The smoke of
flue-cured tobacco and sun-cured Oriental has a
lower pH, that is, more acidic, and more tip of the tongue bite. The smoke of
air-cured Virginias and air-cured Orientals has a somewhat
higher pH, that is, somewhat less acidic, and somewhat closer to neutral pH. The smoke of burley and Maryland varieties has
higher pH than the air-cured Virginias, that is, somewhat more alkaline (more basic). The smoke of most cigar varieties and of dark air-cured varieties has the
highest pH of most cured tobaccos, that is, most alkaline (most basic), and more
back of the tongue bite.
The magic is that, by blending, you can achieve smoke that is not only pH balanced, but has neither tip of the tongue or back of the tongue bite. The tongue does not perceive any acid/base sensation within the magic zone.
Unfortunately, since pH is a physical chemistry unit, it seems counter intuitive: low pH means high acidity; high pH means lower acidity. Your body tissues average a pH of about 7.4.
Excerpted from image by biologist Mike Jones.
As you can see from the above (
modern) image of tongue taste zones, most of the tongue can taste most categories [sour, bitter, salty, sweet, umami] of sensation (here showing just sour, which results from low pH, and bitter, which results from high pH). But the tip of the tongue is
more sensitive to low pH, while the back and sides of the tongue are
more sensitive to high pH. (Curiously, flavors are sensed only by the nose.) What the images cannot show is that these relative sensitivities vary from one person to the next.
Bob
