Tasting pipe tobacco

We will never tired of repeating it: pipe smoking means tasting tobacco.

What is secondary for a cigarette smoker is fundamental for a pipe smoker.

The pleasure of pipe smoking lies precisely in savoring the taste and aroma of tobacco, an approach we will explain in this very article.

Let's find out how to taste pipe tobacco!

Tasting pipe tobacco: how to do it

There are two senses involved in tobacco tasting: smell and taste.

Smell is the finest sense, capable of picking up infinitesimal particles, unlike taste, which is much coarser and with the thresholds of perception a million times higher.

Tasting is about perceiving the responses of these two senses.

Generally, four basic flavors are associated with pipe tobacco: sweet, bitter, sour and salty.

The vocabulary does not extend further precisely because taste sensations vary from one individual to another. It is also for this reason that one person's response may vary from another's.

Turning to smell, experts say judgment is easier to make, partly because the vocabulary is more extensive.

Some also make a distinction between the smell of unburned tobacco and the aroma of smoke. The smell, on the other hand, is enhanced by heat.

In addition, the aroma is more easily perceived by a person close to the smoker than by the smoker, to whom it reaches too concentrated.

In any case, the judgment of a blend is never made by a single taster, but always resorts to several people, and a single smoke is never enough, but several trials at different hours and conditions.

The Mild, Medium, Full scale

Expert ratings are never listed on tobacco packages.

Sometimes you happen to hear expert ratings, judging a tobacco as “mild,” but in reality there is no clear definition of what that actually means, rather it is a generic indication for a tobacco that does not have those qualities that make it harsh or irritating.

This lack of uniform criteria is made up for by a very useful English classification, I refer to the mild, medium, full scale.

This is a progressive scale relating to “flavor,” which is a term that is not easy to translate, but is referred to generically as the intensity of tobacco aroma.

Mild refers to a tobacco with a light aroma, so it will certainly be one that is poor in tobacco, or one that at most lets a slight odor of tobacco shine through. A mild tobacco is therefore one with a smooth taste, so it is suitable for newcomers who will not have the risk of “nicotine hits” by virtue of their inexperience. It will also be a light tobacco in taste, otherwise it would contrast with the mild aroma.

This does not detract from the fact that a mild tobacco with a robust flavor may exist on the market, although it would be a bit unbalanced.

As you might imagine, a Full tobacco offers a fuller and more intense aroma, which is always accompanied by good body and full flavor. 

A Medium tobacco is somewhere in between the above types, so it offers a medium flavor, which can be either of a mild-tasting tobacco or a more robust, full-bodied tobacco.

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