Soap Taste When Smoking Virginia

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abridgedpause

Lurker
Jan 9, 2018
6
7
Canada
Hey guys. I'm at my wits end trying to figure this problem out so I'll try to give as much information as possible for this to be nailed down. I consider myself an intermediate pipe smoker; I smoke once or twice a day, I use the breath method and I normally enjoy my aromatics or Virginia tobaccos. I never suffer from tongue bite. I clean my pipes after every use using a mix of alcool and Frangelico (Muttnchop Piper got me into that).

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been smoking exclusively Newminster No. 400 Superior Navy Flake, which I bought in bulk late last year. It's been in a mason jar since the purchase and I shake it up/move the tobacco around in the jar each time I fill my pipe (so it can't be a bad "spot" in the jar). I've been using the same pipe for the last few weeks, a Brigham Voyageur 136 with a rock maple filter. Up until 3 days ago, I was looking forward to smoking time each day because I was able to get almost like a vanilla ice cream flavour out of this tobacco. It was incredible!

But 3 days ago, I noticed that it started tasting like soap. Not right away though; it's incredible for the first 1/3 of the bowl, and then that soap kicks in and that's all I taste. I also noticed that the soap taste made my mouth extremely dry, which was something I never had trouble with. I'm normally able to smoke a whole bowl without needing to drink anything because I salivate enough. In fact, I normally have to dab off a bit of moisture from the underside of my stem as a smoke a bowl. But not since the last 3 days, it's been making my mouth dry. The taste is so bad that I can't finish my bowl and I end up throwing out 2/3 of the tobacco (3 days in a row now).

I thought that maybe it was my rock maple filter (which I'm always good with cleaning and switching out), so I put in a brand new one just to test it out; same thing tonight. This pipe is relatively new so it doesn't need any carbon cake trimming. I've eaten completely different meals over the last few days so it can't be that either.

Does anyone have suggestions?
 
Last edited:
Mar 1, 2014
3,658
4,960
Smoke is highly alkaline and the human body doesn't deal with that very well.
Try drinking a carbonated beverage (they're all highly acidic), or just squirt some lemon juice in your mouth periodically while you smoke.

Soap is made with processed Ash, thus smoking too fast or just too often can make your mouth taste like "soap".
Latakia especially can turn soapy very quickly with improper cadence.
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
16,678
31,270
46
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
I remember when I would get tongue bite for a few days afterwards it did make things taste soapy. Cause the thing is that soap taste is more the fact that soap prevents things from adhering to the taste buds, burning your taste buds has the same effect neurologically speaking. As in same signal gets sent to the brain. So I bet that's what is going on.
 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,248
57,309
66
Sarasota Florida
It could be you are smoking a Lakeland blend of Virginia's and that is what they taste like. I have tasted a few Lakeland blends and they all have that soapy back bone flavor. I find their tastes to be very soapy and not very nice tasting. Lots of people don't care for their flavors and are kind of shocked when they first taste them.
 

Dudditz

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 3, 2021
627
1,323
New Jersey
Some good advice above. Switch off to another blend or maybe give it a break all together. There was no radical change to temperature or sunlight in storing the tobacco? I understand that may sometime lead to a difference in taste.
 
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Dudditz

Part of the Furniture Now
Jun 3, 2021
627
1,323
New Jersey
Maybe it's the Frangelico? Dunno. I smoke a lot of Virginia and have not gotten soap from them, except maybe the Gawith Hoggarth brands I've tried.
I do the same thing with the Everclear/Frangelico mix a 'la muttnchop and never got a soap taste.
 
Mar 1, 2014
3,658
4,960
It could be you are smoking a Lakeland blend of Virginia's and that is what they taste like. I have tasted a few Lakeland blends and they all have that soapy back bone flavor. I find their tastes to be very soapy and not very nice tasting. Lots of people don't care for their flavors and are kind of shocked when they first taste them.
Lakeland blends taste nothing like soap.

You're talking about the scented perfume sometimes added to cleaning products, that's not what this is about.

This thread is talking about the flavor of the actual oil and alkaline chemical mixture used to create a surfactant, which is similar to all Tobacco ash.
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
16,678
31,270
46
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
Lakeland blends taste nothing like soap.

You're talking about the scented perfume sometimes added to cleaning products, that's not what this is about.

This thread is talking about the flavor of the actual oil and alkaline chemical mixture used to create a surfactant, which is similar to all Tobacco ash.
and is why I think it's mild bite. Worst part of bite isn't the pain it's everything tasting bland and soapy afterwards.
 

saltedplug

Lifer
Aug 20, 2013
5,192
5,115
Lakeland blends taste nothing like soap.

You're talking about the scented perfume sometimes added to cleaning products, that's not what this is about.

This thread is talking about the flavor of the actual oil and alkaline chemical mixture used to create a surfactant, which is similar to all Tobacco ash.
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