Savory Taste from Sweet Blends?

[Templekeeper]

Has anyone else experienced this and know what causes it / could be done about it?

About a week ago all my favorite blends suddenly tasted savory to me (not salty, not sour, but savory)
Blends like 1Q, Autumn Evening, Captain Black, LC Hazelnut... Instead of having their familiar "sweetness" their flavor somehow turned savory.
At first I thought it might've been the pipe, I tried different ones and had the same issue. I even thoroughly cleaned them (alcohol and the works) and kept getting a "savory" flavor from them. The scent/room note still smelled pretty much the same, but their taste was different.
I also thought it might've been something that I had eaten or drank that changed the chemistry in my mouth, but this lasted for days.
A few days ago I got the sweet taste from them again, but today I'm once more getting savory.

Any thoughts?

 

[Chasing Embers]

I get chocolate from latakia. Your brain may be registering the sweet like you get from some meat and reorganizing the flavor.

 

[Troutlaw]

I can't say I have an answer, but I do have an anecdote.

When I began smoking in 2017, all I wanted or needed was English varieties. Frog Morton, Squadron Leader, EMP, Nightcap, etc. Then I switched to Virginias for a while, and when I tried to go back to English blends, they all tasted very gross to me. Like, my opinion on the flavor profiles did not change, but the actual taste itself changed. I do not know what it was or how it happened, but they all tasted different in a very unpleasant way. So I sold them.

Years later, I gave Englishes a try again, somehow found that English blends tasted good again. Unfortunately, I had sold most my favorite english blends, and now learned that some of my favorites had gone extinct and were selling for hundreds for a tin on Ebay.

Guess my point is maybe take a break from sweet aromatics for a bit and come back to them after some time? Maybe that'll help?

 

[Templekeeper]

I can't say I have an answer, but I do have an anecdote.

When I began smoking in 2017, all I wanted or needed was English varieties. Frog Morton, Squadron Leader, EMP, Nightcap, etc. Then I switched to Virginias for a while, and when I tried to go back to English blends, they all tasted very gross to me. Like, my opinion on the flavor profiles did not change, but the actual taste itself changed. I do not know what it was or how it happened, but they all tasted different in a very unpleasant way. So I sold them.

Years later, I gave Englishes a try again, somehow found that English blends tasted good again. Unfortunately, I had sold most my favorite english blends, and now learned that some of my favorites had gone extinct and were selling for hundreds for a tin on Ebay.

Guess my point is maybe take a break from sweet aromatics for a bit and come back to them after some time? Maybe that'll help?

There might be something to it. When the savory taste came on I just stopped smoking for a few days. I wasn't enjoying it or getting what I was expecting. After that I sort of got the sweetness again, but now it's once again gone
When I first started I smoked a lot and that didn't happen then though...

 

[Scottmi]

Has anyone else experienced this and know what causes it / could be done about it?

About a week ago all my favorite blends suddenly tasted savory to me (not salty, not sour, but savory)
Blends like 1Q, Autumn Evening, Captain Black, LC Hazelnut... Instead of having their familiar "sweetness" their flavor somehow turned savory.
At first I thought it might've been the pipe, I tried different ones and had the same issue. I even thoroughly cleaned them (alcohol and the works) and kept getting a "savory" flavor from them. The scent/room note still smelled pretty much the same, but their taste was different.
I also thought it might've been something that I had eaten or drank that changed the chemistry in my mouth, but this lasted for days.
A few days ago I got the sweet taste from them again, but today I'm once more getting savory.

Any thoughts?

allergies mess with my tastebuds. comes, then goes

 

[warren]

Any thoughts?

You do understand that your body changes daily depending on diet, condition, illnesses, etc. This most definately includes your palate and, especially your nose which contrubutes mightily to your perceived tastes.. So, your perception of taste is constantly changing, sometimes minutely and other times very noticeably. Add that to the variations in the blend, your packing and breath control and, it's a wonder how much a blend appears stagnant to the usual palate. I notive very little day to day change, barring illness. My palate isn't all that discerning though.

 

[cersono]

Sudden change of taste perception might also be a sign of endocrinological diseases or hormonal deficiencies. Some years back I had similar thing happened, when every tobacco suddenly tasted acrid. Prescription of Thyroidal pills quickly resolved the problem.

 

[bullet08]

Did you tell the guy behind the counter to skip on the MSG? Just take few days off and see if things come back.

 

[Ahi Ka]

I get chocolate from latakia. Your brain may be registering the sweet like you get from some meat and reorganizing the flavor.

In the last year Ive started to primarily get chocolate (well hot cocoa) from latakia too! it has been messing with my brain lately, so encouraging to see i'm not alone.

 

[JOHN72]

Smoking some of blends with Latakia, if I get salty tastes, bitter chocolate, and those sensations of charcoal-grilled meat or barbecues. also, some metallic flavor, something similar to wasabi, or as if you were licking a piece of iron. With C&D Pirate Kake and Mississippi, I get more of those sensations.

 

[Sinzalot]

I would take a break for a while like many have suggested.
Perhaps when you return to the pipe start with an obvious 'savoury' blend, something far removed from anything sweet, even just one bowlful. Then try your preferred sweet blends again.
There are so many variables that can cause changes to the flavours of a blend. Hopefully your palette will have reset and things will get back to normal. Happy smokes

 

[Templekeeper]

allergies mess with my tastebuds. comes, then goes

That hadn't occurred to me but it makes a lot of sense. I have been waking up with a sore throat for several days and unlike the middle of winter, it definitely wasn't because the air was too dry. Allergy season makes sense (although I never get it anywhere near as bad as others)

 

[Templekeeper]

You do understand that your body changes daily depending on diet, condition, illnesses, etc. This most definately includes your palate and, especially your nose which contrubutes mightily to your perceived tastes.. So, your perception of taste is constantly changing, sometimes minutely and other times very noticeably. Add that to the variations in the blend, your packing and breath control and, it's a wonder how much a blend appears stagnant to the usual palate. I notive very little day to day change, barring illness. My palate isn't all that discerning though.

Yes, I don't have that discerning palate either, but I would relish those moments when I somehow did everything right and got that delicious scent and taste from a draw. However, this was too prominent and consistent. I'm leaning toward's @Scottmi 's explanation right now, as that does seem to make the most sense.

 

[Templekeeper]

Sudden change of taste perception might also be a sign of endocrinological diseases or hormonal deficiencies. Some years back I had similar thing happened, when every tobacco suddenly tasted acrid. Prescription of Thyroidal pills quickly resolved the problem.

I'll keep that in mind if this persists or taste turns acrid. (I did have Cult's Blood Red Moon last night and that still tasted well)

 

[Templekeeper]

In the last year Ive started to primarily get chocolate (well hot cocoa) from latakia too! it has been messing with my brain lately, so encouraging to see i'm not alone.

Now I'm curious to see if I can get that, too, at some point.

Smoking some of blends with Latakia, if I get salty tastes, bitter chocolate, and those sensations of charcoal-grilled meat or barbecues. also, some metallic flavor, something similar to wasabi, or as if you were licking a piece of iron. With C&D Pirate Kake and Mississippi, I get more of those sensations.

My issue was mostly the "sudden" change. Where for weeks/months the blends tasted fairly consistent (each one different from each other of course) but then they all suddenly tasted savory and not at all like what I had tasted consistently before (as 'consistent' as you could get with a relative newbie)

 

[Templekeeper]

I would take a break for a while like many have suggested.
Perhaps when you return to the pipe start with an obvious 'savoury' blend, something far removed from anything sweet, even just one bowlful. Then try your preferred sweet blends again.
There are so many variables that can cause changes to the flavours of a blend. Hopefully your palette will have reset and things will get back to normal. Happy smokes

Thanks @Sinzalot, I did try Cult's Blood Red Moon last night and that was still pleasantly sweet. But maybe later this weekend and next week I could do just that and take a break and see what happens when I come back.

 

[Doctor Chopper]

Sudden change of taste perception might also be a sign of endocrinological diseases or hormonal deficiencies. Some years back I had similar thing happened, when every tobacco suddenly tasted acrid. Prescription of Thyroidal pills quickly resolved the problem.

This just goes to show how complicated taste can be. Thanks for sharing.

 

[ThermionicScott]

I don’t seem to get nearly as much sweetness from pipe smoking as others do. I’m sure my technique is partly to blame, and I’m always working to smoke my Virginias slower. But I think part of it may just be my physiology. So, now I just try to appreciate whatever flavors I get, and not be too bummed if I don’t get that “sugar on my tongue” sweetness this time around.

 

[burleybreath]

After having covid, I'm not surprised by anything my nose/palate/taste chooses to lay on me. Taste comes and goes daily. But Virginias are pretty consistent most of the time. Must be the natural sweetness. Everything else, on a bad day, tastes like nothing. Odd that you would mention Cult BRM--it's the only aromatic I could taste at all, of the ones I tried.

 

[Papamique]

Has anyone else experienced this and know what causes it / could be done about it?

About a week ago all my favorite blends suddenly tasted savory to me (not salty, not sour, but savory)
Blends like 1Q, Autumn Evening, Captain Black, LC Hazelnut... Instead of having their familiar "sweetness" their flavor somehow turned savory.
At first I thought it might've been the pipe, I tried different ones and had the same issue. I even thoroughly cleaned them (alcohol and the works) and kept getting a "savory" flavor from them. The scent/room note still smelled pretty much the same, but their taste was different.
I also thought it might've been something that I had eaten or drank that changed the chemistry in my mouth, but this lasted for days.
A few days ago I got the sweet taste from them again, but today I'm once more getting savory.

Any thoughts?

COVID