Since I have some time on my hands, and like my literary hero, Sherlock Holmes, I abhor mental stagnation, I tend to think of concepts related to smoking, and after re-reading a piece of literature, something struck me- since our tongues have “zones” for taste sensations, what direct impact does this have on the enjoyment of smoking a pipe or cigar?
Immediately upon having this thought, another struck me- “Idiot! Now you’re not going to let this go until you do some research.” So the journey began.
To start with, take a look at the taste bud “map” –
If you learned about the areas of the tongue in school or otherwise, you may notice a difference in this updated version. It was previously believed that the center of the tongue wasn’t much of sensory area, but more recent research has discovered that it’s responsible for the tastes that fall into the realm of “savory” or umami. This would be the part of the tongue responsible for tasting something like, let’s say, bacon (…mmm, bacon).
This is also why people tend to notice the flavor of different pipe tobaccos or cigars in varying parts of the mouth. Straight Virginias, for example, tend to be noticed more prominently on the tip of the tongue, but also on the sides, as the acidity of a yellow Virginia will be detected as a bit of sourness.
Davidoff has used this information for a number of years in the form of a pleasant hour-long mini-seminar that they present at cigar shops across the U.S. They pass around some small fumas made of one particular leaf, and small sizes of blends, while showing the area of the tongue that different leaves tend to trigger. By doing this, they can blend leaves together to create a “whole-mouth feel” by making sure that there are elements of all the taste zones being affected by the combination.
My little study isn’t meant to help me develop new pipe tobaccos, as I don’t look at my blends with the same kind of approach as one might with a cigar. There are actually times that I will target a certain area of the palate- sweet, spicy,etc., rather than trying to blanket the entire tongue. No, my curiosity has drawn me in another direction, but I still have a little more work to do before I roll out my thoughts.
The problem is with the methodology of the study, as I get looks of confusion when I have approached people with a scientific background for assistance. They apparently assume that my interest in doing research on pipe tobacco and cigars is to prove how bad they are for your health. When I inform them that I’m doing a little study about flavor and sensation, they stare at me as if I were wearing a purple tutu and had a beehive on my head. I guess they believe that any form of tobacco use is a compulsion, not a choice and that the taste isn’t a consideration. Since it’s socially unacceptable to hit people with a cast iron skillet, I just sigh and move on. As a result, I’ve had to develop my own (rather unscientific) method, but the work is more than halfway complete.
When I finish, my findings will be on PipesMagazine.com, in either April or May, and although I think that my idea is unique in dealing with tobacco products, I’m sure that there are other studies that deal with similar concepts, so I’m trying to track down some information.
I don’t want to be too cryptic here, but until I have the data all sorted out, I don’t want to disclose too many details, but the results should be interesting, at the very least, and may change the way some people may choose to enjoy the hobby. In the meantime, relax and enjoy.
Hi Russ,
An interesting topic and possibly controversial!
http://www.livescience.com/7113-tongue-map-tasteless-myth-debunked.html
The wine industry has done a lot of work in this area as there are sommliers schools that teach wine tasters to react to various “taste” components (see http://www.aromadictionary.com/articles/tonguemap_article.html for good criticism of tongue map) . Might be a good place for you to find information (wine tasting charts/wheels? Of course there always the tobacconist university cigar flavor chart). Also, be warned that there is a “gender” effect with taste as many physiological studies with taste have shown that women have more taste bud receptors on their tongues then men. They are often regarded as “supertasters”. Most likely a evolutionary response from foraging days. There also seems to be an age effect.
Here are some documents to check out:
Bartoshuk, L. M. 1993. The biological basis of food perception and acceptance. Food Qual. Pref. 4:21-32
Collings, V. B. 1974. Human taste response as a function of location of stimulation on the tongue and soft palate. Percep. Psychophys. 16:169-74
Isabelle Lesschaeve and Ann C Noble. 2005. Polyphenols: factors influencing their sensory properties and their effects on food and beverage preferences. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 81, No. 1, 330S-335S
Kaoru Sato, Sohei Endo, and Hiroshi Tomita. 2002. Sensitivity of Three Loci on the Tongue and Soft Palate to Four Basic Tastes in Smokers and Non-smokers. Acta Oto-laryngologica, Vol. 122, No. 4 : Pages 74-82.
Fukunaga, A., H. Uematsu, and K. Sugimoto. 2005. Influences of Aging on Taste Perception and Oral Somatic Sensation. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci, 60 (1): 109-113.
You probably have already research some of this but thought if you hadn’t it might help. Disregard if unhelplful in your quest. Its the professor in me! Always enjoy you and Greg Pease’s columns. Makes my limited pipe smoking that more enjoyable and informed.
cheers
Dean
I find information like this fascinating, but also a little frustrating. I’m mostly a pipe smoker (now), but I get almost nothing from tobacco where my tongue is concerned. It is all aroma in the nose/nasal cavity. This was less of a problem with cigars for some reason, but I almost gave up on pipes until I discovered how to retrohale, and found english/balkan blends, who’s aromas are easier to detect that virginias or va/pers (in my opinion). Maybe I’m detecting more from the tobacco in my mouth than I think I am.
Have you taken into consideration how “smell” affects “taste” in your study?
Russ i have a little experement for you to try which you might find benificial to your taste guides to tabacco, get yourself a few strong flavoured sweets, now eat one and savour the flavour……….take the second one pinch your nose closed and hold it that way then start eating the sweet you will not taste anything then when you have the sweet well chewed and at its optimum flavour delivery let your nose go and you will get an instant hit of the flavour and i bet it will be different to the first sweet!. You could try the same with your cigars and pipe tabacco it works and i use it to over enjoy a favourate cigar or tabacco as i cant aford to stockpile them. If you find this a good tool to use you can thank me by sending me a nice flavoursome pipe tabacco………….if you feel i deserve it that is!