Most pipe tobaccos are cased, but not all of them. According to what I have read, licorice, or sugar water are the most popular and used for the longest time. And no, you don't taste the licorice, it just takes the bitterness,and edge off. A lot of blenders use semantics to avoid saying their tobacco is flavored. I have ordered many a tobacco said to be just pure this or that, and get it, and it tastes like a chocolate bar, or cotton candy. Like, I am sure many others on here, I have smoked pure tobacco from the field, and know what it tastes like. I think C&D produces the most pure blends I have found.
In addition, entomologists say the tobacco beetle larvae will not eat cased, topped, or steamed tobacco, they only eat pure tobacco. About ten years ago, I went on vacation and forgot to turn on the A/C. It got up in the high eighties for several days. I had about 60 jars of tobacco in the den. Only the C&D and Pease jars had been attacked by beetles. The tobacco beetle eggs are indigenous to virtually all tobacco, so the mere presence of them was nothing to be shocked about. This just further proved to me that of the 60 or so jars in my den, only the C&D and Pease blends were made from pure unadulterated tobacco.
