Sudden Changes In Taste

[ruger414]

Hey guys! As I lit my first bowl of Dunhill MM 965 today, the taste that I have come to love suddenly repulsed me. This has happened a few times with completely random blends, and after a day or two my taste buds decide that they like them again. Has anyone else come across this problem before? It sounds strange but I'm sure there is a logical explanation.

 

[beefeater33]

Happens all the time to me. If I eat a lot of spicy, and I do mean spicy, food, my T-buds will be off for a while. Same goes for drinking, whisky throws my T-buds off, but they always come back....... I think its normal.

 

[bryanf]

If I smoke too much straight Virginia for too many weeks straight, everything starts to taste saltier than usual. That's when I lay off them. I like them a lot, but unfortunately they start to have that affect after a hundred bowls or so.

 

[rmbittner]

Ruger:
Too many possibilities to name: Weather, mood, the specific pipe, body chemistry, etc.
But another factor is simply the state of your pipe. If you're smoking this particular pipe regularly and haven't given it a thorough alcohol-based cleaning in a while, that can definitely affect the quality of the smoke.
Bob

 

[cortezattic]

+1 to both Bryan and Bob. It happens to me all the time too, so I have plenty of alternates in the line-up.

 

[pruss]

I agree with most of what's posted above, and would only like to add that hydration level is hugely important to having properly operating taste-buds. If you get to a place where you notice a favourite tobacco is tasting "off", you might put the pipe down, drink a couple glasses of water, and come back to the pipe in the afternoon and see if it tastes any better. All for the sake of science, of course.
-- Pat

 

[phred]

I've found that coming down with a cold will screw up my sense of taste. The allergies I'm used to, but colds jack me up for a while.

 

[pruss]

I've found that coming down with a cold will screw up my sense of taste.

Totally. Anything that impacts the sinus (literally and figuratively) will impact the ability to taste. Also, medications designed to dry up your sinuses will equally jack your sense of taste & smell.
-- Pat