Tongue and Tasting

[Mrs. Zarnicky]

While drawing let a little air sneak in through your lips to mix in with the smoke. I find this opens the flavor a little for me. As well as retrohaleing. Also, sometimes less is more. Don’t take big drags

 

[Grangerous]

Could someone explain retrohaling? First I’m hearing of it.

 

[mso489]

Remember when you were first tasting coffee, tea, or beer, for examples, or something else children don't like at first. You distance yourself from the taste and it takes a week or two to really experience the flavor. I think most blends are like that.

 

[Old_Newby]

Yea tried retrohaling the past couple days and while I did not get much from it I think it helped me pick up a very very slight grass or hay. Not as a taste but as a smell. I will still do it occasionally.

Flor me I seem to get the best flavor when I treat the pipe tip like a piece of butterscotch in my mouth. I don’t chew on it but imagine I am slighting slightly massaging between my tongue and inside gum. This while very slowly sipping.

I found a video by Muttnchop last night about the breathe technique. It looks interesting and I will try it this week.

 

[Old_Newby]

Smoke requires the olfactory to “taste” completely.

Perhaps a disgusting example - but, easily relatable.

Do you smell a fart or taste it on your tongue?

Goodnight.

Smell it

 

[FLDRD]

Yea I think that’s a great point. My first goal is to learn how to detect a Virginia, a Burley, a Cavendish, a Perique, a Oriental, etc. The Latakia probably will slap me in the face. I have a straight cavendish and straight Virginia (not smoked it yet) and I know burley is that cigarette flavor if not cased / topped.

As far as clean palate what do you recommend? I saw a video of Muttnchop cleansing with orange soda. Is carbonation the key? Etc?

Latakia slapping you in the face may be the farthest from the actual experience that it can be. Some find it quite smooth and satisfying. HH Latakia Flake is creamy, smooth to some for example.

 

[Pipespipespipes]

Total beginner here too, but what I've found works for me is sipping, letting the smoke waft up over my nose as it leaves my mouth. Also allowing a little air in beside the pipe during the sip. Plus not letting it burn too hot, that was a revelation.

Its not a pipe, but relavent I think....
There's a water bottle you can buy now which has a scent release capsule near the mouth of it which flavours the air as you drink, so you can drink water but 'taste' fruit. Kinda the same thing going on I guess.

 

[keith929]

Forget about others think you should feel about your smoking experience .
Sit back, close your eyes,let the calm wash over you ,listen to music, have a wee dram ,read what interests you, zone out and do you. That pipe smokers heaven. No matter how you smoke your pipe as long as it's enjoyable by you that's all that matters.

 

[Old_Newby]

Latakia slapping you in the face may be the farthest from the actual experience that it can be. Some find it quite smooth and satisfying. HH Latakia Flake is creamy, smooth to some for example.

I think I am now to the point where if I don’t like Latakia it won’t kill my enthusiasm to pipe. I will just avoid it.
Do you like Sushi? Imagine if the first time you tried sushi you used way too much wasabi or ginger and it shocked your palate and sinuses so bad you turned negative on sushi. That’s what I am being careful to avoid. I want to like Latakia and Perique but am being careful.

 

[clynch]

When people taste test coffee for grading they use a spoon. They take a spoon full of coffee and slurp it. Sounds awful pig like when buyers are taste testing coffee. Reason being, the nose (olfactory) can smell things the mouth doesn't taste. So, nose is very import for tasting. I suppose thats where room note comes into play.

 

[KaunThePiper]

Could someone explain retrohaling? First I’m hearing of it.

Draw in on your pipe, and once you reach your maximum draw, roll the tip of your tongue to the back of your throat, and exhale through your nose. ??

 

[KaunThePiper]

I found buying Blending tobaccos and smoking them straight, gives you a good baseline for flavors, then you can start experimenting with simple blending to pull out new flavors. It was a huge help for me.

 

[Old_Newby]

I h

I found buying Blending tobaccos and smoking them straight, gives you a good baseline for flavors, then you can start experimenting with simple blending to pull out new flavors. It was a huge help for me.

I was planing to do that after I try some popular blends with some lighter application. Basically taste some garlic toast before straight garlic. I am sure once I do taste them I will laugh at myself. Like riding a roller coaster, once you do it once you always laugh about why were you nervous at all.

considered that.

 

[Wildlands]

The Latakia probably will slap me in the face.

I want to mirror what @FLDRD said about Latakia. I don’t think it’s going to be as crazy as what you think it is.

In the end, we just have a bit of smoke swirling around in our mouths. Latakias sometimes have words thrown around with them that conjure up hardcore imagery, like “Lat bomb”. But in the end, it’s really just a bit of smoke with some flavor essences. A Latakia blend won’t necessarily give you more “oomph” in the flavor compared to any other type of tobacco, it’s just different.

I encourage you to jump around and taste as many types as you can! Your palette will also develop a bit, and you’ll start to taste more in certain blends that you didn’t in the beginning.

 

[TheDesertPiper]

I don't know if my sense of taste will become any more refined, but it did improve the more I smoked early on. It really helps when I go from smoking something like an English blend to smoking a VaPer, or the other way around. Smoking drastically different types of blends makes it easier for me to pick out different flavors.

 

[mikecronis]

One bowl-per-day max will allow more flavors. I do not recommend retro-haling. Probably less healthy.. but shrug, do what suits you.

 

[Old_Newby]

Update:

Thanks everyone for advice. For me..

1. Tried retro-haling and not for me. It’s easy to do but usually I pick up maybe some hay smell but not much taste difference. Maybe let’s me smell it better later in day that can be nice but not a major improvement for the risk.

2. For me it’s the front/side and side and some underneath of the tongue (not top or back), thus I get the best pronounced flavor when I first sip smoke in front of my teeth (clinched teeth with pipe stem in front of teeth - lips only) in the space between cheek and gums. Then let it infiltrate into tongue area behind teeth. Sounds complicated but it’s like sipping a soda with teeth clinched.

3. I change sip locations between left and right sides from corner of mouth to canines. I don’t get as much flavor dead center at tongue tip.

4. I do clinch stem with teeth through out the smoke to mix things up and get that full thick bellow on occasion filling my mouth behind teeth. This is sporadic but that premium flavor grab is as described in #2 above.

We are all different and I have seen many videos of pipers sipping like me so I don’t feel too much like an oddball. I am just a smoker that will probably need to hold my pipe rather that teeth clinching it.

Happy Piping!!