I originally thought tongue bite was caused by steam from damp tobacco but have been leaning toward a PH inbalance in the smoke. I thought probably alkaline due to the sharpness of the bite when it occasionally happens. I was right....and wrong. Going by the article below a ph inbalance can be caused by too much or too little sugars in the tobacco. Each acid/alkaline inbalance increasing over the course of the bowl. This could speak against smoking larger sized bowls of tobacco that you know bites but still like. It also could beg for an experimental matching of acid/alkaline foods/drinks with bitey tobacco.
Abstract
The risk of lung cancer is greater in cigarette smokers than in cigar or pipe smokers. In Great Britain, which has a very high lung-cancer death rate, cigarette tobacco (flue-cured) has a high sugar content (up to 20%) while cigar tobacco (aircured) has a low sugar content (0.5—2%). Determinations of the sugar content of the tobacco and the pH of the smoke of cigarettes from more than 30 countries, and of a number of cigar and pipe tobaccos, have been carried out. The main differences found between the characteristics of cigarette and cigar and pipe tobaccos are:
(1)
The high sugar content of the popular brands of cigarettes now smoked in many countries, which results in the production of a smoke of acid pH, becoming progressively more acid during the course of smoking, particularly towards the butt-end of the cigarette when the tar content of the smoke is at its highest;
(2)
The low sugar content of cigar tobacco and of the air-dried tobacco used in the cigarettes of certain countries, which gives a smoke of less acid pH becoming progressively more alkaline during the course of smoking;
(3)
The conditions of smoking in a pipe whereby the smoke from all types of tobacco, with both high and low sugar content, is less acid than that of most cigarettes, and becomes progressively more alkaline during the course of smoking.
Since the satisfaction derived from smoking is mainly due to the pharmacological effects of nicotine, it is suggested that the lower lung cancer incidence in cigar and pipe smokers may be related to the fact that nicotine is more readily absorbed in the form of the free base, at alkaline pH, than in the form of a stable salt, at acid pH. To obtain the same degree of “nicotine satisfaction” as in smoking a pipe or cigar, the smoker of cigarettes giving an acid smoke would tend to smoke more, and to encourage more prolonged and extensive contact of the smoke with the mouth and bronchus, and to take the smoke into his lungs, which would thus suffer greater exposure to the “carcinogenic” effects of the smoke than would be the case with cigar or pipe smokers.
In preliminary attempts to devise a “safer” cigarette, the addition of substances which give rise to an alkaline vapour at the usual temperature of combustion of cigarettes has been shown to reverse the character of the smoke of high sugar (fluecured) tobacco cigarettes so that it then resembles that of cigars and pipes in becoming progressively more alkaline during the course of smoking.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 5/abstract
Tongue Bite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieUpMRdPDAY
here is a good video explanation of tongue bite.
here is a good video explanation of tongue bite.
Clean teeth and black coffee are our friends. After a lot of reading I am convinced that it's a ph imbalance in acidic that causes tongue bite. There are things that can go a very long way to eliminate the problem.
Firstly clean teeth. If you have eaten recently and not brushed then your own mouth will be acidic due to the ph changing actions of natural bacteria and your own saliva. If you then subsequently smoke a tobacco with the precursors to cause bite then zap you'll probably be bitten.
Drink black unsugared coffee this will balance your ph and also neutralize any acidic effects of a bitey tobacco
Dry your tobacco thoroughly. The humectant in some/most tobaccos are there to keep it in good condition as you slowly use it up. However if you smoke it it converts to an acidic compound that can contribute, sometimes significantly, to bite. I have experimented with a latakia blend lately that tended to bite a little. I dried it completely to the point where I didn't feel any moisture in it with my fingers but not to the point where it would go dusty. There was no loss of flavour but a complete loss of bite.
Know your tobacco, tobaccos with inherent sugar content due to strain or curing processes will tend to be acidic the sugar converts to acid. Sugar is our enemy.
Smoke slowly sipping at your pipe and keeping the burn even and constant will hinder moisture build up which is another cause of acid change in the smoke. So no matter how much you're enjoying that smoke hold yourself back from puffing like a loaded steamtrain climbing the Andes.
All these things will help and go a long way to avoiding the annoying tongue bite that some tobaccos can deliver. You can always just avoid those blends that bite but some of them are pretty good if you can shield yourself from their evil side.
Cheers
Firstly clean teeth. If you have eaten recently and not brushed then your own mouth will be acidic due to the ph changing actions of natural bacteria and your own saliva. If you then subsequently smoke a tobacco with the precursors to cause bite then zap you'll probably be bitten.
Drink black unsugared coffee this will balance your ph and also neutralize any acidic effects of a bitey tobacco
Dry your tobacco thoroughly. The humectant in some/most tobaccos are there to keep it in good condition as you slowly use it up. However if you smoke it it converts to an acidic compound that can contribute, sometimes significantly, to bite. I have experimented with a latakia blend lately that tended to bite a little. I dried it completely to the point where I didn't feel any moisture in it with my fingers but not to the point where it would go dusty. There was no loss of flavour but a complete loss of bite.
Know your tobacco, tobaccos with inherent sugar content due to strain or curing processes will tend to be acidic the sugar converts to acid. Sugar is our enemy.
Smoke slowly sipping at your pipe and keeping the burn even and constant will hinder moisture build up which is another cause of acid change in the smoke. So no matter how much you're enjoying that smoke hold yourself back from puffing like a loaded steamtrain climbing the Andes.
All these things will help and go a long way to avoiding the annoying tongue bite that some tobaccos can deliver. You can always just avoid those blends that bite but some of them are pretty good if you can shield yourself from their evil side.
Cheers
in goes your eye out
-
Capn Jimbo
- Rum Evangelisti and Compleat Idiot
- Posts: 3550
- Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:53 pm
- Location: Paradise: Fort Lauderdale of course...
- Contact:
Requested by d...
In my ongoing quest to minimize tongue bite - only partially successful - I've found the most important things so far are (a) drying out the tobacco and (b) smoking much more slowly. Of course there are many more factors. But I found one that actually makes some sense. For example...
Remember the Bitter Mouthed Frozen Wonder?
Of course you do. He's the Nanookie who has bitter mouth, with "bitter" being reported in over half the rums he reviewed. By his own admission he has an unusual palate suffered by about 20% of us, namely being a "Supertaster". These are people with particularly sensitive palates whose problem is easily being overwhelmed by flavors that most of us would find pleasant. For example, they don't like black coffee, and often report tastes using the adjective "bitter". Guess what?
This may also apply to pipe smoking and tongue burn...
Found an interesing South African tobacco site that has a rather interesting library of articles which included this:
*******
http://www.wesleys.co.za/library.htm#pipe
(See article 219)
In my ongoing quest to minimize tongue bite - only partially successful - I've found the most important things so far are (a) drying out the tobacco and (b) smoking much more slowly. Of course there are many more factors. But I found one that actually makes some sense. For example...
Remember the Bitter Mouthed Frozen Wonder?
Of course you do. He's the Nanookie who has bitter mouth, with "bitter" being reported in over half the rums he reviewed. By his own admission he has an unusual palate suffered by about 20% of us, namely being a "Supertaster". These are people with particularly sensitive palates whose problem is easily being overwhelmed by flavors that most of us would find pleasant. For example, they don't like black coffee, and often report tastes using the adjective "bitter". Guess what?
This may also apply to pipe smoking and tongue burn...
Found an interesing South African tobacco site that has a rather interesting library of articles which included this:
Actually, I thought that Virginias were more the issue, although they do say "matured Virginias". They continue:"It seems that different people have quite different tasting abilities – based on the number of taste buds on their tongues. And when the taste buds are clogged one gets this burning sensation. The more taste buds you have, the worse the clogging effect. (This can be a big disadvantage for a “Super Taster”.) It is not necessarily a high temperature that causes a “burning tongue” - chillies seem just as “hot” no matter what the temperature of the food. However a higher temperature opens up the taste buds so that the effect of the chilli or the tobacco is increased.
Further, for many smokers (though not all) alkaline tobaccos (with a high pH) cause more of this “burn” than acidic tobaccos. Burley falls into the former group and Virginia into the latter. Matured Virginia has far more natural taste and most of our blends include matured Virginia which adds to the flavour (more satisfaction with less effort) and incidentally neutralises the possible alkalinity of the Burley. "
Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to total confusion - at least for now..."Another factor is the amount of moisture in the smoke. Dry tobacco burns more easily. But it can also burn too fast, with a resultant higher temperature – leading to the opening of the taste buds as above. On the other hand, tobacco needs to be slightly damp to carry the flavour – but too wet and the smoke will be a higher temperature – and there you go again. Pinch the tobacco in your fingers – it should not crumble or stick together. Just compact and slowly expand.
Finally what about the way you pack the pipe? We say “Smoking should be an extension of breathing, gentle and rhythmical.” But this can only be achieved if your pipe is packed just right for you. Try out different ways of packing your pipe and find the method with which you are most comfortable. You may need to adjust for the different sizes and shapes of your pipes."
*******
http://www.wesleys.co.za/library.htm#pipe
(See article 219)
Last edited by Capn Jimbo on Fri Jul 04, 2014 4:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I think the sweet elephant in the tongue bitten room is sugar. It's our common enemy. The ph in tobacco is dependant on it's relative sugar content which in turn is dependant on strain and curing method. Then add humectants and toppings and the ph for each blend will be all over the place. That's why you can smoke two identical blends from two different manufacturers and one will bite and another not.
Drying properly can only be a good thing because humectants convert to sugars to acid when burned. In turn smoking slowly makes sense as alkalinity builds over the length of the bowl and giving that ph imbalance a chance to right itself will save a stung tongue.
So in short, This newbie agrees.
Drying properly can only be a good thing because humectants convert to sugars to acid when burned. In turn smoking slowly makes sense as alkalinity builds over the length of the bowl and giving that ph imbalance a chance to right itself will save a stung tongue.
So in short, This newbie agrees.
in goes your eye out