If you look at
http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/index.cfm, which is a forum of member reviews of the gazillion pipe tobaccos available, one of the characteristics of pipe tobacco is called, "room note." I guess this is of value if you are married. The odd aspect of this quality is that it has nothing to do with the nose of the person currently smoking the tobacco. It's what a second party smells while you smoke your pipe, oblivious of the "room note." If you go outside for a bit, then re-enter the room in which you smoked your pipe, you do get a sense of the "room note."
If you smoke a pipe blend with, say, Latakia, it smells and tastes wonderful. Spouses have dubbed it the "divorce maker." Most of the aromatic pipe tobaccos have a pronounced tongue bite. This is caused by the aromatic esters that are added to the tobacco. But to a second party, it's a "very nice tobacco," since the room note is all they experience.
So I would agree with John's observation that taste and room note are separate attributes. As a former cigarette smoker myself, I find the aroma of someone else's cigarette enjoyable. But to my jaded taste, all cigarettes now seem like burning straw to my tongue.
Bob
