Welcome Back!
I’ll keep it simple, because at this stage in the game it’s what you need, in order to keep you interested in pipe smoking.
You’ve already been given a lot of information, which is good and bad, bad as in Information Overload, and then you Burn Out!
You have enough now about some pipes and tobacco, so at this point in time, it’s going to be a lot of experimenting to get the acquired taste ‘Pipe System’ down, so to speak of, and it’s not complicated. I bought my first few pipes, a few tins, that was it, and I was happily puffing along.
Again, you may just have an overly sensitive tongue, also do you have any allergies, or find that foods others typically eat, you have problems, as it relates to your tongue?
The most IMPORTANT thing you need to never forget, is that the tongue needs to be educated! Becoming like
@jiminks doesn’t happen over night. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression; ‘Acquired Taste’. ?
When was the last time you can remember seeing in life, or on TV, etc., someone trying alcohol for the first time, and they coughed and gagged and spit, yelling how it tastes like gasoline, or lighter fluid, or some other nasty thing, saying how can you drink this, etc., etc... You see, this is where you are at, new, and your tongue has not adjusted, this is why you are struggling with the various differences in tastes between blends, besides tongue bite.
SO, taking a few steps back, follow, these steps.
Smoke only 1 bowl in a pipe, then clean it, wipe out the inside chamber very lightly after smoking with a paper towel to help reduce cake/carbon build up, then run both a bristled and soft cleaner through the pipe, then let the pipe dry out for a 1-3 days before smoking again. How long to dry? After 1 day smell the inside of the pipe, if it still smells like burnt tobacco and ash, let it dry another day. The objective here is to wait until the inside starts to smell more like pipe tobacco and less like ash, and sweeter smelling. All my pipes start smelling nicer within 2-3 days. Now if you had 5 pipes in your rotation, then each pipe will naturally get 4 days of rest.
Because of your tongue sensitivity a nice pipe lighter with an adjustable soft flame, might just be the thing you need, if you haven’t invested in one like the ‘IM Corona Old Boy’. For now, forget about trying to keep the tobacco lit, don’t worry about having to keep relighting it over, that will come in time. It’s better because of your tongue sensitivity, to barely light the tobacco, so there won’t be much heat, then take a VERY SLOW and SMALL SIP, maybe only 1-2, then let the tabac go out, and let the pipe cool down, to where it actually feels cool, and no warmth, then light it again, repeating the same slow small 1-2 sips, they also don’t need to be sips in a row.
When it comes tobacco, you can certainly hear what everyone has to say, but be sure to go online to read company descriptions on the blend as well.
Now you just need to take all of this VERY SLOWLY and in time your tongue will get smarter! ?
