hmm. So my bud stopped by yesterday. He brought his beaten down cob and his baccy with him

Here is the situation.
1. He has had it for almost a month now, and has NOT cleaned it once.
2. Its filtered
3. ever baccy I have tried from his pipe I couldn't taste
Now I told him that I heard the filter can actually filter out the taste sometimes, so he took it out, and sure enough to him..it tasted better. He loaded up a bowl of Georgia Peach baccy, and I decided to have a go. FINALLY I tasted something. It wasn't a distinguishable flavor. It tasted sweet..almost sour, I would get it at the tip of my tongue..only I also wasn't sure if I was burning my tongue lol, but it felt cool as well. Now..was this the baccy? or was it that "drip" everyone speaks of?