Nonsmokers' Descriptions of Tobacco Aroma

[macaroon]

A friend of mine once commented as I was smoking that the C&D Pegasus I had burning smelled like a sauna. I translated that to "musty and woody", but her analogy struck me as remarkably apt and easier to imagine specifically than the vague adjectives we commonly use in tobacco reviews. As a nonsmoker, I makes sense to me that her descriptions are bound to be more accessible.
What comparisons or analogies have the nonsmokers in your life used to describe your tobacco?

 

[ray47]

My wife says that my English blends smell like sweaty gym socks. When I smoke Half & Half she says the aroma reminds her of her grandfather, who was a pipe smoker but she doesn't know what blend he smoked.

 

[mso489]

I think room note is usually best assessed by non-smokers. My late wife and my current wife were both heavy cigarette smokers in their 20's and 30's, so they didn't react much to my moderate pipe smoking; the scent didn't, doesn't ruffle them at all. But non-smokers with good sensory sniffers can come up with some exacting comparisons of other fragrance, scents or smells they "get" from various blends. A sauna and gym socks are exact and specific, and for non-smoking bystanders, highly credible.

 

[autumnfog]

My non-smoking lady friend immediately picked up notes of hay when smelling in a tin of Fribourg & Treyer Golden Mixture.
Cumberland and Old Gowrie reminded her of stables and horses.

 

[ophiuchus]

I can't remember what I was smoking when a smoking ex-girlfriend asked, "Are you smoking toads in there?"
I was smoking War Horse Green once when a buddy remarked that it smelled like German Christmas cookies. :lol:

 

[lawdawg]

My wife says that Virginia blends smell "earthy" and remind her of something between leaves in the fall and fresh mulch.

 

[bazungu]

Whenever I smoke a burley blend, she says it smells like poop or horse stables. If I smoke a a VaPer or Latakia, the lingering smell on my moustache/clothes is perceived as 'sexy'... lucky me I guess!

 

[didimauw]

The wife says most of my Burley blends smell like raisins.

 

[trubka2]

Tonight I got "You smell like tar." I had been smoking Balkans. Kendal Cream, apparently, smells like puke. So the room note matches the tin note.

 

[sumusfumus]

I always wondered what my smoldering tobacco mixtures smelled like to others, to all the "sniffers". Being the "smoker" cuts us out from the fun end. Burning pipe tobacco, to us, never smells like burning pipe tobacco does to all the sniffers and smellers. I wish it did.
Thirty years ago, I was in the presence of a gent who was smoking Wilke's "HIGH HAT". It smelled like no other tobacco blend. I knew enough to think "Engilish-blend"...but his Englishy blend didn't make me gag and think of burning hair or feathers....there was something quite unique as I inhaled the very appealing aroma. I knew, later, it was HH that he was smoking and that I was smelling, because I asked -and he happily told me the name of the smoldering blend in his pipe. At that time, and unknown to me, he managed Wilkes, back when it was located on West 55th Street in Manhattan. Thanks, GF...for turning me on to such a delightful mixture of tobaccos.
I now find myself sprinkling some of my tobacco blends onto a smoldering charcoal puck/pill just so I can smell what I'm smoking....and to guess at what others might be smelling. But this I know....stale tobacco stinks up upholstery, curtains, drapes, shirts, jackets, rugs, and fouls ones breath. It does. So does a disgusting, filthy, ashtray loaded with used pipe-cleaners and saliva-soaked dottle. The business end of a used/smoked cigar looks and smells even worse.

 

[hawky454]

I usually either get, “wow, that smells amazing” or “reminds me of my grandpa”. I’ve once got, “that smells like cigarettes”. I’ve never had anyone get descriptive with it though, I wish they would.

 

[snoopy311]

Haha, I love this thread. With descriptions of smell like burning hair, stables and horses, puke, tar and poop it’s a wonder we enjoy this stuff they call “tobacco”. :rofl:

 

[scottfree]

I'm one of those lucky pipe smokers who can smell the room note. It's almost as good as tasting the smoke! :D

 

[geopiper]

"wet leather" says the spouse.

 

[mikestanley]

A co-worker once told me that McClelland 2045 smelled like peanut butter!
Mike S.

 

[weezell]

I’ve never had anyone get descriptive with it though, I wish they would.

Here's descriptive! I'm smoking a bowl of Cerberus and the wife sticks her head in the den and says "Well, now that smells like Shit!" Watch what ya wish for... :rofl: