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Pipe tobacco

There are several ways to enjoy access to nicotine; in ascending levels of harm, the most common ways of ingesting nicotine are cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and vapes. The main appeal of cigarettes is that they are commonly accessible, relatively affordable, and deliver a strong hit of nicotine. Cigars have a better flavor and generally do less harm, as they are generally not inhaled. Vaping nicotine seems to have the least amount of harm, and similar to cigarettes, are inhaled and are generally affordable; like cigars, they have more flavor and seem to do less harm than cigarettes. The focus of this article is the third of these four siblings: pipe tobacco.

Pipe tobacco can be as flavorful as the bold flavor a cigar offers, but also offer a lot more complexity. Like vapes, various flavors and nicotine levels can be mixed and matched. Also, like a vape, a pipe does not demand a period of time committed to its use – about 3-5 minutes for a cigarette, and 30 minutes to an hour for a cigar. This is because a pipe smoke can be paused and resumed later with little detrimental effect to the tobacco.

Whereas vapes and cigarettes are generally used to simply satisfy a desire for nicotine, cigars and pipes are generally more reflective, meditative: aficionados describe their consumption as meditative, calming, thought-provoking. A downside of pipe smoking is that it is generally a less social habit than the other forms of taking nicotine: a cigar is lit and then largely takes care of itself, like a cigarette; vapes deliver nicotine as-inhaled or as the button is pressed; pipes demand more attention to the state of the burning tobacco and the process of smoking to deliver a pleasant smoke. Frequent relights are detrimental to the flavor of tobacco.

Tobacco styles

  • Burley : air-cured; mild, nutty, cool smoking
  • Virginia : milder, grassy, sweet, faster burning
  • Perique: pungent, spicy, high-nicotine, expensive
  • Latakia: fire-cured; smokey, intense

Cuts:

  • Ribbon-cut: standard pipe tobacco cut
  • Shag: finely-cut, as with many cigarette tobaccos.
  • Flake: tobacco is pressed into a block and then sliced into thin sheets.
  • Cube: like flake, but rendered into small cubes.

I prefer burley-virginia blends in flake cuts.

Pipe materials

  • Briar – standard material for wood pipes. Heat resistant, beautiful grain, harvested from tree roots.
  • Corncob – cheap, dry smokes. Very American.
  • Meerschaum – more spendy; cooler and dryer smokes.

Accessories

Tips and tricks

pipe_tobacco.1685614287.txt.gz · Last modified: 2023-06-01 10:11 by root

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