Soap Taste When Smoking Virginia

[hakchuma]

I’ve experienced this and it was because I had sprayed room freshener and or colognes near my pipes in my office. I keep them in the cellar closet now and the mystery was solved for me.

 

[Sigmund]

Tastes can be extremely sensitive when you are attending to smoking a pipe. One day my wife was putting on some sort of cosmetic and damned if it didnt ruin my smoke. It was not close but close enough to interfere. Also stuff on hands, stuff transfered to the pipe ect...can be really off putting.

 

[mpjetset]

That's not necessarily a problem, it's usually a feature. Hibiscus, or something like it, is a tobacco add and the note is distinctively "soapy." Perhaps it is used because, like perique, it is acidic, which is used to round out alkaline VAs, or maybe some just like the flavor. Blenders - please chime in?

If it is hibiscus, you may be noticing it more as the tin dries. As I recall, some Gawith flakes were a common source at one time and perhaps still are. The soapy notes go away with aging, I assume because I haven't detected it in years.

I haven't searched "soapy" here or other pipe tobacco platforms, but you will certainly find some hits.

 

[RookieGuy80]

The first few times I smoked year old Superior Navy Flake I got a little tiny bit of what I'll call creamy. That combined with the mild topping I can see where one would get soapy. Like a pump bottle hand soap.

 

[AJL67]

Do you know if they were used in McClellands Legends tobacco? I get that same soapy taste

Since this was bumped, in the cigar world sometimes aged Cuban cigars get a "floral" note to them they taste like flowers and either you like it or you don't, sometimes people will taste it and to be a prick say "tastes like soap" so it's a "YMMV" instance where some people taste soap it could be the tobacco having a floral note to it.

 

[Choatecav]

Since this thread "came back from the dead" I decided to read most of the posts from the past. I can't help but be a bit surprised as to how many cleaning techniques are used by the group and how often they are applied. I must say that if this is the norm, I fall woefully short. I will run a pipe cleaner down the stem about every other smoke and that is about it. I never have odd tastings like soap, etc. and just wonder if there is such a thing as too much cleaning?

 

[dingdong]

The pipe is probably had enough of the tobacco..give it a rest. Why not try another pipe and another blend.
maybe it will taste like shampoo

 

[shanez]