I think I broke my nose with cigars

[KarlMaldensNose]

Picked up a cigar in late June and fell in love, touching a pipe only once or twice since then, the last one (other than last night) being over a month ago. Tried a bowl of Germain's Brown Flake last night and dumped it after 15 minutes. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't good, tasting nothing at all like I remember, and it was one of my favourites. Tasted exactly like the bowl of Peterson's Irish Flake I had about a month ago, and they don't usually taste anything alike, IMO.

Anyway, after I dumped the Brown Flake last night, I quickly loaded up another pipe with something completely different to see what was going on. I tried some Rattray's Red Rapparee, another favourite. While it didn't taste like the BF and IF, it certainly didn't taste like Red Rap used to... it wasn't good... dumped it after another 15 minutes.

I'm a little concerned as I have over five pounds of pipe tobacco cellared away and was planning on getting back to my pipes as i just can't afford the cigars anymore until I start work again in September. Even then, I'm going to have to reserve cigars as a once a week treat, filling in the gap with pipes.


QUESTION(S): Any guys out there smoke both cigars and pipes regularly and have no problems with it? Anyone have something similar happen to them, where they went from pipes to cigars and had their taste for the former altered, if not completely ruined? How about going from cigars to pipes? My hope is that my senses just need a bit of rest from cigars, kind of resetting them back to zero or neutral. Maybe I should give it all a rest for a week or so, pipes too, and see if that won't refresh my sinuses and palate.

Appreciate any experiences, thoughts or opinions. Thanks.

 

[Hangten]

I have had the same thing happen after smoking heavy cigars. I enjoy exhaling through my nose to get the most out of the flavor of the tobacco. I find with food and some beverages after a cigar are more bland than they should be. A few days later sometimes only one if I didn't smoke much everything is back to normal. I believe the heat and smoke slightly damage the taste buds or it is possible that the nicotinic receptor overload is blocking the reception of other nerves; so you cannot precisely taste nuances. I would suggest a few days off, drinking plenty of water an you should be as good as new. I can't smoke a cigar then enjoyably smoke a pipe. However I have smoked a pipe and then enjoyably smoked a cigar. So it must have something to do with the thickness and type of smoke that a cigar puts off. My two (non-)cents!

 

[daflorc]

I've noticed that in the course of a month, I went from only enjoying mild maduro cigars and disliking spicy habanos, to enjoying anything medium to full bodied. Now, I lean toward full bodied habanos and lageros and ocsucros. Regular cigar smoking definitely desensitizes your taste buds

 

[shavious]

Where's Boris? He should have a pretty solid opinion on this. Cigars are his first love, but be smokes a pipe when in the office I believe.

 

[KarlMaldensNose]

I think you guys are correct about the heavier cigars desensitizing my palate. I don't like where this is leading and would like to do something to change course. It's hard to stop though.... I went and grabbed a few more sticks yestrday despite this thread I created. I've been telling myself that there's no addiction here, that's it's all about enjoying the great bold flavours, but there seems to be more going on here as I peel back the covers. I'm already a cig smoker so that complicates things a bit. Never felt this tied to pipes, though.

Anyways, it's obvious steps need to be taken here.

 

[Hangten]

There is a bunch of literature that suggests cigarettes desensitize the taste buds a lot. I would stick to one genre a day and you will probably be fine. I am curious if you have the same experience as mine: starting with a pipe and ending with a cigar is plesant and doesn't alter the tastes too badly.

 

[tattooed]

I noticed this several nights ago when summer turned to fall very rapidly. All summer I've been very into cigars and once we got a cold evening I decided to bring out the pipe. I couldn't taste a thing and it was a pretty strong blend. It really didn't do much for me at all, almost zero taste.

Glad to know its not just me. I foresee a long winter hiatus from cigars for me.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Having had my nose broken twice, I am imagining a giant cigar smacking someone in the shnoz.

 

[Boro62]

I've ran into similar problems where my pipe started all tasting bland to me after smoking a lot of cigars. But I think its not just the taste thing but also the smell that starts making things seem bland. My theory is that the aroma of cigar smoke is so much heavier, and more pungent than pipe tobacco smoke that it tends to desensitize you palate a bit. Also I think you get used to the larger amounts of smoke that cigars produce and that doesn't help the desensitizing either. But since I started smoking less cigars (i smoke maybe 2-3 a week now) it seems to have helped bring back my nose for pipes. I say try giving cigars a break for a few days and see if it helps.