Need Help Identifying Types Of Tobacco.

[Rusty Mouse]

Folks.

As a fairly new pipe smoker, I still have a LOT to learn. One of those things includes identifying types of tobacco. The reason this is important to me is for the purpose of dedication. I have a large enough rotation now that I'm going to start paying more attention to dedicating my pipes by English, Virginia and Aromatic blends. Problem is, as the title says, I don't know how to tell!

So I guess if anyone could either help me with the previously mentioned issue or tell me their thoughts on dedication and how they go about it, this could help me solve something that's been bothering me for a while now (feel kind of silly not knowing the differences ).

 

[Ocelot55]

I would start by asking some of the brothers, or searching online, for some mixing tobaccos. Some straight cavendish, virginia, burley, latakia, ect. to sample. You dont need much, probably 1/2 oz. Smoke a little of each and take note of the flavor.

The main reason behind dedicating certain pipes for certain blends is to make sure no ghosting is occurring. I have three basic types of pipes: ones for latakia and english blends, ones for virginias or burleys, and some for aromatics. As you smoke more you'll be able to figure out what size bowl works better for which blends. You may run across the occasional blend that you want to dedicate exclusively to certain pipes.

Play around and experiment. You've got a long time to master it.

 

[Rusty Mouse]

I would start by asking some of the brothers, or searching online, for some mixing tobaccos. Some straight cavendish, virginia, burley, latakia, ect. to sample. You dont need much, probably 1/2 oz. Smoke a little of each and take note of the flavor.

The main reason behind dedicating certain pipes for certain blends is to make sure no ghosting is occurring. I have three basic types of pipes: ones for latakia and english blends, ones for virginias or burleys, and some for aromatics. As you smoke more you'll be able to figure out what size bowl works better for which blends. You may run across the occasional blend that you want to dedicate exclusively to certain pipes.

Play around and experiment. You've got a long time to master it.

So, let's say in the midst of my experimenting I find a blend that I absolutely can't stand, I don't imagine my pipe is ruined but how long will that nasty ghost stick around?
Or if I choose to just use that pipe for a different type of tobacco...

 

[Storm_Crow]

A single smoke shouldn't ghost the pipe unless it's something quite strong. Regardless, after some time it should fade, but you can always just sweeten the bowl. I soak the bowl overnight in sea salt and Bacardi 151.

 

[monbla256]

I would start by asking some of the brothers, or searching online, for some mixing tobaccos. Some straight cavendish, virginia, burley, latakia, ect. to sample. You dont need much, probably 1/2 oz. Smoke a little of each and take note of the flavor.

The main reason behind dedicating certain pipes for certain blends is to make sure no ghosting is occurring. I have three basic types of pipes: ones for latakia and english blends, ones for virginias or burleys, and some for aromatics. As you smoke more you'll be able to figure out what size bowl works better for which blends. You may run across the occasional blend that you want to dedicate exclusively to certain pipes.

Play around and experiment. You've got a long time to master it.

So, let's say in the midst of my experimenting I find a blend that I absolutely can't stand, I don't imagine my pipe is ruined but how long will that nasty ghost stick around?
Or if I choose to just use that pipe for a different type of tobacco...

In my experience over the years I've been smoking, I feel WAY TOO MUCH is made over this "ghosting" thing. It probably applies more to flavored arometrics that are smoked alot due to the predominence of many heavily sugar based additives used for these blends. I've really not found that a good straight Virginia or English/Balkan blend leaves all that much of a "ghost" of itself in a pipe after smoking. I switch between blends pipe wise and have for years. I do have a few pipes which I feel respond better to certain "types" of tobacco, ie flake Virginia's as an example and will usually only smoke those "types" in certain pipes over others.
As for smoking some of the blending tobaccos in a few bowls, an example it will ONLY take a 1 bowl of Perique if that for you "get" the taste of it and after smoking it, only one bowl of another "blend" will remove it's "ghost" . If you are OCD about it, get some cobs to do this experiment with so that you can get a clear impression of each tobacco. Try it as it WILL increase you knowledge

 

[Brewdude]

I would start by asking some of the brothers, or searching online, for some mixing tobaccos. Some straight cavendish, virginia, burley, latakia, ect. to sample. You dont need much, probably 1/2 oz. Smoke a little of each and take note of the flavor.

The main reason behind dedicating certain pipes for certain blends is to make sure no ghosting is occurring. I have three basic types of pipes: ones for latakia and english blends, ones for virginias or burleys, and some for aromatics. As you smoke more you'll be able to figure out what size bowl works better for which blends. You may run across the occasional blend that you want to dedicate exclusively to certain pipes.

Play around and experiment. You've got a long time to master it.

So, let's say in the midst of my experimenting I find a blend that I absolutely can't stand, I don't imagine my pipe is ruined but how long will that nasty ghost stick around?
Or if I choose to just use that pipe for a different type of tobacco...

In my experience over the years I've been smoking, I feel WAY TOO MUCH is made over this "ghosting" thing. It probably applies more to flavored arometrics that are smoked alot due to the predominence of many heavily sugar based additives used for these blends. I've really not found that a good straight Virginia or English/Balkan blend leaves all that much of a "ghost" of itself in a pipe after smoking. I switch between blends pipe wise and have for years. I do have a few pipes which I feel respond better to certain "types" of tobacco, ie flake Virginia's as an example and will usually only smoke those "types" in certain pipes over others.
As for smoking some of the blending tobaccos in a few bowls, an example it will ONLY take a 1 bowl of Perique if that for you "get" the taste of it and after smoking it, only one bowl of another "blend" will remove it's "ghost" . If you are OCD about it, get some cobs to do this experiment with so that you can get a clear impression of each tobacco. Try it as it WILL increase you knowledge

monbla offers good and practical advice.

As one example, the pipe I typically dedicate to Lat-forward blends gets occasionally used for Va/VaPer blends. Can't say I taste any Latakia in it on these occasions.

As always, ymmv.


Cheers,

RR

 

[CLFman]

Hehe, yeah, I only have one good briar pipe which I reserve for my Blue Mountain, but found that I didn't enjoy my EMP that much in my cob I decided to maybe switch it up to a larger beefier pipe, my peterson bulldog. Well.... after the first inhale all I could think was HOLY latakia batman. Well it disappeared after a few puffs but that initial ghost was startling. Still on the fence about my EMP, maybe it'll grow on me.

I am in the same predicament you are. I recently purchased McClellands Darkwood viriginia to give a whirl and plan to buy some Cornell and Diehl's burley flake for experimentations. Only limit I have is my pipe selection which I worry about ghosting...

Let me know what blends you buy and I'll give you update on what straight blends I purchase myself. I do profess an inability to identify anything with certainty besides latakia

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I'm going to recap what is useful and practical about this school of thought, and supplement my own (which hopefully is also useful observation).

* No, your pipe will not be ruined if you decide you hate a tobacco and need to switch it up. Even the rankest Latakia and "Old Lady Lakeland" soap will disappear eventually from a pipe bowl. The only smokeable substance that I have found that can ruin the flavor of a pipe is not legal, grown frequently in Northern California and fueled the late 1960s.

* Ghosting is a bit blown out of proportion--but then again, maybe it isn't. I have a sensitive palette. I can detect, quite easily, even for weeks thereafter, when I decide to switch to a totally different tobacco in the same pipe. Especially if I had established a routine with that pipe/tobacco combo. The good news is, it's easily remedied by the whole salt/alcohol thing, or simply, as they say, "smoking the ghost out." The old fades into the new in about 10 bowls.

* Some pipes ghost far less than others. They tend to be older pipes with relatively tight grain and a well-managed cake, at least by my experience. It is these forgiving pipes I remember and go to when I need to experiment more with tobacco. I also find the way I smoke my pipes matters. Smoking a pipe too much or too hard and/or to the point where it's wet (and then not letting it dry out sufficiently, dirty pipes and caked pipes can also contribute to tough ghosts

* Some folks dedicate one pipe to one tobacco. I find this admirable, but impractical. I do not have the pipe collection to support this method, and thanks to the generosity of the Brothers, far too many samples of tobacco to try. Rather than let them sit idle, I, like most, have pipes I prefer a more generic classification: Virginia/Burley, Latakia, and cigar blends. Cobs are for cigar blends except for one, which seems to handle my darker Virginias quite well.

* With that cob in mind, what I suspect will eventually happen to both of us (or all of us) is at some point, we'll either through total accident or chance find a pipe/tobacco combination that just works perfectly, time and time again. A dedication of that pipe to something specific might be in order.

That's all I got.

8)

 

[Rusty Mouse]

That's all I got.

8)

That's all I think I need, haha, thanks man!

I guess being able to identify certain blends is still in question though. Without it being written plain as day I'm not sure what classifies as an English, Virginia or Aromatic (however they're easier than others to wager a guess at). I know you can't tell me how to smell but like, I know my Frog Morton has a larger amount of Latakia in it, does that make it an English or... Is there any way to really know?

 

[monbla256]

That's all I got.

8)

That's all I think I need, haha, thanks man!

I guess being able to identify certain blends is still in question though. Without it being written plain as day I'm not sure what classifies as an English, Virginia or Aromatic (however they're easier than others to wager a guess at). I know you can't tell me how to smell but like, I know my Frog Morton has a larger amount of Latakia in it, does that make it an English or... Is there any way to really know?

There is really no DEFINATIVE answer to your question in today's smoking world if you do any reading about it. "Back in the day" as is said, there were fewer differences and availability of as many tobacco's as smokers find in todays world so these definitions were a bit easier to establish. As it used to be described, a blend/mixture with a base of Virginia's and a sizeable proportion of Latakia and sometimes a dark Cavendish ( alal Dunhill's 965) were described as "English", then the Virginia based blends with some Latakia and more Oriental ( ie, Drama, Ynidge etc) leaf were described as "Balkan" blends ( the old Balkan Sobranie and 759 were considered "Balkan" blends) with occasionally some Perique added as well. Then you had the traditional Aromatics, Burley based for American firms, Black Cavendish for the European versions. And then there are all the permutations of Straight Virginia blends/mixtures which included the vaPer's. This is a very simplified listing, but was basically what we worked from pre-internet days but all that has changed with the new era of smoking we are in today. If I was just starting out, I would read what each blend had in it, how it tasted and smoked, get what appealed to me, smoke it and be damned with what it was "classified" as as all that has significantly changed these days !

 

[Kyle Weiss]

No, you can't really identify the tobacco exactly in a pipe blend or mixture. That's part of the reason why I don't really split hairs with pipes being dedicated to a specific tobacco brand, mixture or even type, beyond that I know is either Virginia, Burley, Latakia and cigar blends and/or mixtures (and there is a difference). The "group names" themselves (i.e., Balkan, English, Scottish) are so convoluted anyway, it's practically pointless to try and reverse-engineer them or expect any solid answer of identification.

It's one of those odd obsessive things, akin to the false grail of "fine white ash" or the "one match smoke," even if you did know exactly the percentages, so what? A tobacco manufacturer might try to rip off a blend or a mixture, and quantity of each tobacco is hardly the recipe--there's a few other secrets to it.

If you ask me, as consumers like us, we're not going to find much by knowing such details, what are we really asking? That something be the same or that something be different? If it's the same, well, you already know what it's like. If it's different, it could be better or worse. Experimentation and your own sense are the best guide around tobacco. As I always say, keep detailed notes and don't be afraid to try something new. Since I've been doing this, I've noticed a trend that is dictated by my preferences based on end product, not chasing numbers and formulas.

8)

 

[Rusty Mouse]

Kyle... Monbla. Where would I be without'cha!?

Thank you. You've practically cut my concerns in half.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Kyle... Monbla. Where would I be without'cha!?

Probably saner. Heh. 8)

 

[monbla256]

Kyle... Monbla. Where would I be without'cha!?

Thank you. You've practically cut my concerns in half.

Anytime we can hep :twisted:

 

[Blackhorse]

Of course my following sarcasm is tongue in cheek...and remember that knowledge will come - in time. And along the way you'll get lots of information...some true and some not. As an example, someone telling you that English blends are the ones that have Latakia in them provides you with information, but that information isn't correct. The designation 'English blend' has to do with where it was made and the strict laws regarding puirity to which it had to adhere. So you're getting lots of 'opinion' and a good amount of 'street knowledge' and perhaps even some facts that are accurate! Check out the article at the link below:

http://pipesmagazine.com/python/pipe-news/english-blends-and-latakia-blends-one-in-the-same/


So...I have a really good idea! :roll:

I know it's beyond the skill level of quite a few BoB characters (none here though) but a significant amount of knowledge can be gained by reading. :shock: :shock: If one were to google things like "pipe tobacco types" and things like that...here's one reference that would likely come up...

http://pipedia.org/index.php?title=Pipe_Tobaccos

Good, basic information.

Another good idea is to subscribe to the pipes magazine at the first link (a free ezine) and they'll send a thing every month. The interviews and articles are really very good.

Well, it's just an idea.

But see...you likely do this stuff already. Right?

 

[Rusty Mouse]

Of course my following sarcasm is tongue in cheek...and remember that knowledge will come - in time. And along the way you'll get lots of information...some true and some not. As an example, someone telling you that English blends are the ones that have Latakia in them provides you with information, but that information isn't correct. The designation 'English blend' has to do with where it was made and the strict laws regarding puirity to which it had to adhere. So you're getting lots of 'opinion' and a good amount of 'street knowledge' and perhaps even some facts that are accurate! Check out the article at the link below:

http://pipesmagazine.com/python/pipe-news/english-blends-and-latakia-blends-one-in-the-same/


So...I have a really good idea! :roll:

I know it's beyond the skill level of quite a few BoB characters (none here though) but a significant amount of knowledge can be gained by reading. :shock: :shock: If one were to google things like "pipe tobacco types" and things like that...here's one reference that would likely come up...

http://pipedia.org/index.php?title=Pipe_Tobaccos

Good, basic information.

Another good idea is to subscribe to the pipes magazine at the first link (a free ezine) and they'll send a thing every month. The interviews and articles are really very good.

Well, it's just an idea.

But see...you likely do this stuff already. Right?

I've done a minimal amount of reading about this subject, came across your two links there in the process. I've probably made the mistake of reading the facts as you've mentioned and mixing them in with some "less than reliable" guesstimates which had made me utterly confused. That's where you guys come in.

I can even remember a time when I had to get information from a place called (get this) a library! HA! What a farce!

Ultimately I think this was meant to help me out with the whole "dedication" business. I shall take no part in it, is what I've concluded. At least, not to the extreme that I had intended to.

But BH, let's get real. READING!? RESEARCH!? Come on. Take the path of least resistance I always say! :lol:

 

[Blackhorse]

Oh...I'm sorry. It was just that you had asked the question...so by that it seemed like you were doing research. And you WERE reading the posts that others had written here as well...right? So tell me then my young padawan, how is that different from my suggested path...except perhaps in the matters of scale and possibly accuracy? Hmmm? :tongue:

But I likely come off as pushy and I know I sometimes suggest to others a path I'm often too lazy to take. I'm sorta like the medicine that your mom might have had you choke down as a kid...I might not have cured you, but at least I tasted really bad. :x

 

[Rusty Mouse]

Oh...I'm sorry. It was just that you had asked the question...so by that it seemed like you were doing research. And you WERE reading the posts that others had written here as well...right? So tell me then my young padawan, how is that different from my suggested path...except perhaps in the matters of scale and possibly accuracy? Hmmm? :tongue:

But I likely come off as pushy and I know I sometimes suggest to others a path I'm often too lazy to take. I'm sorta like the medicine that your mom might have had you choke down as a kid...I might not have cured you, but at least I tasted really bad. :x

I... I'm speechless sir. You've got me.

Wisdom + Star Wars reference - 2
Late night ramblings of a foolish young adult fuelled by... Well. Very little. In fact, it's bed time! - 0

I do appreciate your help by the way

 

[Blackhorse]

Star Wars? OK...let's see...a Wookie and sixteen of those little forest moon fuzzy bear things walk into a bar. The Wookie shouts, "Gimmie a Robot Chicken!" And the bartender replies...

(You supply the punchline.)

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Welp, one more thread down, on to the next! :cheers: :cheers: :lol: :lol:

...but before we do, Rusty, I would have assumed with such a persnickety gent as yourself that research had led you to this calamity of confusion rather than being plain, run-of-the-mill confused due to quasi-noobish laziness. :lol: (...and I mean that with all due respect...) ...that said, as Han said to Chewie, "Get in there, you big furry oaf!"

8)