Does smoking kill the palate?

[afn33282]

Hey eGullet,

Well, the post topic says it all, I guess. For me smoking is one of life's great sensual pleasures. Any thoughts on how/to what extent it affects the palate, besides the obvious "of course it's bad for your palate, you idiot"? In your humble opinions, can one smoke and still consider yourself a serious food person (I do both). I know this can be an inflammitory line of thought, especially in the US....

Chris

Edited June 3, 2005 by afn33282 (log)

[johnnyd]

I once posed the theory to a group of globetrotter friends that some countries along the equator have spicy foods, not only using spices as a preservation vehicle in hot weather, but also to cut through the smokers palate.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

Yes.

[Busboy]

My experience -- as an ex-smoker -- is that smoking's effect on the palate is greatly exagerated. Admittedly, I was only a moderate smoker and only for a few years on-and-off, so I don't know what two packs of 'boros a day for twenty years will do.

[jackal10]

Nope. My partner smokes and has the keenest palate of anyone I know.

Hallgarten, the founder of the wine firm, in his autobiography said a good cigar improved his palate for wine tasting.

What I have noticed is that chefs who smoke have a heavy hand with the salt.

[chefzadi]

No.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Perhaps a bit of input will arrive on this topic from Tony Bourdain ...

[bobmac]

I quit smoking nine years ago and would urge anybody else to do likewise. I, too, loved Marlboros, but I didn't quit in time to avoid emphysema, and lung cancer killed my sister. And after a while you don't miss the butts. OK, so enough preaching.

Does food taste any better now that I have quit? No.

[jayt90]

Like all of our sensory inputs, taste and smell decline with age, but are likely to be reinforced by years of experience.

The age at which one quits has to be a factor: If you're in your 20's you may taste and smell a whole new world out there after quitting, but if you're middle-aged or older when you quit, there may not be as much recovery of taste and smell. But your heart and lungs will be grateful.

[therese]

Killing your palate's the least of your concerns.

[JohnL]

I read somewhere that the "palate" or one's sensory perceptions involving taste actually "adjust" to the effects of smoking etc.

I enjoy a good cigar on a farly regular basis and do not notice any ill effects.

Of course, I wouldn't enjoy that cigar at the same time I am having a meal.

Once, long ago my wife and I and another couple were dining in a fine French restaurant in Westchester (yes there are fine french restaurants in Westchester--but that's another post).

Across the room a woman was dining who must have been eighty and throughout her entire meal she had a cigarette going--puffing away during and in between courses. She also had a wonderful coordination --putting food in her mouth then taking a puff--of knife, fork and Marlboro.

She also had a hacking cough that made things even more interesting. Between smoking, eating and coughing she certainly had a lot on her plate!

Anyway--I have always come down on the side of individual freedoms vs the "good" for the community--it is a balancing act --and I am afraid we are going to far in one direction.

I do not recall being asked my opinion on banning smoking from all public establishments (these are still privately owned??) and I certainly do not like governmend by fiat. But hey none of this is really germain to the topic is it?

My answer to the question posed: NO! ;-)

[slkinsey]

There appears to be no evidence that smoking has an effect on the taste receptors.

The smell receptors are a different story. There does seem to be some evidence that people who are exposed to a lot of cigarette smoke have a reduced ability to identify certain odors. One major contributing factor seems to be that cigarette smoke causes greatly increased death rates of olfactory sensory neurons which overwhelms the olfactory epithelium's ability to regenerate.

There is also the fact that nicotine affects perception.

[carswell]

Many professional wine tasters are also smokers, some of them heavy smokers. The palate adjusts. Anecdotally, when I gave up smoking, I noticed no change in my ability to taste or smell, though I did begin to find second-hand smoke extremely irritating.

Does smoking kill the palate? No. At least not until you get buccal cancer.

[therese]

Does smoking kill the palate? No. At least not until you get buccal cancer.

←

Lung cancer will also do the trick---chemo plays havoc with both taste/smell and appetite.

[Keith Talent]

Another ex-smoker chiming in with no.

[slkinsey]

There are several possibilities why ex-smokers may not perceive any significant changes in "palate" after quitting. Per my post above, we're mostly talking about the sense of smell. Smoking does not seem to affect taste.

1. Smell sensitivity varies widely, and most people don't consciously notice whether their sense is acute or dull. It even usually takes people who develop asnomia some time to figure out what has gone wrong. This means that smokers and ex-smokers may simply not notice that they have reduced sensitivity because everything seems "normal" to them.

2. Similarly, because natural smell sensitivity varies widely, it makes sense that some people with a naturally highly sensitive sense of smell could have this sensitivity reduced by smoking and still maintain good sensitivity.

3. As jayt90 points out, it may be the case that the smell senses have already naturally declined with age.

4. Ex-smokers may continue to be exposed to significant amounts of secondhand smoke, thereby significantly mitigating any potential recovery of smell sensitivity.

5. Per my post above, it may be the case that cessation of smoking does not lead to dramatic repopulation of olfactory sensory neurons (and therefore increased olfactory sensitivity). In other words, it's possible that the decreased smell sensitivity that results from smoking may be, to a large extent, permanent.

[peppyre]

I also didn't notice a change when I quit smoking and neither did my mom. My mom is in the wine industry and is known for her nose, even when she was smoking a pack a day. I have always been hyper-sensitive to scents and there was absolutely no change in from what I experienced when I was a heavy smoker.

From experience, my answer, no, there isn't a change.

[ludja]

I also didn't notice a change when I quit smoking and neither did my mom.  My mom is in the wine industry and is known for her nose, even when she was smoking a pack a day.  I have always been hyper-sensitive to scents and there was absolutely no change in from what I experienced when I was a heavy smoker. 

From experience, my answer, no, there isn't a change.

←

I do wonder how one can tell if ones sense of taste or smell has changed--unless it was a very dramatic change because how would one quantitate it? If one's taste/smell had degraded and you tasted a new wine, it would just be lacking in aroma to your senses. Someone else with a stronger sense of smell/taste might think otherwise...

The example of your mom is at least is quantitated against other professionals so that would seem to give some independent measure.

Without outside comparison though, I don't know how someone could say their taste has not changed--be it from smoking, age, illness, etc. (Keeping the above caveat regarding large differences in taste or smell still in place).

[peppyre]

I also didn't notice a change when I quit smoking and neither did my mom.  My mom is in the wine industry and is known for her nose, even when she was smoking a pack a day.  I have always been hyper-sensitive to scents and there was absolutely no change in from what I experienced when I was a heavy smoker. 

From experience, my answer, no, there isn't a change.

←

I do wonder how one can tell if ones sense of taste or smell has changed--unless it was a very dramatic change because how would one quantitate it? If one's taste/smell had degraded and you tasted a new wine, it would just be lacking in aroma to your senses. Someone else with a stronger sense of smell/taste might think otherwise...

The example of your mom is at least is quantitated against other professionals so that would seem to give some independent measure.

Without outside comparison though, I don't know how someone could say their taste has not changed--be it from smoking, age, illness, etc. (Keeping the above caveat regarding large differences in taste or smell still in place).

←

Taste I think is very different. My taste may very well have changed or not, it's hard to tell since when I started smoking I hadn't really developed a palate at all. As for my sense of smell, as I said, I am hyper-sensitive and if anything my sense of smell has become much more acute since I quit smoking. I have very severe reactions to certain fragrances or smells in general (like orange peel, and I love oranges) and half the time the people around me can't smell a thing. My mom's husband said he did notice a difference with the taste of food after he quit smoking, but my theory is he is just able to smell things now.

[BCinBC]

Interesting (perhaps) as a side note, smokers always relish that cigarette after a great meal. Aside from the psychological addiction (stimulus = eating, response = smoking), ask them why they love that post-meal smoke? Because that's when a cigarette tastes best.

Similar with the tradition of post-meal cigars (and brandy).

[evongvisith]

Interesting (perhaps) as a side note, smokers always relish that cigarette after a great meal. Aside from the psychological addiction (stimulus = eating, response = smoking), ask them why they love that post-meal smoke? Because that's when a cigarette tastes best.

I'm another ex-smoker who didn't notice any difference in the way my food tasted when I gave up cigarettes. And I confess, sometimes I still miss the after-meal smoke.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

This ex-smoker (3 packs a day) could smell and taste everything so much better after quitting, within days. Maybe it just dulls the palate?

[malcolmjolley]

I don't know. I am inclined to go with the "no" side, not just as an ex-smoker but as a serial quitter for many years I had lot's of opportunites to compare and contrast. Technically, I don't think there's much of a difference as much as I would liek to think there was.

I do think there might be something to the smell enhancement theory, but this could just be that when you smoke your clothes and hair reek so much your olfactory system numbs a bit. Now, like Carswell I am super-sensitive to second-hand smoke (can smell it 100 yards away) and want to wretch whenever I come across someone that has that "just-had-a-smoke-break-stench".

Life is generally better without the cancer sticks, despite how nice it is to have one or two after a leisurely meal, so once you get over the unpleasant effects of withdrawal and murderous cravings, you can enjoy your meal without worrying about when you're going to get to the part where you smoke. And that's probably worth as much as anything.

[Daniel Rogov]

In the name of full disclosure: (a) I am a smoker, indulging in both cigarettes and cigars; (b) I enjoy my smoking; © As a gentlemanI try hard not to smoke in situations where it will offend others; and (d) Because I am not stupid, I know precisely the risks involved and conclude that anyone who smokes (myself included) has made a life-death decision.

Having so stated and more specifically to the issue at hand, there is a good deal of research that shows that men and women who started smoking at a relatively early age build their repertoire of aromas and flavors on the overlay of residue from their cigarettes. In short, smoking does change the palate but it does not harm it. What this means is that when I find the flavors of say blackcurrants in a wine, or of balsamic vinegar in a sauce, I am finding precisely the same elements as a person who does not smoke. Whether we are "feeling" precisely the same thing is more a philosophical than a physiological question.

Going a step further, about twenty years ago I compiled a list of the restaurant and wine critics I considered the most important of the 19th and 20th century. Interestingly enough, of the forty people on the list thirty-one smoked, not one did intentional exercise, nearly all overate and on the average they lived to 85 years of age. I know, I know.....that's rationalization but by heaven it does hold out hope for a sinner such as myself

Edited June 5, 2005 by Daniel Rogov (log)

[racheld]

Yes. From four tables away.