Tasting Tobacco Exponentially

[Sigmund]

Im not sure what has happened. Maybe Im smoking a little cooler but not too much. The past few days some of my smokes have been absolute flavor bombs. Not in a bad way, in a good way.

It started with GLP Quiet nights. I had not smoked it for a week. I lit it up and WOW. It was almost like smoking insense. There was a pine or juniper presence that was almost overwhelming after a while. It was not a Quiet Night, the band was hammering out some big tunes. I had not noticed that juniper/pine flavor before.

Yesterday I smoked some of my blend HU Delight and BAM! Almost candy sweet. Its a sweet blend for sure (half Directors cut, half Edward G and extra perique).

Same pipes, same packing. Are there time where you more experienced guys just have periods of increased taste? I know people go through periods where they dont taste as much. Im not complaining but its so much so that I might have to dial back some of my sweeter home mixes.

Maybe Im finally learning to smoke right...no clue but its interesting.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Are there time where you more experienced guys just have periods of increased taste?

Every time since I quit thinking about it many years ago. A pipe will enjoyably nearly smoke itself if you allow it to.

 

[Roach1]

Thats good to hear. I have dried out all the tobacco that I have opened at least overnight and dry about an hour in addition before smoking and I have noticed more flavors and taste especially the oriental in Dockworker. I also have almost no moisture build up during the smoke. I haven't used a cleaner while smoking for over a week. Pipe smoking is a big learning curve. Glad you are enjoying it more.

 

[First Sealord]

Has the weather conditions been different? Less humid, more on the drier side? It's crazy how changes in climate can affect our smoking.

 

[PaulRVA]

QN in a well rested primarily Virginia Blend pipe brings out some highlights for me as it does with Bob’s Chocolate and a few others.
Temperature, humidity and moisture levels play a factor too.
It’s fun when it happens, replicating it on the other hand

 

[Sigmund]

I think the variable must be me and trying to smoke a little less hot. Aside from technique I get the feeling that tasting tobacco is a lot like tasting wine. It takes time for your brain to register and recognize things. Its odd....like my taste buds are turbo charged. Maybe I will try a straight virginia. They typically lack interest for me.

 

[khiddy]

Yes, I find that environmental changes, smoking technique, and even simple familiarity can change the experience. I particularly notice this with nasal snuff: the first few times I use a blend may be kinda meh, but then I’ll start to notice all sorts of aromas and flavors all of a sudden, and it has nearly always been a net positive.

 

[sardonicus87]

I think the variable must be me and trying to smoke a little less hot. Aside from technique I get the feeling that tasting tobacco is a lot like tasting wine. It takes time for your brain to register and recognize things. Its odd....like my taste buds are turbo charged. Maybe I will try a straight virginia. They typically lack interest for me.

There's certainly a lot of variables, but yes over time with exposure, especially to new things, your brain learns to pick up on more stuff.

It could also be an unconscious learning of better cadence. Your brain can register and learn various factors you're not consciously thinking about that have an effect, and so you can sometimes naturally form habits in those directions.

I won't presume to know what's going on, but I do know for some, if they get some flavor, they might then unconsciously try harder to get that flavor by say, smoking faster or puffing harder or drawing longer, so much so that they blow out the very thing they are looking for. This can even happen with experienced guys and they have to stop and consciously slow themselves down and consciously try to stop fighting it and remind themselves to just let it happen.

Of course it could also be some environmental factors, some psychological, some combination.

But yeah, sometimes out of nowhere I taste more, sometimes less, randomly. Could be stress related, could be environmental... who knows.

 

[Grangerous]

Yes. I have and I wish all can be like that. Each time I was sipping sweetened tea, so of course, I try to repeat that but seldom can, wondering if the coating of the tongue with the sugar from the drink made a difference as the smoke passed over. Each time I was relaxed and enjoying the weather and in the mood to enjoy a bowl.

So many variables.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

When I smoke outside I taste fewer flavors... Even less if there is wind.

I was riding my lawn mower yesterday smoking a cigar. Couldn't really taste it. I thought to myself... This is a job for cigarettes.

 

[JOHN72]

I am not an expert on this, but there are many factors, as has already been said here. It affects me when I am in a bad mood, I have to stop smoking, because there is no pleasure. I also don't get good results from smoking outdoors, as I need the aroma to be concentrated and not carried away by the wind or the breeze. That's why I like to smoke in my smoker's room, with the window slightly open. But it is true that it is random, sometimes you enjoy smoking, and other times you find it frustrating, something went wrong? The climate, the dirty pipe, the stress? Especially when you smoke almost every day, a tobacco that you like, and that day it tastes like ash.

 

[dottlejockey]

This is one of the many things i love about pipe smoking. Everything is not consistent, no matter how you try to reel in the variables. I've noticed this many times, it's one of the things i was referring to in my "pipepiphany" post months ago. For varying reason(s), sometimes the same tobacco in the same pipe (even smoked in the same place) can give an extraordinarily amazing smoke. The dragon i'm always chasing, btw...