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Kurt, I wonder how you feel about cilantro?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... d=98695984

It turns out that some people actually taste differently. Maybe your taste buds don't register the compounds in burning tobacco that some sense as sweet.

Hooo... That was very interesting. I was aware of supertasters, but not of non-tasters. Thanks for the link!

And for the record, I don't know what all the fuss over cilantro (or any parsley) is. It tastes and smells like nothing. My wife loves it, and wants to put it in everything. I really can't sense a difference if it's there or not.

I prefer strong flavors that others find offensive - chiles, curry, smoke, beefiness. The stronger, the better. I love wild game, and I eat offal like it was candy. Meanwhile, my poor wife is puking in the next room.

KurtHuhn wrote: And for the record, I don't know what all the fuss over cilantro (or any parsley) is. It tastes and smells like nothing. My wife loves it, and wants to put it in everything. I really can't sense a difference if it's there or not.

I absolutely love it when someone proves my point for me. Kurt, I'm willing to retract me statement. Perhaps you do after all, know how to smoke a pipe. You just got a crappy tongue!

I'm a supertaster for certain stuff - celery presents as ridiculously bitter to me, for example. I can't stand it. I'd rather eat a raw onion than celery. So I avoid celery-based tobacco blends, naturally.

Kurt,

Do I have a tobacco for you... it's called "Wild Offal". I think you will love it!

Sas,

Knowing what you know about my tobacco preferences which Pease and which C&D blends should I try.

Cheers,
TC

Sasquatch wrote:I absolutely love it when someone proves my point for me. Kurt, I'm willing to retract me statement. Perhaps you do after all, know how to smoke a pipe. You just got a crappy tongue!

I'm a supertaster for certain stuff - celery presents as ridiculously bitter to me, for example. I can't stand it. I'd rather eat a raw onion than celery. So I avoid celery-based tobacco blends, naturally.

My tongue probably suffers from years of abuse with hot and spicy stuff, no doubt.

And the celery thing is interesting! I really can't taste much flavor there - it has a mild vegetal flavor, but not bitter. It tastes a little like fresh water. I do loves me some the onions though - raw, roasted, sauteed, I'll take them however I can!

This leaves me wondering: Tomatoes are one of the rare foods that I absolutely hate. Raw tomatoes, to me, taste like poison. If I cook them down into sauces or pastes, I enjoy the flavor, but raw ones make me want to throw up. My wife insists they're sweet and delicious, but all I get is an acrid, nasty, biting flavor that makes my nostrils flare and my stomach flip. Barf.

I wish I could help more. I hate cilantro (tastes like greenness, ugh) but love onions and tomatoes. I like celery but couldn't say what it tastes like.

My tongue seems inconsistent with tobacco. One bowl (never the first) can be wonderful and the others are just bland - all the way down. I'm sure it's my technique, but my tongue must be part of it.

Maybe I should add salt?

Interesting... I've been called a supertaster, but I just insist that I have the only perfect palate.

I taste cilantro as soap with overtones of bug spray, and all raw leafy greens are intolerably bitter to me. My wife can't believe I find lettuce nastily bitter, for instance. She has yet to complain when I reverse-engineer a sauce from the restaurant version based only on flavor, though, so I must be on to something.

There is a test for genetic ability to taste that bitterness, by the way. Pthalates are the culprit. About 20 percent of people can taste them, the rest can't.

And finally, like Kurt, I've only once tasted sweetness in tobacco. Light Virginias are instant tongue bite for me, no matter how big a bowl I use or slowly I sip on it.

I have read this thread a couple times, and cannot claim any disposition to being able to taste extra ordinary things. However, I can say that I have found latakia to be the killer of sweetness for english blends. I have one blend that is one ounce normal and one ounce plus 1 part latakia. After smoking the latakia rich blend for a few bowls, I really appreciate the subtle sweetness hiding inside virginias. Kurt, unless you have a lead tongue, which is completely possible (My thai friends and their food must have lead at both ends), i think that now since you have been on such a long hiatus will find the sweetness. im interested to know what you find in your smoking

Well, with the help of an appreciative customer, I got my hands on a few samples of straight virginia blends.

Does the phrase "tastes like burning" mean anything to anyone? Good grief.

I also tried a cube cut burley and deertongue blend from Tobacco Barn. I think a lot of folks sell blends like this with names that reference to Bing Crosby. It was a good smoke, and the room note was nice, so it had that going for it. However, even though the aroma was good, I couldn't taste it on my tongue. I am actually not surprised by this, since it is such a subtle favoring.

Of course it tastes like burning. You're burning it.

Seek for less; find more.


Now run along and play - I'm trying to get the ratio of celery to broccoli just right for my new blend "Garden Vision".

Sasquatch wrote:Of course it tastes like burning. You're burning it.

Not a fan of the Simpsons?

I am Kurt but I missed the reference. Shame on me.