Ghosting Test

[nickg]

I read a lot about ghosting and many had varying opinions on the subject so I decided to do a test. Let me first say that starting pipe smoking again after 35+ years of abstinence (due to cig smoking) means my palate is probably not as keen as many of you out there.
I smoked (briar) non-aromatic and aromatic in the same pipe (resting about 1.5 to 2 hrs in between and using a pipe cleaner) and I have to say that I didn't really sense any real ghosting. If there was the slightest sense it quickly evaporated and I was able to enjoy whatever type of tobacco I had in the bowl.

 

[grafikchaos]

Generally speaking, ghosting is something that happens over time. Switching from aro to non-aro with a short rest probably won't give you any kind of ghost. For the most part, it is when someone smokes primarily an aro heavily out of a briar over a much longer time frame. If you take your pipe, and smoke nothing but aros for some time, build up the cake with the aro, then it may eventually ghost. My Savinelli Morino is now not a very good English pipe, because it ghosts from aromatics. I can put something like GLP Westminster in it, which is a full blown English, and I get sweetness, and a very slight vanilla flavor, which is NOT supposed to happen. Most likely it comes from smoking 1Q and MacB Seven Seas in it rather heavily.
If you change up your style of tobacco regularly, then the pipe will take a long time ghost. But if you stick to one particular style of tobacco, then ghosting could happen sooner rather than later.

 

[judcole]

I'm not sure one bowl would make that much difference. It would depend on the aro, too.
And, of course,some folks don't notice a problem with ghosting, while others do. Your test proved that, with the tobacco you used, you didn't notice a difference. It doesn't mean that someone else might not have a problem. ::

 

[winton]

There are some blends that ghost much faster than others. Lakeland flavor will ghost a pipe. I have heard that deer tongue will also ghost. On blends like these, use a cob. You don't want to try lakeland in your new Peterson. Regardless on whether you like it, it will flavor your future smokes in that pipe.

 

[nickg]

grafikchaos:

Jud:

winton:

Your answers make a lot of sense. I can see the logic in them. By what you've said and the fact that I have over a dozen and a half pipes, I think I'll rotate.
Thanks

 

[grafikchaos]

Rotate and rest, you can't really lose. Some people believe in dedicating certain pipes to certain blends. Then you have people like me who don't pay attention and end up forcing a pipe to be dedicated.

 

[sjpipesmoker]

The ghosting will depend on the strength of the tobaccos and the length that you smoke said blends in your pipe.

I usually smoke 1 pipe for a month or so with aros and English without doing any heavy cleaning and I can taste some faint ghosting but nothing to extreme, I'm sure a true connoisseur can tell, I don't worry about it too much even though I can smoke a different pipe every day and not smoke the same one twice

 

[reichenbach]

I prefer VaPers or an approximation there of so my pipes are de facto 'dedicated' based on the fact those are the blends I primarily smoke. I do have one that I only smoke aros out of and 2 that I only smoke the English but I not really into heavy aro or heavy English anyway so if I wanted to smoke one in my pipe for the day, I have done so with little ill effect. That being said, I found a pipe from my first round of pipe smoking 10 years ago, and they benefited greatly from a good ream and a little patience because I was smoking aros and English exclusively and it's little wonder I left the game. A steady diet of Sunset Breeze, Night Cap, FMOTB, and Capt Black mixed together in a two pipe rotation with little maintenance performed and little rest makes for confused and cranky briar.

 

[pstlpkr]

All of the above are good and reasoned observations.

I concur that unless you smoked a strong Aro in the same pipe for an extended period of time ghosting shouldn't be much of an issue.

If it is a real issue you could possibly perform a salt and alcohol treatment, and if that doesn't correct any issues you may encounter, then your could (pardon the rhyme) resort to a retort.
I'm sorry nickg I can't let this opportunity to pass....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9We2XsVZfc

 

[clyde]

For a short term test. Smoke a one and a half ounce packet of Mixture 79 exclusively. Then switch to a blend that is predominately burley. Mixture 79 can ghost the shelf it is stored on. 8O

 

[cigrmaster]

I dedicate my pipes into 4 categories. VA flakes, Vaper flakes, Lakeland blends and aromatics. The latter 2 ghost a lot, the first 2 do not. If I am smoking a nice VA flake, I don't want the flavor of a lakeland taking it over, for me it defeats the purpose of that blend. In my experience nothing ghosts a pipe as severely as a lakeland blend. It takes at least a dozen bowls to get the ghost out of it.

 

[pstlpkr]

If you're looking for a blend that will instantly ghost a pipe...

Stanwell's Melange.

IMHO... Bloody awful.

Made the pipe taste like a rotten orange after 1 puff.

It took about 10 bowls to get that taste out of my pipe.

I only puffed the light once before I had to dumped it out.