Pipes, Tobacco & Smoking in China
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Kevin Godbee - Jun 7, 2013
- 6 min read
A. Miller
In a downtown market in the capital city of the southwestern-most province in China, Mr. Zhang shows me his extremely limited imported pipe tobacco selection. He jokes with me about a shop he ran a few years ago where he sold exclusively fake tobacco. He giggles a bit, it’s a short halting giggle suitable for a 75 year old man like himself, and says, "You just make more money when it’s fake."
Welcome to the world of tobacco in the earth’s most populous nation. A land where cigarettes sell for as little as a dollar a pack, or as much as several hundred dollars. A land with Great Wall brand cigars which taste more like a wall than anything great. And, much to my good pleasure, a land beginning to fall in love with the pipe.
Mr. Zhang, from his tiny stand, sells everything from Burmese cigarettes and Camel Lights to water pipes and Captain Black Red. Currently he also has three types of MacBaren tobacco including the only-available-in-Asia Royal Box. He assures me his tobacco is real now, which I also know from first hand experience. But then he hands me a corn cob pipe and again begins to giggle. The difference between this cheap Chinese version of a Missouri Meerschaum and the real thing is truly remarkable. The bit feels brittle enough to break off in your teeth, but it always outlasts the bowl which usually burns through by the fifth smoke. As he points at the cob he leans in a bit and tells me with pride of a foreigner who came by and was "foolish enough" to pay too much for this thing. Usually sold for $2 he asked the westerner for $12, and when the unassuming response came back with $5, Mr. Zhang slapped it in his hand and gleefully took the deal. Apparently this story amused him enough that he’s been hanging on to it to tell to me later.
The culture of smoking has sunk deep in the Middle Kingdom. Once I watched two electric bikes collide and both drivers stand, with visible flesh wounds, begin to scream at one another to establish fault. Then after two or three minutes of screaming they simply stopped, one grabbed a box of cigarettes and handed them out to the crowd that had gathered. He then handed one to his new "adversary", helped him light the cigarette, took a few puffs himself, and then began screaming again. This cigarette meant, "I mean you no harm, this is just the process we must go through." I long to someday see something similar with pipes, but that journey has just begun.
Tobacco here is still primarily limited to cigarettes. However in the last few years a small contingent of people have taken notice of the western concept of a pipe. They see owning a pipe as a means of showing off wealth, and knowing how to smoke one as a demonstration of unusual skill.
There are still some big issues however, like the fact that almost all pipe tobacco sold online in China is sold illegally. The government closely monitors tobacco sales for taxes, but people have found a way around it on popular e-commerce sites by
listing empty tobacco tins in their pictures online and then shipping with the full product. That said, there is a surprising variety of tins available online, and even a few dealers who have tobaccos available by the pound.
But a bigger problem is the fact that almost no one knows what they’re doing when they first light up a pipe and they have no one to turn to for help. Smoking my pipe among a group of local friends; one, we call The Fish, told me he had purchased a very expensive pipe but smoked it once, hated it, and never used it again. With a little digging I find he was smoking a dried out Borkum Riff Whiskey, didn’t know how to pack the pipe, and attempted to re-light with every puff. Of course his experience was terrible. I hand him my pipe to try a puff of Samuel Gawith’s Full Virginia Flake. He then takes a puff, inhaling as deeply as many cigarette smokers do, and coughs profusely telling me, "This is much too strong for me." I try to reassure him you don’t have to breathe in. But at this point all five cigarette smokers in the room gather to tell me there is no point to smoking if you don’t inhale, and I fail to convince them otherwise.
What keeps people intrigued and sometimes coming back, however, is the widespread acceptance of tobacco and smoking in general. Another pipe salesman Mr. Fu sells almost exclusively water pipes. It looks and works like something you might more comfortably know as a bong. These "pipes" sell for between twenty and two thousand dollars based on material used for the making. In the picture of him above, he’s holding two bongs, his cheapest made of bamboo, and most expensive hand carved from a Chinese yew tree (ironically imported from Burma). However at the back of this shop, and right behind him in the picture, he has a small selection of about twenty western style pipes. For sale here is a glue-pressed meerschaum pipe available for about two dollars, but he also has nice Greek Amadeus briar in a billiard for around a hundred dollars. Some of the fancier places in town sell meerschaums in the thousands of dollars.
There are a few other interesting cultural smoking methods of pipe smoking. Such as small hand-held bamboo pipes for sale through which people smoke just like you or I would, albeit with much less tasty tobacco. And then many of the elderly will purchase large sheets of tobacco in big bundles, take them home and roll them into cigars which they shove in to metal pipes and then smoke slowly all day.
The province I live in makes it’s own local "pipe tobacco" available at most tobacco places in town. But this tobacco is the very same as what is sold for the water pipes and for roll-you-own cigarettes. It makes a decent cigarette, but I wouldn’t want this in my pipe. Many locals, not knowing any better however, do smoke it, some probably even in a Dunhill or expensive meerschaum. Unfortunately this tobacco is as dry as newspaper and tastes about the same too. But it is cheap, about four ounces for two dollars.
We all know how subjective the taste of tobacco can be, and how sometimes even our own tastes for Virginias or Latakias can change with the seasons. One time in a taxi on the way to the airport I lit up with the help of the driver’s lighter, and he spends the majority of the trip telling me my Astleys 109 is not as fragrant as the local cigarette tobacco. "It tastes different than it smells," I try to assure him. Yet he insists that I’m just a foolish American who can’t understand the wonders of the Chinese Tobacco Monopoly and the quality of their products. He doesn’t smoke himself of course, but he spends all day enjoying the smoke of others. I suppose I should have picked something with a better "taxi note". But then I remember, I don’t really mind the complaining as long as I can smoke in the cab.
There are great international tobaccos here, and even some wonderful pipes, though they are not always easy to find or differentiate from the fakes. But, however new pipes may be to China, things are beginning to shift. The availability of quality briar and German vulcanite on Chinese e-commerce sites makes that plain. The first crop of local pipe tobaccos have emerged from places like Shanghai, and while they likely leave much to be desired, they are a step in the right direction. I fully expect within 5-10 years there will be well known Chinese pipe craftsman displaying their pipes at the Chicago (or Beijing?) pipe show. And, with a little luck, in due time, a quality Chinese pipe tobacco brand might even rear it’s head.
Written by Kevin Godbee
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When I first started with the pipe as a quirky and precocious teen, the only tutelage I had at my disposal were scenes from old movies in which a well dressed chap would stick his pipe into a pouch, scoop tobacco into the bowl and press it down unceremoniously with his thumb. Then, with great flourish, he’d strike a match and light the thing with all manner of cinematic excess, puffing up vast clouds of smoke falling just short of completely obscuring his visage. While it may look good on film, it’s a terrible approach to actually enjoying the thing. Somehow, though, this “technique” seems to have survived in the contemporary vernacular, at least to some extent, even with bit-loads of information handily at our fingertips that should dissuade us from the practice. But, at the time, this misguided approach was all I had; it’s no wonder my early days of puffing were fraught with difficult lighting, harsh, bitter smokes and tongue bite, all culminating in a fireproof mass of ye old soggy dottle in the bottom of the bowl. Ultimately, the resulting frustration made me give up the pipe, at least for a while. While the idea of it was still very appealing, the practice of it was not. It wasn’t until a few years later when, still full of curiosity and romantic notions of pipe smoking, I wandered into a real tobacconist’s shop, and learned my “method” was a long way from the techniques that would bring me to any sort of pipe smoking bliss. So, after my poor start, and under the guidance of someone who actually seemed to know how to do it right, I was given the opportunity to approach the process anew, this time with much greater success. It was only because I was both perseverent, and fortunate to have a local shop staffed with knowledgeable people, that I’ve been able to enjoy the experience ever since. At least mostly… How many fledgeling pipe smokers have simply given up on an enjoyable pastime because of similar early mis-starts? Fortunately, today, it’s not hard to find helpful guidance at the press of a key or ten. 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Before we begin, I should tell you: this tobacco review is being written by an A.I. Not the fancy new GPTs or their ilk; no, this is last century’s meat-and-bone, all-organic model. To be fair, a large part of what we call knowledge is merely the accumulated perceptions and impressions gathered from a life wandered through, synthesized into a spongy mass of what-it-is-that-we-think-that-we-know. The algorithm for this prompt is simple enough: pump thousands of bowls of smoldering plant matter into a gaping maw, cross-reference the chemical sensations with all other matter previously ingested or inhaled, sieve it all through the diffuse and fractal twin lens of memory and emotion, and churn out a panoply of adjectives that attempts to convey the sensations to someone who hasn’t experienced it yet. Odds are that a diligently trained monkey could succeed half the time; if this reviewer nears fifty-one percent then that would qualify as an unrivaled success. There must have been some similar musings perambulating through the mind of Per Jensen when he began his mad scientist routine at Sutliff with the Pipe Force project, which brings us to the current mixture under the microscope—Sutliff’s Pipe Force: Episode I. Here again are the unusual ingredients that engendered the series, with the stoved Rustica being the defining voice in this composition. From the tin: The Latakia-forward English mixture offers plenty of smoky flavor from the fire-cured leaf, which is artfully harmonized with floral, earthy Stoved Rustica. A mixture of high-grade Virginias imparts a natural sweetness. Katerini, the sole Oriental component, offers herb and spice notes bringing complexity and nuance to the flavor profile. It’s certainly Latakia-forward, with the stoved Rustica doubling up on the rhythm section like a second bassist. A first whiff from the tin releases the aromas of shoe leather and hide glue in a base of clay soil with a campfire wafted over it like last night’s beach party. Once it’s been accustomed to oxygen again, subtle hints of sweetness poke through from the Virginias: lemon rind, light milk chocolate, the dregs of a peaty Scotch, and muddled cherry. Old regulars like fresh-sawn oak and tilled earth are there, of course, with distinct notes of truffle, creosote, damp peat, and pine bark mulch. As an aside, I’ve been re-potting my camellias and the similarity of aroma to the ericaceous soil mix is notable; the Katerini really brings the unique depth of its vegetal complexion when supported by the Rustica and afforded more voice in the mix. The smoky Cyprian Latakia, in turn, is backed by equal earthiness from the Rustica, which overall exhibits a profile similar to dark-fired Kentucky; it leans more toward the woody and vegetal end of that spectrum, echoing and amplifying those traits of the other constituents. The tobacco is presented pressed and cut into a couple of thick, hearty flakes in the tin, lightly moist and easily crumbled to prepare—I prefer mine with a bit of drying time. The out-of-this-world tin art for this episode in the series is Major O’Meara smoking a cavalier. In the absence of confirmation, I’m going to hazard a guess he’s of the Ithklur species. The first taste from the light is sweet, with hints of that milk chocolate dancing around the edges. The Virginia leads the smoke through the top of the bowl, and orchestrates it well. Thoroughly smoky with lemony, grassy highlights from the Virginia spectrum, it soon segues into the mid-bowl profile: heartier, smokier, with the flavor leaning to the mildly acrid and tangy tinge that is the campfire-esque signature of English blends. Caution advised, it can turn overly bitter if pushed—this is where one’s sipping technique is required to maintain the fullness of flavor through to the heel. I did tend toward a lot of relights, though it may have as much to do with technique as with the blend. Pacing is also important as the nicotine starts to manifest; though the Rustica’s contribution has been tempered well by the stoving, it can certainly upend an empty stomach. At the end of every bowl, the mouthfeel somehow gets better. The balance of sugars in the tobaccos would seem to be spot-on in this regard. I started out my tasting in cobs, then cut short an unpleasant bowl in a meer, and finally landed on my best instrument with the lovely Dunhill 4427 pictured, a quaint group 4 shell briar with a gentle curve and Cumberland stem supporting a perfectly executed acorn bowl. It surprised me here, as I’ve learned through the years that I generally have the best experience with English blends in large, wide bowls. With this blend it seems that to get the best out of the Katerini’s somewhat diaphanous influence the smaller bowl fared much better. Room note is very English, so the company you keep will either love it or hate it, and it doesn’t linger too much. I find it paired best with a strong coffee; Sumatran beans complement the flavors well, as do Ethiopian if a lighter brew is preferred. Overall impressions of the blend are that it’s a curiously interesting take on the English genre, almost a reductive reconstruction of the theme using the unique components. This blend, if nothing else, expanded my vocabulary of sense perceptions with the uniquely treated leaf. While the average human can distinguish approximately one trillion (1,000,000,000,000!) different aromas, multiplied by seven basic tastes, and wholly dependent on variables from body chemistry to atmospheric conditions, our overworked and underpaid simian brains can’t effectively catalog them all. Our pet adding machines are exceedingly good at this, however, and someday soon they’ll be the ultimate and unequivocal authority on what something tastes, smells, looks, or even feels like. Until that time, friends, revel in the moments that can be stolen to savor over a bowl of Pipe Force: Episode I.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 603. Our featured interview tonight is with Rick Newcombe. Rick is a well-known author of several pipe books, and he is currently working on his third book. He is a prominent collector of Danish pipes, and vintage tobaccos. He has traveled the world visiting pipe makers, and learning their different techniques. He is also the founder and chairman of Creators Syndicate, which currently represents more than 200 writers and artists. At the top of the show we’ll have a Pipe Smoking 101 segment discussing best pipe shapes and sizes that are best suited to certain types of tobacco.
Great article! A friend of mine now is in China (he is a travel guide). He has instructions from me to buy local tobacco in any country he visits if possible. Hope he brings some good stuff back home.
Interesting stuff. Thanks!
Great article. It’s always interesting hearing how things are in other parts of the world. I hope one day we can have a pipe in a cab.
Very interesting article. I remember seeing a couple of briar pipes for sale in a Shanghai department store about ten years ago, but I doubt most people knew what they were; and there was certainly no decent pipe tobacco available then.
But two years ago, in Guangzhou, the hotel gift shop where I was staying had a couple of pipes marked as “Savinelli” (I’m not convinced they were genuine) for upwards of a hundred US dollars each, and some MacBarens tobacco tins.
Well done, and thought provoking. Any thought of starting a pipe club there? That would smooth the process.
@lestrout there is a local here who ran a pipe club for several years, but the fees to maintain a chapter were too much for him to continue. That doesn’t mean it still doesn’t take place informally….
I wonder if rich Chinese are ordering their tobacco from US online sellers. Also, I have heard that Dunhill and many high end pipe makers sell a lot to China. I wonder if this is all through mail order or if there are any local dealers selling as well?