Glossary
The purpose of this glossary is not to overwhelm newer pipe smokers, but hopefully to give you a place to look when you hear an unfamiliar word in conversation, or run across one online. Whenever possible, I tried to give a quick definition or synopsis first, and then provide more detail after that, so you can just stop reading if you don’t want to know more. The links you’ll find in some of the descriptions below are just meant to provide illustrations and aren’t meant to point you at things to buy, or meant to imply that is the one and only example of a thing.
Click a letter to jump to that section.
Accent - Some pipes will have additional materials added for decoration that are not required for the function of the pipe. Often this is in the area of the connection between the stem and the shank. Common examples include rings separating the stem and shank of various materials, like metal, wood, horn, or even stone.
Artisan Pipes - A pipe that is handmade by a single maker. In terms of “how handmade,” they can cover a spectrum. At the higher end, the entire pipe is made from raw materials, with everything cut, carved, and fitted from scratch. Some makers may use things like pre-made stems or old-stock stummels, either while learning to make pipes or as cost-saving measures. The artisan pipe “movement,” that is being able to buy a pipe and know the name of the single person who made that pipe from start to finish, is relatively new on the pipe scene. Most people credit it to a group of makers in Scandinavia, more specifically Denmark, in the 1950s and 60s, with Sixten Ivarsson being one of the names that has to come up in any discussion about that time period. In the last decade or so, the US has seen a proliferation of artisan pipe makers, and with it, a huge range in styles, quality, and prices. My advice if you’re thinking of dipping your toes into artisan pipes is to talk to someone who has already been swimming those waters. You may not share the same style preferences, but that person can likely steer you toward reputable makers so you don’t waste your hard earned money on pipes that, in some cases, might perform worse than any factory pipe, but carry a premium price because they are “artisan.”
Basket Pipes - Most brick and mortar tobacconists used to literally have a basket of pipes near the checkout (and some still do). These tended to be pretty cheap, and often not branded by any particular maker, sometimes just having a country of origin stamped, or something like “Briar.” Sometimes they were seconds from larger factories, with cosmetic flaws that kept them from stamping and selling them with their brand. The only real issue with basket pipes is that the quality is really inconsistent. Many long-time pipe smokers will have stories of basket pipes that turned out to be some of their best smokers. Again, that’s because many ended up unstamped and in baskets because of cosmetic flaws. But many also have flaws in their engineering that can cause them to smoke very poorly. A common cause is drilling of the draught hole that isn’t aligned properly. In other words, basket pipes are definitely a case of “buyer beware;” you could end up with a fantastic pipe for next to nothing, but you also could end up with a pipe that makes you question why you ever wanted to smoke a pipe in the first place.
Blend - See Tobacco Blend below.
Bowl Coat - Sometimes a brand new pipe will come with a black (usually), slightly rough interior to the chamber. That is a thin layer that has been applied to the bowl by the pipe maker. What exactly it consists of varies from maker to maker, though it usually has some type of carbon content. It’s usually black and at least slightly rough to the touch. The idea of a bowl coat is it is supposed to help shorten the break in period for a new pipe, and help jump start the formation of cake (see below). It has the secondary effect of covering up, or giving a uniform appearance to, the inside of the bowl. A maker may want to do that because during the finishing process, some of the stain may have dripped inside the bowl. That does not cause any issues with the pipe, but some people find it “unsightly.” Unfortunately, in the very rare cases of less scrupulous makers, a bowl coating can also be used to cover up flaws inside the bowl. On the pipe smoker side, bowl coats are a matter of personal preference. Some people swear by them, saying they do get you to the point of a consistently good smoking pipe faster. Others say they don’t make a difference, or they prefer bare wood at the start.
Cake - Not to be confused with the Tobacco Format (below), this the layer of carbon that builds up inside the chamber of a wooden pipe. Cake is mostly burnt tobacco that has adhered to the thin layer of carbonized wood (or bowl coating). Every time you smoke, you are adding to the cake, so it gets thicker and thicker over time (slowly). There are different schools of thought on the value of cake and how much cake to let build up. Proponents of cake say it ends up providing a cooler, better smoking experience. In general, you don’t want to let the cake build up much more than the thickness of a dime. You can limit cake growth by wiping out the bowl with a dry paper towel immediately after smoking, and using the blade on a pipe tool to gently scrape it back if it is getting too thick. Conventional wisdom holds that it is important for cake to build evenly. So scraping at it would need to be done very carefully. Extreme cases might require the use of a reamer (see below). If a pipe has been smoked that much, I highly recommend sending it to a restorer. For not a lot of money, they will clean the pipe and take care of the reaming, which can cause serious damage to the bowl if done by someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.
Casing - A casing is anything added to raw tobacco leaf in the first stages of processing it to turn it into a smokeable blend. The raw leaf they start with at this stage is extremely dry, and may already have been removed from the stems, and had the larger veins removed. If you tried to work with it at this point, it would essentially turn to dust. It needs to have moisture added to it to make it pliable, but also to help bring out its flavors. Casings usually involve delivering liquid and some flavoring to the tobacco. Here, unlike a topping, the flavor might be minimal. It is designed to complement the natural flavor of the tobacco and help smooth out the rough edges. According to Greg Pease, one of the most prominent American blenders, every tobacco blend is cased and that casing includes some element of sugar or flavor. He went on to say that tobacco without a casing would be so harsh you wouldn’t want to smoke it. Besides timing, though, with casing happening at the start of the blending process and topping happening at the end, the major difference is that casings aren’t meant to stand out and be recognized. They are meant to make the blend more rounded and smokeable, but not take over.
Cellar - or Tobacco Cellar - This isn’t (necessarily) referring to a location in your house. This is just your stored collection of tobacco. Usually, this isn’t referring to the tins or jars you have open and actively smoke (see Rotation below). It is the tobacco you have stored to use sometime down the road. The term comes from “wine cellar,” because it’s the same idea. Wine is stored in a wine cellar to A) keep it for a period of time while it (hopefully) improves (or at least doesn’t get worse), and B) to control the environment the wine is in to keep it in the best possible condition. Tobacco that is in a cellar can be in the original tin, or can be transferred to something else that is airtight for long term storage, like mason jars or mylar bags. See Cellaring below for more.
Cellaring - or Aging - There are several reasons to cellar tobacco (yes, cellar can be used as a noun and verb). One is to buy tobacco when it is cheaper and/or available when it won’t be that way forever. You’re putting it away because you can only get it now, as in the case of a limited or small batch release or because a blend you like is being discontinued, or because you’re getting a deal on it. In the words of Brian Levine, host of the Pipes Magazine Radio Show podcast, “Tobacco will never be cheaper or more readily available than it is today.” So you may cellar tobacco because you’re trying to future proof your pipe smoking. Another reason is that recently, some people have come to feel that, like wine, certain tobaccos get better with age. Like wine, tobacco is made from a once living organism, and there are processes, like fermentation, that can continue over time. Some tobaccos that have rough, harsh edges when fresh can become smoother and more flavorful over time. Not everyone agrees, though. Some people prefer fresh tobacco. Some only like particular blends aged. Many people agree that blends heavy in Virginias will age the “best” because Virginia tobaccos have the highest sugar levels, and sugar leads to fermentation. In general, aromatics, at best, don’t change at all, and at worst get worse over time as the flavor fades. Editorializing here, my advice is to not listen to other people and, if you can, experiment. If you are buying a tin of something, buy two and put one in your cellar to be tried sometime down the road. If you find blends you really like to smoke now, maybe consider buying extra when you can to put away in the event that it becomes harder to get or more expensive, or in case it turns out it gets even better with age.
Chatter - The teeth marks that almost inevitably show up on the stem of a pipe once it is used. Depending on a smoker’s style, chatter can range from very hard to spot, to stems with bite zones that look like chewed gum. Besides being dependent on a person’s smoking style, it is also very dependent on the stem material used in the individual pipe (see Stem Materials below).
Clenching - The act of holding a pipe in your mouth using your teeth. This can be done with the front teeth, using the pipe’s button to let the pipe hang; you aren’t forcefully biting down to hold the pipe. It can also be done by biting down on the stem using the side of your mouth. It all comes down to preference and how your teeth line up. Some people clench for long periods of time, keeping their hands free to do other things. Some people never clench at all, or only briefly so they can do something quickly that requires two hands. Many newer pipe smokers discover that there is an automatic response that happens to biting down on something, and that is salivation. This can make learning to clench tough. If you stick with it, though, this happens less and less. A pipe might be referred to as a clencher, and that is meant to say that its size and/or shape would make it well suited for someone who likes to clench their pipe. Generally, that means a lighter pipe (under 40 grams or so), and shaped so physics won’t work against you (shorter, maybe bent).
Condiment or Condimental - You will see these terms used when people talk about the make up of pipe blends. They are used exactly like they are in cooking. A tobacco may have a condimental use in a blend. This means that particular tobacco is not meant to be the star of the show. It is there to add a little extra spice or to help highlight flavors found in the major components of the blend. Think of it like adding salt to food. You shouldn’t add so much salt that it gets to the point that major thing you’re tasting is salt itself. But if you add the right amount of salt, it brings all the flavors in the rest of the dish to life without you being able to pick the salt itself out as a taste or component. That’s what condimental tobaccos are meant to do.
Czech Tool - Pipe Tool - This is different than a tamper (see below) in that a pipe tool usually combines at least three tools in a single package. They are sometimes generically called Czech tools, because there was a manufacturer in Czechoslovakia that mass produced them and their design could be found in just about every pipe shop. That design is still made today, and in fact some are still made in the Czech Republic (or is it Czechia now?), but there are also lots of knock offs made in places like China. Generally the ones made in the Czech Republic are a better quality and still well under $10. Anyway, whether it is that particular design, one that looks like a pocket knife, or what have you, all of them have at least three tools in one package: a tamper, a pick, and a spoon or blade with a rounded end that can act as a spoon. Read about tampers below. A pick is a not-to-sharp, thin implement used mainly to break up the dottle so you can empty out a bowl when you’re done. It can also be used effectively to poke a small hole down into a bowl of still burning tobacco that has become too tightly packed to burn well. The spoon or rounded blade can be used to also remove dottle, as well as scrape down cake that is getting too thick.
Dottle - It is not at all unusual to have unburned tobacco leftover in the bottom of a bowl when you’re done. This can happen for a number of reasons. One very valid reason is that you just decide you’re done, whether that’s because you have something else to do or it stopped tasting good. Also, if a tobacco is burning a bit moist, you may end up with some tobacco that is to wet to burn well, or at all. The point is, don’t feel bad if there’s tobacco left; it’s not a big deal. It’s also no good anymore. You absolutely do not want to try to salvage it and make up a bowl from dottle. Or no, go ahead and try that! But make sure you’re filming yourself when you light it, and send me the video! Seriously, dump out your dottle and get rid of it. It pretty much always smells heinous, so don’t dump it somewhere that someone you care about will come across it, especially if they aren’t particularly fond of pipe smoking to begin with. I’ve heard it is great to add to a flower bed or garden, though I can’t imagine how much you’d have to smoke to be able to consider this compost. A garbage disposal is great for this. If you’re going to dump it in the trash, just make sure the pipe is well and truly out.
Draw - This is what happens when you suck on the stem. The draw is the air that moves from the bowl through the draught hole and stem, into your mouth. But it is also how hard you need to suck to make that air move. This has a massive impact on your smoking experience and how well you perceive a pipe to smoke. Smoking a pipe with a very tight draw, meaning it takes a lot of force to get enough air moving through it, can be a very frustrating, and not at all relaxing experience. A few things can affect the draw. First and foremost is the engineering of the pipe. How well it was drilled, i.e. everything lining up properly is a big part of this. The other part is what size bit the maker used to drill the draught hole in the shank and stem. If you draw on two empty pipes, one drilled with a 4 mm airway, and one with a 3 mm airway, it may sound tiny, but you are going to notice a difference. This does not mean that a pipe with a smaller airway is unsmokeable. But it does mean it might change the way you smoke it, including how you pack the pipe, what you smoke in it, how you tamp, and how you draw. A few of the other things that can affect draw were just mentioned, the type and cut of a blend, how you pack the pipe, and how you tamp while smoking. Another thing that will have a very noticeable affect on the draw is tobacco or ash getting sucked into the airway. If sucking on the stem suddenly goes from sucking on soda with a straw to sucking on a milkshake, you probably have something in the airway. Run a pipe cleaner through it to clear it out, and you should be able to go back to smoking the bowl with no issues.
Estate Pipes - This is just a nicer/fancier way to say a pre-owned pipe. This is any pipe that isn’t coming new directly from the maker or retailer. It has passed through a private owner’s hands. I have been careful to avoid using the word “used” because estate pipes usually have been smoked by someone else, but not always. As I said, any pipe that has passed through a private owner’s hands is now considered an estate pipe, even if that person didn’t smoke it. Online retailers will usually list their estate pipes in a separate part of the site from their new pipes. You will find listings for estate pipes that note that the pipe is unsmoked. When estate pipes are sold by the major online retailers, they will have restored and sanitized the pipe. If you are buying estate pipes from someplace like eBay, pay attention to the descriptions, because many of those have not been cleaned up further than just running a cloth over them to get the dust and first layer of grime off. Estate pipes are almost always cheaper than buying the same pipe new. This can also be the only way to get certain pipes that people collect, whether that is from brands that no longer exist, like GBD or Charatan, or from makers who are no longer with us, or very specific pipe trends, like buying your birth year Dunhill.
Factory Pipes - Pretty self-explanatory, these are pipes that are made in a factory setting. So a pipe goes through multiple people’s hands as it is made. Often, like a car assembly line, people are divided into jobs, and so they are doing one job, or part of the pipe making process, only, over and over. To be clear, there is nothing inherently wrong with factory pipes. They are usually much more affordable than workshop or artisan pipes, and may smoke just as well. Within this broader category, there is a range of factory sizes. Examples of modern factory pipe manufacturers are Savinelli, Peterson, and Chacom. A valid criticism of factory pipes comes down to quality control. Because these manufacturers are churning out so many pipes every day, they need to have good quality control, to ensure a pipe not only looks good, but that the engineering is sound, so the pipe will smoke well. With the better known brands, like those just mentioned, quality control means the odds are very good that if you buy one you will end up with a pipe that smokes well. But, just like with any other factory made product, it is possible to get one that slipped based quality control and should have. In most cases, contacting the retailer you purchased the pipe from will have them taking steps to put the situation to rights.
Lunting - I don’t know the origin of the word, but this is the act of taking a walk outdoors while smoking a pipe, whether that’s hiking or walking in a more urban environment. There are actually a handful of lunting clubs. Northern Pipers isn’t one of them.
Oxidation (Stem) - Process that happens over time with vulcanite (and to a lesser degree ebonite) stems that causes them to turn yellowish gray and dull looking. It is caused by sulfur, which is a component in vulcanized rubber, coming to the surface of the stem. Oxidation is sped up by leaving vulcanite stems in direct sunlight for prolonged periods, and by saliva. Storing pipes out of direct sunlight and wiping it down after use with a dot of something like Obsidian Oil, can help delay or prevent oxidation.
Pass a Pipe Cleaner - If you hear someone talking about whether or not a particular pipe will pass a pipe cleaner, they are talking about whether you can stick a pipe cleaner into the stem, keep gently pushing, and have the pipe cleaner come out into the bowl. For some people, this is an absolute must; they don’t want to buy a pipe if it won’t pass a cleaner. The reason is that, depending on the blend and the pipe, you will find that you often need to do this once or more while smoking a bowl of tobacco. If the blend is moist, you may start to get a bit of a gurgle when you draw on the pipe. Passing a pipe cleaner will get rid of that, at least temporarily.
Pipe Cleaners - You must know what a pipe cleaner is! Didn’t you have art class when you were a kid?! Maybe what you didn’t know was that there are several kinds of pipe cleaners. In some cases you’ll see combinations of the types listed below, like regular tapered or extra fluffy tapered, so pay attention to the names and descriptions to get what you want. At the most basic level, they are all wire that twisted to hold fibers to clean inside a pipe. One thing to be careful of is the very tip of the cleaner. If it is not covered with fiber, and its bent or you’re using it on a bent pipe, you can put it in and feel it scrape the inside of the stem. You can actually scratch a line into the fluting or draught hole this way. Real pipe nerds (not saying I am one) say this can create turbulence in the smoke and affect the quality of the smoke.
Bristle - Along with the soft fibers normally found in a pipe cleaners, these have tiny plastic threads that are fairly rigid. They can sort of scrub inside the shank, or bowl if you bend it in half and swab inside it, to help loosen and remove pieces of debris. Most people don’t use these often. If you feel like you’re getting less air through a pipe than you have, even when the bowl is empty, you might try running one of these through. You might also only use one when you do a more thorough cleaning of your pipes, not after normal use.
Churchwarden or Coil - These are cleaners cut long enough, or left as a single, long coil that you cut a length off of, to be able to get all the way down longer than normal pipes, like churchwardens.
Extra Absorbent or Extra Fluffy - The name explains it. Just know that you may find that it is hard to actually fit these into your stem if the draught hole is on the smaller side. I have a couple of pipes I can’t fit one in at all.
Regular - This term can be used in two ways. It can denote that the cleaners aren’t extra fluffy, or that they are the same width from one end to the other, so not tapered. The majority of pipe cleaners I use are B. J. Long regulars, which hits both of those. They aren’t extra fluffy, and they aren’t tapered. You could probably buy just this kind, and maybe a bag of bristle, and be fine forever (unless you get a churchwarden).
Tapered - Yup, these are thinner on one end than the other. They do have their uses, but they aren’t as versatile as regular. They are handy when you’re doing a more thorough cleaning and maybe taking the stem and shank apart. You can use the wider end in cleaning out the mortise. But, you can do the same thing with the middle of a regular cleaner bent in half.
Pipe Materials - Here we are just talking about the material the bowl or stummel (see Pipe Parts below) of the pipe are made out of.
Briar - This is actually the root burl from the Erica Arborea shrub, which grows around the Mediterranean. In the mid 1800s, someone discovered that briar has properties that make it heat resistant and less likely to burn. Until then, the majority of pipes were made of clay or (less commonly) Meerschaum. At that time, St. Claude, France, became the epicenter of briar pipe production, with millions of pipes from more than a dozen factories being sent around the world every year. Briar continues to be the most common material used to make pipes today. It is relatively easy to work with, can be finished in a variety of ways and styles, and because of its heat resistance can last through lifetimes of use if properly maintained.
Clay - This was the material used for the first commercially available tobacco pipes, made in England after tobacco’s introduction from the Jamestown colony. Clay pipes were cheap and could be mass produced. They were sold, or even rented, in places like pubs. You can still get clay pipes today. Clay pipes are said to be excellent for tasting new tobaccos because the clay itself is flavor neutral and carbonized tobacco does not build up on the bowl. Wood pipes do add their own flavor as you’re smoking them. The wood is carbonizing, and as that happens you get flavor from the wood. Also, carbonized tobacco melds with this carbonized wood to form a cake, which also adds flavor to smoke. So clay is a way to get a more pure taste of a blend. Many tobacco blenders will use clay pipes when working on new blends for exactly this reason. Clay pipes are still made and can be purchased cheaply. Almost no one smokes them as their everyday pipe, though. There are a few reasons for this. First, they are quite fragile, with long stems that are just waiting to break. Second, nearly all of them are not good for clenching (see above); they are fragile, the stems are round, and the clay is like rough grit sandpaper on your teeth. Third, the bowls get scalding hot so you need to be careful when smoking never to touch it.
Corn Cob - The use of corn cobs to make pipes goes back at least into the 1800s, and there used to be several companies in the US making them. Today, the major manufacturer is Missouri Meerschaum. Not only do they make them, but they own their own farmland and group the specific type of corn that’s best for making them (not the same kind we eat or you feed to livestock). On most of the models they line the bowl with a type of plaster. A well cared for cob can last years. There is also a whole sub-community in the pipe world of "cob modders,” people who take the corn cob bowl from Missouri Meerschaum pipes and fit them with hardwood shanks, aftermarket stems, and more.
Meerschaum - German for “sea foam,” this is a white mineral that is found in a couple of places in the world. Most Meerschaum today is found in Turkey. It is well suited to pipe making because it is porous and relatively soft, so easily carved. It is illegal to export uncarved, block Meerschaum from Turkey, in order to protect the pipe industry there. So almost all the Meerschaum pipes you will come across were made in Turkey. Pipes made from Meerschaum can cover the gambit, from smooth, classic shapes, to very typical carved lattice and floral patterns, to very elaborate sculptural pieces. Because it is porous, while it starts out pure white, as it is smoked, it will take on a brown, almost leather-like, coloring. Because it is so soft, a good deal of care needs to be taken to not bang or drop them. It’s possible to actually scratch one with a fingernail. In terms of smoking qualities, Meerschaum is similar to clay in that it does not impart any of its own flavor to tobacco, and does not build up cake.
Morta or Bog Oak - This is literally oak wood that has spent up to 6,000 years or more buried in bogs in parts of Europe. The chemicals found in the peat bogs, along with the lack of oxygen, almost fossilize the wood. The result is a very hard wood that ranges from jet black (the most common) to gray or dark brown (more rare). Like briar, it has also become very heat resistant, so won’t burn through with repeated use as many other woods will. In terms of smoking quality, people tend to either love or hate morta. Some people claim to get an odd minerally taste when they smoke a morta pipe, at least for the first dozen bowls or so. Others put morta in the same category as clay and Meerschaum, saying that it is neutral, not imparting any flavor on the tobacco.
Olive Wood - Yup, this is the wood from olive trees, mainly from the Mediterranean. The wood is hard and dense enough to give it some heat resistance, so it doesn’t have the risk of burn out that other, softer woods have. The other thing olive wood has going for it is beautiful, very visible, grain, making for some very striking looking pipes. In terms of smoking, there is an unmistakable taste for the first few bowls in a new olive wood pipe if there is no bowl coating, olive oil. Most people do not find it unpleasant, but it’s definitely there. Usually, as the inside of the chamber chars, and cake starts to build up, the flavor fades and disappears.
Strawberry Briar - A relative of “regular” briar, this is the root burl of the strawberry tree, Arbutus Unedo. The major difference is that the wood is a bit softer than regular briar. This makes it especially suited for making pipes with deep sandblasts. Most people don’t notice any when smoking this or regular briar.
Pipe Parts
Airway - Sometimes also called the draught. This is the drilled tube that runs from the bottom of the bowl to your mouth. The drilling of the airway is a very important part of making a pipe that will smoke well. It must enter the bowl at the correct spot and be as smooth as possible to avoid giving moisture places to condense. The diameter of the airway is also important, but preferences do vary.
Bowl - This term can be a little ambiguous. It is sometimes used to describe the whole part of the pipe before the start of the shank. It is also sometimes used to talk more specifically about the hole the tobacco gets loaded into, but not necessarily the walls and exterior.
Button - This is the are at the very end of the pipe with the raised lips, and it can vary quite a bit from . The purpose of the button is to give your teeth a place to hold on to the stem if you are clenching. You will find that if you do clench, you will probably develop some preferences, which might just start when you have more than one pipe and find one “more comfortable” than another.
Bite Zone - This is the part of the stem that is immediately behind the raised lips of the button; it’s where your teeth are going if you’re clenching a pipe. This is
Chamber
Draught Hole
Funnel or Slot
Mortise
Rim
Shank
Stem
Stummel
Tenon
Reamer - This is a specialized tool that is purpose made to scrape down the cake inside a bowl. Most reamers are adjustable, both because bowl sizes vary, but also because there are different preferences for cake thickness. If you use a reamer, which I personally do not for the reason I am about to mention, care should be exercised. You do not want to take a pipe down to bare wood with a reamer. Doing so opens up the possibility of damaging the inside of the bowl. The advice of many, myself included, is that unless you don’t particularly value the pipe in question, if you have a pipe that has so much cake built up in it that it needs to be reamed, you probably should think about sending it to a professional.
Retrohale - Pipe smoke, like cigar smoke, is not meant to be inhaled. You take the smoke into your mouth, so you can taste it, and you exhale it. One method of getting deeper into the taste of your pipe tobacco is to retrohale. This is when you pull the smoke into your mouth, and then instead of exhaling it back out through your mouth, you exhale it through your nose. The smoke is still not going into your lungs while you’re inhaling. The smoke that is being exhaled is going directly from your mouth to your nose.
Roll Your Own - or RYO - To be clear, this is not pipe tobacco, although many people, including law makers, make that mistake. This is very fine cut tobacco that is sold for roll your own cigarettes. In general, it is low quality, cheap tobacco. There are pipe smokers who will use this for their pipes. Don’t.
Rotation - This can refer to pipes or tobaccos. In either case, it is referring to the things you regularly smoke. So your rotation is the pipes or blends you smoke regularly.
Seconds (Pipes) - This mainly refers to factory pipes, although some artisan makers sort of use the practice from time to time. Bigger manufacturers will keep the best, least flawed blocks for briar for their flagship brands. They will then make pipes with the briar that has some flaws and make them into seconds, pipes that will be sold under another brand name, still owned by the parent company. For instance, Rossi pipes are the seconds of Savinelli. In most cases, the types of flaws we are talking about are purely cosmetic, and will not affect that actual functioning of the pipe at all. So, often, you can get excellent value in some of these seconds brands.
Stem Materials - The stem is the part of the pipe you put in your mouth. There are a few cases of pipes where the whole pipe, including the stem, is a single piece, made from a single material. Clay pipes would be an example. But even they show why this often isn’t a good idea. It isn’t a good idea to clench a clay pipe. For one thing you might end up with a mouthful of broken pieces of clay. For another, clay is like very fine grit sandpaper. There are dozens of examples of skulls found in Britain and from the early colonial period here in the US with half circles worn in the front teeth that line up to create a whole circular hole through those front teeth. Those people literally wore those holes into their teeth with clay pipes. Another reason is that it is often hard to keep the part you’re putting in your mouth clean and sanitary. This could be an argument against integral wood mouthpieces. There are a handful of pipes on the market that are single-piece wood construction, but they tend to be more of a novelty. Using a separate material for the stem offers a few advantages. First, comfort; stems can be made of materials that are more comfortable to hold between your teeth than something like clay, or, in some cases, even wood. Second, pipes with separate stems can have those stems replaced. If your beloved pipe’s stem wears out or breaks, there are quite a few very skilled people out there who would be willing to custom make a new stem to fit the pipe. You can’t do that if the stem breaks off your clay pipe. Third, it offers opportunities for decorative and artistic flair. For a very long time, the vast majority of pipes had black stems. Eventually some other options came in, like cumberland. Today, whether you’re working with an artisan, or looking at factory pipes like Savinelli, there are dozens and dozens of colors and patterns available. Some people prefer to stick with the classic black, but the proliferation of materials does offer you and the pipe maker many options to make each pipe individual. Choice of stem material can be a very divisive topic in the pipe world. Both smokers and pipe makers tend to develop opinions about their preferred materials, and can sometimes come off as looking down their noses at the other “lesser” materials. The truth is all of these have have their pros and cons, and come down to personal choice for the smoker. On the maker side, they may have preferences that are based on how easy or difficult it is to work with certain materials.
Acrylic - This is a very hard plastic. Acrylic can be poured into rods, which a pipe maker can then “cut” into a stem. It can also be poured into ready-made stems which just need some sanding and polishing to finish. The major advantage of acrylic over vulcanite or ebonite is that it is essentially maintenance free. It will not oxidize, and because it is so hard it is less likely to show chatter (see above). That hardness, though, is often the reason some pipe smokers don’t like it. To them, the lack of give makes it less comfortable to clench. Some pipe makers don’t like hand making acrylic stems because the material can be brittle. Acrylic can be made in a very wide range of colors and patterns. Acrylic can also be affected by long-term UV exposure, causing it to change color or become cloudier. If you have ever seen a clear cell phone case that becomes yellow over time, that’s the kind of thing we’re talking about. In reality, though, most acrylic stems are darker and/or opaque, so this isn’t going to be much of a factor for most.
Alumilite - This is just a brand name for a type of epoxy resin (see below).
Amber - You will almost never see this used as a stem material in anything other than rare estate pipes from around the turn of the 1900s. It is real amber, essentially fossilized pitch. It never caught on at any kind of scale because it has always been an expensive material, and it is quite fragile, neither of those things making it well suited for pipe stems. You will see examples, though, of moderns pipes using materials like resins to try to replicate the look of amber stems.
Bakelite - This is also a plastic, though one that is not manufactured anymore. As a general rule, you will only see Bakelite being used as a stem material in artisan pipes. For one thing, because all Bakelite is “antique” or “vintage,” it is found in small quantities, either salvaged from old object made from Bakelite from the early 1900s into the 1940s, or from Bakelite rods that were made to be used as blanks for things like fountain pens, and never used. This means there are very limited quantities, making it one of, if not the, most expensive stem materials. The other, very good, reason for its limited use is that Bakelite dust, an inevitable product of working with it to make a stem, is toxic when breathed in. So anyone using it to make stems needs to wear a respirator and have very, very good dust extraction in their shop. While the dust is toxic, Bakelite itself is perfectly safe to put in your mouth as a stem material. So given these obstacles, why would anyone use it as a stem material? For three reasons. First, it’s rarity makes it its own selling point in an artisan pipe; it adds to the uniqueness and, for some, the desirability. Second, many Bakelite fans say the material offers a richness and depth of color and pattern that modern materials can’t match. Third, it offers something closer to the softness of vulcanite or ebonite, but with the maintenance free aspect of acrylic.
Cumberland - This really isn’t a stem material of its own, but rather a style of pattern and color. You will see it used often enough in pipe descriptions as if it were the material, though, so it’s worth listing separately here. Most of the time, if you are looking at a listing for a modern pipe and it just says the stem material is cumberland, it is an ebonite stem. The use of the term was popularized by Dunhill and was used to describe a vulcanite stem that was made by mixing dark red and black vulcanite in a streaky, almost woodgrain like pattern. So a stem that is “cumberland” will have that sort of pattern. Many still stick to the classic dark read and black, though there are now dozens of options for colors.
Ebonite - This is often described as a higher grade of vulcanite. Like vulcanite, it is, at its most basic level, rubber. It has a lower sulfur content vulcanite, and is harder than vulcanite. One of the major advantages over vulcanite is that while it will still oxidize if not cared for properly, it will happen much, much more slowly. Many collectors say that properly cared for, wiped down after use, not stored in direct sunlight, they have pipes with ebonite stems that after decades of use show no sign of oxidation. Like vulcanite, ebonite is on the softer side of stem materials and will show chatter very easily. Ebonite is available in dozens of colors, ranging from solids to swirled patterns. Most ebonite used in pipe making is made in Germany (most common) or Japan.
Horn - Ox or cow horn is definitely a more traditional stem material, with very few makers using it today. One of the few easily available would be Ropp, a French maker based in St. Claude, France, the birthplace of briar pipes. Horn is one of those materials that many people talk about, but aren’t quite sure what they think of it. In terms of appearance it can be quite striking. But it requires a good deal of care. Horn is temperature sensitive, so you wouldn’t want to leave one in your car on either a hot or cold day. It is also affected by moisture, which doesn’t make it an ideal material for something you’re putting in your mouth. If you are willing to not clench your pipe and be a bit fastidious about wiping down and cleaning your pipe when done, it can make for an interesting talking piece, though.
Lucite - Lucite is actually a type of acrylic. It is said to have a higher clarity than acrylic and is more resistant to UV light, so better for prolonged exposure to the sun. In many cases, pipe makers use the term lucite for their stem materials because for some people the term “acrylic” has developed negative connotations, specifically used to imply that acrylic is a “cheap” material, cheapening the pipe. So they call them lucite stems instead.
Polyester - This is a type of resin. It is mixed and poured into rods. The rods can then be cut and shaped into stems. Polyester resin tends to be softer than some of the other resins. So it is easier to work with, and will “feel” softer when clenched. Like other resins, it can be made in a huge number of colors and patterns.
Resin - This is the catchall term for a range of materials that are mixed to create a chemical reaction that leads to hardening, and poured into rods for pipe (and pen, and other things) making. Often stems will be noted as polyester, Alumilite, or just resin, in which case they may be one of those other two, or another type of epoxy resin. It is important to know that your resin stem is coming from a reputable maker. There are lots and lots of resins out there are not safe to put in your mouth. Properly mixed and fully cured, the resins used in pipe stems are safe.
Vulcanite - Maybe the oldest mass-produced stem material, this is vulcanized rubber. Unlike the vulcanized rubber in tires, this uses different quantities of the components to result in a product that is very solid, can be bent when heated into a shape it will maintain, and can be polished to a shine. Vulcanite can be made into rods that makers can use to make stems “from scratch.” It can also be poured into molds to create stems that are ready to be used with very little finishing required. Its higher sulfur content means vulcanite is more prone to oxidation than other materials like ebonite, and is very susceptible to the effects of direct sunlight and saliva. It is also soft enough that it is more prone to showing chatter. Many factory pipes are still made using vulcanite as it is cheaper to produce than ebonite.
Tamper and Tamping - A tamper is an object that is used to push the ash down into the pipe bowl while you are smoking. The purpose of tamping is twofold. First, you are pressing the ember down into unburned tobacco. If you don’t, the ember will stop being in contact with unburned tobacco, and the pipe will go out. Second, you are compressing the layer of ash on top of the ember and the unburned tobacco so that when you relight, you are hitting combustible material. If you don’t tamp, not only with the pipe go out, but when you try to relight, nothing will happen, or at least very little. Because the flame is not reaching anything that will burn. So tamping is absolutely necessary and should be done fairly often as you’re smoking. The more experience you gain with smoking, you will get a feel for how hard to tamp. Newer pipe smokers have a tendency to go too light or too hard. Too light, and you’re barely getting the ember further down, and the pipe will struggle to stay lit. Too hard and you will pack the remaining unburned tobacco tighter and tighter and it will get harder to draw on the pipe. This will also lead to problems with keeping it lit, and may lead to tongue bite as you draw so hard you increase the temperature of the ember.
Tobacco Blend - The tobacco you put in your pipe and smoke is a blend. It is basically unheard of to smoke a single type of tobacco, from a single field and crop. Even blends that contain all of one type of tobacco, like a straight Virginia, are actually blends of different Virginias (could be bright, red, mahogany, flue cured, etc., not to mention different sources and ages). This is why there are master blenders. They are looking to take different tobaccos, mix them together in different proportions, and come up with something that tastes great.
Tobacco Blend Types - These are sort of like broad families, ways to group blends together with similarities. It can be helpful when you’re starting to narrow in on what you like and don’t like, but keep in mind that categorizing blends is actually quite subjective. Many, many blends contain multiple varieties of tobacco, like Virginia, burley, Oriental, etc. But if one varietal makes up most of the blend, with the others being just condimental, some people may categorize it by what it’s mostly made up of. The point is, these categories can be helpful in giving you and idea of what a blend is like, but like so much else in pipe smoking, it is ultimately very subjective.
Aromatic - These are tobaccos that have been topped (see topping below) with a flavor and smell. The toppings can vary widely between old standards like cherry and vanilla, to more exotic things like cedar and flower oils. More traditional, mass-produced aromatics tend to be very goopy and wet. That’s because the methods of adding toppings that stick involve moisture and sugar. If aromatics dry all the way out, they tend to lose most of what makes them aromatics. So things like propylene glycol are used to help deliver the topping and keep the tobacco moist. Large manufacturers of things like codger blends (see below), want their tobaccos to stay “fresh” for years, and so they add a lot of it. By fresh, they mean they want it to be on a shelf for years in its original packaging, which often isn’t air tight, and retain it’s smell and flavor. If you pick up a bit of these tobaccos and pinch them, they will stay clumped up and compressed because there’s so much sticky moisture in them. Because of all that sugar and moisture, these blends tend to burn hot and give tongue bite. As a result, aromatics have gotten a bad wrap. Don’t let that deter you from aromatics. First, some people (with asbestos tongues) like goopy aromatics. But second, there are dozens of great aromatics made by smaller producers and brick and mortar shops, that use less of compounds like propylene glycol, or use other techniques altogether, to deliver their toppings. These aromatics can smoke very well, without issues like tongue bite or problems keeping it lit, and are worth checking out. Take a look at the “Websites” page in Resources for a few recommendations of these kinds of aromatics to check out.
Balkan -
Burley -
Codger Blend - or OTC (Over the Counter) or Drugstore Blends - These are the tobaccos that used to be widely available in drugstores, convenience and grocery stores, etc. Many of them leaned heavily on burley as their base, and usually had some kind of flavoring, meaning they’re aromatics. Chances are, if someone had a grandfather who smoked a pipe and they can recall the smell of it, he was smoking one of these. That’s why they’re called codger blends; these are what the old-timers smoked. Many are still available, though many have gone through some changes. Examples include: Prince Albert, Half & Half, Grainger, Carter Hall, and Captain Black.
English -
Oriental -
Scottish -
VaBur - Virginia Burley -
VaPer - Virginia Perique - These blends are predominantly Virginia tobaccos, sometimes several varieties, and some amount of Perique, ranging from a tiny amount up to a near suicidal 51% in Cornell and Diehl’s The Beast. That variation in amount can cause a world of difference in blends.
Virginia -
Tobacco Formats - When you open a tin or a bag of bulk tobacco, it can come in different formats. Some of these require extra steps to prepare them to smoke. Many blends are pressed together at some point in their making. This is done, usually, in large hydraulic presses. Most commonly this is then cut up and “spun out” in machines to make ribbon cut (see below). But it can be treated differently, which leads to some of the other formats below. The combination of the tremendous pressure and heat the pressed tobacco is put under, along with any binders added, food grade sprays that help the leaves stick together, can create pretty solid pieces of tobacco. The effect of format on aging of tobacco is a popular topic. Many people hold that plugs and flakes are particularly well suited for aging because the flavors will better meld together, and reduced surface area will allow for slower oxidation, meaning the blend will stay better for a longer period of time. On the opposite end, others believe you are likely to get less real improvement in plugs and flakes because the lack of surface area will slow down the processes, like fermentation, which change the flavor.
Broken Flake - This is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It’s flake that is falling apart in the tin. Often, this isn’t a case of careless handling, it is because the flakes were never going to hold together to begin with. This might be because the choice was made to use less (or no) binder when the tobacco was initially pressed, or it might be a result of not having cutting machines that can cope with cutting plugs in a way that will leave intact flakes.
Coarse Cut - This is used as a sort of catchall name for a blend that contains a couple of different formats in one. So it might have ribbon, cube cut, and cross cut tobaccos all in one.
Coin - This is what you get when you take rope tobacco (see below) and cut off slices of it. So when you look at a coin, it’s like you’re looking at the end of that rope. It will have sort of a spiral appearance, as the leaves are wrapped around each other and twisted, building the rope up in layers. In some cases, like Escudo, the look is fairly uniform, because that blend is a Virginia Perique (see below) and the rope is spun with the leaves interspersed regularly. Others, like Luxury Bullseye Flake, may have unique appearances, with this example having a core of black cavendish with Virginia and Perique leaves wrapped around it. Like other flakes, coins can be smoked using the fold and stuff method, or rubbed out fully, making them into more of a ribbon cut.
Cross Cut - You don’t see this one as often anymore, but if you do, it’s essentially what you get when you take flakes and cut them across the grain and then spin or rub it all the way out. You’re left with tobacco that looks like a handful of confetti.
Crumble Cake - This is formed by taking tobacco that has already been cut into a smaller format, like ribbon cut, and then pressing it together to form a block (Take a look at the third picture in this listing for Cornell & Diehl’s Folklore). This can be done to help flavors in a blend meld together. Many pipe smokers like crumble cakes because they are relatively easy to prepare. You can literally tear a piece off of it with your fingers, and then, with very little pressure, rub that piece between your palms to break it back down to the ribbon or whatever cut it started out as. One of the reasons this and Crumble Flake exist as formats comes down to machinery. Crumble Cakes take less pressure to create, and it takes much less pressure to cut flakes off of them, and the blades on the cutters stay sharp longer. In the US, Sutliff was a major maker of crumble cakes and flakes. Jeremy McKenna, the CEO, publicly stated that they did not have the machinery to make “true flakes,” with those being made in Europe by their parent company, Mac Baren. Cornell & Diehl’s head blender, Jeremy Reeves, has said that they also do not have the machinery to create true flakes. So, much of what they produce, that isn’t ribbon, is crumble cake, or broken flake.
Crumble Flake - Cutting machines are used to cut thick slices off a crumble cake. As described in Crumble Cake above, these tend to be pretty easy to work with and rub out into a smokeable format. A good example of this would be Old Dominion from Watch City Cigar.
Cube Cut - Exactly what it sounds like, this creates tiny cubes of tobacco. Most often you’ll see cube cut burley. It is pressed into plugs, cut into thick flakes, and then the flakes are cut across the grain. Those strips then break down, or are broken down, into small cubes. Cube cut burley can be found and smoked on its own, but it is often added to other blends as a way to make them smoke slower and cooler, as the cubes will not burn as quickly as something like ribbon or shag cut.
Flake - This term can be a little confusing, since it can be used two ways. The first is as a very general term for any kind of tobacco format that involves tobacco being stuck together into a thin(ner) piece, not just loose, individual pieces of tobacco. So, for instance, Escudo, a very famous coin cut blend, is often referred to as a flake. But the term is also used to refer specifically to a square or rectangular slice cut from a Plug or Cake (see below). A readily available example of this would be Peter Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake.
Plug or Cake - The difference between this a crumble cake is that here whole leaves are laid on top of one another, in sheets, and then pressed. The result is a very solid block that can’t be torn like a crumble cake. There will be something sprayed on the leaves to help bind the whole thing together, and this may also be used as a vehicle for some flavor. For instance, a very popular plug, Salty Dogs, by Dan Tobacco, has a bit of rum added, as a homage to traditional plugs, which were often given out with other rations to sailors in the 18th and 19th centuries. Plugs have to be cut with a knife to break them down into smaller formats that can be smoked. Often this means slicing off flakes.
Ready Rubbed - This is like broken flake that has been broken down even further. It still has small pieces and clumps, where the original flake persists, but, overall, it is mostly loose, small pieces. Some people choose to pack and smoke ready rubbed blends exactly as they come out the tin. Others choose to rub it out further, till all the clumps are gone. As will so much else in pipe smoking, it’s a matter of personal preference and what works for you.
Ribbon - This is undoubtedly the most common format to find tobacco in. Tobacco leaves are laid out flat and cut crosswise into strips about 1/8” wide, maybe a little smaller. Sometimes it is also produced by taking plug tobacco, cutting flakes about that width and then tumbling the flakes until you’re left with all individual pieces of tobacco. This format is popular because it is usually considered to be the easiest to prepare, pack, and smoke.
Rope - Whole tobacco leaves are twisted around each other, forming a long coiled rope. There are very few manufacturers selling tobacco in this format today. Part of the reason for that is that it requires specialized equipment, and knowledge, to make. So its pretty rare, even among the larger tobacco houses. Probably the most common is Sam Gawith/Gawith & Hogarth. They sell rope in packaged pieces, and longer sections to brick and mortars, which can buy it and cut it however they want.
Shag - This is essentially much thinner ribbon cut. The individual strands of tobacco are quite fine. Shag cuts can be exceptional, but for newer smokers they often pose challenges at first. You really need to be on your packing and tamping game with a shag cut. If you pack it too loose, it will burn to fast, giving you a hot smoke and a bowl that is gone before you know it. If you pack it too tight, it becomes very challenging to draw air through, leading you to puff harder. So you can end up with a bowl that doesn’t want to stay lit, and smokes hot when it is. When you learn where the sweet spot is, though, shag cuts can provide outstanding flavor.
Tobacco Types - This section contains both varieties of tobacco and processes by which some types of tobacco have become known. Sorry, I know that’s confusing, but hopefully if you read down through these, you’ll see what I mean. It is interesting to note (ok, maybe only if you’re a tobacco nerd), that most of the tobacco varietals listed here are actually all examples of the species Nicotiana tabacum, meaning they all have a common ancestry, and have diverged into different strains due to environmental conditions and selective breeding. Of the varietals below, the only exception is Rustica, which is a different species.
Air Cured - This is a process some tobacco leaves go through after being picked, but is not a type of tobacco plant or leaf. All tobacco leaves need to be dried after they are picked so they don’t rot, and to make them smokeable. In addition to removing water, curing changes the color of the leaf, removing or breaking down chlorophyll, the compound that makes leaves green. Air cured leaves are hung in barns that have good airflow, and are left for weeks. This is mainly used for tobaccos that are low in sugar, like burley and cigar leaf.
Burley - US burley is grown primarily in a belt of 8 states, with the majority of it grown in Kentucky, and is also grown in a number of other countries. In the US, the majority of burley goes into cigarettes. Burley has a low sugar content and higher nicotine content. It can have a nutty or unsweetened cocoa flavor to it naturally. Burley can be used a number of ways in pipe blends. It can be the star and main component. But it can also be added to other blends in small quantities to either add its own subtle flavor, or to help meld different components together, to make something more cohesive. Burley is also a good carrier of flavor, so is often used in aromatic blends. It can also be used to help “cool down” a blend since it burns slower and less hot than some varieties, like Virginias, that might have more sugar.
Cavendish - This is a process, not a variety of tobacco plant. This process applies heat (and sometimes steam) to tobacco for an extended period of time. Cavendish can be made out of different varieties of leaves (i.e. burley or Virginia, for example). Depending on the leaf it’s made from, the process can tend to highlight sweetness, while mellowing out the actual flavor. Cavendish really doesn’t have a strong flavor of its own, which makes it a very common component in aromatic tobaccos. It is a good vehicle for carrying the flavorings in toppings. You will also sometimes see blending notes that say that unsweetened cavendish was added. So this is leaf that has gone through the heat and steam process, but not had any topping added to it afterward. Sometimes that’s to add “body” to the smoke (like actual billowing smoke), or for the natural sweetness that often develops in cavendish. Very often, but not always, Cavendish tends to be jet black.
Cigar Leaf - For the most part, the tobaccos used in pipe tobacco and cigars are very different. Sometimes you’ll see pipe blends that have cigar leaf included. Usually cigar leaf is stronger in flavor, and maybe nicotine too, than pipe tobacco. So a blender may add it to lend that strength in flavor. It is not used very often at all, so when it is, it’s usually pretty clearly noted in the blend description. With a few exceptions, these tend to be blends that people who are pipe smokers only (don’t smoke cigars) tend to either really like or really hate.
Dark Fired - or Dark Fired Kentucky - This is a particular type of fire cured tobacco (see below). Specifically, it is the fire cured variant of a particular type of burley grown in Kentucky and Tennessee. It is known for its strong, smoky flavor, and its high nicotine content. When used as a condiment in a blend, dark fired can add a spiciness to a blend, while not taking over. When used in higher concentrations, it is pretty unmistakable, and people tend to either love or hate it.
Deer Tongue - This isn’t a tobacco at all. It’s the small leaf from a plant that grows in eastern United States and Canada. When dried and added to a tobacco blend, it gives a very distinctive vanilla-like scent a flavor. It used to be very popular and was found in many, many blends. Now, you really have to seek blends out that have it. If one does, you’ll see little green flecks in the blend. That’s the deer tongue.
Fire Cured - Another process to remove water from tobacco leaves and break down chlorophyll, this is what it sounds like. the leaves are hung over hardwood fires in barns. Depending on the tobacco and the desired outcome, the process can last from days to weeks. Fire cured tobacco is exposed directly to the smoke from the fires, so that adds a distinctive aroma and flavor to the finished tobacco. This tends to be done with lower sugar tobaccos.
Flue Cured - The third of the major processes for removing water and breaking down chlorophyll, this is sort of a variant of fire curing. Here the goal is to use the heat of the fire, but without exposing the tobacco to the smoke. So they used to have fire in fireboxes outside the barn, and run flues (like chimneys) out of the fireboxes through the barn, below the hanging tobacco. It’s done today with fuels like natural gas or propane instead. This process is often used for higher sugar tobaccos, like Virginias.
Latakia - Sort of like Dark Fired, this is an example of a process that came to be synonymous with a type of tobacco. This is a fire cured tobacco. It originated in Syria, and that was its major source until the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. Now most Latakia comes from Cyprus, and some is now starting to be made in Turkey. Latakia always starts with an Oriental leaf. Latakia is characterized by a very smokey smell, but a flavor that can be described as floral or like incense.
Oriental - Rather than being a single tobacco, this is actually the collective name for dozens of tobaccos grown around the eastern end of the Mediterranean. Many Oriental tobaccos started out as burley that has changed over time due to the environments in that part of the world, as well as selective breeding. Oriental tobaccos tend to have much smaller leaves than typical burley or Virginia plants. The flavors Oriental leaves can impart on a blend range from floral, to incense, to woodsy, and leather. They often add a sort of sourness to a blend. I know that sounds unpleasant, but it isn’t sourness like sour milk, more like that really nice sourness of lemonade on a hot day.
Perique - Like Latakia, Perique is actually an example of a process that has become the name of a tobacco. True Perique is only produced in St. James Parish, outside New Orleans, and has been produced there for over 250 years. It starts with a variety of burley. After being picked, the leaves are rolled into torquettes, and packed into whiskey barrels. They then use oak blocks and screw jacks to put the tobacco under tremendous pressure, and almost all the air is forced out of the tobacco. Once a month, they release the jack, work each of the torquettes to allow air back into them, then repack the barrel in the reverse order, and put the screw jack back in place. This process is repeated for a year, and causes a very unique pressure fermentation. The result is a tobacco that has been described as having an aroma ranging from raisins to barnyard-like. Perique is almost always used in very small proportions in a blend, adding a spicy pepperiness to the flavor. Because it is so labor intensive, there have been several times in recent decades when it has nearly died out. The process is now being reproduced in a few places around the world, but Perique purists insist it has to be from St. James Parish.
Rustica - Unlike all the other tobaccos in this list, this is the one that is actually a different species, Nicotiana rustica. This is most likely the type of tobacco settlers first encountered Native Americans smoking. It had basically disappeared from use until fairly recently. Even now, it is found only rarely, and when it is, it’s not kept a secret that it’s in a blend, instead used as a novelty selling point. People who aren’t fans will say there’s a reason this didn’t become the dominant type of tobacco. It tends to be quite strong in flavor and nicotine, and isn’t exactly know for being smooth.
Stoved - This process is very similar to cavendish. In fact, sometimes the two are used interchangeably. Even when people make a distinction, it isn’t always the same distinction. For example, some people say cavendish is mainly burley while stoved tobacco is usually Virginia. Either way, without getting caught up in it, like cavendish, this is a process of applying heat to a tobacco to change its color and flavor.
Virginia - Although the same species as burley, Virginia leaves tend to be thinner and lighter in color, up to a bright yellow. Virginia tends to be higher in sugar content, lower in nicotine, and have a generally lighter flavor than burley. Virginia flavors and quality can vary significantly, though, due to things like their placement on the plant stalk, and repeated pickings from the same plant. So from the same plant you can end up with brights (bright yellow), reds, and mahoganies. People who are really into Virginias may develop strong preferences for a specific kind of Virginia. Because of its higher sugar content, Virginias will continue to ferment in the tin or jar, and for that reason many people focus on Virginia heavy blends when building a cellar for aging.
Topping - This is flavoring that is applied to an aromatic tobacco. Remember, all tobacco blends are cased, which does provide some amount of sweetness and flavor, but in most cases are usually meant to be subtle and to get the tobacco into a condition that it can be blended and smoked. For most of us, you can smoke a blend with just a casing, and not be able to put your finger on any particular smell or taste that is there as a result of the casing. Topping, on the other hand, is called that because it is added to the finished blend (meaning all the tobaccos are present, have been cased, are mixed up and ready), and provides the major smell and flavor of an aromatic tobacco. Toppings usually consist of the flavoring agent, which can be a wide-range of food grade additives, mixed with a liquid that serves as the delivery vehicle. That liquid often contains some sort of alcohol, since it will evaporate, leaving behind the flavoring, and often a substance designed to keep the tobacco moist, like propylene glycol. It is important to note that not all aromatics are the same. I don’t just mean the flavors differ, I mean their smoking qualities differ. You will see people talking about “goopy” aromatics. They’re referring to blends that contain higher levels of things like propylene glycol. When you pick up some of this type and pinch it between your fingers, it will remain clumped together tightly, not springing back to a looser form, and your fingers will come away with a good amount of residue. But there are also plenty of aromatics, often from Europe, that are more subtle, and drier.
Workshop Pipes - This is sort of the middle ground between artisan and factory pipes. They usually involve the use of machinery that helps automate or speed up certain steps of the process, but there are usually only a handful, sometimes as few as two, people involved in production, and there is a large degree of hand finished work in each pipe. So workshops may produce far more pipes in a a year than an artisan will, though not nearly as much as a factory, and the hand finishing tends to lead to (or at least give the perception of) a higher quality product, as they are taking the time to inspect and work on all the details. A good example of a workshop is Radice pipes, which was founded by Luigi Radice. The pipes are now made mainly by his two sons. The workshop produces between 1200 and 1500 pipes each year. So far more than two artisan pipe makers working on their own would, but far, far fewer than a factory like Savinelli.