Good afternoon. Had a couple of decent smokes, tastebuds returning after a week of whatever it was. About 80% now and hope this continues.
Last night, tried another strong smoke, my favourite Navy,
Black Frigate, in the dedicated
McQueen Miniature Dwarf, (top picture) and just now, just past noon upon return from Mass,
Smoker's Pride Cherry Cavendish, a delightful medium infused cherry, in my
MiniCob, which was there but tasted milder than it does normally. As I postulated above, about 80%.
Skippable Drivel below pictures.

Skippable Drivel: I've swapped around my smoking order lately, and probably permanently, and now smoke a fruit based aromatic, usually cherry, in the morning, rather than evening, and a strong and bolder tobacco, such as Magnum Opus, Nightcap, or other bolder fodder containing Orientals, in the evening rather than morning. This is working well, as is simply not eating at least an hour before I light up anything.
The above noted smoke with Black Frigate, still to my mind belongs in the afternoons. Just wanted to try this favoured tobacco, in an evening as a trial. Nope, prefer it in the afternoons. Reason? Navies and Englishes, to me, smoke the same from beginning to end, without hints of this and drabbles of that. I like this in the afternoon and this group of tobaccos, bolstered by the codgers which also smoke straight, are my preference still during mid-day hours.
Kind of like going from ABC to CBA, the central portion staying the same. I'm a bonehead in the mornings, but very focussed in the afternoons, and don't like surprises then. I'm most relaxed and meditative in the evenings. Makes sense to me, but maybe not to others. Nonetheless, I did enjoy BF last night, because I could taste it and not just an echo.
I'm also choosing my pipe size now depending on what length of smoke I feel like at the time, still preferring small and medium size pipes. I imagine all of this as growing pains, and that many others have established similar patters.
Cheers.