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Graham

Lurker
Jun 12, 2021
11
37
Hi, it seems that what ever tobacco I smoke it all tastes the same, like an old full ashtray, I have deep cleaned my pipe, bought a new one but with the same result. The pipes are a good quality Peterson briar the tobacco is also good. When I smoke the pipe never burns hot and generally I can smoke the bowl on just 1 or 2 lights, I take it slow and steady. I enjoy smoking but not getting the taste everyone says they get from smoking, I have ordered another pipe with a filter I hope that sorts it, what suggestions do you have ?
 
Jun 25, 2021
1,369
4,443
England
Sounds like you're doing everything right.
When I get that ashtray taste, it's because the tobacco is too dry and I packed too loose. in which case I let the pipe go out, blow back through it a few times, tamp down firmly, problem solved.

A lot of people on this forum though, prefer their tobacco dry and loosely packed.
Anyway, at least with lots of different opinions, you may come up with an answer to your problem.

And welcome to the forum from me here in London ?
 

Graham

Lurker
Jun 12, 2021
11
37
Sounds like you're doing everything right.
When I get that ashtray taste, it's because the tobacco is too dry and I packed too loose. in which case I let the pipe go out, blow back through it a few times, tamp down firmly, problem solved.

A lot of people on this forum though, prefer their tobacco dry and loosely packed.
Anyway, at least with lots of different opinions, you may come up with an answer to your problem.

And welcome to the forum from me here in London ?
Thank you, it’s been a few years since I visited London. I will try your method, the last tobacco was Just purchased and straight out of the tin so perhaps I will try a tighter packing.
I live near Perth in Western Australia and tobacco costs are phenomenal here.
 
Mar 1, 2014
3,646
4,916
Hi, it seems that what ever tobacco I smoke it all tastes the same, like an old full ashtray, I have deep cleaned my pipe, bought a new one but with the same result. The pipes are a good quality Peterson briar the tobacco is also good. When I smoke the pipe never burns hot and generally I can smoke the bowl on just 1 or 2 lights, I take it slow and steady. I enjoy smoking but not getting the taste everyone says they get from smoking, I have ordered another pipe with a filter I hope that sorts it, what suggestions do you have ?
If you're new to pipes just hang on and keep at it for a while.
Like spicy curry, if all you taste is the base flavor then your tastebuds haven't acclimatized yet.

Make sure to branch out in the variety of tobacco you smoke,
G.L. Pease Quiet Nights is a good Latakia Bomb, or the classic Presbyterian blend is Oriental forward. Escudo is a good place to start for a Virginia Perique blend.
 

npod

Lifer
Jun 11, 2017
2,942
1,024
This happens sometimes. It is not due to any one thing per se. It is a mystery a faith why it happens. Generally it passes within days to few short weeks. I always stopping all pipe smoking for a short period and you should be fine. God Speed on getting your taste and smell back in harmony.
 

Graham

Lurker
Jun 12, 2021
11
37
125 dollars for a 50 g tin so I heard.
Seems like a gross injustice to me.
Yes and going up another 3% it goes up twice a year it’s the government tax, 6 years ago it was $50 for 50g, you know the tobacconist on line are not allowed to show photos of the pipes they sell only descriptions yet they can show the bongs you smoke drugs in!! It’s ridiculous.
 
It does take a while to develop a taste for tobacco. You have to taste different leafs and get a set comparison in mind to be able to start pulling out the delicate nuisance of hay, oatmeal, spice, earth, etc... I was smoking about 12-15 pipes a day to start out, so I think that may be why I was more quickly able to start getting these nuisance... that and the help of one of our forum members who leads coffee tastings gave me a few pointers.

To me, there is not a single tobacco that tastes like ashtray. I can't imagine that would remain a popular blend, or even remain on the market for long.

If you have poor memory retention for things like tastes, smells, or even pictures... (how long can you retain all of the details that you see in an image, or retain all of the details that you taste in foods) it may be harder to smoke just once a day and be able to start delving into the details of flavor. If you do only smoke once or twice a day, maybe try smoking two pipes at once with different tobaccos loaded. You can do a more immediate differential between the two.

In the beginning we were all focused on slowing down till we thought we could slow down any more... then we slowed our smoking down even more. The flavor comes when you are smoking it at the very edge of going out. Relights are fine, don't puff to keep it going. Just keep a lighter handy.
One of the hardest things to overcome early on is when you do get a good flavor, DO NOT START PUFFING HARDER. This will kill that flavor you were getting. If anything, slow down more when you start to taste things.

It's hard. If this were easy then any idiot would be able to do it. Keep trying, slow and easy.
 
Yes generally, I have tried Skiff after deep clean and the same result, it’s difficult to get a choice of tobacco here in Perth WA as true tobacconist dont exist I have to get it on line from over east.
Skiff is a great one. Any English will be better to start with than an aromatic... no disrespect to aros. But, if you are limited to aromatics, maybe try codger blends or vanilla aros. Something that will allow you to also taste some tobacco in the mix, but as Chasingembers might be about to say, aromatics are not the best thing to start with.
 

Graham

Lurker
Jun 12, 2021
11
37
It does take a while to develop a taste for tobacco. You have to taste different leafs and get a set comparison in mind to be able to start pulling out the delicate nuisance of hay, oatmeal, spice, earth, etc... I was smoking about 12-15 pipes a day to start out, so I think that may be why I was more quickly able to start getting these nuisance... that and the help of one of our forum members who leads coffee tastings gave me a few pointers.

To me, there is not a single tobacco that tastes like ashtray. I can't imagine that would remain a popular blend, or even remain on the market for long.

If you have poor memory retention for things like tastes, smells, or even pictures... (how long can you retain all of the details that you see in an image, or retain all of the details that you taste in foods) it may be harder to smoke just once a day and be able to start delving into the details of flavor. If you do only smoke once or twice a day, maybe try smoking two pipes at once with different tobaccos loaded. You can do a more immediate differential between the two.

In the beginning we were all focused on slowing down till we thought we could slow down any more... then we slowed our smoking down even more. The flavor comes when you are smoking it at the very edge of going out. Relights are fine, don't puff to keep it going. Just keep a lighter handy.
One of the hardest things to overcome early on is when you do get a good flavor, DO NOT START PUFFING HARDER. This will kill that flavor you were getting. If anything, slow down more when you start to taste things.

It's hard. If this were easy then any idiot would be able to do it. Keep trying, slow and easy.
Thank you, yes only one pipe a day possibly two in a week so very casual, at $125 / 50g it could get expensive otherwise. I vac pac the tobacco in between to stop it drying out. I will up the consumption to see how it goes.
 

Graham

Lurker
Jun 12, 2021
11
37
Skiff is a great one. Any English will be better to start with than an aromatic... no disrespect to aros. But, if you are limited to aromatics, maybe try codger blends or vanilla aros. Something that will allow you to also taste some tobacco in the mix, but as Chasingembers might be about to say, aromatics are not the best thing to start with.
I will order some more Skiff I think.
 
Jul 28, 2016
7,564
36,058
Finland-Scandinavia-EU
125 dollars for a 50 g tin so I heard.
Seems like a gross injustice to me.
To me this seems something worse than just an injustice, to put it right ,will be consider it like government driven robbery, same as annual taxes on motor vehicle use, I'd start consider immigrating to some other country where these 'consumer' taxes are more bearable
 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,249
57,280
66
Sarasota Florida
I would recommend buying a tin of Peterson Navy Rolls, Peterson Flake, and Peterson University Flake. I would smoke them fresh right out of the tin, with no drying time. If you decide to try these let me know if it helps. I can recommend even more blends similar to these. I would also dedicate a pipe to the University Flake as that can ghost a pipe pretty well.

All three are usually easy to get. If you want something strong, then Peterson Irish Flake is your ticket.
 
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