Ever Smoke Chewing Tobacco?

Brothers of Briar

Help Support Brothers of Briar:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

KevinM

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 26, 2012
Messages
1,590
Reaction score
0
There used to be a recurring debate in my extended Irish family about which pipe tobacco was favored by my very Irish grandfather. Today I was informed by a usually reliable source that Gramp didn’t smoke pipe tobacco. He favored Mail Pouch chewing tobacco as his smoke. You may recall back in the day the Mail Pouch ads painted on barns. I wondered if anyone out there has tried smoking chewing tobacco?
 
Yes indeed! When I smoke chew I tend to smoke plugs. I have a meerschaum from the 1860's . it's very very large and Germanic. I figured the most accurate tobacco I could smoke out of it was plug chew. The first experiments were not that great. However taking logic to its absurd end I figured old farmers most likely chewed tobacco during the day and then saved the wad until later to smoke. So I washed a bunch of chew and then let it dry out until it was smokeable. The smoke from this was very pleasant and I prepared 3-4 plugs this way and then jarred it up. Its not a frequent smoke but I do enjoy it 5-6 times a year. Oh if you decide to try this store the tobacco much dryer than normal or you could have mold issues.

Jim


Edit in: the reason the first smokes weren't, very good was that there was just way too much sugar in the chew. It would bubble up and form a hard carbon ball. Which produced a very acrid nasty smoke.
 
I tried it decades ago with the aforementioned Mail Pouch, which doesn't have as much sugar as most. It would dry out if left in the open. I got it to burn, but the taste was horrible. Wasn't even close to any tobacco I've ever had. Well, except maybe Tambalaka, or whatever it's called.

Anyone ever added snuff to pipe tobacco, to up the nicotine content?
 
Richard, I've never added snuff to the actual bowl of tobacco but I will put a pinch on the side of the bowl so it can heat up before sniffing it off the briar. Some snuffs really open up in their flavor profile when you do this. Others it doesn't seem to make a difference.

Jim
 
I haven't, but I'd be pretty damn excited to get the flavors of Red Man (either).
 
Top