Can tobacco permanently affect the flavor or aroma of a pipe?
Over time, every tobacco will leave a residual flavor/aroma in your briar pipe (meerschaum tends to be less affected). Unless it is an excessively strong tobacco, it won't occur in just a few bowls, but the pipe will eventually become "seasoned" with the flavors and aromas of the tobacco you smoke in it.
Sometimes a pipe smoker will try a new blend several times before deciding he doesn't like it. If an unwanted aroma or flavor is detectable, a good cleaning with alcohol and pipe cleaners will usually take care of it. Also, the unwanted taste/smell will usually fade quickly once you start smoking a different tobacco in the pipe.
In a worst case scenario, if the offending tobacco was especially potent, you could perform the salt and alcohol treatment to more aggressively remove unwanted flavors or aromas. (You will read about how to perform the salt and alcohol treatment in a future post I am writing).
The fact that tobacco eventually flavors a pipe is a major reason why many smokers prefer to own at least several pipes. This way each pipe can be dedicated to different tobacco types and prevents unwanted "tainting" or "cross-over" flavoring. (You can read more about the practice of dedicating pipes to specific blends here.)
No comments:
Post a Comment