Changing Tastes

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-R.

-R.

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The last bowlful confirmed it for me: I no longer like latakia.

This is a fairly big shift in my tastes. When I first started out, I smoked aromatics exclusively. Then there was a year that I didn't smoke much, and when I started back up, I found at that the aromatic I'd enjoyed was just overpowering in the flavoring. So I tried an English blend and that lead to the majority of the blends that I've smoked until the last year when I began branching out into Va, VaPers, Burley blends, and whatever else might not have latakia in it.

It's not the blends I have, it's me. I've suspected that I didn't like latakia as much as I used to for about two months now, but I've been systematically sampling the latakia containing blends I have over the last several weeks and all of them have not appealed to me in the least. Invariably, the latakia containing blends just strike me as one dimensional and rather off-putting. Again, I know that's my tastes, as all of these blends have quite the following and heaps of praise.

The upside to all this is that I'll be able to better direct my tobacco funds in the future towards more of the VaPers and Virginias that I've come to love.

Anyone else ever experience a sharp change in their tastes like this?

 
-R.":obsvf5y7 said:
Anyone else ever experience a sharp change in their tastes like this?
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It happened to me.
My first bowl was 965 and I immediately loved it.
Everything had to have Latakia it it.
After about two years, I just lost my taste for it.
I am holding on to my cellared Latakia blends
in hope that my Latakia Lust returns.
I smoke VA, VA/Per and Bur/VA/Per.
Never tried any aromatics.
 
Yes, about every five to eight years my tastes change notably. I've learned not to sell off my tobaccos, however, as I'll probably come back to them in the future. Also, I tend to smoke a wide variety of different types of tobacco all the time. As an example, for the past six years I've really been into straight Virginias and Vapers, and they represented about half of the bowls I've smoked. But I'd have a bowl of a latakia blend, or oriental, or burly based every other day or so. That variety, but emphasizing what I like the most in that period of my life, seems to keep me interested in various types of tobacco.

Another observation: I recently opened a tin of Virginian (a PCCA blend) from the early 90s. It was just about the best Vriginian tobacco I've ever smoked. But after having a bowl every other day or so for a week now, it's lost its attraction. I know if I lay off it for a month or two, it will again be a wonderful smoke. Diversity seems to work for me.

Natch
 
I'm almost beginning to hope for the opposite. Nowadays I almost smoke strictly VA/PERs or VA, every so often I'll have a BUR/VA/PER as well. I know everyone seems to rave over latakia but I just cannot get myself to like it enough to stock it. I enjoy myself while having a bowl of english, but no quite enough to go "Wow, that was great, gotta have me some more!" Perhaps orientals will be another story, as I have yet to try anything heavy on the oriental leaf.
 
My taste buds change from time to time also. I used to smoke only Latakia blends, but was not tolerated in the house. Winter pipe smoking outside is no fun. Over the years, I have tried many tobaccos, but now I only smoke two; Carter Hall in the mornings and Lane's 1Q in the afternoon and evening. I find that the Burley cleans my palate so I enjoy the 1Q even more.
 
I go through phases - right now I'm on a lat binge. But it's followed about a year of being off them when I pretty much smoked only Va's & Vaper's. Personally I'm grateful my tastes keep changing & never fall into a rut - it keeps pipe smoking interesting.
 
It´s funny, as you´re moving away from Lats, I´m getting back in to them! At this moment I´ve got a bowl of London Mixture going....

I think it´s cyclical for me. They all have their merits and it´s just what I gravitate to. I haven´t really noticed "seasonal trends" as some do. Va and Vapers taste plenty good in December, and Latakia goes well on a summer day for me if I´m in the mood.

I can´t say I´ve ever had and abrupt change in taste tough, unless of course what I´ve been currently smoking sucks, hahaha. That happens from time to time...
 
I'm with Natch. Tastes change and may even return. Don't throw anything away as you may regret it later. Maybe in a different season, you'll like the latakia blends.
 
It seems like a natural progression to me. I got to the point where I wouldn't smoke a blend unless it had at least 50% Latakia. Now I can't really tolerate the stuff unless it is very lightly applied. I have progressed to Va/Pers and straight Virginia blends. I still love the aroma of Latakia but it dries my mouth out and it just seems flat compared to a good Virginia based blend.
 
Yep. I started with aromatics, loved them, couldn't get enough.

Then I did some reading and realized there was a much much bigger world of tobacco than my local B&M blends.

Now I can't smoke any aro without feeling like it's wet chemical candy. I'm actually to the point where FM et al taste very very sweet to me. Which, yeah, they're inherently sweeter than my GLP Lats, which makes sense then. Even those are starting to reveal their depth and deceptive sweetness to me.

Gave all my aros away to friends who were just starting and didn't like my Lat stuff I have come to love so much.

Interestingly, I really can't stand Va/Vapers and wish I could. I have a bunch of apparently good ones from my initial foray into good tobacco land. They're sitting in my cellar now, waiting for the day when I can enjoy them.

 
CLRV":my86ugyx said:
Interestingly, I really can't stand Va/Vapers and wish I could. I have a bunch of apparently good ones from my initial foray into good tobacco land. They're sitting in my cellar now, waiting for the day when I can enjoy them.
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That was my initial rection to Va/Vaper flakes too. Then one day they just "made sense" when I tried them again. Now it´s my favorite genre... :cat:
 
As far as keeping the latakia blends I have, I do have this question: How long does an opened tin remain good? I assume that, with the lid kept securely on, the tobacco will be pretty secure for some time, but I've made plenty of some assumptions in the past. I'd rather pass on the open tins I have than them to go off before I get around smoking them again.

 
Wow, I am going through the same thing right now. English/Balkan blends have just seemed to have lost their luster with me. I am hooked on some of the real potent VA blends that G&H makes like Dark Birds Eye and Dark Flake Unscented. I also love me some VaPers, especially SG St James Flake and Sherlock Holmes VR Blend. I am definitely going to keep the majority of my English tobaccos that I have cellared, but may trade some for VA Blends that I have fallen in love with recently. It is definitely funny how tastes change! By the way R, jar up those open tins and put them away. I did that a couple years ago with some tins I couldn't finish and they are still fine.

-scott
 
-R.":2g9oh20y said:
As far as keeping the latakia blends I have, I do have this question: How long does an opened tin remain good? I assume that, with the lid kept securely on, the tobacco will be pretty secure for some time, but I've made plenty of some assumptions in the past. I'd rather pass on the open tins I have than them to go off before I get around smoking them again.
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If you´re sure you wont be smoking them for a while and don´t want to give them away, just transfer the contents to a small Ball jar. Screw the lid on tight and it´ll be preserved as is ´til you open it again.
 
I bounce back between latakias and VA/VAPers mostly in conjunction with the seasons. Latakias are more satisfying to me in winter time, and make me think about a warm campfire. VA's seem to be good to me during summer, especially when I get that hay(not grass) flavor that some VA's give. I reach for VaPers when I want something a little more neutral to my tongue, straight VA's can bite on occasion and the perique really helps to balance it out (I think this is due to the PH of the smoke being more neutral after the addition of perique)

I dont think I will ever tire of smoking Wilderness, i would say that it is currently my fav. latakia blend, with FVF and SJF at the top of the list on VA + VaPers
 
Well it's just the damndest thing but I can't make myself smoke anything with latakia in it. It started about a week ago with Deep Hollow, then I moved to Navy Cavendish, then back to the more direct VAs I had in the mason jars; Gowrie, Union Square, Silver Flake.

Quite literally a little under two months ago I couldn't stand VAs to save my life. Now I'm sitting here puffing away quite contentedly on said VAs.

Maybe it really is seasonal. We've been pushing 85-90 degrees here in Tulsa for a while now, its essentially late may early june here (in comparison to philadelphia). The concept of citrus and hay high notes is a lot more appealing.

Maybe my smoking technique has finally allowed me to *get* them; advanced to the delicate sipping required.

Or Maybe I just finally had the palette grow to the point of being able to pick up on the flavors; it used to taste like hot air and smoke to me.

If nothing else Brothers, this is another example of why, exactly, you never throw out pipe tobacco.

Very interesting.

 
CLRV said:
If nothing else Brothers, this is another example of why, exactly, you never throw out pipe tobacco.
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Man, if any truer words were ever spoken. I've gone away from liking this or that and then come back around...on about my third lap right now. I'd just hate the thought of chucking something or giving it away and then having to buy it all over again and smoke it 'fresh'. So I started throwing NOTHING away...still have Dunhill's from 10 years ago.

Can't smoke Latakia right now either...at least the smoky flavors of dark fired still work well with me! (whew)

Moved very much into Cigar Blends, especially Johm Patton's 'Stormfront' - right up my alley! Still smoke the strong Brit stuff with gusto. Some blends in which Latakia is very condimental can work for me...so it's not an allergy thing...just don't like the smokey-metallic flavor...want a sweeter, deeper flavor experience I guess. Good thing there's such an amazing selection of wonder stuff out there right now!
 
Fell in love with 965. Tried an old tin of Penzance and was more impressed. Then after a month I cannot stop stuffing my briar with VA flakes. Insanity I tell you :bounce: !

The rest of this story belongs in the TAD forum :D
 
Fell in love with Escudo. I seem to have become sensitive to the amount of Perique in a Va/Per since then, and now I like Va/Pers where the Perique takes more of a back seat. Love Virginias when they are more than a one note affair, and a good Latakia blend is fine provided the Latakia is in harmony with the other leaf involved. Lately I've learned to appreciate aromatics where the base tobacco is compelling enough to smoke untopped.

I'm fortunate in that I really do seem to like all the different blends, stock them all, keep pipes dedicated to specific blends and choose my nightly smoke based on whim. If I had to pick one I would say Virginia.
 
I think it is something that happens to many smokers. Something to do with body chemistry, perhaps. I used to smoke only Latakia blends, and now I never do. I'm a Virginia-and-Périque man now. Who know if it will last?
 
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