Losing My Taste For Tobacco

[Lumbridge]

You can always trim the cellar. Personally, Id hold on to it and wait it out. You may have some blends that disappear. Look at it this way...you are getting free aging of your cellar. Its never going to be worth less than it is today (within reason). I regret a lot of blends that I got rid of when I first smoked a pipe. I didnt have much choice since I moved overseas.

I've considered holding onto it in case something changes, but it's been getting progressively worse for years, so I'm not expecting an improvement. I'm just glad I can still taste my food.

 

[Lumbridge]

Throwing in my two cents-it may be worth going to an ENT to check for nasal polyps. They can big time impact taste/smell. Thankfully mine aren’t too bad but before I got medication, tobacco smoke was just hot air.

That is a concerning possibility. The fact that my problem fluctuates in severity makes me think it probably isn't something like that, but it might be worth checking on.

 

[Monssen13]

That is a concerning possibility. The fact that my problem fluctuates in severity makes me think it probably isn't something like that, but it might be worth checking on.

Thankfully there are a handful of non-surgical options for nasal polyps. Nasal route corticosteroids can be safe over long periods, unlike oral route (with a doctor’s approval ofc). And there’s a biologic injection now, I think Dupixent. An ENT will know for sure, so if it is polyps imo you don’t need to be too concerned.

 

[ziv]

My sense of taste is playing tricks with me, too.
Yesterday, I was smoking an English blend, and it was giving me a very pronounced sour taste right from the get-go. I smoked at least 1/4 of a bowl that way and could taste sour on every puff.
I then let the pipe go out and put it aside for a few minutes. When I picked it up again, the sourness was gone, as if it was never there. Finished the bowl with no problem.
Mind you, I have smoked this blend multiple times before, from that same pouch, and it never tasted sour.

 

[Lumbridge]

An update for anyone experiencing similar issues: I've been continuing to focus on my dental hygiene, frequently flossing and using mouthwash, and I feel that it may be having an impact. Still no flavor from latakia, but burleys are starting to taste better. Smoked some Two Timer the other day and, while I didn't get as much rich flavor from it as I used to, it was noticeably better than the ashy cardboard taste I was getting before.

Spirits are another thing most impacted by this problem, making them a useful barometer. I'm starting to be able to taste whiskey again too. My sense of taste still fluctuates, and some days it still tastes sour and/or salty and disgusting, but for the past three days I've been able to get some of the flavors I remember from my bourbon.

So, if you're having taste problems, I'd say start by examining your oral hygiene habits. I used to think I was good with just brushing my teeth once a day, but that clearly wasn't the case.

 

[Lumbridge]

My sense of taste is playing tricks with me, too.
Yesterday, I was smoking an English blend, and it was giving me a very pronounced sour taste right from the get-go. I smoked at least 1/4 of a bowl that way and could taste sour on every puff.
I then let the pipe go out and put it aside for a few minutes. When I picked it up again, the sourness was gone, as if it was never there. Finished the bowl with no problem.
Mind you, I have smoked this blend multiple times before, from that same pouch, and it never tasted sour.

That's strange that your problem just went away abruptly like that. There are all sorts of things that can have a profound affect on smell and taste, and the cause isn't always readily apparent.

 

[ziv]

That's strange that your problem just went away abruptly like that. There are all sorts of things that can have a profound affect on smell and taste, and the cause isn't always readily apparent.

Yeah, that was very strange, and it never happened again since.

 

[OzPiper]

If you haven’t already, it may be worthwhile seeing an ENT or having your sinuses checked out with a CT scan
I lost my sense of smell and taste for 2 years due to a chronic sinus problem.
Thankfully all restored now after sinus surgery.

On a side note - I was at a tasting of Suntory whisky and commented to a friend that the $1000 18yo sherry cask Yamazaki tasted the same as the $30 blended one.
His comment was “That’s great. You can really save yourself a lot of $$$$ since you can’t taste the difference”

I hope your problem resolves itself eventually.

 

[BingBong]

If you stick Peterson System pipes in your nose, you'll get nasal p-lips. This information was free, YMMV.

 

[VDL_Piper]

I wonder if a complete palate reset using very hot food would work. I really love chillies and the hotter the better but I do notice I taste so much more flavour after doing so.

 

[Lumbridge]

I wonder if a complete palate reset using very hot food would work. I really love chillies and the hotter the better but I do notice I taste so much more flavour after doing so.

Interesting thought. Another food ingredient that can have a unique impact on taste is szechuan peppercorn. It leaves a very interesting, almost cooling sensation on the palate and seems to help emphasize some other flavors.

 

[VDL_Piper]

Interesting thought. Another food ingredient that can have a unique impact on taste is szechuan peppercorn. It leaves a very interesting, almost cooling sensation on the palate and seems to help emphasize some other flavors.

I think it’s worth exploring because loss of taste isn’t a normal thing for most. As said, maybe your palate is overloade in a sensory way and it needs that shock from a chilli or a peppercorn or maybe even Wasabi. Something strong that opens the saliva glands, sinus and challenges the taste spuds. Good luck because food and tobacco are to delicious to not taste.

 

[johnkerk]

So, I'm thinking about selling off my tin collection. I don't see much point in keeping all of it if I can't taste most tobacco properly, and there seems to be no end in sight. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

First and foremost sorry to hear about your issue. Second and perhaps a bit more important. Just hang on to your stash man. If like others have pointed out you give it a rest and magically it comes back you will be crying. If it does not come back that is sad but there is a silver lining. All the stuff you have will just get more expensive over that time. Better than holding dollars bro! So unless you are hurting for cash hold it for a bit.

Please disregard what I said above if you want to sell me and only me your stash. This was only general advise for others you know the saying do what I say and not what I do...LOL!

 

[Lumbridge]

First and foremost sorry to hear about your issue. Second and perhaps a bit more important. Just hang on to your stash man. If like others have pointed out you give it a rest and magically it comes back you will be crying. If it does not come back that is sad but there is a silver lining. All the stuff you have will just get more expensive over that time. Better than holding dollars bro! So unless you are hurting for cash hold it for a bit.

Please disregard what I said above if you want to sell me and only me your stash. This was only general advise for others you know the saying do what I say and not what I do...LOL!

Yeah, I really don't want to get rid of it, especially because a lot of it is going to become unobtainium soon after most Sutliff/MacBaren blends go the way of the dodo. I love relaxing with a pipe, but if it's just going to taste bland or downright nasty most of the time, there isn't any point in doing so.

 

[BingBong]

There was a year when I was so unwell, much of that not at home, that smoking wasn't even an option. I hadn't given up, I simply couldn't. There were more months after that where my palate was a ruin, because of undiagnosed infection and futile treatment. When I could finally pick up a pipe again, I could perceive only 25% of the flavors at best, too distressing to resume. I still took substitute nicotine and hoped the day would come when I could enjoy tobacco again. That day arrived, happily, and it was onward and upward thereafter.

Keep your options open.

 

[OzPiper]

There was a year when I was so unwell, much of that not at home, that smoking wasn't even an option. I hadn't given up, I simply couldn't. There were more months after that where my palate was a ruin, because of undiagnosed infection and futile treatment. When I could finally pick up a pipe again, I could perceive only 25% of the flavors at best, too distressing to resume. I still took substitute nicotine and hoped the day would come when I could enjoy tobacco again. That day arrived, happily, and it was onward and upward thereafter.

Keep your options open.

I’m so pleased to hear your sense of taste and smell returned.

I had a similar problems some years ago with a chronic sinus issue.
Food and wine means so much to me, even more so than cigars and pipes. And not being able to taste or smell ……….
Thankfully a brilliant ENT surgeon fixed that.

 

[chrono]

I haven't been very active on here for a while because my enjoyment of tobacco has diminished considerably, but I'm curious to hear if anyone else here has had an experience similar to mine. I've been having taste issues going back about five years now, starting before the pandemic, so I know it isn't C19 related. At first, I began to notice that I could hardly taste the smokyness in latakia. It progressed until all latakia blends eventually just tasted like nothing but ash and wet cardboard.

Gradually, my taste for other tobaccos has diminished as well, and now I can hardly taste anything besides aromatic toppings. It fluctuates, and sometimes I can get some small amount of flavor from a burley or Virginia, a bit from perique at times, but never from Latakia. DFK mostly tastes flat and boring. I have also noticed that whiskey and other liquor tastes weird and mostly flavorless. Food tastes normal. That is what stumps me.

My dental hygiene is pretty good these days, and I know I don't have a brain tumor or anything because I've seen a neurologist for other reasons. I can't figure out what the problem might be, and it's kind of maddening.

So, I'm thinking about selling off my tin collection. I don't see much point in keeping all of it if I can't taste most tobacco properly, and there seems to be no end in sight. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

have you been to an ENT doctor? So much of our taste is actually based on our sense of smell. I finally went to the ENT about chronic sinus issues and found I have nasal polyps. they want me to have surgery, which I’m not interested in right now. But using a steroid nasal spray has helped symptomatically, and improved my sense of smell, which has greatly improved my enjoyment of tobacco. Also, if you don’t retrohale now would be the time to give that a try. I really dont get much of anything from pipe tobacco without doing that.

 

[Lumbridge]

have you been to an ENT doctor? So much of our taste is actually based on our sense of smell. I finally went to the ENT about chronic sinus issues and found I have nasal polyps. they want me to have surgery, which I’m not interested in right now. But using a steroid nasal spray has helped symptomatically, and improved my sense of smell, which has greatly improved my enjoyment of tobacco. Also, if you don’t retrohale now would be the time to give that a try. I really dont get much of anything from pipe tobacco without doing that.

That's something that was mentioned earlier on that I'm considering might be the problem (or at least part of it). Have you experienced fluctuating symptoms? My sense of taste will be pretty much normal for a day or a few days, then go back to being weird for weeks. Plus, I can still smell normally, and only my taste seems to be affected. Like I can smell latakia just fine, but when I smoke it, the flavor is reminiscent of engine exhaust rather than the pleasantly smoky flavor I remember.

 

[Monssen13]

have you been to an ENT doctor? So much of our taste is actually based on our sense of smell. I finally went to the ENT about chronic sinus issues and found I have nasal polyps. they want me to have surgery, which I’m not interested in right now. But using a steroid nasal spray has helped symptomatically, and improved my sense of smell, which has greatly improved my enjoyment of tobacco. Also, if you don’t retrohale now would be the time to give that a try. I really dont get much of anything from pipe tobacco without doing that.

+1 on the steroid nasal spray, life changer for me