Oriental tobaccos come from the northern Mediterranean regions of Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria and the Balkans. They generally feature small leaves, most often sun-cured. Orientals are naturally aromatic, concentrated in volatile waxes and oils, giving them a savory pungency or sweet-and-sour flavor. Latakia begins as an Oriental type and is additionally cured in the smoke of open fires using aromatic woods, imparting a distinctly smoky, spicy, leathery flavor. “You sip it as a connoisseur.” His magazine also recommends that pipe smokers do not inhale.
If you want to light your stogie on fire, that’s fine! If you want to drink an ice-cold glass of water, that is acceptable as well. Turkish varietals, unfortunately, are no longer available, even to professional blenders. Cigarette companies snap up most of the Turkish leaf Pipe Tobacco in Cans production, and the remainder is made into a generic Turkish blend. This is the Oriental tobacco (often referred to as “basma”) that one finds either in bulk, or in ready-made blends. Sir Walter Raleigh – a well-known pipe smoker – popularised tobacco in the 16th century.
At harvest time, the wilted leaves of the tobacco are hung up to dry for two weeks, stripped of hard veins, and packed into bundles . These torquettes are put into barrels under extreme pressure, and allowed to cure in their own juices (which collect as run-off at the top of the barrels). Over the course of many months, these bundles are periodically “turned”, and then placed again under pressure in the barrels. Without any air to interact with the tobacco, Perique ferments anaerobically, producing the distinctive taste.
While there isn’t a lot of scientific data on the health effects of pipe smoking, we do know that there are risks. Plug cut burley blend, lightly flavored, with the best smoking characteristics of any I have encountered, bar none. It burns slowly and evenly with a bone-dry white ash, and stays lit so well it practically smokes itself. Perfect for new smokers, new pipes, or any time you’d rather concentrate on what you’re doing, not keeping your pipe lit.
However, there is no documentary evidence for this practice; it is known that communal pipes used in taverns were cleansed by being heated in an oven on special iron racks. Unusual pipe materials include gourds and pyrolytic graphite. Metal and glass, seldom used for tobacco pipes, are common Pipe Tobacco in Bags for pipes intended for other substances, such as cannabis. Some cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Americas smoke tobacco in ceremonial pipes, and have done so since long before the arrival of Europeans. For instance the Lakota people use a ceremonial pipe called čhaŋnúŋpa.