Question about pipe tobacco

[applestar]

Last night and this morning, I'm sitting on the couch thinking I smell pipe tobacco.
..but nobody has been here who smokes, and as far as I know, nobody here has gone anywhere and met with anyone who does. But pipe tobacco was what I was smelling.

FINALLY, I think I've tracked the smell to a bag of candy-shell, chocolate covered dried blueberries from Harry and David's that we received for Easter. But if I actually SMELL the bag, it doesn't smell anything like pipe tobacco, so it's NOT on the bag.

...is it conceivable that the combination of the sweet, fruity, chocolatey odor of the candy is somehow reminding me of pipe tobacco

[webmaster]

That sounds reasonable that the combination would be perceived as pipe tobacco.

What we think we see, hear, smell are really only perceptions. There are more details that our minds routinely filter out or sketch in/fill out in our minds. So when remembering something or experiencing it our minds will sketch out details or filter out details. Probably makes sense because I imagine it would be overwhelming to be consciously aware of every detail simultaneously flooding all of our senses.

I play a game with my kid where I ask her to observe a random person as we drive by. Then I ask about colors, height, clothing and we surprise ourselves with how differently sometimes the both of us perceived that person.

So the point I'm trying to make is that it doesn't have to actually smell like pipe tobacco to be perceived and understood as the smell of pipe tobacco.

[gumbo2176]

As a former pipe smoker I'd say that sounds very reasonable. Most pipe tobaccos are heavily saturated with flavors that emit sweet aromas whether smoked or just sitting in their pouch. I can see how chocolate covered dried blueberries could emit such an odor.

[applestar]

Thanks guys!
I thought it must make sense, but I'm glad to have your reassurances that I'm not imagining things. (Well, I AM, but it's OK)

[digitS']

It probably wouldn't surprise you if the chocolate has vanilla in it, Applestar. I know that many, many tobaccoes have vanilla added.

Blueberry added? I imagine that if you asked at the pipe shop, they'd be able to pull several right off the shelves.

I don't know about chocolate . . . maybe.

We used to be told that over 30 different things could be added to tobacco and none would need to be listed on the package. I'd bet that there are quite a few more than 30 and just hope that tobacco can't be a mystery addition to anything else! Taken liberties, you know.

Steve

[tomf]

Did you smoke it before?

[applestar]

Who me?
No I don't smoke anything.

But before the days of non-smoking everywhere, in two different places where I worked there were pipe tobacco smokers. One had a desk close to my open cubicle office and at the other, my work involved going to other people's offices so I was stuck.

I have to admit I preferred pipe tobacco smoke to cigarette especially when they choose pleasant ones. The person whose office I had to visit told me he chose special blends for smoking at the office. Also, I grew up reading Sherlock Holmes since I was in elementary ( ) school, so the idea of smoking with a pipe had a certain charm in my mind, and I was fascinated with watching the process of filling the pipe which I had read about so often. Hm... That reminds me one of my Dad's friends was a pipe smoker too.

[digitS']

Now stop romanticizing!

I can put a stop to that. Just remember that cancer of the mouth is more common in pipe smokers . . . sorry.

Yes. During my frequent efforts to quit smoking, I would use a pipe for several months thinking that the bother would slow my smoking. That was true. Always went back to cigs!

I've thought of myself as someone with willpower. Quitting tobacco was very, very difficult for me.

Steve

[tomf]

Yes my wife had a hard time quiting, it is VERY adictive.

[applestar]

...all very true...

But those chocolates were addictive too.

The kids and I ate them complaining the whole time that this dried blueberry version is nothing like --and not as good as-- the chocolate covered fresh blueberries we get in the summer from a local chocolatier....

[applestar]

BUMP ~~~ I was reminded of this discussion — this morning, as I was working in the garden, I could smell someone/neighbor smoking pipe tobacco. It was a nice aromatic one.

Then, just now, I had come inside after nearly letting myself get heatstroked, so I decided to have a “bracing cup of tea” — again based on some British novel descriptions, I made myself a “strong cup of hot tea with extra sugar” ...using two teabags and two heaping teaspoons of my home-made vanilla sugar (quart jar of organic cane sugar with scraped Madagascar bourbon vanilla bean buried in it).

I went to drink my lovely cup of tea, and I “smelled” the same pipe tobacco.... What? Nah... another sip, and another.... DEFINITELY. What the heck....? How??? Then .... —IT’S THE VANILLA!!!

[digitS']

There are a number of additions tobacco companies can make to tobacco, many with no government requirement to tell the consumer. One is vanilla, another is licorice.

Once a tobacco user, I preferred to smoke a pipe probably because of my appreciation of licorice flavors. Cigarettes were too convenient and pipe smoking was relegated to days when I had extra time.

Quitting is made more difficult with these additives that appeal to our tastes in foods ...

Steve