Critical Issues that Impact the Flavor of Modern Pipe Tobacco

In the early days of pipe tobacco products, most pipe tobaccos was an afterthought to tobacco manufacturers. They concentrated on tobacco that would be used in a pipe or tobacco mass-produced and sold to a consumer as a cigarette.

But, in the last 15-20 years, your consumers have embraced pipe tobacco the products and potential tastes have mushroomed. Today you can find hundreds of pipe tobacco brands with flavors uniquely tailored for smokers who want tobacco that reflects tastes all over the map, from chocolate to whiskey best-flavored pipe tobacco.

As you review what kind of pipe tobacco you want to smoke, you should have a good understanding of how modern pipe tobacco is produced:

Casings is an industry term used to denote flavors that have been artificially added to pipe tobacco to give it a special one of a kind taste. Like any consumer product with flavoring agents, the amount of casings determines how strong the tobacco tastes.

Some manufacturers go overboard with casings; meaning, your tobacco’s flavor is nothing but a strong casing taste, and the tobacco is secondary. That’s not optimum; a casing flavor should always be secondary to the tobacco itself’s actual taste.

Organic is another term loosely used by the tobacco industry, pipe, and mainstream commercial cigarette manufacturers. “Organic” does not always mean nothing artificial has been added; in many cases, it may be used by marketers to mask “artificial” flavors that have been added to the pipe tobacco they want to label as “organic.”

It’s trite to say, but “caveat emptor” you want to look closely at products (pipe tobacco or otherwise) made with “organic” materials. Again, just like mainstream consumer products, organic can mean a flavoring agent has been added to your tobacco with nothing to do with organic.

Non-aromatic and aromatic are key terms used to describe pipe tobacco.  Non-aromatic means nothing artificial has been added to the tobacco. Aromatic means something may have been added to the tobacco, and in some cases, this term is used to imply the pipe tobacco has been aged or fermented in some way to give it more flavoring.

English blend is another term loosely used to describe a type of pipe tobacco that can mean many things. Early on in the pipe tobacco industry, “English” was used to describe tobacco that had no additives of any kind added to it. It had a pure connotation when used to describe pipe tobacco. Today the term is not as narrow in meaning. An English blend is considered any pipe tobacco blend containing just oriental sourced tobacco, with a mixture of Latakie, which helps define whether the pipe tobacco is mild, medium, or a full-bodied.

Tobacco Cuts Define the Type of Pipe Tobacco

• Flake Cut: the tobacco comprises large flat flakes; it must be rubbed to separate individual flakes.
• Ready Rubbed: this is a flake cut tobacco that has been rubbed before its being packaged
• Ribbon cut: this is tobacco that has been cut into long thin ribbons.
• Shag: very finely shredded pipe tobacco; works well in a manual or electric cigarette rolling machine.
• Cake or plug cut: most cake tobacco is soaked in honey, which helps to bond the tobacco together and makes it sweet. The pipe tobacco is then rounded into molds for manufacturing.

As you assess modern pipe tobacco, the actual cut can, in many cases, impact the taste of the tobacco more than anything else. The source tobacco leaf is vital (Virginias are the most common); but, the cut trumps just about any other flavoring aspect associated with modern pipe tobacco.

The Six Primary Blends of Pipe Tobacco You Need to Know

1. Virginia is the mildest of all tobacco blends (traditionally). It has a sweet taste, characterized as red, black, dark, or even lemon. The more the tobacco is aged, the stronger the flavor.
2. Bright: is a very light tobacco that is usually grown in North Carolina with a very mild flavor.
3. Burley: a thicker leaf than a classic Virginia tobacco leaf, burns more slowly due to its thickness, has a soft, almost nutty taste, and it can be used as an agent to slow down the burn rate of the core tobacco.
4. Cavendish: this is a curing and cutting method that is erroneously referred to as a type of tobacco (it is not); it’s a manufacturing process that is designed to bring out the sweeter taste of a Virginia tobacco, and it’s known for producing a mild almost light taste.
5. Black Cavendish: Virginia tobacco is heated and cured to produce and bring out the tobacco leaf’s naturally sweet flavor.
6. Navy Cavendish: aged tobacco that is combined with some Jamaican rum.

We hope this overview of pipe tobacco was informative. If you have questions, please call us or take a deep dive into the pipe tobacco reviews on our web site and check out this video below on saving money using pipe tobacco.

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