my tobacco's. It's not like I couldn't taste them at all, but they all just seemed bland and I didn't enjoy them like I normally did. For me, what worked best was taking a break. As a pipe and cigar smoker, just smoked cigars more regularly for a period of time, and when I came back to the pipe the flavors had returned. Maybe take a break or switch up your daily smokes with a different tobacco for a bit.

I think that’s a better description of how it is for me as well; it’s just extremely bland and can only taste it when I retrohaling and even then it’s just barely.

 

[renfield]

Try something different for a while, like Burley blends. Changing things up once in a while helps reset your palate when fatigue sets in.

Give your pipe a good cleaning before returning to Va blends, especially the stem and shank. To me that helps the tobacco to speak more clearly.

 

[mso489]

That is an advantage of rotating genres on a regular basis so you don't burn out on specific blends or condiments like Latakia.

 

[dunnyboy]

On the off chance you got a bum tin, try cracking another one as see if it still tastes bland.

 

[shermnatman]

Every time this happens to me, it's my signal I've been hanging on one blend too long.

For me, a blend never tastes as good as when I am first switching off from something else I've been smoking too frequently. - Sherm Natman

 

[ThermionicScott]

I had the same thing happen, also with Escudo. I randomly decided that I would crack a tin and smoke it exclusively until it was gone, for science! The first couple of bowls were delicious -- sweet, tangy, great Virginia flavors, etc. But by the end, I was having trouble tasting those things as much. I smoked it in a variety of pipes, I scraped my tongue every night while brushing my teeth, and fretted that something bad was happening to my palate.

Smoking a different blend afterward was quite the relief!

 

[anotherbob]

It's your bodies way of saying it needs more stimulation. Just like any other thing with the nervous system our taste buds can get bored even when you're not. And you might also have allergies. Sometimes during allergy season every blend just tastes flat and some suffer more then others.

 

[kcghost]

Scan Tabak doesn't do a very good job of recreating the Escudo experience of 20 years ago.

 

[FLDRD]

As stated above, take a break and give your palate some variety.

 

[Coreios]

I get tongue fatigue too. Smoke something different and come back to it later. Maybe try a different pipe thats been rested too.

 

[alexnc]

That’s a routine with me. That’s when I rotate to something completely different. Like from a VaPer I might go burley, or cigar blend, maybe Lakelands. You’ll find your Escudo love again, just give it a break.

 

[romaso]

I'll second the give your pipe a good cleaning suggestions. And keep at least one pipe dedicated to it. If you smoke something other than a Virginia in it, you can blunt the Virginia subtleties.