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Originally Posted by Col. Kurtz
I think I've figured out most of the basics from rereading this thread. Can someone classify the tobacco types and their characteristics? I see English blends, periques, virginias, burley, oriental, etc. what can I expect from these bases?
So far I don't think I like burley. Too much like the Levi Garrett chewing tobacco from my youth. Being from nc, I'm very familiar with flue cured gold leaf that goes into cigarettes and burley out west. Is virginia similar?
As above, I prefer mild to med cuban and Dominican cigars without pepper. What pipe tobacco comes close?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zanaspus
First, don't dicount all burleys from a taste of Classic Burley Kake. That is a topped (sugary syrup added to "enhance" the flavor) example that I am not particularly fond of despite burley being a go-to smoke of mine. I'm not saying you'll like burley, just give it more chances.My favorite burleys tend to be nutty and "cigary." Before I continue on, I'd suggest that you call the good folks at Cornell & Diehl and have them put together a sample package to try new and different things.
Tobacco types:
Burley: You've encountered. A neutral tobacco tasting tobacco that has lots of examples both good and bad (Go to your local smoke shop and get a pouch of Prince Albert to encounter a "pure" burley experience.
Virginia: Where it all started. That gold stuff in Brightleaf Square in Durham is, in fact an example of a virginia. While many pipe smokers end up here, it's not necessarily a great place to start. Its high sugar content means that smoking it too hot (i.e. smoke coming from your pipe or mouth that someone else can see) tends to make it tastless and tongue-biting. Once you've played around and can handle smiking on the edge of keeping things lit, you may find you like this stuff.
Perique: A condiment tobacco from St James Parrish in LA. It is often mixed in small amounts with virginias to mitigate their bitey qualities. Many folks call it peppery, but in reality, it's a chameleon that has almost as many tastes as blends it's a part of. Pepper, prunes, raisins, sweet cream, etc are only a few of its associated flavors.
Orientals: A group of tobaccos originally grown in the old orient; Cyprus, Turkey, Syria, etc. These tend to add a spicy or buttery quality to blends.
Latakia: A smoked oriental used in many blends which adds a campfire kind of note. This is a love it or hate it thing. I tend to go through love/hate cycles with it.
Types of "blends":
English: We could write a whole book of what does and does not constitute an English blend. Let's just say it's a mixture that always includes orientals/latakia as well as perhaps Virginia, burley and/or Perique
Vaper: Virginia/perique. Just what the name implies. These two are often combined to raise the pH of virginia tobacco and thus mitigate some of virginia's bite.
Welcome to pipe smoking. The information and number of blends compared to cigars is sort of like chess to checkers.
Like I said, call C&D, and they'll be happy to send you small amounts of various things so you can test drive them. Learn what you like and what you don't, and never be afraid to revisit things as pipe tastes are ever-dynamic. You'll find pipes and cigars have less in common than you might first think. And don't discount perique, or latakia, or whatever simply because of your cigar experiences. Like I said, very different animals.
Hope this helps.
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Tony, I think you did a good job with the descriptions.
Cornell & Diehl is a great suggestion - but I'd add a caveat here with them. They do Burley blends like nobody else does, so try a couple burley blends from them. They are also tops in regard to Aromatics as they do not use PG or a heavy syrup when they do top notes, again, my personal opinion is that they do these better than anybody else.
C&D also does a nice job with Latakia blends (what many call English blends). They have a few Virginias and VaPers that are not bad, but here is where you really need to go outside C&D to get a better idea of how these can really sing. This is more of a "you don't smoke only one brand of cigar that you really like" thing.
Once you get through a sampler from C&D, then we can help you get some other things from other blenders to give you other tastes to expand.
Remember though, your tastes may differ from everybody else. What my favorites are may not be yours - or anybody else's for that matter.
Peace of the Lord be with you.