Samuel Gawith Commonwealth Pipe Tobacco Review

I’ve heard of aged tobacco, but 200 years old is really getting up there. Ok, the tobacco isn’t really that old, but Samuel Gawith’s Commonwealth Mixture is a Bicentenarian - meaning this pipe tobacco blend has been around for 200 years. I’m not surprised it’s lasted that long as it is one of the best pipe tobaccos I have ever tasted. SG Commonwealth Mixture was recommended to me by PipesMagazine.com member John Gioannetti, aka  "mate". I think I will take all of his recommendations from now on.

I was already anticipating something good when seeing the tin saying, "Full Strength Mixture", and I wasn’t let down.

Upon opening the tin, you see and smell a dark, smoky mixture. The tobacco in my tin was rather moist, but I just filled up a bowl and lit it up.

Even though it seemed too moist, I had no trouble lighting and keeping lit.

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The 2009 IPCPR Show (formerly RTDA) - Part II

One used to have to wait to see the new pipes and tobaccos coming to market after they arrived in stores. Now, PipesMagazine.com gives you an early preview of what’s coming from our visit to the largest annual pipes trade show in the world. "One might wonder how pipes get from the worker’s bench and into the pipe shop. Each year the greatest concentration of pipe buying takes place at a number of tobacconists "trade shows" held at various locations throughout the world. In the United States, the largest of these gatherings is the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America trade show. Here, pipe shop owners gather to view the numerous tobacco products and pipes on display for the upcoming season. It is important to note that most of these pipe-selling conventions are for the tobacco trade only, as many products are unveiled for the first time.

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La Rocca Fabio #2

La Rocca Fabio #2. Measures approximately 5 3/4″ long x 1 5/8″ high with a bowl diameter of 1 1/8″ and a maximum bowl width of 1 5/8″.

Order this Pipe Now - Click Here!

Pipe Tobacco Private Bulk Blends - Where Do They Come From?

Did you ever wonder where all your favorite store blends / private blends come from? How does the tobacconist provide all their special blends? Do they have a secret tobacco plantation out back?

There are many excellent bulk pipe tobacco blends that are exclusive to specific retailers. Here’s the inside scoop on how this works.

Tobacco growers / manufacturers produce many different types of tobaccos that are available exclusively to tobacconists for the purposes of blending together to formulate their own creations. There are so many different types of tobaccos, curing, aging and fermenting methods, along with a myriad number of potential casings that the possibilities are almost endless. You will probably not find the same private store blend beyond the store that has created it.

Here is a picture of the Peter Stokkebye "Tobacco Bar" at the annual IPCPR trade show. Tobacconists can create custom blends on the spot and then place orders for the ingredients needed in the ratios required.

Here is a closer look at some of the aromatic blends retailers can pick from to make their own creations.

Now you have an idea of where some of your favorite store blends may come from.

New Pipe Smoking Model Shoot with Alana

Meet our new model, Alana. Pull up a chair and enjoy smoking a pipe with her in these beautiful backlit shots.

Pipe Smoking Blonde Babe - CLICK HERE FOR FULL GALLERY

Salvador Dali Smoked a Pipe

Did you guys know that Salvador Dali smoked a pipe?

Viprati Pipes makes a Salvador Dali collection too.

Here is a self-portrait of Salvador Dali smoking a pipe. This is a scan of a postcard Laura got me when she went to the Salvador Dali Museum right here in St. Petersburg, walking distance from our condo downtown. (She went without me, as I was away at a pipe show.)

Flake Pipe Tobacco Preparation Videos

By Bob Tate

Flakes are one of the ways that pipe tobacco is made. Flake tobacco is made by pressing tobacco under extreme pressure for a period of time forming a cube. The cube is then sliced into strips called flakes. When you smoke flake tobacco it has to be packed differently than loose cut pipe tobacco. You can not simply fill the pipe and smoke it; you have to prepare the flakes first. There are many ways that flake tobaccos can be prepared. The way that you prepare a flake will have an effect in the taste of the tobacco and the way that the tobacco burns.

The larger you leave the pieces of flake, the stronger the flavor will be and the harder it will be to get the tobacco burning. Leaving the flakes whole or in large chunks will make the tobacco burn slow. This is a good technique to use when you are going to smoke outside as the wind will have less of an effect on the tobacco. Smaller pieces will make the flavor a little lighter and the tobacco will be easier to burn. It will also burn a little quicker as well. In this article I will describe a few of the different methods on how to prepare flakes for smoking. I have also included short videos of how to do each different method. Now onto the methods!

•Fold and Stuff Method – Take a flake of tobacco and fold it in half length wise (against the grain), down the middle. Then you fold the flake in half again, but this time fold it end to end (with the grain). The flake will now be in a square shape with four layers. Now lightly stuff the prepared flake into the pipe. If there is any tobacco sticking out of the end of the pipe, pull the tobacco back out of the bowl a little and trim off the excess tobacco and re-insert the flake. Make sure to leave a little bit of space between the tobacco and the rim. Adjust the draw by gently pushing on the tobacco with your finger and light the tobacco. By leaving the flake whole it will be a little hard to get the tobacco lit and going.

•Roll and Stuff Method– This is almost the same as the Fold and Stuff; but instead of folding the flake, you roll the flake. To do this you roll the flake length wise (with the grain) like a stick of chewing gum. You then insert the tobacco into the bowl. If the tobacco sticks out, just pull it out a bit and trim some of it off and re-insert it back into the bowl. Make sure to leave a little space between the tobacco and the rim.

•Rubbing Out Method – Rubbing out a flake is pretty much how it sounds. You rub the flake between your palms so the flake breaks apart into small pieces of tobacco. You can control how much the tobacco is rubbed out this way. You can lightly rub it out or you can fully rub it out. It is up to you how large or how small you want the pieces of tobacco to be. Once the tobacco is rubbed out, you then load the pipe the same way as you would with a mixture.

•Cutting Into Cubes Method – This is a method that I read about a couple of years ago and I used it almost exclusively when I started smoking flakes and I still use it frequently now. It was posted on a forum by George Dibos AKA LatakiaLover. This method involves cutting the flakes length wise (with the grain), into 1/4 inch or so strips. You then cut the strips across (against the grain) to make 1/4 or so cubes. You then gravity fill the bowl with the cubes of tobacco and do not use any pressure to pack. Just tap the side of the bowl to settle the tobacco. Make sure that you leave a little space between the tobacco and the rim. You then light the tobacco and smoke. While you are smoking make sure that you do not tamp the ash unless the tobacco will absolutely not light again. And when you do tamp, just let the weight of the tamper crush the ash. Do not use any pressure when tamping. This is the easiest way that I know of to smoke flakes. It was my favorite method to use with flakes as a beginner.

When I smoke flakes, I always pack the tobacco lighter than I do when I smoke a loose cut mixture. The reason that I do this is that the pieces of tobacco from a flake will swell up more than a loose cut mixture when they light on fire. So packing loosely allows room for expansion and prevents the tobacco from becoming too tight while smoking.

These are just a few of the ways to prepare flake tobacco and I hope that these tips will help you enjoy flakes a little more or get you into trying flakes if you haven’t tried them yet. If you haven’t tried smoking flakes before, you must give it a try because you are missing out on some truly great tobaccos. With these methods, you no longer have an excuse for not trying them or smoking them more often.

Happy Puffing!

FDA Clarifies Flavored Cigarette Ban

In a media conference, the agency sheds new light on the fate of tobacco products.

The FDA held a media briefing this yesterday and has posted documents on the FDA Web site issuing additional information regarding the ban on flavored cigarettes, authorized by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that was signed into law in June.

According to the new documents, cigarettes containing an artificial or natural flavor (excluding tobacco or menthol) that is a characterizing flavor are banned as of today, Sept. 22.

The banned flavors include herb, spice, strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry and coffee.

Loose tobacco and roll-your-own tobacco intended to be used in cigarettes can continue to be sold as long as the tobacco does not contain a characterizing flavor, such as those mentioned above, that is banned under the new FDA law.

"Flavored cigarettes attract and allure kids into lifetime addiction," said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Howard K. Kohl, M.D., M.P.H. "FDA’s ban on these cigarettes will break that cycle for more than 3,600 young people who start smoking daily."

The FDA is still examining options of regulating menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products other than cigarettes.

Cigarette rolling papers and cigarette filters for use in roll-your-own cigarettes that contain a characterizing flavor are also banned. Only cigarette rolling papers and cigarette filters that do not contain a characterizing flavor are legal to sell .

Pipe tobacco, that according to the FDA is bona fide pipe tobacco, is not banned.

As far as flavored little cigars, the FDA stated-similar to what it said in previously-that "the ban applies to all tobacco products with certain characterizing flavors that meet the definition of a ‘cigarette’ in section 900(3) of the FDCA [Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act] even if they are not labeled as "cigarettes" or are labeled as cigars or as some other product."

During the conference call, a reporter from the New York Times asked if the flavored cigarette ban includes a ban on flavored little cigars, the National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO) reported. Dr. Lawrence Deyton of the FDA said the issue of a ban on other flavored tobacco products will be studied by the FDA in the near future.

The FDA is taking several steps to enforce the ban on flavored cigarettes. A letter recently sent to the tobacco industry provided information about the law and explained that any company who continues to make, ship or sell such products may be subject to FDA enforcement actions.

In the advisory, the FDA clarified that it will "issue Warning Letters to firms to notify them that they or their products are in violation of the law and to give them the opportunity to come into compliance," before confiscating banned tobacco products, handing out fines or bringing criminal prosecutions.

Editor’s note: See related Article / Editorial that includes links to definitions and the FDA letter and the new law.
Clove Cigarettes Banned as "Flavored" - Are they Coming for Your Pipe Tobacco Next?

Town & Country Tobacco Keeps Smoking

In December 1966, Lyn Beyer bought his father a pipe for Christmas. One week before Christmas, his father died. Lyn, who was at that time a nonsmoker, kept the pipe, and soon he was a pipe smoker. A couple of years later, he and his wife, Bobbe, moved to Kansas City when Lyn was offered a management job with Sears. They bought a tobacco shop in nearby Overland Park, Kan., as an investment. Before long, Lyn had quit his job to work full time in the tobacco shop.

That shop was successful, and about five years ago, the Beyers had the opportunity to buy a tobacco shop in Town and Country.

One of their regular customers is my friend and former colleague, Harry Levins. He favors inexpensive cigars. I stopped by the shop Tuesday morning with Levins.

This is a great article with some excellent comments at the end whereby some of the non-smokers defend the right for smokers to have a place to smoke.

Read the rest on the St. Louis Dispatch

See also - Town & Country Tobacco, Ballwin MO

Clove Cigarettes Banned as “Flavored”

Are they Coming for Your Pipe Tobacco Next?

The ban on flavored cigarettes, which includes widely popular, and mass-distributed for decades, Clove Cigarettes, went into effect yesterday, September 22, 2009.

Clove cigarettes and other flavored cigarettes are now illegal in the USA.

The ban is one of the first visible effects of a new law signed by President Barack Obama in June that gives the Food and Drug Administration wide-ranging authority to regulate tobacco.

Part of the new "Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act" has a ban on flavored cigarettes which went into effect September 22nd. This part of the law has provisions that include a ban on the use of flavors in tobacco, other than menthol. This will include clove cigarettes, a product popular in the US for decades.

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