How Many Bowls are Sufficient to "Try" a New (to You) Blend?

[kcghost]

A couple of bowls is enough for me to decide if a blend and myself are going to get along. I'll usually smoke the rest of the tin and move on to something I like a lot better.

 

[karam]

Love at first bowl: Nightcap, DeluxeNavyRolls, 1792, Tom’s Dark Twist, StBernard Flake, Bayou Morning Flake, Acadian Perique, ODF, Dark Flake Scented, Sweet Rum Twist, Conniston Cut Plug, Bob’s choc flake and others
2-4: Director’s cut, Zulu, Byzantium
Half a tin (50g): Janneman Flake

Think i fall in the love at first bowl camp, Janneman was a very pleasant surprise.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Just anecdotal, but if you don’t smoke for a week, tobacco can taste differently than if smoked everyday.

 

[anotherbob]

Sometimes, I know from the first light that I'm really going to enjoy a blend. However, sometimes, I've got to smoke the better part of a tin before I can even figure out my view on a given blend. I've read other forum members making similar statements, but I find myself wondering why this is the case, and how other forum members' experiences match up here with mine.

Earlier in my pipe smoking days, there was frequently a "user error" component, like the first time I tried to smoke SG Full Virginia Flake straight from the tin, as wet as an aromatic gooper. Obviously that was a poor experience. However, it's been a number of years now since any of those technique issues presented much of an impediment to my enjoyment. Even so, I still sometimes need ten bowls or more to even halfway "figure out" a blend.

I'm a creature of habit and tend to smoke the same stuff all the time, though occasionally I make efforts to branch out. I got a few new-to-me blends recently, including Peterson (Dunhill... I'm still calling it Dunhill) Deluxe Navy Rolls. I had high hopes for this blend, given its popularity. I rubbed out a couple of coins, let them dry some, and packed one of my favorite tall and narrow pipes that I use for Virginias and VA/pers. All I got was rough edges and a bit of perique spice. Same thing for the next few bowls over the past week or two, though there were a few moments where some good earthy, plum-figgy, and slightly spicy flavors peeked through.

Fast forward to last night, and I decided to try another bowl of Navy Rolls. I figured with the blend's popularity, there must be more to it than what I had previously experienced. Lo and behold, it was a glorious experience of medium-dark, earthy, slightly fruity Virginia with plenty of plum-figgy perique that also included a touch of spice. Basically, the entire experience consisted of those wonderful flavors that had only peeked out on occasion previously. All I can do is wonder "what changed?" Was it that the tin was open for a couple weeks? Is it that my palate was off when I first tried it? What gives?

In any case, I kept trying to enjoy my tin of Navy Rolls because I've had similar experiences before, and I'm glad I did. It is an excellent blend. I just wonder why sometimes it takes a while to get there.

Please ruminate. Thank you.

when i get a new tin i pop it open about a week before i smoke it and that is often what it takes for the blend to really show it's true self. No certainty as to why that is, i have some guesses.

 

[krizzose]

Any blend that I didn’t like I knew with the first bowl. I give things a chance and will smoke more, but I’ve never come around to something I actively disliked during the first smoke.

There have been a handful of blends that I grew to like over time, but those were usually blends I initially thought were maybe a little bland, boring, or had a distracting harshness to them that calmed down with airing and age.

 

[virginialover]

It's usually a three bowl solution that makes or brakes a pipe tobacco for me

 

[Grangerous]

This is an area in which I have some extensive research and thoughts. Why do we like things to begin with is based upon being able to quickly assimilate the thing into our memories of other things we like.
For example I am way more likely to like a song with banjo, because I can "fit" the sounds in with my memories. But a banjo played in a way that I have never heard before might quickly get a negative reaction from me, but then after time goes on, the sounds start to click and fit with bits and pieces of songs that are already in my collection of sound memories.
A song using Asian musical theory sounds like a bag of cats being run slowly through a rolling mill. But, to someone from Asia that is not familiar with Western music theory, our songs may sound the same.
I know that when they released Root Beer into Japan after WW2 that it was not accepted quickly, because the flavor was similar to the tastes that they were adding to children's medicines.

When I smoke something totally unique, I have nothing (memories or experiences) to fit it in with, so it is totally foreign... which for most of us translates into dislike. Kendal Flake... the rose geranium to most Americans my age is the exact same smell that our grandmothers decorative soaps smelled like... which were probably made in the Lakeland district as well.
When I first had latakia, I had nothing else to compare it to. I had never smelled it before, nor tasted it. At first I assumed it was chemically, and it was, but more of an organic chemical. It took me sweating through quite a few bowls to build up an "understanding" or a relationship in my mind between those tastes and pipesmoking.

How many tries it takes to build these networks in our brains is dependent on many things; your intelligence, openness to learning, creativity, and imagination. I finally liked latakia, un-liked it, re-liked it, hated it, and now I smoke it only in the winter because the best connections that I can make for those flavors are bonfires, fireplaces, old books, wet leather, and a chilled wind blowing through a pine forest. Oh, and new tires.

Rose geranium oil... I just can't bring myself to like it at all. It triggers pure disgust.

The examination of what we like and dislike, and why this happens is an area of aesthetics. Quite fascinating stuff. IMO

Also, for someone with supertaster genes, the strength of flavor can be repulsive, as well as delicate extra nuances of flavors not detectable by non-supertasters can trigger dislike. So genetics works into the equation as well. I can't eat anything with carrots without a mild unpleasantness. Nor, can I even tolerate a raw carrot at all. It overruns the bitter sensors, and causes a gag reflex. So, not all things taste the same to everyone on a genetic level either. However, I have trained myself to be able to eat thing with "some" cooked carrots in them, by associating them with citrus. See... a trick to make myself able to eat stuff and not insult the cooks. But, if given an option... I will always chose something without carrots.

I hope this all helps, without muddying the discussion.

Any dish with Fermented Black Bean sauce… The first time I tried it, I thought there was something wrong with the food. Now it’s one of my favorite Chinese sauces. Familiarity has a huge influence upon us. Acquired tastes exist.

I understand how some tobacco blends can taste bland to some, repulsive to others and flavorful to someone else.

Certain blends agree with us from the start. When you find such affinity in a blend, harness it. Spend some time with it. — I have and trust me, it only gets better. I could smoke Granger til I go tits up.

 

[That Guy]

I try to be fair and give a new blend 3-5 smokes before judgment. Some blends are so good I just fall head over heels with on the first smoke while others take time getting to know. Very few are awful and unsmokable.

 

[Jaylotw]

If it's awful, like Borkum Riff Whiskey, I know within the first couple puffs. Almost every other blend, it takes just a bowl or two before I decide if I like it.

But really, I enjoy almost every blend I come across and each one I tackle with the idea that I'll figure it's nuances out as I go, that's when I decide if I'll buy another 2oz, or a pound, or if I'll just not replace it. So for me, it's not a question of how much I have to smoke to decide if I like a blend, but how much I have to smoke to decide if I want more. The answer to that is: I dunno.

Yorktown is a good example. I tried an ounce, liked it immediately with the first bowl and finished the ounce, bought 4 more, smoked it all...now I've got pounds of the stuff and it's a favorite.

Windjammer is one which I bought a 2oz tin, liked it immediately, smoked the 2oz and then never bought another tin. But it was good. Damn good. I just don't want any more. Would smoking another 2oz tin make me want more? I'd want to want more to want anymore, so I don't know anymore.

I try not to think about it.

 

[LotusEater]

With the exception of WindJammer I have usually decided after a bowl or two. For whatever reason the first couple of bowls of WindJammer made me want to gag. I set it aside for a month or so and tried it again and by the fourth or fifth bowl I decided I liked it. Usually I know after 2 bowls though.

 

[SmokeClouds]

I usually smoke a tin, 2 oz, before I decide if I will order more of the same. After 3-4 bowls it is clear to me if I like or dislike it; the rest is smoked in different pipes, chamber sizes, times of the day, packing methods etc. This experience is considered to be an introduction, by no means an exhaustive understanding of the particular tobacco.
I always try to approach without prejudice and am confident in my evaluation ability, knowing my strengths and weaknesses very well.

 

[Trainpipeman]

Sometimes, I know from the first light that I'm really going to enjoy a blend. However, sometimes, I've got to smoke the better part of a tin before I can even figure out my view on a given blend. I've read other forum members making similar statements, but I find myself wondering why this is the case, and how other forum members' experiences match up here with mine.

Earlier in my pipe smoking days, there was frequently a "user error" component, like the first time I tried to smoke SG Full Virginia Flake straight from the tin, as wet as an aromatic gooper. Obviously that was a poor experience. However, it's been a number of years now since any of those technique issues presented much of an impediment to my enjoyment. Even so, I still sometimes need ten bowls or more to even halfway "figure out" a blend.

I'm a creature of habit and tend to smoke the same stuff all the time, though occasionally I make efforts to branch out. I got a few new-to-me blends recently, including Peterson (Dunhill... I'm still calling it Dunhill) Deluxe Navy Rolls. I had high hopes for this blend, given its popularity. I rubbed out a couple of coins, let them dry some, and packed one of my favorite tall and narrow pipes that I use for Virginias and VA/pers. All I got was rough edges and a bit of perique spice. Same thing for the next few bowls over the past week or two, though there were a few moments where some good earthy, plum-figgy, and slightly spicy flavors peeked through.

Fast forward to last night, and I decided to try another bowl of Navy Rolls. I figured with the blend's popularity, there must be more to it than what I had previously experienced. Lo and behold, it was a glorious experience of medium-dark, earthy, slightly fruity Virginia with plenty of plum-figgy perique that also included a touch of spice. Basically, the entire experience consisted of those wonderful flavors that had only peeked out on occasion previously. All I can do is wonder "what changed?" Was it that the tin was open for a couple weeks? Is it that my palate was off when I first tried it? What gives?

In any case, I kept trying to enjoy my tin of Navy Rolls because I've had similar experiences before, and I'm glad I did. It is an excellent blend. I just wonder why sometimes it takes a while to get there.

Please ruminate. Thank you.

Two bowls is usually enough for me.

 

[Worknman]

Usually my first impressions aren't as good as after I've had several bowls. I think thats because you go into a new blend expecting it to taste a certain way and then it doesn't. But after a few bowls you begin to appreciate it for what is and it grows on you.

 

[lawdawg]

Just anecdotal, but if you don’t smoke for a week, tobacco can taste differently than if smoked everyday.

All summer, I tend to smoke cigars and not pipes. Sometime last July, after months of cigars only, I smoked a bowl of Capstan Blue, and it tasted weird as hell. Not bad, but not like I remembered. After that first bowl, all went back to normal with my pipes.

It's usually a three bowl solution that makes or brakes a pipe tobacco for me

Best use of the Sherlock emoji I’ve ever seen. Well done! Just don’t smoke your dottle.

 

[STP]

I’m in the one-two bowl camp. I’ll typically buy 2 oz bulk of blends that I’ve never tried and pitch the rest if I don’t like it… same w/tins. Although, lately I’ve been holding on to them for a little while as I know my taste changes… and I’ve been conducting better research.

 

[beefeater33]

Capstan Blue Flake for me................ I smoked the tin, flake by flake............ on the VERY LAST FLAKE, It hit me, NIRVANA.............. I don't know if my pallet changed, or the tin dried out, or what, but I still remember that moment............... one of the best smokes of my life............

 

[Meerly John]

1 oz is usually my decision point, but I have had the same experience as many here with blends coming into their own after 2-3 weeks in a jar. Especially latakia or perique-forward blends.

The most extreme example I have is when I first opened C&D Bayou Morning; it made me nauseous. I jarred it and the room smelled like St. James Parish for at least 30 minutes after. It was all fermentation. After 6 months in the jar I love it. It's a strong, deep dark fruit beauty that's all smooth and no spice.

 

[philobeddoe]

I have fallen hard for a tobacco in a half dozen puffs, I’ve also been repulsed by a tobacco in one puff. I do however try most any tobacco I purchase in several different pipes before tossing it in the trash. One exception is if my wife is utterly disgusted by the room note, I will just dump the bowl and toss the tin, since I smoke indoors. This has happened maybe 4 times in over 20 years. I will generally smoke at least 8 or 9 bowls before writing up a review, sometimes I need a whole tin before making up my mind. That being said, the first puff of my first bowl of Smokers Haven’s Our Best Blend was instantly transcendent.

 

[AroEnglish]

I usually give it two smokes before I make my decision whether I like the blend or not. After reading the replies here I realize I could give a blend more chances than that.

 

[lawdawg]

Capstan Blue Flake for me................ I smoked the tin, flake by flake............ on the VERY LAST FLAKE, It hit me, NIRVANA.............. I don't know if my pallet changed, or the tin dried out, or what, but I still remember that moment............... one of the best smokes of my life............

In a recent thread asking members to make a selection of one blend and only one blend to smoke forever, mine was Capstan Blue. It’s another one of those blends where I had to smoke the better part of a tin before I came to fully appreciate it.