A Gentleman's Guide to Picking the Best Pipe Tobacco

Starting as a new pipe smoker is an adventure worthy of your time and devotion. As a gentleman wishing to explore the best pipe tobaccos out there, we recommend starting with aromatic blends. Then with time, you can progress towards appreciating the various pipe tobaccos available in smoke stores.

 However, one best way to discover what works for you is to get a sample of mild aromatics from your local pipe store or order from any online smoke store like Smoker's Outlet. That way, you explore their taste and aromas to choose what's best for your pipe smoking palate.

 These samplers usually contain five to seven tins of tobacco with diverse tastes, aromas, and blends. When you're done with aromatic tobacco sampler packs, consider getting one bag of each major pipe tobacco type mentioned below. Note that these are natural tobacco except for Cavendish which is simply a tobacco curing process.

Burley

Burley tobacco is famous for blending pipe tobaccos. While technically, Burley tobaccos are called "air-cured"; this air curing process is done in large open barns for one or two months by natural airflows, resulting in the mahogany or light brown colors. 

Most Burley tobaccos have no sugar. Thus, they're flavored or cased with sugars of some kind. This full-flavored, rich tobacco is always present in most American-styled sweetened blends.

Virginia

Sixty percent of the US tobacco crop grows in Virginia. Virginia pipe tobacco has a subtle fruit-like flavor, making them slightly sweet. While pleasant on the palate, they're also tangy, calling to mind a mild salsa. 

When Virginias mature fully, they have a sweet taste and are clean-smoking, filling the mouth with flavors. While they might taste zesty when lighted initially, they turn richer while smoking.

 As natural tobacco, Virginia is often present in flavored and aromatic blends.

Spice Tobacco

This tobacco is a mixture of several pipe tobacco blends, used primarily for English blends. Thus, when most smokers describe the pipe tobacco they prefer, they often refer to English tobacco. 

English tobaccos are a mixture of several tobacco types with no flavor added during their curing process. Spice tobaccos include Latakia, Perique, and Oriental.

Cavendish

Cavendish is a curing process and a tobacco leaf cutting method. The cut and processing help bring out the tobacco's naturally sweet taste, especially for Virginia tobacco. 

Tobaccos created through the Cavendish process are easy to pack, relatively mild, and light in taste. English Cavendish uses fire cured or dark flue Virginia, steamed and stored under pressure to help it ferment and cure for many weeks. 

Cavendish is usually produced mainly from Burley and Virginia tobaccos. However, the original English Cavendish has a very dark, black color and is slightly flavored because they're made from Virginia tobacco.

In Closing

As a gentleman looking to explore the various pipe tobaccos available, consider experimenting with numerous formats and blends to find the one that bests agrees with your palate. What might first appeal to you from the description may not be very palatable like you expected. 

Don't be discouraged when the first few blends didn't quite go as expected; simply try something different. Maybe, you'll be pleasantly surprised. One natural tobacco pipe we recommend is the good stuff pipe tobacco.