Pipe Tastes Bad after first smoke.

[mickgallagher]

Hey guys, I've been flirting with the hobby since I was 18 and bought my first pipe. (Dr. Grabow that I horrifically charred with a torch lighter) I've learned a lot about what is proper form thanks to this forum and now 7 years later I have much better habits. I've been coming to this forum for years for answers to my questions but haven't worked up to making an account until now.
I have to ask. Ive purchased new pipes, estate pipes, and Missouri meers but I can never seem to get my pipe to taste like It did on that first smoke. When I get a new pipe and put tobacco in it I can taste the raw unlit tobacco. Then as I go for the charring light and explosion of delicious cased tobaccos dances on my tongue. (till it bites the hell out of me) Then after my pipe cools Ill run a cleaner through the stem (Ream and Klean) and lightly wipe out the bowl. Then the next day I will pack my pipe and try to taste that toasted marshmallowey goodness of captain black tobacco... and I get nothing through the stem. If i put my mouth of the bowl (Silly I know) I taste the unlit goodness, but nothing trough the stem. The smoke just doesn't seem to be as flavorful either with any tobacco.
I've attacked the stem vigorously to affect. Is it just low quality Vulcanized Rubber getting in my way? should I try Ebonite or Lucite stemmed pipes? Am I missing something that should be stupidly obvious?

 

[pritch13]

Do you use filters by any chance? If so remove them for sure.

 

[deathmetal]

Make sure your draft hole isn't partially blocked?

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

I've used isopropyl alcohol after every bowl for a long time now, and while I don't smoke a lot in any given pipe (once a week spllit between a few dozen pipes), all of my pipes have performed pretty much the same from first bowl to today.

I did have one pipe go sour in the very beginning when I wasn't cleaning thoroughly.

 

[deathmetal]

If you decide the pipe is for you, I strongly recommend that you own several. This will allow you to rotate pipes, so that each can rest and dry properly for a few days between smokes. Smoking the same pipe day in and day out will result in a soggy cake and, eventually, a sour tasting smoke.
http://www.pipesbygeorge.com/a-pipe-smokers-primer/

Maybe, especially if in a high-humidity area?

 

[mickgallagher]

I haven't used filters since I was 18. I'll buy more pipes they come and go, they tend to disappear on a campus. I had a Kaywoodie white briar poker that I loved.
Frozenchurchwarden, do you use it on Meers? Do you use it in the bowl?

 

[hooboy]

That is tongue bite!

hoo

 

[freakiefrog]

Depending on how hard and how much you smoke the day before, your mouth has dried out or gotten dull to the tastes. Try this next time you smoke any thing keep a bottle of water with you and after every 4th or 5th draw on the pipe take a sip of water and swish it around in your mouth. Then back to smoking..
I find that after smoking heavy latakia blends I have to give my mouth a rest before I can fully enjoy the flavors of a balance Va or VaPer blend. Same I would assume with Aeromatics. One may be stronger than the other and thus your mouth can't "Taste as well"

 

[aristokles]

Perhaps you need to clean the mortise out. I too often overlook it until some foulness issues forth from my pipes.
I find too many production pipes have far too large a gap drilled for the size tenon - a tar trap for certain. Yuck.

 

[earthbound]

My first pipe tasted phenomenal when I had the first bowl in it. Like you, I remember going for the second smoke a few days later and not being as satisfied. Like most beginning pipe smokers, I began with a sweet aromatic and I huffed and puffed like a chimney. Logically, the pipe turned sour with a very poor cake buildup in it. After giving it the old salt and alcohol treatment (I used George T Stagg because if its high proof, and because it's downright succulent) I made a conscious effort to smoke much slower and cooler. I believe I was smoking 3/4 bowls of Dunhill flake in my billiard for about three weeks when I noticed that the taste of the tobacco would remain good further and further down the bowl. Before, however, I'd notice the first 1/4 of the bowl would taste great and then it would decline steadily from there. Try examining your techniques with smoking and packing and experiment with non aromatic tobaccos. You may find a new favorite! I know I did, and it turned a sour smoker into a great pipe!

 

[Chasing Embers]

After a good case of scorching your tongue, your sense of taste will be less sensitive for a few days.

 

[mickgallagher]

Yes. Seems my newest order of tobacco has helped. SWRA didn't even bite me. I have yet to get into my lane 1Q. I think I haven't broken in my pipes properly either.
I'm going to pick up a pipe every paycheck if I can and stop smoking everything in everything.
I found some isopropyl alcohol at my local General store that seemed to be exactly the same as the pipe sweetener at my local cigar shop and that has helped. I also started using softer pipe cleaners for the stem and has done wonders.
Thanks everybody.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Mickgallagher:

do you use it on Meers? Do you use it in the bowl?

I don't have any Meerschaum pipes, unfortunately I can't comment on those.
I tend to have a lot of dottle left at the end of a bowl so I mostly just use it to make sure that any part of the pipe that is wet gets some alcohol to reduce microbial activity.
Sometimes when I brush out the bowl with a Q-tip having a bit of liquid on the Q-tip spreads the ash in a thin paste, on new pipes it can look a bit like I'm painting the bowl black so in that way it can work well too.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I tend to have a lot of dottle left at the end of a bowl so I mostly just use it to make sure that any part of the pipe that is wet gets some alcohol to reduce microbial activity.

Try drying your tobacco down before you pack it. If you can smoke it to near bottom, the heat will dissipate any liquid, and also kill any microbial activity. Using alcohol repeatedly cannot be good for the wood.

 

[mickgallagher]

Would you guys suggest building a cake with with a non areo then going to aromatics? I once tried an English. The house called it Fox and Hound though it doesn't always translate into what it actually was. It had a weird taste that didn't Gel with me.
I don't know if its blasphemy but my cigar shop sells cigar tobacco cut for a pipe. Can I cake with that?
(I'm sure I'll look back on this post and feel pure embarrassment)

 

[earthbound]

My aros didn't seem to build a cake well for me, but saying that non aros build a better cake is probably not necessarily true. You want to look for a tobacco that will burn evenly throughout the cross section of the pipe chamber. That is, if you find that the tobacco is burning evenly from the center of the chamber, all the way to the walls, that's something you'll want to stick with when forming a cake. Properly drying and properly packing greatly affect this. Just experiment and don't think too much. It'll be more enjoyable that way!

 

[tonyr65]

Aromatics and English both build cake pretty much equally. If you smoke both, you may want to dedicate a pipe or two to each type.
Happy smokes.

 

[jvnshr]

Welcome to the forum Tony.

 

[newbroom]

Just starting out? Your tongue isn't cooked yet. Once you've got your tongue properly smoke cured, you will then begin to have consistency with your smokes. Sounds delightful, doesn't it?

I'm just kidding, kind of.

Tongue burn is one thing, but tasting the tobacco the same way every time is another. There are variables to consider.

Flavor is best experienced by getting your bowl to burn very slowly and as coolly as possible. If you're sucking at a bowl that's packed too tightly, you won't be able to achieve that slow, easy draw which will present you with the essence of your blend.

Look upon each bowl as a new experience, because it is. Develop your technique with realistic expectations of both success and failure. This is not a test but there is usually a learning curve.

 

[foggymountain]

Dryout time for a good smoke is at least 5 days since the last smoke with that pipe. If it is poor quality briar it can be much longer. A pipe tastes much better when it is completely dry.