Tobacco tastes (new to pipe)

[atskywalker]

Hi,

I've been trying everything I can get my hands on and have been making comparisons of tastes between blends. I wanted to share some of my initial notes to see if I can get some guidance from those more experienced on what to look for when tasting tobaccos.
Latakia:

- Strong burning rubber kind of aroma (that is strangely growing on me in a positive way - wife hates it though!)

- Smoke body is great and tends to have bluish hints.
Virginias:

- Sweet (thats all I can detect so far)

- Most I tried that were good had a ketchup like smell in the tin (which I strangely like)
Orientals/Turkish:

- Spicy (it actually feels like tabasco on my tongue and lips!
Burley:

- Smooth

- Voluptuous smoke body
Cavendish types:

- Cannot pin anything about it yet
any more pointers on characteristics, dominant features, etc?
Oh! and after smoking cigarettes for about 20 years I realized; cigrettes are the chicken mcnuggets of tobacco. What a waste of tobacco .

 

[jackswilling]

"...cigrettes are the chicken mcnuggets of tobacco. What a waste of tobacco ."
Nice

 

[beastkhk]

atskywalker, are you still smoking cigarettes?
I have known other smokers that didn't have their pallets open up until they stopped smoking cigarettes.(across the board too, food, scotch, etc.)

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Even pipe smoking purists who occasionally inhale can't taste the smoke as well. If I inhale, it's like overloading my senses with the flavor, so that I can no longer taste it, like if you drink a swallow of pickle juice, you cannot taste pickles for a while.

 

[atskywalker]

I only smoke cigarettes when I can't smoke my pipe so I've essentially whittled it down from a pack a day to maybe 3 or 4 cigarettes a week if any at all. But I can see why. This stuff is nasty and it took me 20 years to realize that I can actually enjoy tobacco and vitamin N without cigarettes. I also do not inhale my pipe smoke.

 

[delro]

Just keep puffing and you will eventually be able to pick out more and more flavors

 

[jmsutton]

You definitely have a better feeling for a range of tobaccos starting out than I had. I basically started with Captain Black for like 2 years. Keep working on those English Blends. Get some John Bull tobacco, you'll be able to see the difference in virginias, latakia, and cavendish all in the same blend.

 

[lordofthepiperings]

It's important to keep your palate moist to detect the flavors. I just sip on water while I'm having a bowl. I've also noticed that for me it helps to draw the flavors out if I swish the smoke around in my mouth a bit before expelling it.

 

[phred]

If you like the spiciness of the Oriental/Turkish tobaccos, you may enjoy Perique blends. Often blended with Virginias, there's a spectrum of flavor from a fairly bold peppery spiciness to a richer, more robust almost plum-like flavor at the other end.
Sounds like you've got a good foundation to build on - good luck, and have fun discovering new blends!

 

[pipingnate]

I've just started as well and I came to the same conclusion as you! Still tobacco but FAR better tasting. Chicken McNuggets to gourmet chicken breast at a 5-star restaurant type difference :P

 

[saltedplug]

You might consider studying what others with more advanced pallets taste. Overall Jim Inks writes the most discerning tobacco reviews I've read. He posts them here, on Tobaccoreviews and Brothers of Briar. Smoke blends that he has smoked and try to find the flavors that he says are present. It's also good to continue doing what you are doing, identifying, on your own what you alone taste. Developing a discerning, accurate palate and being able to put into words your perceptions enhances the smoke, making it more sophisticated, more of an art than a past-time.

 

[newbroom]

As a former cig smoker, I've found that the change to a pipe would often find me a little too aggressive resulting in all the typical negative aspects a novice encounters, but these fine folks here and some youtube watching and I was encouraged to learn a proper pace and to accept a slightly delayed Vitamin N gratification.

Sure, I still get greedy when something is particularly tasty and screw up the last third of a bowl, but I know why and I move on.

Flavors in complex blends become lost in a blaze and are better extracted with a sort of smolder.