New Pipe smoker-Char taste

[weddingcrasher]

Hey guys, just tried pipe smoking 2 days ago. The only thing i smoked in my life is the occasional hookah, which tastes just as good as it smells. I've read that smoking a pipe tastes completely different than how it smells, so i wasn't disappointed when i tried it. 1st impression was the strong CHAR like taste , which was really similar to cigarette, and i didnt like it at all because i detest cigarette smoke, especially the after taste that lasted till next morning. I've also read that this is probably due to "breaking a new pipe",so i hope this is the reason and not because of the quality of the pipe or tobacco. I couldn't properly smell the room note, but maybe because i was the one smoking.
The pipe i used was a 40$ Bruyere St. Claude Sandblasted Large Billiard. The tobacco were Cult: Blood Red Moon which i didnt like at all, and Cornell & Diehl: Apricots and Cream which i didnt enjoy much but was still better than Cult. I dried the tobacco for over 2 hours, so i didnt get any tongue bite despite smoking relatively fast. Struggled at first with keeping the pipe lit, but iam getting the hang of it.
I will be ordering Lane 1 Q cause everyone recommends it. Besides that , what tobacco would you guys recommend that tastes exceptionally as good as the smell of it minus that charring taste iam experiencing?
Thanks a lot guys!

 

[carolinachurchwarden]

First off, welcome to the forums. You've landed in a pretty good place for information.
Secondly, you dried your tobacco. This is a + and moving in the right direction. I'd be careful drying aromatics TOO much, as they can and will lose a little of the taste that is the reason for smoking it.
Thirdly, if you smoke any tobacco too fast, you will over heat the ember causing the tobacco to become super heated around it and it can and will taste like hot ash in your mouth. Try sipping your smoke a little slower and that may help. If you've never tried breathe-smoking, then look up a few videos on it. It can help aid in getting your cadence down and slowing you up a bit as well. It can also help keep your bowl cool. If the bowl is too hot to hold, then it's likely too hot on the inside and you'd be best served to set it down, let it go out and cool a bit. Don't be pushy with it. Smoking a pipe should take time, be relaxing, and produce a cool pipe with a cool smoke. That being said, some pipe and certain tobaccos can and will smoke hot, but the key to that is to slow down further. Down worry about relights. If it take 1 or 10 relights to finish a bowl, that's fine, just take it slow, grasshopper.
Lane 1Q is an excellent aro. As far as tobaccos that taste like they smell, you might be hard pressed to find it, because it doesn't land often, but Rattray's Exotic Passion is one of the best I have ever smoked.

 

[sparroa]

Hello there - welcome aboard...
I have not smoked from a hookah before but I understand it is heavily flavoured and that many blends out there now do not contain any tobacco at all so the hookah experience itself may not have prepared you for pipe smoking in any way.
For this reason, I do not think your pipe or even your tobacco is necessarily to blame as it sounds like you have a decent briar. It is possible that you are just completely unaccustomed to smoking and weren't really sure what to expect.
It is not unusual to have a lingering aftertaste if you spend up to an hour sipping smoke. People usually mitigate this with hydration and increased oral hygiene. After all, one is taking in the tars and particulates produced during the combustion process. The harsh and sooty taste from smoking too fast or too wet is a far cry from the taste of a "cool" well-executed smoke but ultimately one is still taking the by-products of burning tobacco into their mouths. Smoking pipe tobacco is probably much closer to smoking a cigarette in comparison to using a hookah. Many old-fashioned blends were considered suitable for either purpose.
Back to the specifics of your experience: the person who is actually smoking will become fairly "nose blind" and desensitized to the room note and aroma within a few minutes of lighting up so that is not very unusual, either.
For me, tobacco selection is the most important factor. I found that the flavours promised by aromatic tobaccos never translated into the taste so I abandoned them after a few months. With that said, I enjoy the natural taste of tobacco so I don't really know what your best course of action will be besides persistence and sampling widely.
My main recommendation for you would be to have some patience as you work on the mechanics of pipe smoking. Maybe you like it, maybe you don't, but it takes time to master. There is a little bit of an art to smoking a pipe, like anything else, and you will probably have multiple mediocre experiences before it clicks for you.
Lane 1Q and Captain Black et cetera have decent vanilla-like room notes and a sweeter flavour profile but I always found that kind of blend to be a little ashy anyway as the bowl progresses because most of the flavourings burn off and you are left with a fairly uninteresting tobacco base underneath it all.
If you have easy access to pipe tobacco where you live, I suggest that you sample widely using something like TobaccoReviews.com as your guide. I have been buying blind for years using that site (and reviews from forums like this one) as my only guides. Sometimes you will purchase a dud but sticking to well-regarded blends should not steer you wrong if you find that you begin to like the act of smoking itself.
I have never tried it myself but if I was going to take a chance on a C&D aromatic I would go with Autumn Evening. It is one of their best-selling blends plus it has a vast trove of reviews for you to browse through...
http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/2077/cornell-diehl-autumn-evening
"Our proprietary red Virginia cavendish is lightly cased with a delicate maple flavor resulting in our best selling aromatic blend. The smoker will appreciate the taste of Virginias while those around will flock to the warm, inviting ..."
Looking at the last review, however, we see a common complaint emerge - similar to the issues you have pointed out and also in agreement with my assessment of aromatics.
"This is an enjoyable tobacco for the first half of the bowl. It's one of those aromatics that truly tastes the way the blend smells. A great mixture of Maple and Vanilla. I bought this blend mainly for the maple since that's my favorite type of aromatic, but the maple isn't prominent here. It's not hard to detect, but it's not incredibly strong either. It complements the other flavors in the casing well.
The tobacco itself is a dark, course cut tobacco. I couldn't smell any specific tobacco due to the topping of the blend. The tobacco itself was a bit on the dry side and didn't need to be dried out before lighting. Burns well and I didn't have to fight with re-lights.
My dislike was about halfway through the bowl. It seems that the taste of the topping fades away and I was left with a taste of ash and bitterness. I try to smoke it like all my aromatics... barely keeping the tobacco lit so it doesn't burn too hot. I've had this experience every time I've smoked it. Starts out great, but ends up ashy and I usually don't finish the last 1/4 or so.
The room note is fantastic. I ordered this in a tin and am going to age it to see how it changes. I've read positive results from people that have aged this.
Age When Smoked: Just ordered"
Again, it is best to stand on the shoulders of giants and make an educated guess based upon what other people have experienced. Sometimes people are dead wrong but other times they are right on the money...
Maybe you should look at the reviews of the tobaccos you have and see if it gives you any insights about your experiences thus far:

http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/285/cornell-diehl-apricots-cream

http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/7852/cult-blood-red-moon
I like to read them chronologically from newest to oldest because sometimes blends change formulas and the more recent ones can be a little more accurate. Your mileage may vary...

 

[bluto]

I’m new to pipes too , some experience with cigars . I tried the milder stuff starting out but quickly got used to it , one of my better smokes to date is Kendal flake . It has a lot .. a lot .. going on , so its a good one to try after reading reviews and not getting the feel for what they talk about .
Its also about finding your own center , sure good tobac and pipes help , but find a good time and place to light up and relax and be wanting a good smoke , there is the best experience .

 

[weddingcrasher]

Wow thanks a lot guys for your warm welcome and informative advice. I was smoking fast so the pipe stays lit, but i'll take it slow no matter how many time i have to relight. I smoked my C&D yesterday without drying it, and surprisingly didnt get any tongue bite despite smoking fast. I don't have access to tobacco stores , so iam ordering from SmokingPipes.com. I saw the reviews, but didnt make much of it because the people reviewing them have a much more wider array of experience compared to me. I just realized how much cheaper bulk tobacco is compared to tin,so i'll order bulk the follwing:
LANE 1 Q

Kendal flake

C&D Autumn Evening

Rattray's Exotic Passion

Captain Black et cetera

 

[Chasing Embers]

I've read that smoking a pipe tastes completely different than how it smells

Only in the beginning. Aromatic tobacco is best enjoyed further down the road in pipe smoking after proper packing and smoking techniques develop. Strong English and burley blends are best for starting out to hone your palate and technique. New smokers usually only taste hot air when they try to smoke aromatics first and often give up pipe smoking entirely as a result.

 

[foursidedtriangle]

You could get a bulk English to try, Father Dempsey is one I enjoy. Latakia is the reason to smoke a pipe it is the reason why I came back because the taste is too good. It smells like campfire and tastes like it.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Second on Father Dempsey. He plays golf with me. You're on the right track with drying. Do it some more!