Dianne Heins said:
I'd say the cigarettes are very much to blame [in loss of sense of taste],
as well.  Every long-term smoker I've known seems to require a high degree
of seasoning.

My response:
I second that motion.  Smoking, like eating a diet rich in refined,
processed, and sugar-rich foods, depletes zinc stores.  Some people
following whole foods vegan or near vegan diets experience zinc deficiency
due to dietary deficiences, which can in some cases lead to reduce digestive
function (zinc is required for thousands of ezyme processes, digestion being
just one), including reduced absorption of nutrients.  Zinc is a key
nutrient in the sense of taste and smell, among other things.  Often, when
people are zinc deficient, they have a reduced sense of taste and smell and
cannot taste things that people who are zinc sufficient can taste.

There is a product put out by a company called Ethical Nutrients (others put
it out); it used to be called Zinc Status, or Zinc Challenge. You put a
certain amount of the liquid from the bottle in your mouth, swish it around,
and see if you taste anything.  People who are very zinc deficient do not
taste it.  People who are mildly zinc deficient ony taste a faint flavor.
People who have sufficient body stores of zinc tate a strong flavor.  My
husband and I have tried this several times over the years---sometimes one
of us would taste it but the other would not, or one would taste it faintly
and the other would taste nothing.  We first tried it when we were following
vegan diets and had a lot of symptoms of zinc deficiency.

Rachel