what is going on?

[boolapientry]

I'm a new smoker and I picked up some aromatic houseblend from the tobacco shop. Everything has been fine until yesterday. The tobacco tasted great and smelled great. I ordered some English blend and a nicer pipe which just came today. However when I tried this new tobacco it tasted and smelled awful, like the worst acrid smoke you could imagine. I thought it might be the tobacco but I tried some of the original tobacco I have in my first pipe and it tasted and smelled exactly the same: horrible, where before it was awesome. I haven't changed anything as far as lighting or packing it cleaning. Is it something wrong with me? not 2 days ago everything was fine. Should I just lay off for a while?

 

[Muddler]

A mystery cloaked in an enigma. As you say, it makes no sense at all. I do find though that some days my pipes taste much better than other days. Just a biochemistry thing, I guess.

 

[Anonymous]

First off : was it dip-stained ? (interior of bowl the same color as the exterior) ?

:face:

 

[pistolero]

Could just be you really.
I don't know if this is common but I often find what I'm smoking now is influenced by what I smoked last, especially if it was a stronger taste, good or bad. Even sometimes when the last smoke wasn't too strong.
Sometimes I would get up in the morning and not even be thinking about the stogie I had the night before, and when I fire up my first cig, (was Camel Ultralights until I went to RYO) it tastes just like the cigar I had the night before. Usually that's a good thing though.
If you do get a particularly nasty taste from a smoke though, yeah sometimes it will ruin the next ones for a day or two. I think we just might be "supertasters" but there are advantages and disadvantages to it.

 

[Frost]

Soooooo many possible factors can influence it to one degree or another in my opinion that you really can only figure things out by paying attention to all the little things and recognizing patterns over time.

Did you brush your teeth before the good pipe but not before the bad or vise versa?

Did you smoke it in a different place, different time of day, different weather, after/before a meal and/or beverage?

How has the tobacco been stored?

In short, too many possible factors involved to make a definitive diagnosis.

There will be good bowls and bad bowls, especially early on. Some tobaccos can be ridiculously unpredictable, at least it seems that way to me.

 

[Harlock999]

I would check for something stuck in the stem, do a real thorough cleaning. I experienced what you described, even after cleaning the pipe, and afterward, I found some gunk that the pipe cleaner had pulled up from the shank into the stem. Made for a horrible, bitter tasting smoke.

 

[Anonymous]

Another possibility is that your "better" (and I'm sure it is, but "better" is a relative term) pipe was made three weeks ago in Florida. Inadequately seasoned briar is a futhermucker. It used to be pretty much the norm (this is like 50 years ago) that a new pipe tasted like poo for months if not years while it "broke in" for that reason. Makers couldn't afford to buy briar and wait while it aged -- "cash flow is more important than your mother." (The First Commandment of Business).

:face:

 

[Amenhotep04]

A simple answer is this: some "English Blends" and tobaccos in general don't have a very good room note.

You're just going to have to find the tobaccos you like and don't like. Just like pipes.

:farao:

 

[thecrowdog]

I am wondering if you've ever tried an English blend before, and if not, if it isn't residual flavors from that still lingering in your mouth. I find that a good strong Latakia can influence my taste buds for 24 hours or more.

 

[Justpipes]

Apparently you haven't tried John Middleton Walnut.

 

[SmokeyTweed]

^^^^^^^^^^^

Then you would know that certain blends always taste horrible!! 8) :lol: