Post Covid Tasting Change

[Choatecav]

I'm very appreciative to all of you who posted your experiences along this line. Also, for all of the "well wishes" that were included. Some of you have had a truly hard time along this line and I certainly hope the best for each of you, too.

I suppose It varies in just about every case, so I will see how it plays out.

My dad lost his sense of smell at the very end of WWII. His unit was sent into some of the "bombed out" cities in Germany and he said the smell of decaying flesh was overwhelming and that he just suddenly could not smell anything anymore and it was that way the rest of his life. I believe it was psychosomatic and his brain just shut down that function. Not sure. Anyway, food was always fairly bland for him.

Again, thank you for all of the replies.

 

[RL Bucktails]

COVID completely killed my sense of smell and taste for about a year (truly NO smell or taste whatsoever), and even then I had issues with things tasting and smelling not quite right.

When I was able to regain some of my senses, everything had a slight hint of decay, a rancid moldering misery that was all in my head.

One of the worst was the smell and taste of coffee, whose alluring aromatic qualities are renowned worldwide, now suddenly smelling and tasting like what I can only describe as wet, dead, dog. This was extremely difficult for me because I was working in a retail setting where coffee was ~80% of our daily profits…

After struggling with regaining taste slowly and retraining my palate to remember what things tasted like, one day it was like the lock opened and my normal sense of smell came flooding back to me. I celebrated with a new tin of Balkan Sasieni.

I lost my sense of smell for about 7 days with covid way back in 2021. Some things still don’t smell right. The medical term is parosmia.

 

[Kobold]

I lose my sense of smell every time I get a cold and have for years. Super annoying. The last time I got Covid it took about two weeks to come back. I hope your sense of taste and smell come back soon.

 

[PipeIT]

It seems like a lottery - some have very few symptoms to speak of.
Others with long Covid symptoms lasting months

Wishing you a fast recovery from your symptoms

Don’t forget symptoms lasting for years. I actually had a doctor tell me last month, they don’t even know the long term effects of this thing.

I tell ya what, when I am in public, I still wear a mask and keep my distance.

Sure, we’re all probably not going to die if we catch it, but your sense of smell and taste could be messed for years.

And it could also have long term negative effects on the body and organs…

 

[FLDRD]

Mine was off for just under 2 weeks............

 

[walkingpipeguy]

I can't speak to the flavor of pipe tobacco, since I didn't have much experience with it pre-covid, but my flavor experience of certain things has definitely changed. Some herbs, particularly thyme and oregano, seem stronger and harsher to me now. And I used to like those strong "ginger beer" sodas, but they taste like gasoline to me now. I used to like high rye bourbons, but now I find them too harsh and prefer wheaters.

 

[Zeno Marx]

It's been over a year, and I'm still only at 60% on most days. Sadly, I notice it most with smoking. Food and drink a lot less. I also have developed hay fever as I've gotten older, so I know that plays into it. There's a treatment where they inject something into a gland in your neck/throat area that is supposed to work great, but I would assume it is at least $10K for the procedure. It's a bigger deal than just getting a shot and isn't generally performed. Specialist stuff, you know.

when I had C-19, everything tasted awful, especially water. I grew up in an area that had limestone filtered, great tasting water, so I'm a big water drinker. Water tasted like Windex smells. it was the worst thing about having C-19. the brightside is that I know I have again when I get those flavors back, and I have noticed it before any other symptoms.

 

[jbfrady]

I never lost my smell or taste, but they were certainly altered. When I was in the grips of it I didn't feel like smoking. So once I was back up to it, I looked forward to taking a drive and smoking some DTM Black Velvet, one of my favorites at the time...

I hated it. I hated the smell. It tasted stale, if not rotten. It made me queezy and I had to put it out. Same with snuff. I love snuff, but for several weeks there, any time I stole a sniff, I was repulsed.

Ultimately, I had to reacquire my taste for tobacco. I did, but it took a minute.

 

[Choatecav]

I never lost my smell or taste, but they were certainly altered. When I was in the grips of it I didn't feel like smoking. So once I was back up to it, I looked forward to taking a drive and smoking some DTM Black Velvet, one of my favorites at the time...

I hated it. I hated the smell. It tasted stale, if not rotten. It made me queezy and I had to put it out. Same with snuff. I love snuff, but for several weeks there, any time I stole a sniff, I was repulsed.

Ultimately, I had to reacquire my taste for tobacco. I did, but it took a minute.

I can relate to your story. I really think they are still putting the pieces together on all the things this illness can do to a person.

 

[jbfrady]

I can relate to your story. I really think they are still putting the pieces together on all the things this illness can do to a person.

Indeed. In some ways I think it's just the novelty of the virus. From what I understand, certain people even lose smell and/or taste from the regular seasonal flu. It's just that such a flu has perpetuated for so long in circulation that it's been largely self-remediated.

A virus is still a living being, intending to reproduce and continue living just like a plant, person, or animal would. It's in the virus's best interest not to terminate its host or it dies too, du most become less aggressive over time. I believe it was David Quammen's book Spillover where I read that.

 

[Uguccione]

I had taken a break from Latakia blends for a while and went to light one up one day. No smokey campfire taste - the flavor of the blend was just ashy cardboard. Tried a different English in a different pipe a few weeks later - same issue. Burley, VA, perique, aros, etc. all taste normal. Again, this was several years ago and before Covid hit.

I was born with no sense of smell, so I have never smelled anything, a perfume or a stink in my life.
I really relate to this description of yours; however, I can distinguish a Virginia from an EM but I have trouble distinguishing two different EMs or Virginias (unless they are VERY different).
So why do I smoke? I think it's because I have no idea what it means to smoke with a functioning sense of smell. Not knowing the difference, I'm happy with what I smell.
It's the same with food: I smell a single flavor that is the combination of all the ingredients that make up the recipe, but it's impossible for me to identify the individual ingredients. If there is a dominant flavor, I only smell that.
All very muffled anyway.

The positive side is that when I had covid I didn't notice anything (lol).

 

[Choatecav]

Since I started this thread, I thought I would bring it full circle to let you all know that I am starting to get my taste for pipe tobacco back again as the Covid slowly leaves. I still have a small bit of congestion and when doing chores, I have to pace myself as I tire easily, but at least I can enjoy a bowl of tobacco.

Have been trying various blends over past few days and could taste things a bit better each day. Today, after feeding the horses, I had a bowl of Rattray's Old Gowrie and man it was delicious.

I know many of you have stated that you lost your ability to taste for months or even years and I sure hope things turn around for you soon.

 

[vosBghos]

Don’t forget symptoms lasting for years. I actually had a doctor tell me last month, they don’t even know the long term effects of this thing.

I tell ya what, when I am in public, I still wear a mask and keep my distance.

Sure, we’re all probably not going to die if we catch it, but your sense of smell and taste could be messed for years.

And it could also have long term negative effects on the body and organs…

over 2 years nothing tastes right and I cant smell a thing , but I still smoke Red VA and Peterson Flake , it pretty much sucks but , still glad to be above ground surrounded by good folks , and so many other things to be grateful for.

 

[PipeIT]

over 2 years nothing tastes right and I cant smell a thing , but I still smoke Red VA and Peterson Flake , it pretty much sucks but , still glad to be above ground surrounded by good folks , and so many other things to be grateful for.

Sorry to hear…

Be well!

 

[Edwoooo]

Since the "Chinese Flu" hit these shores a few years ago, I have successfully dodged catching it and thought I had cleared the gauntlet. But recently, I went to my last surviving Aunt's 90th bday party in Atlanta and was around a lot of folks. A few days after I returned home, I began feeling a scratchy throat and thought I'd be cautious and did the Covid test. Well...... it was positive. The experience has not been too bad but I have been very tired and been doing a lot of serious napping. I had heard about the loss of taste and smell, but have retained those two senses and food tastes ok.

Today, I tried my first bowl of a nice Virginia and it was as flat as a flitter.....

Have any of you who have gone through the Covid shuffle experienced a disappointment in how your pipe tasted afterwards? If so, how long did it take before it came back to you?

I'm not planning on jumping out of any windows or anything drastic, but this is a downer.

It'll most likely revert back. In rare cases the taste perception changes. My brother got covid 2 years ago and all of a sudden he thinks Pepsi, BBQ spices, certain foods taste like gasoline, and this is going on 2 years now.

 

[PiperCalvinist]

Well, this was a discouraging read. I was hoping to find some helpful hacks to getting my tastebuds back... When I first got Covid I lost my sense of smell and taste for about 3-4 months. My taste slowly came back over time, but I couldn't smell hardly anything for almost a year. Well, I noticed last week that some of the VaPers that I had just come to love over the previous few weeks, started tasting rather bland. It's like I could taste the flavor but it was very muted, and then it turned into tasting like ash. I decided to take a couple days off, thinking my tongue just needed are rest. Well, that didn't work and today while eating some salsa I realized that change of salsa flavor that I experienced when I first got Covid returned. I haven't been sick at all, but apparently my body encountered this crap AGAIN. It was not a quick recovery for my smell and taste last night. Anyone experience a difference in recovery getting it multiple times? Anyone find something natural that helps the recovery?

 

[BrightDarkEyes]

Well, this was a discouraging read. I was hoping to find some helpful hacks to getting my tastebuds back... When I first got Covid I lost my sense of smell and taste for about 3-4 months. My taste slowly came back over time, but I couldn't smell hardly anything for almost a year. Well, I noticed last week that some of the VaPers that I had just come to love over the previous few weeks, started tasting rather bland. It's like I could taste the flavor but it was very muted, and then it turned into tasting like ash. I decided to take a couple days off, thinking my tongue just needed are rest. Well, that didn't work and today while eating some salsa I realized that change of salsa flavor that I experienced when I first got Covid returned. I haven't been sick at all, but apparently my body encountered this crap AGAIN. It was not a quick recovery for my smell and taste last night. Anyone experience a difference in recovery getting it multiple times? Anyone find something natural that helps the recovery?

I lost my sense of taste and smell for a few days the first time I got COVID. I used essential oil therapy while the smell was faintly coming back and I think that helped speed my recovery of those senses.

The last thing I smoked before the symptoms came on was Plum Pudding and Latakia hasn’t tasted the same to me since. I don’t reallly taste the campfire smokiness I first associated with it. The Latakia taste registers in my brain as slightly sweet now even if the tin and room note smell the same as they ever did to me.

 

[Choatecav]

Well, this was a discouraging read. I was hoping to find some helpful hacks to getting my tastebuds back... When I first got Covid I lost my sense of smell and taste for about 3-4 months. My taste slowly came back over time, but I couldn't smell hardly anything for almost a year. Well, I noticed last week that some of the VaPers that I had just come to love over the previous few weeks, started tasting rather bland. It's like I could taste the flavor but it was very muted, and then it turned into tasting like ash. I decided to take a couple days off, thinking my tongue just needed are rest. Well, that didn't work and today while eating some salsa I realized that change of salsa flavor that I experienced when I first got Covid returned. I haven't been sick at all, but apparently my body encountered this crap AGAIN. It was not a quick recovery for my smell and taste last night. Anyone experience a difference in recovery getting it multiple times? Anyone find something natural that helps the recovery?

Do not give up hope, PC. It really hurt the clarity of my taste but after a couple of weeks it came back. I am enjoying the various flavors quite well, now.
Try eating some tart flavored fruits like oranges, tangerines, lemons, limes, etc. It may help jump start it.

Hang in there.

 

[PiperCalvinist]

Do not give up hope, PC. It really hurt the clarity of my taste but after a couple of weeks it came back. I am enjoying the various flavors quite well, now.
Try eating some tart flavored fruits like oranges, tangerines, lemons, limes, etc. It may help jump start it.

Hang in there.

Thank you - I 'll definitely try that - anything to get it back! Amazing what we can take for granted in life.

 

[vosBghos]

Thank you - I 'll definitely try that - anything to get it back! Amazing what we can take for granted in life.

As someone suffering from long covid, all I can say is that though your tastes change significantly there are so many varieties out there that you will most likely find something in the interim that will satisfy you.

I used to love Latakia blends now it tastes like mint I used to love Old Joe Krantz now it tastes like moldy bread. I have found that Straight Virginia especially Red Virginia really pops as well as Oriental blends without Latakia.

So maybe check out blends that maybe you found underwhelming before covid or straight leaf or blends with fewer components and see what suits you.

Best of luck.