So what are taste buds and how do they relate to the way pipe smokers enjoy their tobacco? As you can see from the chart at left, taste buds are fairly complicated little suckers. They are tiny, yet are made up of all kinds of things like Gustatory Hair, Basal Cells, Cranial Nerve Fibers, Filiform Papilla and Fungiform Papilla within their tiny little bodies, and all participating in how we taste food, drink and of course, our pipe tobacco!
When you and I talk about the “taste” of our tobacco, we tend to generalize by saying a blend tastes mild or strong, sweet or bitter, figgy, grassy, spicy, smoky, heavy, etc. And of course, with great tobacco blends, we get a bundle of different sensations. And actually, it’s not only the qualities of taste perceived by the tongue, but also the smell. That’s right, to taste your tobacco fully, your snout needs to get in on the action. Did you know that only after taste is combined with smell is a pipe tobacco’s flavor presentation fully appreciated? If the sense of smell is impaired, by a stuffy nose for instance, perception of taste is usually dulled as well.
I remember back when I was just a kid (yes, a very long time ago), my mom used to tell me to be sure to brush my tongue as well as my teeth to keep my taste buds clean so that I could taste my food. I was always horrified at the thought of not tasting cookies or cake, so I made sure to brush my waggler really good if I knew that I was getting a goodie after supper. And of course, I didn’t brush all day if I knew that Brussels Sprouts were on the dinner menu.
So, if you really want to capture all of the nuances of the tobacco that you are smoking, brush your tongue first and keep your nose clean!
Steve
