If You Can’t Taste the Nuances…

[badbeard]

We used to have rock fights and BB gun fights but a baseball scared me. The logic made no sense.?‍ Played Soccer in high school and rugby in college and now couldn't imagine a baseball hurting that bad.

Hell, I got it with a 5.56 bullet ricochet and having a baseball flying towards me still makes me want to hit the deck.

 

[craig61a]

A lot of it depends on many things. The weather, my mood, what I’ve had to eat, etc. etc.

Sometimes a bowl of tobacco isn’t quite the same as I expected or remembered it…

 

[mikebjrtx]

There are times I want to pick out new flavors. There are times I want to compliment my drinking buzz. There are even times I want to just mindlessly do something I feel relaxing

 

[Worknman]

It probably also helps to have a good sense of smell. We have 3 dogs and my wife can tell which one it was that farted from across the room. Me on the other hand, can hardly smell things that are in front of my face.

 

[solideogloria86]

I smoke for the main flavor, the nuanced flavors, the nicotine. All that.

I love porters and stouts. Barrel aged stouts are my favorite. I don't drink to get drunk, but I don't won't beer without alcohol. I want to taste a good base flavor, enjoy the subtle nuances that may or may not show up, and feel a little warmth a sedative from the alcohol. Same thing with pipe tobacco. I want all of it.

 

[telescopes]

I have smoked for 40 years. I was aware that I liked some tobaccos more than others. I couldn't really tell you why, it just was that way. The same with wines, whiskies, and cigars. It was the zeitgeist of the thing that got me. I believe some people do sense the individual flavors - I don't. Crazy enough, I was a chef and I wrote a cookbook. I use different senses to ensure I have made a meal worth enjoying. I use color and it works.

 

[telescopes]

I am not alone in cooking by color. I know other cooks who do likewise. That and their nose.

 

[Ethan]

Often times I find it more interesting to buy a new tobacco based solely on the ingredient list... manufacturer's description, and detailed reviews to be read after I have smoked several bowls and form my own opinion of what if should taste like. .Then there are no preconceived ideas on what I am not getting in nuance before hand.

 

[Sgetz]

Tobacco reviews claims 8000 separate blends reviewed. I only smoke one or two bowls a week worrying them all is unlikely!
I find the reviews of all the flavours mind boggling but the best are consistent so I know similar descriptions mean similar taste. Helps me avoid ones I won't like
Also I am male pattern colour blind. But I understand others are not. So when my friends goad me by describing the wonderful autumn colours I don't assume they are effet pillocks. They just enjoy something I cannot.

 

[PipeIT]

@jiminks mentions in the recent SPC article they did on him this;

I stand the best chance of catching nuances and subtleties with a wide bowl, like a Pot.

Fine Art, Cartooning, and Pipe Smoking: Jim Amash | Smokingpipes.com

Learn more about Artist, Cartoonist, and Pipe Smoker: Jim Amash.

www.smokingpipes.com

I am the hunt for Pots, because I certainly want to experience all the nuances and subtleties.

 

[StrawBunyan]

Nuances of wet leather triggers olfactory memories for me…. 7 years old, standing in center field, big lights in my eyes, praying, “dear Lord, please don’t let the ball get hit towards me,” and chewing on the straps and leather strings holding my glove together. That’s all I remember about baseball, long and boring, and chewing wet leather in the outfield. I still don’t care much about baseball these days.

You and I had the exact same baseball experience as children apparently....I quite enjoyed the taste of the my gloves laces actually.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I've been at it for thirty years and don't try to find them, I just enjoy the overall flavor. Anything more than that makes it feel too much like work.

It scares me that we often agree on things.

 

[Chasing Embers]

It scares me that we often agree on things.

We're both native Hoosiers brother. Probably why we butt heads at times as well.?

 

[--dante--]

I worked at a hipster f#@&ing coffee place and I observed there was a point where people analysed their coffee so much that they only "thought" they were enjoying it. They watched themselves drinking coffee. They didn't drink coffee. It's f#@&ed up.

I'm sure many took pictures of their coffee as well

 

[anotherbob]

We used to have rock fights and BB gun fights but a baseball scared me. The logic made no sense.?‍ Played Soccer in high school and rugby in college and now couldn't imagine a baseball hurting that bad.

oh they can and if you know how to throw one it's more aerodynamic then the average rock.

 

[anotherbob]

Tobacco reviews claims 8000 separate blends reviewed. I only smoke one or two bowls a week worrying them all is unlikely!
I find the reviews of all the flavours mind boggling but the best are consistent so I know similar descriptions mean similar taste. Helps me avoid ones I won't like
Also I am male pattern colour blind. But I understand others are not. So when my friends goad me by describing the wonderful autumn colours I don't assume they are effet pillocks. They just enjoy something I cannot.

well put. Our senses or even our relationship with our senses aren't the same.
Just glad someone put it so succinctly.

 

[Chasing Embers]

oh they can and if you know how to throw one it's more aerodynamic then the average rock.

Oh I've been hit by them. Hurts less than metal cleats to the face.

 

[mso489]

I think I experience blends in their entirety, simultaneously. I guess I can pick out individual leaf and separate flavors on occasion, but that's not how I enjoy it. Either the entire effect is good or it isn't. I don't listen to the Chicago Symphony and say, "I loved the viola section, but the woodwinds were way off, especially the oboes." But I admit, reading or hearing someone else report all the separate flavors and effects holds my attention; jiminks sussing out a dozen different flavors in a blend is better than trying to do that myself.

 

[mso489]

Anything that becomes too self-conscious could be diminished as an experience, unless a person has that natural gift. When I used to do a lot of celluloid photography, around home and on trips, I divided off the activity so that I wasn't doing that in place of lived experience. I'd take some time on a trip to take photos, and then I'd slide the camera on its strap under my jacket and live the experience directly, whatever it was. Looking at a scene, thinking and feeling about it, is different than making a photo of it it, which is a different activity.

 

[OzPiper]

I think I experience blends in their entirety, simultaneously. I guess I can pick out individual leaf and separate flavors on occasion, but that's not how I enjoy it. Either the entire effect is good or it isn't. I don't listen to the Chicago Symphony and say, "I loved the viola section, but the woodwinds were way off, especially the oboes." But I admit, reading or hearing someone else report all the separate flavors and effects holds my attention; jiminks sussing out a dozen different flavors in a blend is better than trying to do that myself.

^^^^ Exactly that.

There are super-tasters eg @jiminks who are able to tease out individual nuances and taste/flavours, but for most of us, the question is "did you enjoy it ?"

Back when I was doing a lot of wine tasting, it was a competition to see who could come up with the longest list as well as the most unusual/unique descriptors (eg rotting forest floor vegetation. Seriously, does anyone actually go around nose to ground to smell forest floors ? ) for each wine. I stopped when I realised it was not really pertinent to the main question - which was "did I really enjoy that wine".

My enjoyment of wine increased exponentially once I stopped worrying whether the wine came from the 3 rows at the top of the hill or the 3 rows on the valley floor, or if it was a blend of the 2