Please! It's the fragrance of tobacco, not the "odor".
The Odor Of Pipe Tobacco
- Thread starter Pipeoff
- Start date
Thanks for the thorough response! I’ve started thinking about how smells work recently especially with regards to pipe smoking.
Can you say more about why you think this?
Tobacco smokes contains hydrocarbons, oxygenated compounds, nitrogen compounds and other minor things. Further these can be broken down into amines, ethers, aldehydes, phenolics and so forth. All this sounds very ominous but a large amount of these are found in everything around us and in the air we all breathe everyday. Man made VOC and aromatic compounds are all around us. Think new car smell. Think scented candles. Think about that garlic and onions sauteed in the kitchen. All the same things in smoke.
The key is the exposure limit or OEL and length of exposure. There is far more exposure to these things breathing polluted air than smelling a lingering scent on a shirt worn while smoking a pipe.
The lingering molecules found on a smokers shirt would cause a noticable aroma but that perception is not related to the actual amount left on the shirt. One molecule could stink up the whole place in other words but create no real risk because it's under the exposure limit. There are far greater risks breathing polluted air which we cannot avoid.
Think of it this way. Why worry about the rain drop falling on your head when you are standing waist deep in the ocean?
It suddenly occurs to me that the only difference between an aroma and an odor is whether or not you like it. 
I’ve taken too many Uber rides to not hate this aroma:It suddenly occurs to me that the only difference between an aroma and an odor is whether or not you like it.
Its called being "nose blind" and it was something I was familiar with long before I was pipe smoking. Same thing happens when you smoke cigarettes or *coughcough* anything else.
My wife actually likes the smell of cigars and pipe tobacco, except for English blends, so as long as she is happy with the room note then I don‘t mind missing out on the scent as I smoke.
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The first time I tried a pipe 30ish years ago, I was disappointed that I couldn't smell the room note. I abandoned it day one when I realized that, but for a bit tried to figure out how to burn the tobacco without smoking it myself. I abandoned that idea pretty quickly also.
A friend of mine does this. He has no interest in smoking, but aroma of burning pipe tobacco is such a strong and pleasant memory, he’ll simmer it over a small flame just to fill the room with memories.
I was toying with the idea of hooking a fish tank bubbler to the pipe somehow. Lol.. That would not have worked out. I wonder now if a pinch of tobacco in a potpourri warmer would work.
What about one of those German smokers? I've only seen them at German Christmas Markets, but they're wooden dolls that you can use to burn incense or some sort of scented something. (Being very precise here I know!)