About Varieties of Viriginas

I've been reading about all those different Virginias, red, yellow, golden, fire cured, etc...
it's getting a little confusing for me and I'd like to understand them a little more.

If I wanted to learn more about those, which blends would you recommend that would give me a better understanding of the different types of Virginias ?
Thanks.

Thanks for the lists and recommendations. Those will be very helpful.

I don't believe there is a realistic chance that you'll be buying anything on a list that I write-up.

Forget about accessibility, postage and tariffs make it totally impractical.

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If all these are purchasable from one single shop, it's doable, but if not, then indeed, it becomes a hassle to gather the ingredients. However, I'd still love to have that list. I might move back home at some point.

Does China have its own pipe tobaccos? I know that Spain, Portugal, and Italy have a few that we have no access to, but they sort of suck.

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I believe that China is the world's largest producer of tobacco. Whether for the pipe or other, I dunno.

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yes China produces a lot of tobacco. But so far, I have never heard of pipe tobaccos in any of the shops I've been to... any of the 2 shops I've been to. :-D I checked with my online tobacco dealer in China, he doesn't know of any.

I assume they do the same as I do, order online. There are a few online private businesses that found ways to get blends China side then just send by national courrier.

Online shops are thriving here. Pipe tobacco is very expensive for the regular Joe here. A pack of smokes can be as cheap as $1.5 so paying a 50g tin of pipe tobacco for $13... Lots of people just don't see it.

I do have one or two acquaintances that smoke the pipe, but they aren't middle class. No way. PIpe smoking is a way to show off wealth for most people that do smoke the pipe.

There is a social app here called "Wechat", bit like Viber or Whatsapp I guess.

You can chat wth friends, create groups, public pages, things like that.

One of the online pipe tobacco seller set up a group for her customers. 350 people last time I checked. Those guys are nice, joke around, talk a lot about pipes obviously. But they do talk a lot about the last/car/golden ring they bought, the last high end escort girl they (hum) ... pictures of the panel of girls they chose from, obviously in a very expensive suite. All very ostentatious. At some point, some of those guys posted videos of their last night with said charming women. The feeling is very very very different from the vibe that I get from this forum here.
Because the pipe smoking thing here is for most not a hobby, just a club of rich people showing to each other that they can afford it.

One more thing, the import of tobacco, as a business, is illegal here in China.

One can import for personal consumption, but not for selling. Chinese tobacco only is sold to Chinese people.

@Kiel : great news, I've been looking for smoking buddies here in the Middle Kingdom but mostly to no avail so far. If I'd speak better Chinese, I'd definitely be able to make more smoking friends. Invite sent ;-)
@Andy: indeed it's not that crazy expensive when you earn a decent salary, but the majority of people here earn $700/month. Pipe tobacco, knowing that one might want to buy a variety of them and several pipes...