A good point. As an infrequent pipe smoker when I was young it took me years before I started to appreciate the flavours. Experience gained through smoking more regularly certainly helped me.
Tobacco Taste !
- Thread starter Graham
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Welcome from Sydney, Oz
May I ask which blends have you been trying ?
When I got back to smoking my pipes 3 years ago, Peterson's Connoisseur's Choice was the 1st blend I tried. It is an aromatic which will not bite, and is still one of my favourites.
Peterson's Irish Flake sat me down on my behind with my 1st bowl - it is much stronger in the nic department.
A friend kindly gave me samples of a few different blends to try. I found I really liked English/Balkan blends. Latakia and oriental tobaccos have a readily discernible "forward" flavour/taste and are quite easy to pick out.
Having "worked out" aromatics vs English/Balkan blends, I'm now getting to know Virginia/VaPer blends, as these are more subtle in flavour (my opinion).
Next on my list are Burleys and Cavendishes. I find it better to become familiar with one blend/genre before moving on to the next. Give the tobacco an opportunity to "imprint" itself in your olfactory bank.
May I ask which blends have you been trying ?
When I got back to smoking my pipes 3 years ago, Peterson's Connoisseur's Choice was the 1st blend I tried. It is an aromatic which will not bite, and is still one of my favourites.
Peterson's Irish Flake sat me down on my behind with my 1st bowl - it is much stronger in the nic department.
A friend kindly gave me samples of a few different blends to try. I found I really liked English/Balkan blends. Latakia and oriental tobaccos have a readily discernible "forward" flavour/taste and are quite easy to pick out.
Having "worked out" aromatics vs English/Balkan blends, I'm now getting to know Virginia/VaPer blends, as these are more subtle in flavour (my opinion).
Next on my list are Burleys and Cavendishes. I find it better to become familiar with one blend/genre before moving on to the next. Give the tobacco an opportunity to "imprint" itself in your olfactory bank.
Totally prohibited, unfortunately.
It depends on how nosy your neighbours are, and how well you get along with them
Take your time. Try different things. It's not like we have to hurry to our final destination. It will come sooner or later.
Yes I have, many years ago I used to smoke cigarettes then went to cigars I also tried a pipe but life was somewhat hectic and the easy way out won. I picked up the pipe again and that’s all I smoke about 6 years ago just before retirement as now I have plenty of time. I have tasted tobacco recently but also the majority of times now it’s a bad taste, I think it may be the toppings / chemicals in the arro so will get some English blends again.
I have just had another thought.
Have you any issues with your sinuses or ongoing nasal allergy or hay-fever ?
Prior to extensive sinus surgery a few years ago, I constantly smelled smoke, despite not having any open fires or wood stoves around. All that went after very successful surgery.
advice? Patience. Getting all you can out of a pipe is something that happens when it happens. Kind of like puberty. One day you notice some nuances you never noticed before or you have to start shaving. Worrying about it won't help and won't make either happen any faster. If anything you're getting in your own way. Just focus on the things you can enjoy and notice. It will probably happen when you are not expecting it too.
Oh and try different tobaccos. Try a wide variety anything that sounds interesting, but not like a race.
Try a burly try a Va try and English. In fact try Kramers blend for Cary Grant. It won't do any magic, it's just really good and easy to enjoy.
Oh and try different tobaccos. Try a wide variety anything that sounds interesting, but not like a race.
Try a burly try a Va try and English. In fact try Kramers blend for Cary Grant. It won't do any magic, it's just really good and easy to enjoy.
Even after 14 years of pipe smoking my brain is still trying to accurately process the information that my taste buds and sense of smell are giving me.
That will probably carry on for another 14 years, or longer.
I'm happy with it being that way because it adds interest and variety.
If you smoke predominantly the one blend eg @condorlover1 or @Grangerous you will have no problems identifying that blend.
There are so many components to smell and taste that unless you have an eidetic memory, it is very difficult to pinpoint a particular blend with any degree of accuracy unless you spend a lot of time "tasting and testing" your palate.
Years ago when I was into wine tasting (once or twice a week) and playing wine "parlour" games (called "options"), I got fairly good at distinguishing wines. These days, I'd be satisfied if I can tell a white from a red - and that's if I'm sober. I'd rather not waste too much time analysing but enjoy drinking the wine instead
What I meant was identifying broad genres eg Latakia/oriental blends vs Virginia/VaPers vs Burleys, rather than specific blends
Many years ago, an experienced scotch drinker said that all scotch tastes like scotch. I balked at that because I was relishing the peaty varietals of the north as well as the lighter scotches from the south and everything in between. — Today I realize he spoke from experience. I love all scotch, it tastes like scotch.If you smoke predominantly the one blend eg @condorlover1 or @Grangerous you will have no problems identifying that blend.
There are so many components to smell and taste that unless you have an eidetic memory, it is very difficult to pinpoint a particular blend with any degree of accuracy unless you spend a lot of time "tasting and testing" your palate.
Years ago when I was into wine tasting (once or twice a week) and playing wine "parlour" games (called "options"), I got fairly good at distinguishing wines. These days, I'd be satisfied if I can tell a white from a red - and that's if I'm sober. I'd rather not waste too much time analysing but enjoy drinking the wine instead
What I meant was identifying broad genres eg Latakia/oriental blends vs Virginia/VaPers vs Burleys, rather than specific blends
I drink them neat and I’m no snob. I haven’t met a scotch I haven’t enjoyed. Some are harsher examples but you get the idea.
I’m like that with most all tobacco forward blends. Tobacco tastes like tobacco. — so long as you don’t mask it with cherry gummy bears. I equate that to pouring Coca Cola into my scotch.
Granger is a mild, tasty easy smoking blend that consistently satisfies. I’m off the TAD hamster wheel. I can enjoy most any tobacco where tobacco is the star of the show. HH Acadian Perique is one example of a flavorful natural tobacco blend. Nothing but leaf and oh so tasty.
OzPiper is 100% correct. Granger is a familiar, lifelong friend.
Not saying this addresses your problem, but reading some pipe reviews might give your palate an inferiority complex and raise expectations. It does mine.
from what I've heard there is/was a huge black market for homegrown. Like really huge, as in practically industrial in scope.Totally prohibited, unfortunately.
It depends on how nosy your neighbours are, and how well you get along with them
By chance are you letting your mouthpiece rest in the discarded ash? That could explain things. Aside from that, clean out the pipe and try dedicating a pipe to a specific blend. Mixing blends can mottle the flavor for sure. Slow down, smoking too fast can cause any tobacco to taste like ash but especially Orientals and Virginias.
If it persists, cleanse your palate. Brush teeth, gargle with mouthwash, eat and apple and then try smoking a bowl drinking just water to accompany it.
Do your food taste the same? If so, probably not some temporary palate thingie. At $100 per tin, it would have to taste extraordinary for me to smoke a pipe.
If it persists, cleanse your palate. Brush teeth, gargle with mouthwash, eat and apple and then try smoking a bowl drinking just water to accompany it.
Do your food taste the same? If so, probably not some temporary palate thingie. At $100 per tin, it would have to taste extraordinary for me to smoke a pipe.
This might be the problem, to much fire/heat going on, as an inexperienced smoker.
I’ve personally never been able to keep a bowl lit for long, and I really don’t care. For me personally, I’ve found that tabac has always tasted the best, when I barely light it, then take a few small sips and let it go out, relight and repeat the process over.
While it may be true that we need to light tabac to burn and smoke it, to much fire and heat also destroy taste.
You’ll just have to do a lot of experimenting, but you certainly want to dry the tabac out, so that you pinch a small clump, you feel no moisture, pretty crispy.
Some tabac too, straight from the tin can be fine, or with some moisture, sometimes some slightly moist tabac can yield more richness, something you just have to experiment with.
Start out with barely lighting it, and then sip very slowly, don’t worry about relights, start out with the idea of barely lighting and slow small sipping.
Packing the chamber to light or to firm, can cause issues, experiment with packing.
Have fun!
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When I was much younger and about as stupid, I asked this exact same question. I was already smoking couple of packs a day, but it got me thinking "tobacco itself can't possibly taste like smoke." No clue why I thought that way. So decided to find out. Logical way to experiment this was to use "chew" since mouth and tongue will do all the testing. I recruited some test subjects, my friends, and all sat around the school baseball bleacher. We opened the pouch of some chew or the other. It smelled pretty good. So we did what baseball players do. Just like Mets players. Grabbed big pinch and shoved it between the lip and gum. Wasn't bad at all. Then we started drooling. We were drooling black spit, and it was nasty. We wanted to spit, but that would be messy. Some idiot suggested swallowing the spit. Rest of the idiots followed the suggestion. God that was awful! After that afternoon, no one ever asked what tobacco tasted like.
For cigarettes. Huge trade in smuggled cigarettes
Thanks for the advice Oz piper, I have tried mostly aromatics and I could taste the difference and have been searching for “the one” that hits the mark I guess that could take some time then i had the ash tray taste start so cleaned out the pipes and sadly still experiencing the taste so I have just ordered an English blend form Tobacco blends in Melbourne it’s Pertersons My Blend 965 I have read many reviews on many blends on tobacco reviews and hope this will do the trick. I tried Skiff and that was ok to start with but ended up a bit tasteless but that might have been because it had dried out a bit towards the end. Anyway fingers crossed. Unlike you I do not know anyone that smokes a pipe here in Mount Helena or infact WA come to that so no one to confer with or share over a pipe.
yeah that's what I had heard. Sometimes shitty things might still be shitty but sometimes they make sense or at least have a legit reason. Sometimes not at all. Like the PACT act was pretty crap.
Where the whole thing is
is that the profits from contraband cigarette trade then gets funnelled into drugs.