Tasting the Smoke

[4dotsasieni]

Since Kashmir brought up the subject, in his "Puffing Incognito" post, of puffing slowly to improve the smoking experience, I thought I'd expand on that a little bit.
What's the best way to get the full flavor of the tobacco? Do you just take a little in and immediately let it back out? Do you hold it in your mouth for a while? Do you "retro-hale" through the nose?
What's your best advice on how to enjoy the tobacco taste to the utmost?

 

[kashmir]

I tend to clench the pipe, breathing through my nose in long deliberate draughts, taking small sips from the pipe to maintain a cool smoulder. Sometimes these are short shallow sips. Other times these are long slow prolonged sips. Usually I don't need any re-lights, unless I put the pipe down. Often I'll pass the smoke through my nose, occasionally through the mouth, often both at the same time to pick up flavor. The more infrequent the sips, the greater the flavor. If I feel the ember going out I'll pipe more forcefully, then back to shallow sips. Never big clouds of smoke. Also, I'll often smell the bowl and, taking out the pipe, I'll smell the stem. Whole range of flavors there. It's hard to describe as every man will pipe differently. The important thing is not to over-heat the bowl, as this brings on a range of problems, including missing what the tobacco has to offer flavor-wise.

 

[latbomber]

I think it is really pipe/tobacco dependant and takes experimentation. Virginia based blends I find taste better when sipped at a smoulder, Lat blends I like to puff with big clouds of smoke, sometimes breathing in a bit of the hanging smoke through the nose to get a dose of the room note.

 

[samanden]

Well said Kashmir. When I first took up the pipe I realized I was a clencher. I like the look of it; and it's comfortable as well as freeing when I need to do things with my hands like hold a book and turn the page. When I clench, smoking becomes as natural as breathing. Sips of the pipe can be in short or long draws, in numerous successive puffs or after long pauses in between, always mindful of taking it slow. And like I've said in another post, if my pipe has gone out, and the tobacco is still warm, I continue to draw on the leaves. I get a nice and cool flavor that way.

 

[smokeybear]

To answer in short i take in slowly and let it out slower this i find helps me taste the blends better, but im also a smoker of cigs so it may be more difficult for me to taste blends. this is why i use this method.

 

[dnietosi]

I ll say try everything with every blend and figure out what works best for you. I smoke clenching or not, retro-hale, inhale back some of the smoke I just puffed out, I take small sips while breathing and keep some bigger ones for a few seconds in my mouth. I even blow softly in the bowl and then inhale the whirl of smoke coming out of the stem and find it very pleasant and different.
::

 

[oldredbeard]

if my pipe has gone out, and the tobacco is still warm, I continue to draw on the leaves. I get a nice and cool flavor that way.

+1 I guess I have always done this, just glad to hear someone else say it. I also agree with all of Kasmir's post as well. Short soft sips, and a long slow one now and then seem to keep the pipe cooler over all. I also always retro-hale anytime I remove the pipe from my mouth.

 

[4dotsasieni]

A few random thoughts on the subject:
I tend to hold the smoke in my mouth and SLOWLY let it out, almost as though I'm trying to blow smoke rings - best taste that way. Unfortunately, I also have a hard-to break habit of first taking a pretty strong draw, which of course overheats the tobacco and burns off the flavouring. Got to break that habit!
The receptors (taste buds) for sweetness are located in the front of the tongue, near the tip. So that's the place to concentrate the smoke - it's not necessary to draw it all the way back into the mouth.
I think we have to blame the Lord of the Rings movies for some of the bad smoking habits of new smokers. They think they have to immerse themselves in huge wreaths of smoke, as in the undoubtedly digitally-enhanced huge clouds coming from the pipes and mouths of Gandalf and the hobbits.
Try this: if you're smoking outdoors, between puffs hold the pipe slightly upwind of you. Sometimes you can get the full effect of the aroma (room note) this way. Experiment with different positions.

 

[smokeybear]

4dot ill give it a try but given you are a Buddhist monk I think your level of concentration out does the lot of us on here.

I will try it though hopefully my years of smoking nails doesn't interfere

 

[instymp]

+1 Kash

Be one with the pipe. 8)

 

[bentmike]

I tend to hold the smoke in my mouth and SLOWLY let it out, almost as though I'm trying to blow smoke rings - best taste that way.

This is what I do.

 

[easterntraveler]

Wow Kashmir sounds like your makeing love to your pipe.

 

[linkdead]

I've tried about six tobacco flavors since I started pipe smokeing and am having a hard time finding the flavors that should be there. I don't taste citris or chocolate or spice or fruit, brandy, fireside, earth. I taste tobacco that smells good in the tin and very different when lit (very much like coffee does). Can you smoke coffee? Anyway.. in order to train my "palete" I've ordered tobacoo that reviewed very high in certian flavors like Cherry or spice in hopes that I can better identify these flavors when the blend only hints at them. Does this sound like a good plan, or are there better ways to learn to taste the nuances of smoke?

 

[crk69]

+1 with 4Dot, plus I retro-hale about every 5 or 6 puffs...

 

[4dotsasieni]

"in order to train my "palate" I've ordered tobacco that reviewed very high in certain flavors like Cherry or spice in hopes that I can better identify these flavors when the blend only hints at them. Does this sound like a good plan, or are there better ways to learn to taste the nuances of smoke?"
Sounds like a plan, link, but watch out for tongue bite with these highly-flavoured aromatics. You might try them in a Peterson P-lip, if you have one.
By the way, speaking of tongues, although, as I said, the sweetness taste receptor is located near the tip of the tongue, I find I experience the best mellow, rich, nutty tobacco flavours about halfway back on the tongue. So give the smoke a chance to reach all the areas!

 

[pipeinhand]

I thought Baron did a video of a french inhale but I can't find it and the you tube ones are a bunch of dregs. So here is a LINK to what it is.
Note to BaronSamedi, you should do a video!

 

[baronsamedi]

I smoke in almost all of my videos and if you watch you can usually catch me either French-Inhaling or Retrohaling, but I've never done a video on the French inhale. Maybe it's time for a new video. I haven't done a nice pipe video in a while!

 

[dragonslayer]

+1 Kash, I do the same thing to the letter. I smoke mainly flake that I cube and find that when properly dried and then cured in a tin they smolder like charcoal briquettes. Rarely a relight and a good pull brings it right back up. Unless it's a large bowl, I never bother to tamp it.

 

[wilson]

When doing it "right" I take small sips, hold the tobacco for a bit and often retro-hale. Then, there are times when I just gotta have copious amounts of smoke. Of course, I overheat my pipe and then settle down.

 

[fitzy]

I try to take small slow sips. I can't smoke it as slowly as Kashmir though. I'm trying.
I retro-hale from time to time.
Linkdead you're probably smoking way too fast and hot. I find most new pipers, particularly ones coming from stogies first, usually puff way way way too much on the pipe. Particularly when trying to light the pipe then you end up just burning the crap out of your taste buds.
Also as a side note aromatics generally don't taste as much as they smell.
You might want to think about branching off to Virginia blends and maybe Latakia blends. I would recommend Frog Morton's Cellar. It's like a crossover Latakia blend with some whiskey flavor.