No Tobacco Tastes as Good as it Smells!! Discuss

[Zapasta]

Edit: I changed the wording as it's much easier to read- hope it is so for others. Here's the original title:

"The thing with ALL pipe tobaccos is it doesn't taste as good as it smells." - Please remember caps in title next time! Thank you.


A guy said this to me today. I find this to be true with most aromatics, but with natural blends, I would 100% say this is not the case. He did the classic "I've been smoking pipes for 50 years, how about you?"

Of course this doesn't make him right, but that brought me to make this post and see what the older guys on this forum think about that statement.

Please include how many years you've been smoking pipes in your response, I am just curious.

 

[bullet08]

He can't smell while he is smoking his pipes. Guess he enjoys going around smelling other people's breath.

 

[mikethompson]

The smell of pipe tobacco in the tin was what first turned me on to pipes in the first place. I don't smoke very often, but it is hard for me to pick out certain tastes from the smoke. Maybe he has a point?

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Try retrohaling.

 

[gamzultovah]

22 Years. He is correct in some sense. But the nose of a wine vs the taste is vastly different as well, and it’s all part of the experience.

 

[HopHand]

Absolutes are wasted in the real world.
Most don't taste as good as they smell others taste better?‍
Pirate kake is described by my self as a bit Smokey and my friends as an old ashtray,The few SPC Barrel aged I've tried are so ammonia they make my head hurt, War Horse Greens makes my eyes water and my workers start b*tchin about if I'm gonna smoke that old shoe licorice shite in the shop, Cross Eyed Cricket is like a moldy fruit bowl mixed with the buttbucket from a Walmart parking lot topped with a touch of soured creme for effect.
Yet they all taste pretty damn good to me.
Course what do I know I've only been smoking pipes since may.
??‍?

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I know he is being comparative, but if I didn’t like the taste of tobacco smoke I wouldn’t be doing it.

I’d add that some blends taste a lot better than they smell IMO.
Burley in the tin can have a manure smell.


Latakia has a stronger campfire smell in the tin


Aromatics…. well, I don’t have a lot to say, ha ha.

McClellands Virginias had that ketchup smell but tasted way sweeter than they smelled.

And,

 

[mingc]

22 Years. He is correct in some sense. But the nose of a wine vs the taste is vastly different as well, and it’s all part of the experience.

Very true. The same can be said for coffee.

 

[sandollars]

Physiologically speaking, this is statement is an oxymoron. Smelling is 90% of tasting.

Don't believe me? Plug your nose....

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I don't smoke much aromatic and think most of the tobacco I smoke tastes BETTER than it smells. And I think the Aromatics that I do smoke taste better than they smell. I would agree there are many Aromatics that do smell better than they taste.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Just a rookie, but I'd agree that it doesn't taste like it smells (to me), but that's different than saying "as good as". But it's not like I opened up the Wilke Peanut Butter and Chocolate and expected a Reese's Santa chocolate in my mouth. Still working on how it smells vs. how it tastes vs. what it tastes like. Right now it's "x" tobacco is different than "y" tobacco and figuring out why I might prefer one over another if I do.

 

[WVOldFart]

Some people must forget that they are smoking tobacco. I know that some blends have yummy names like Plum Pudding and Creme Brulee and they smell great, but reality is you are smoking tobacco. That is what you should be expecting to taste. I have been smoking for 41 years and in all those years it didn't matter if the tobacco was called Steak and Potatoes, it tasted like tobacco. Most blends smell pretty good, but then again tobacco tastes pretty good.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I was 25 years in before it happened but aros taste how they smell now.

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

"Am I a joke to you?"
- Ennerdale Flake

 

[Briar Lee]

As a general proposition about all aromatic tobaccos he’s more right than wrong. I hear that all the time.

My clients and legal assistants will say oh my goodness that smells so good, does it taste that good?

Whether it’s Cult Blood Red Moon or Super Value Peach, it must smell like the same heaven in the room as the pouch.

I say it tastes great, but not as wonderful as the blends that stink. It’s sort of like a cigar in that regard.

I’ve smoked since 1972 and never missed a payment.

If I smoke around other people indoors I smoke those fruity candy flavored sweet smelling aromatics, and they are delicious.


But at home on my deck I dig out the good stuff, that reeks of Latakia.

Those taste a thousand times better than they smell.

 

[didimauw]

I've been smoking a pipe for 9 years now.

I ONLY EVER taste the tobacco. Something's been wrong with my nose for years. I can only smell things like amonia, if it's around.

I can't smell the tobaccos. Only taste.

 

[drrock]

"The thing with ALL pipe tobaccos is it doesn't taste as good as it smells." A guy said this to me today. I find this to be true with most aromatics, but with natural blends, I would 100% say this is not the case. He did the classic "I've been smoking pipes for 50 years, how about you?"

Of course this doesn't make him right, but that brought me to make this post and see what the older guys on this forum think about that statement.

Please include how many years you've been smoking pipes in your response, I am just curious.

My own experience (having smoked a pipe since 1968) would change that statement to:

"The thing with MOST pipe tobaccos is it doesn't taste exactly like it smells."

Having tried a substantial number of different kinds of blends over the years, I haven't noticed an absolute correlation between the taste of a tobacco with the tin note or the room note regardless of the type of blend.

Nuances of taste matching some of the fragrance of the tin or room notes can often be experienced, but I personally don't expect to discover them every time I enjoy a bowlful.

 

[Singularis]

I see no one talking about the way good tobacco tastes about five to ten minutes after the pipe is done. That’s right: I’m talking about AFTERtaste. I always know the blend was a good one (even when not smoked perfectly for whatever reason) when I can taste the natural sweetness of quality, unadulterated tobacco flavor, which to me is quite similar to what I smell in a non-aromatic blend. Now both are every bit as good as the smoking experience itself, albeit different, I will grant you that.

Also, I love the tin note, smoking note, smoke aroma, and aftertaste of anything with Latakia. It’s the very reason I smoke the stuff. Smells like heaven on the beard and hands too.

 

[olkofri]

He's extremely right. Thank Heavens aromatics do taste as they smell, because other kinds/genres are just yummy when you sniff the tin note only to taste like all kinds of different things upon smoking them—things like ashes, burnt cardboard, dry weed mixed with dirt....

 

[burleybreath]

I've been smoking pipes, interspersed with occasional cigars, since 1962. Almost all pipe tobacco, especially aromatics, tastes like crap. Unless you put it in a pipe and light it.