Do different pipes affect taste?

[zonomo]

I've experienced really enjoying a certain tobacco but then I'll try it in another pipe and its not as enjoyable. And I am talking about new pipes, not talking about ghosting.

Stated another way, should I be trying various tobaccos in various pipes until I find the right combo (then stick to it) or does this even matter? Thanks everyone.

Z

 

[Ocelot55]

Short answer: Yes

Long answer: There are many reasons a certain blend may smoke better or worse depending on which pipe it is smoked out of. Assuming that packing, lighting, and smoking technique are held constant, some but not all of the other variables to account for the discrepancy in taste are:
1. Bowl geometry
2. "Openess" of the draw
3. Internal Engineering (I separate this distinctly from #2, although they are related in my mind)
4. Variety and type of briar
5. Ambient conditions in which the pipe is being smoked
6. Physiological discrepancies (perhaps a difference in pH from day to day)

Experimentation is key. I have on pipe that sings with the new Capstan Blue, but I can't seem to get it to smoke well out of other pipes.

 

[zonomo]

Thanks Oce - this makes sense. I guess I didnt know there were different types of Briar but now that I think of it, their age, density, etc could affect the taste. About 3 months ago, I started keeping track of which tobacco I am smoking in my 31 pipes. I have to admit that I do have a few misses that I need to adjust. I also have a few that are really perfect.

 

[RDPipes]

Thanks Oce - this makes sense.   I guess I didnt know there were different types of Briar but now that I think of it, their age, density, etc could affect the taste.  About 3 months ago, I started keeping track of which tobacco I am smoking in my 31 pipes.  I have to admit that I do have a few misses that I need to adjust.  I also have a few that are really perfect.  

31 pipes? Judas Priest man! I hate to clean the 10-11 I have in rotation, can't imagine at the end of the month doing a thorough clean to 31 pipes. I took me two hours today doing 12 plus one restoration and I was glad to be done.

 

[zonomo]

Yep, but that includes my MM's too plus one that I haven't the nerve to smoke yet.  :cyclops: 

 

[monbla256]

Short answer: Yes

Long answer: There are many reasons a certain blend may smoke better or worse depending on which pipe it is smoked out of. Assuming that packing, lighting, and smoking technique are held constant, some but not all of the other variables to account for the discrepancy in taste are:
1. Bowl geometry
2. "Openess" of the draw
3. Internal Engineering (I separate this distinctly from #2, although they are related in my mind)
4. Variety and type of briar
5. Ambient conditions in which the pipe is being smoked
6. Physiological discrepancies (perhaps a difference in pH from day to day)

Experimentation is key. I have on pipe that sings with the new Capstan Blue, but I can't seem to get it to smoke well out of other pipes.

These ! But the other thing to remember, your probably smoking MORE than 2 to 3 blends which will definitely complicate things. Back when I was learning to smoke a pipe, most smokers smoked 2 maybe 3 blends for YEARS and had maybe 6 to a dozen pipes so they smoked ALL of their blends in ALL of their pipes. I sometimes think we have taken a VERY SIMPLE pastime and unnecessarily complicated it with our striving to "experience ALL the variances and nuances of tobacco" ! I've staid pretty close to this, blend wise though with the number of pipes I have, I've exceeded the old usual number of pipes !!  :twisted: 

 

[zonomo]

When I started smoking about a year ago, I was given the advice to try a lot of tobaccos so as you can see, I did just that. Went a little crazy but also, I've really liked a lot of different blends. I haven't tried about 1/3 of the blends in my list below. Still working through them to see what I really like.

Lane 1Q
Sherlock Holmes
Bella Vanilla
Seattles Best
Edwards Black Watch
Bowl of Cherries
Rasberry Creek
Rivendayle
Cherry Smash
Boswell's Best
Boswell's Pipers Pleasure
Boswell's Berry Cobbler
McClellands Hazennut
Hobbits Weed
HH Mature Virginia - YUK!!!
Mariners Mix - Kirsten Blen
Fire Cured Cavendish - Lane BCA
Black Spice (Century B21)
CAO Moontrance
McClelland Chocolate Mint
Boswells Northwoods English - YUK
Boswells Countryside English - YUK
Cornell & Diehl: Berry Good
Cornell & Diehl: Autumn Evening
Lane Black Rasberry
Mac Baren: 7 Seas Regular 100g Tin
Peterson: Sunset Breeze 50g Tin
Four Blends
Lane Captain Black White
Lane RPL-6
Mac Baren Vanilla Creame Flake Tin
Sutliff Moulin Rouge
Sutliff Molto Dulce
Sutliff Maple Street
McClelland Tropical
Vanilla Cream Flake - Tin

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

Experimentation is key. I have on pipe that sings with the new Capstan Blue, but I can't seem to get it to smoke well out of other pipes.

Agreed. This is an excellent point, especially coming from someone who is a superlative pipe maker and has seen his fair share of briar.

Each pipe is different, and because what makes a pipe excel at smoking a particular blend can't be determined by looking at it, it pays to do just what Jesse suggests here. I have a pipe that focuses the flavors of a couple blends so well that they are literally boosted from good to amazing just like that. I am sure that it's the geometry of the bowl, but it could be a sprinkle of fairy dust too.

 

[Anonymous]

To my mind the variance between pipes smoking the same blend is overblown if not entirely untrue. For me mood, time of day and what is going on in my life account for variation. For me something cannot said be to exist unless it can be measured, including the vagaries of taste. We may feel two smokes are different, a certain blend in a certain pipe, and then the same blend in another, the many, many subtle differences can't be quantified let alone be held responsible for taste differences.

Everyone's palate is hardwired more or less the same. Sweet, sour, bitter, salty and unami taste receptors occur in more or less the same number and same distribution throughout the tongue and esophagus. But a good bit of what we call our palate is learned from the social context, which comes to us through the language and thought of those with whom we identify. For instance when I consider buying a blend new to me, I become interested in it from others' posts about it on this board. I may also read tobaccoreviews. If for example I had done this with Gaslight I might find that some refer to it as full latakia while others call it an oriental. Who inspires a purchase more, someone I like in general, who seems to have a practiced palate or another who uses some descriptor that says this blend has taste X, which taste I always love? I don't know, but I feel I do know that both can inspire a purchase, and this inclination comes not from the tobacco but from the social context, in the thoughts and words that express them.

Also, take those tastes that are acquired; we don't like them at first but continue to taste them, following the trail of others we trust who do like them. If the identification is sufficiently strong, we may well find that this blend has the tastes these others describe, and that we like them. We have learned from others to like what we initially did not.

IMHO the different ways that a blend tastes has as much to do with mood, etc., as above, as it does with "bowl geometry," and neither can be measured.

 

[Geoff]

Well, Zonomo,  you can ship me all your Yuks and I'd enjoy the heck out of them.

Monbla is right about past practices and maybe today's practices.  There are a lot of pipe smokers out there that aren't BoB material and probably like it that way as they puff on the same small cellar that served them well.

Alfredo makes good points about how we approach smell/taste.  But, much of what we end up with is a product of experiences that cloud the truth or truths.

Life is empirical.  When we respect those differences, it adds rather than subtracts.  

Does a pipe make a difference in how it taste?  I have seen it in rare and oft transient instances.  It isn't an ongoing problem for me.   If you want to dedicate a pipe to something, I don't have a problem with that.  I've a fair number of sizes, shapes, and whatever.  The only difference to me seems to be how hard it is to pack a particular type of tobacco.  I like a wider bowl for finer cuts.  I find it easier to pack.  If you're the opposite, you are doing something different that works -- well, duh.  

With over 3000 blends out there, it is obvious we, one, won't smoke them all or, two, won't like them all.  Yet, it seems there are enough people liking a blend that it makes it profitable for the blender to stir up another lot.  

I have cheap basket pipes that smoke every bit as well as pipes others might envy.  My best isn't superior or above the guy with the drug store pipe and tobacco.  We all are serving nothing more than our own enjoyment.  All the rest of this is just bar talk.  That isn't bad either.  Bartender, set us up again.

 

[gnossos]

Thanks Oce - this makes sense.   I guess I didnt know there were different types of Briar but now that I think of it, their age, density, etc could affect the taste.  About 3 months ago, I started keeping track of which tobacco I am smoking in my 31 pipes.  I have to admit that I do have a few misses that I need to adjust.  I also have a few that are really perfect.  

31 pipes? Judas Priest man! I hate to clean the 10-11 I have in rotation, can't imagine at the end of the month doing a thorough clean to 31 pipes. I took me two hours today doing 12 plus one restoration and I was glad to be done.

Out of curiosity, what do you do to clean the pipes? I tend to find a pipecleaner down the stem after a smoke does most of the trick and then a more thorough cleaning whenever it needs it, which isn't too often...

 

[glpease]

Different pipes can absolutely smoke/taste different from one another. There are so many variables it's impossible to predict these things, because they depend on too many factors interwoven into a very complex system. For example, some pipes, rare though they may be, taste great no matter what they're filled with, and some tobaccos are very forgiving of the pipe they fill. But, these are the exceptions. Finding those special combinations that just "work" better than all the others is part of the mystery and joy of pipe smoking.

I've written more than one article about this in my journey to find non-existent answers to what seems an easy question. Most recently, It's Not That SImple.

 

[monbla256]

When I started smoking about a year ago, I was given the advice to try a lot of tobaccos so as you can see, I did just that.  Went a little crazy but also, I've really liked a lot of different blends.   I haven't tried about 1/3 of the blends in my list below. Still working through them to see what I really like.

Lane 1Q
Sherlock Holmes
Bella Vanilla
Seattles Best
Edwards Black Watch
Bowl of Cherries
Rasberry Creek
Rivendayle
Cherry Smash
Boswell's Best
Boswell's Pipers Pleasure
Boswell's Berry Cobbler
McClellands Hazennut
Hobbits Weed
HH Mature Virginia - YUK!!!
Mariners Mix - Kirsten Blen
Fire Cured Cavendish - Lane BCA
Black Spice (Century B21)
CAO Moontrance
McClelland Chocolate Mint
Boswells Northwoods English - YUK
Boswells Countryside English - YUK
Cornell & Diehl: Berry Good
Cornell & Diehl: Autumn Evening
Lane Black Rasberry
Mac Baren: 7 Seas Regular 100g Tin
Peterson: Sunset Breeze 50g Tin
Four Blends
Lane Captain Black White
Lane RPL-6
Mac Baren Vanilla Creame Flake Tin
Sutliff Moulin Rouge
Sutliff Molto Dulce
Sutliff Maple Street
McClelland Tropical
Vanilla Cream Flake - Tin

DAMN!!! It's no wonder your having problems !! That's MORE blends than I've smoked in all the 40 years I've been smoking. I guess you are not a disciple of the KISS principles in life. I really don't know what to advise you as you really haven't learned any of those bacs yet. You've SMOKED 'em but not LEARNED 'em, and till you get more focused  you are going to have a problem. The Tobacco merchants LOOOOVE you for sure !! Onward thru the Fog   :twisted: :twisted:

 

[ftrplt]

[Lane 1Q
Sherlock Holmes
Bella Vanilla
Seattles Best
Edwards Black Watch
Bowl of Cherries
Rasberry Creek
Rivendayle
Cherry Smash
Boswell's Best
Boswell's Pipers Pleasure
Boswell's Berry Cobbler
McClellands Hazennut
Hobbits Weed
HH Mature Virginia - YUK!!!
Mariners Mix - Kirsten Blen
Fire Cured Cavendish - Lane BCA
Black Spice (Century B21)
CAO Moontrance
McClelland Chocolate Mint
Boswells Northwoods English - YUK
Boswells Countryside English - YUK
Cornell & Diehl: Berry Good
Cornell & Diehl: Autumn Evening
Lane Black Rasberry
Mac Baren: 7 Seas Regular 100g Tin
Peterson: Sunset Breeze 50g Tin
Four Blends
Lane Captain Black White
Lane RPL-6
Mac Baren Vanilla Creame Flake Tin
Sutliff Moulin Rouge
Sutliff Molto Dulce
Sutliff Maple Street
McClelland Tropical
Vanilla Cream Flake - Tin


JMHO....You have a definite "bent" toward aromatics. I'm not familiar with every 'baccy on your list, but they do seem "aromaticy!" Plus, your three "Yuk's" are three of my fav's and definitely not aromatics!!! I would be using several cob's to smoke these aro's until you figure out your likes and dislikes. Then move to your briars. FWIW FTRPLT

 

[rothnh]

Monte, all good advice here.

I know you've tried a lot of various blends and you've decided that aromatics are what you enjoy smoking. I feel that aromatics (and English/Balkans for that matter) smoke best in wider bowls, e.g., .8 -1.0 inch bowl diameters.

Beyond that, the variables are many, as others mention above in this thread.

I suggest you continue to experiment and take notes as to better determine which blends you enjoy taste best in which pipes.

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

Greg, et al, how can you say with any confidence that some pipe and tobacco pairings are better than others? While this may be true, a multitude of things effect how a particular smoke goes. How do you separate the pipe/tobacco pairing from the vagaries of the palate or what effect the telephone call from Aunt Sally had, whom you've never liked, who called just as you were settling in with the pipe? None of this is measurable, either the pairing and everything else except it. There is no possibility of establishing a baseline or control, and then varying one factor to test for a different result. There is no such possibility because so many of the factors influencing a smoke are subjective, hence not meaningful in finding certainty.

Take the palate. An expert taster of cigars such as Bryan Glynn of cigarobsession says he finds taste overtones, such as leather, spice and earthiness; but the very next taster from says he thinks the same vitola is a spice bomb. In the world of pipe tobacco some say Penzance is latakia forward while others say it is an Oriental; the same could be said about Gaslight. Sometimes I smoke it and find the melding of the VA/Latakia and Orientals while other times these elements taste separable, and no less savory for that. You can claim this is the pipe/tobacco pairing and I can point to Aunt Sally's phone call. And neither of would be correct because none of this measurable; none of us can say that a host of others smoking your blend duplicate our results to provide any reliability. Even if we got the same results we might well speak of them with different language.

I just don't think it can be done, but I'm willing to be shown the error of my ways.

 

[glpease]

Greg, et al, how can you say with any confidence that some pipe and tobacco pairings are better than others? While this may be true, a multitude of things effect how a particular smoke goes. How do you separate the pipe/tobacco pairing from the vagaries of the palate or what effect the telephone call from Aunt Sally had, whom you've never liked, who called just as you were settling in with the pipe? None of this is measurable, either the pairing and everything else except it. There is no possibility of establishing a baseline or control, and then varying one factor to test for a different result. There is no such possibility because so many of the factors influencing a smoke are subjective, hence not meaningful in finding certainty.

Take the palate. An expert taster of cigars such as Bryan Glynn of cigarobsession says he finds taste overtones, such as leather, spice and earthiness; but the very next taster from says he thinks the same vitola is a spice bomb. In the world of pipe tobacco some say Penzance is latakia forward while others say it is an Oriental; the same could be said about Gaslight. Sometimes I smoke it and find the melding of the VA/Latakia and Orientals while other times these elements taste separable, and no less savory for that. You can claim this is the pipe/tobacco pairing and I can point to Aunt Sally's phone call. And neither of would be correct because none of this measurable; none of us can say that a host of others smoking your blend duplicate our results to provide any reliability. Even if we got the same results we might well speak of them with different language.

I just don't think it can be done, but I'm willing to be shown the error of my ways.

It's easy, Mike. One experience with a pipe/tobacco combination might be an anomaly. Ten is a pattern. If the same combination repeatedly delivers a superior performance, it's pretty safe to say that it's the combination, not the alignment of the stars at the root of the experience.

I've been aware of the differences between different pipes for many years, and part of the process of evaluating a new blend has always been tasting it in a wide variety of pipes. Sometimes, a pipe will render an otherwise good tobacco as a woodburning of Jess James, other times as a black velvet painting of Perry Como. When these experiences are repeatable, they can't be ignored, chalked up to coincidence, or attributed to Aunt Sally's ill timed telephone call.

 

[rothnh]

I'm more of a Perry Como fan -- he gave a great hair cut.

In any case it's all about preferences.  And those are personal.

Bottom line?  Do you own personal experiments (which is the fun of our hobby BTW), and discover how great it is to find what works best for you.

What "experts" say serves a s barometer.  All to be taken as a grain of salt.  After all, that's what they make their money doing -- telling you what you should prefer; they write columns and books about it.

In the end, I suggest using all that, sure -- but with a grain of salt.  It's really all about what works best for you.  :mrgreen:

 

[glpease]

I'm more of a Perry Como fan -- he gave a great hair cut.

In any case it's all about preferences.  And those are personal.

Bottom line?  Do you own personal experiments (which is the fun of our hobby BTW), and discover how great it is to find what works best for you.

What "experts" say serves a s barometer.  All to be taken as a grain of salt.  After all, that's what they make their money doing -- telling you what you should prefer; they write columns and books about it.

In the end, I suggest using all that, sure -- but with a grain of salt.  It's really all about what works best for you.  :mrgreen:

This is precisely why I don't participate in forums much anymore. I'm not telling anyone what they should or should not prefer. I share my experiences, which are likely rather more intimately involved with tobacco than the average fellow's, and hope others are either entertained by them, or perhaps gain something beneficial from them.

I'm done. I'll go back to writing my columns and books, and not waste any more of your time, or time.

 

[ftrplt]

Not quite sure what happened here...but I certainly hope that Greg ain't truly serious about not being with us anymore!!! Would some of you Brothers who are closer to him please check this out? FTRPLT