Are Taste Totally Subjective?

[FRANKSTER]

Hello guys...This question has never entered my mind before until I joined this forum. I always knew absolutely that everything in life is subjective, especially taste. I am actually starting to believe that taste cannot be totally subjective.

Here is my reasoning...If a 1000 people ate excrement, I am sure a 1000 people would say that it was disgusting...why is this not subjective...shouldn't one person out of this group think that a second helping should be served to them?

Here is my second argument...prime steak (medium rear) is my number one dish, nothing even comes close for based on what I have eaten thus far in my life. Now, if you also find steak cooked the same way to be your number one dish, we both have a good starting point.

I go out to a restaurant and have a steak just the way I like it and I think this is the best steak I ever had in my life based on my taste of steak. I come to you and tell you about this great find. You now go to the same restaurant, eat the steak just the way you like it which is the same as I do. Also the quality of the steak is the same, meaning you did not just get bad meat.

In my opinion, it is impossible for you to come back to me and say that was the worst steak you ever had. You might that you thought it was average and that you had better, the worst you ever had. Sorry, I think that is impossible.

That leads me of course to e-liquids. If I love tobacco juices and I hear or read a review on a juice that is the same type juice that ne and the reviewer both love. The reviewer goes on to tell me this a great tobacco juice, it is totally a 10 in every way. I try the juice and I think it taste like vomit. I have a problem with this. I can totally understand if I say the juice is not for me or I think the juice is just average, but I find it hard to believe that 2 people who like the same thing can be at both ends of the spectrum.

I am just saying that can taste be totally subjective? Even Einstein said that the speed of light was the only absolute, that it was the only constant in the universe.

I would love opinions on this. Again people, please spare me the snide remarks if possible. lol...I know most people on ecf who read this will totally disagree with me, but maybe, just maybe I have a valid argument.

I am just tired of buying juice that people say is outstanding and I think it taste like vomit!

 

[radamist]

I'm 100% positive that taste is subjective and even Einstein theories cant prove otherwise.
For example I can't stand lamb, for me it tastes terrible, but my friend thinks it's the best.
Same goes to ejuices, you see people are writing poems in this forum about liquids that I cant even smell and I'm sure that those people are 100% honest when they recommend the juice.

 

[FRANKSTER]

I'm 100% positive that taste is subjective and even Einstein theories cant prove otherwise.
For example I can't stand lamb, for me it tastes terrible, but my friend thinks it's the best.
Same goes to ejuices, you see people are writing poems in this forum about liquids that I cant even smell and I'm sure that those people are 100% honest when they recommend the juice.

I agree with you with the lamb part, but let's say you and your friend both love lamb and you try a lamb that is great in your opinion...do you honestly think your friend is going to say that it was the worst lamb they ever had. This where my point lies. I am not talking about someone who loves apples and someone who hates them...There is a difference?

 

[Hoosier]

Excrement is disgusting because it is excrement. It's not a matter of taste. It's hardwired just like cute babies. The vast majority of babies are cute because humans are wired that way. If our babies were blobs of eyes, we would find that cute. If you look at babies logically, they should not be cute as they are not proportioned well and have oddly shaped heads/faces. (I'm sure there are the exceptions that find their own excrement delightful and babies to be horrible looking though.)

There are folks that are like super tasters. Flavoring at levels that most folks find enjoyable are absolutely horrible for those types. The difference between tasting vapor and solids and liquids actually makes it much worse. There are folks who get a horrible taste from PG while most cannot detect any flavor from it, and this applies to VG as well. Some can even taste clean nicotine and feel it while most just feel it.

When you get that vomit taste it is probably some component that you are hyper sensitive to that most are not. Only you can taste it that way, you and folks with the same sensitivity. If it was in a solid or liquid there would be much fewer chances to engage the nose in the tasting, like vapor is, because, whatever it is, is in the solid or liquid and not flowing through those sinus cavities hitting every hyper nerve in there.

 

[5vz]

Taste is unique to each person. There are more reasons than just tastebuds and smell, tastes can be different depending on what you eat or drink, if you were a heavy smoker or not, your mindset at the time of tasting something new, or the experiences had at tasting something new, and lots more.

I like extra fish sauce on Thai or Vietnamese food. Some cringe at the thought. At first I could not stand fish sauce and threw it away. I eventually acquired a taste for it, through good experiences.

I have always liked lamb. Lots of people hate it.

I like a lot of garlic, some cannot stand any. I like hot peppers, some will go berzerk if you get one near them.

So, when reading reviews of juices, and you do not personally know and eat with that person, you have to understand you may hate that particular juice. On the other hand, you may find one you really love and find out that everyone here hates it.

 

[rem700]

Subjective.
Me and the wife both love steak.
We both like pickles she likes cucumbers I can stand them.
We both like cabbage she likes sauerkraut I cant stand the smell or taste.
I like squash she doesnt.

 

[Xaria]

Steak is just that, steak. It's one ingredient. Eliquid is like wine. I can taste a glass and find undertones of flowers, fruits, wood. While my husband can just taste sour grapes and heads for a beer.

 

[denali_41]

90% subjective

A lot of it has to do with how you raised,,in the philippines the popular food is sardines[unsalted anchovies] ,,yea the smell is so bad i can't eat anything after smelling them,,but they think it smells and tastes great

 

[Richie G]

I get your point, Frank. It's something I've wondered about myself. But after reading so many reviews and descriptions of various liquids then trying them myself, I have reached the conclusion that taste is indeed subjective.

Xaria makes the point that certain ingredients within an e-liquid make it discernable to some but perhaps not others. Thus, we either like it or don't.

My realization since I started vaping re: e-liquids is this... taste is far more reaching than e-liquid. Here's an example... Mom, the wife, the m-i-l, et al, cooks up a huge Sunday dinner. On the table is manicotta, bracciole, the whole spread. EVERYONE agrees that the cook outdid herself/himself this time. But guess what... everyone tasted something different. All of it agreeably delicious but your taste and my taste somewhat differently pleased.

Granted this might be a weird analogy but I think it's somewhat accurate.

 

[luceblueboy]

This is why it's so important to describe your own personal tastes when talking about eliquid. For example, I like want2vape's Blondie. However when anyone asks about it I make sure to tell them it's a flavored cigar. If they didn't like flavored cigars when they smoked they won't like this. Want2vape also has a few pipe blends. They're really good but they're not aromatic pipe blends but burley and english. For the people that only had aromatic tobacco when they smoked, both liquids were disgusting and they complained.

The hardest part is finding out someone likes a liquid you really enjoy and only following their lead. I love authentic tobacco tastes and follow someone's website that also enjoys the same. However they love Halo's liquids, which aren't tobacco tasting whatsoever. They give their own personal awards to liquids that I think taste like carpet cleaner. You think, if they like this then I'll love it too. Nope it just doesn't work that way.

I'm jealous of the people that find an all day vape and rarely leave it. I get tired of the same thing over and over. I may love a liquid and reorder it a few times then I have to leave it because it gets boring. It's all part of the game we call vaping

 

[DietSalem]

I'm going to go ahead and fill in and remind people that there are a lot of people out there who eat and enjoy excrement. While it probably IS less than 1,000, they're out there. And that fact alone makes taste subjective. I really don't want to have to provide proof that they're out there, so let's make this the last post in this thread about excrement? lol.

 

[Skennard]

I get what your trying to say however lets get to the root of your question that being "is taste totally subjective?" You used excrement as a base qualifier by stating that if 1000 people ate it all would say it was disgusting. Now I have no doubt that that statement is true. Why? Simple People have been raised to know that excrement is dirty,gross, and disgusting myself included. Following that logic no one in their right mind would ask for a second helping of excrement, it has been ingrained that it is disgusting. My mother inlaw once ate several helpings of "rocky mountain oysters" and enjoyed them immensely up to the moment she found out what they really were. It was the perception that biased her opinion of what she was eating. My thoughts are that taste is subjective however it can be linked to the preconceived notion or idea of what it should taste like. Watching or reading a review on a juice plants a base idea on how the juice will or should taste. Tobacco juices out of all the myriad of flavors are IMO the most subjective because of a preconceived notion planted by the reviewer or description from the manufacturer. I saw several reviews of the infamous Boba's Bounty and by all rights I should have loved it however I couldn't stand it. I thought based on the reviews I saw I would love it but it didn't taste to me at all what every one seemed to say it tasted like. I can only accredit that to the way I perceive flavors. No two people perceive anything exactly the same way, so taste would be subject to the perception of the individual.

 

[dotma]

Excrement is disgusting because it is excrement. It's not a matter of taste. It's hardwired just like cute babies. The vast majority of babies are cute because humans are wired that way. If our babies were blobs of eyes, we would find that cute. If you look at babies logically, they should not be cute as they are not proportioned well and have oddly shaped heads/faces. (I'm sure there are the exceptions that find their own excrement delightful and babies to be horrible looking though.)

Hoosier -- your answer about if babies were blobs of eyes we would still think they are cute, that just cracked me up!

Frankster -- i totally agree with Hoosier. There are people with hypersensitive tastes and you could be one of them.

 

[Alac]

I agree with you with the lamb part, but let's say you and your friend both love lamb and you try a lamb that is great in your opinion...do you honestly think your friend is going to say that it was the worst lamb they ever had. This where my point lies. I am not talking about someone who loves apples and someone who hates them...There is a difference?

Somepeople prefer the burgers from Mc Donolds, some prefer burgers from Burger King. Its just beef.

Add in other flavor elements, and each "taste" can expond this change exponecally.
Add guacamoli, sourcream to one burger and Jalapinos and cracked pepers to the other, they will taste compleatly different and will appeal to different people.

 

[swedishfish]

You know it's subjective by the simple fact that so many people like a certain juice that you don't. Unless you think there's a huge plot to trick you into buying some nasty juice, people like a certain juice and you don't.

We can go out for ice cream and you order vanilla and I order chocolate. You can argue until you're blue in the face that vanilla is great, wonderful, and better than chocolate but I still like chocolate.

(And lets remember you hated BWB juice when you tried it and now like it).

 

[FRANKSTER]

You know it's subjective by the simple fact that so many people like a certain juice that you don't. Unless you think there's a huge plot to trick you into buying some nasty juice, people like a certain juice and you don't.

We can go out for ice cream and you order vanilla and I order chocolate. You can argue until you're blue in the face that vanilla is great, wonderful, and better than chocolate but I still like chocolate.

(And lets remember you hated BWB juice when you tried it and now like it).

You got it right the first time...There is a plot to deceive me perpetrated by the houses who sell e-liquids and the reviewers who work for them...They are plotting and reading these post...lmao....you think they know who we are when we order from them?...I wonder about that.

 

[Hoosier]

Nah, Frankster, it's me.

I intercept your juice packages and spike them with HCl. Some have gotten by me though.

Not a plot, just one mean anti-flavorist...

 

[swedishfish]

We are very tricky!

I read about people recommending a certain juice and I have to sit on my hands not to post 'Don't Do It!'. And they all love it. It's very strange, but there it is.

 

[Bozzlite]

Frankster, I have yet to find a juice I liked that was raved about and touted as being the best ever.

That's why I haven't bought any Boba's Bounty. I already know I won't like it, because so many others do like it, nay, rave and worship it.

 

[FRANKSTER]

Frankster, I have yet to find a juice I liked that was raved about and touted as being the best ever.

That's why I haven't bought any Boba's Bounty. I already know I won't like it, because so many others do like it, nay, rave and worship it.

Hello there, so how did you come up with a juice to vape?