There is more to pipe tobacco than harvesting leaves, letting them dry and breaking them up so they can be smoked in tobacco pipes. The pipe tobacco you buy at your favorite smoke shop has been put through any number of processes to eliminate unwanted characteristics and make it a more flavorful and enjoyable smoke. In short, pipe tobacco is not harvested, it's made. In this post, we're going to look at some of the processes used to make the pipe tobacco we all know and love.

The Major Types of Pipe Tobacco

Commercially available pipe tobaccos fall into 1 of 3 major categories: aromatic, non-aromatic and English blend. Let’s take a quick look at how they differ from one another.

Aromatic pipe tobacco is tobacco that has various flavors added to it during the manufacturing process. The process of adding these flavorings is called “casing”. (Exactly why it’s called casing is anybody’s guess at this point.) Casings/flavorings run the gamut from the everyday to the exotic with some of the most popular being rum, whiskey, vanilla, chocolate, apple and strawberry. The amount of flavor added to the tobacco will determine if it is classified as “aromatic”, “semi-aromatic” or “lightly aromatic”.

Non-aromatic tobacco features no added flavorings of any kind. Its taste is completely natural and derived strictly from the leaves. That said, those natural flavors may be bolstered or slightly altered by heating or fermenting the tobacco. Purists tend to prefer non-aromatic tobaccos for their briar pipes or meerschaum pipes, believing they provide a more honest smoke.

English blend tobaccos were historically devoid of casings. In fact, English law forbade adding artificial flavorings to pipe tobacco. In the late 1980s however, those laws were largely discarded and casings began to find their way into a few English blends. Granted, most English brands cling stubbornly to their non-aromatic origins, and we’re all better off for it. But a few rebellious tobacco manufacturers are daring to case. And, of course, most of those purists we mentioned earlier will not consider anything with a casing to be English blend tobacco.

Different Cuts for Your Tobacco Pipes

Casings are one way manufacturers alter the flavor of pipe tobacco, but there are other processes that also have an effect both on the flavor and the burn. How the tobacco is cut is just such a process. There are a variety of cuts popular today including:

Flake cut - Flakes are stacked leaves of tobacco that have been pressed into sheets 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch thick. Moisture is added before the pressing and various binders may also be added to help the flakes retain their integrity.

The plug - Not actually the result of cutting, a plug is tobacco that’s had pressure applied to it to form a block. Plugs are sometimes cut into flakes.

The rope cut - To achieve the rope cut leaves are fed into a machine that coils them tightly together to form a, you guessed it, rope of tobacco. Chop it up before loading it into your tobacco pipes.

The ribbon cut - Ribbon cuts are quite popular and are produced by cutting the different tobaccos of a particular blend separately and then bringing them together. In all honesty, the resulting product doesn't look much like ribbons.

The shag cut - The shag cut is made by bringing all the tobaccos that comprise a particular blend together, pressing them for 20 minutes (+/-) and then finely chopping the resulting block.

Common Ways to Affect the Characteristics of Pipe Tobacco

Applying pressure is a tried and true method for achieving various flavor effects and changing the characteristics of tobacco. Pressure is applied in a variety of ways including:

Direct pressure

Flakes, cakes and plugs are all made by applying direct pressure to a quantity of tobacco.

Cavendish

In this archaic method, pressure is applied to tobacco for a period of anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. In some cases, heat is applied simultaneously.

Rolls

The roll cut is created by stuffing a tube with tobacco and then applying direct pressure to the tube. Once the tobacco is removed it's wrapped with other tobaccos and then sliced into "coins".

Ropes and twists

Ropes or twists are created by layering leaves of tobacco and then twisting them using intense pressure. Ropes and twists are known for their potent flavor and high nicotine content.

The perique process

This method requires placing leaves into a barrel and then using a jackscrew to apply enormous pressure.

Applying heat

Applying heat is another way to alter the characteristics of tobacco. Heat is applied in a variety of ways including:

Steaming

Steaming caramelizes the sugars in the tobacco while simultaneously opening the pores, making them more receptive to additional dressings.

Stoving

"Stove topping" might be a more accurate term since with this method, tobacco is laid on a flat surface above a heat source and cooked for various lengths of time.

DIY heating

Some pipe lovers put their tobacco in a closed tin and leave it in direct sunlight, others lay tobacco on a cookie sheet and bake it in the oven, others use a hairdryer to heat up their tobacco while still others pop theirs in the microwave.

Paykoc Pipes has one of the largest selections of retail and wholesale tobacco pipes you’ll find anywhere. From classic briar pipes to stunning meerschaum pipes we have it all.