Interview with Greg Pease of G.L. Pease Tobacco - Part 1

By Bob Tate

Greg Pease is the owner of G.L. Pease, Intl. Greg began blending pipe tobacco over 30 years ago and in 1998 left his regular job of 18 years to pursue tobacco blending full time. In early 2000, G.L. Pease Tobacco was born. G.L. Pease tobaccos have become one of the better known premier pipe tobacco blends today. Greg makes it a habit of using only the best quality tobaccos that are available at any given time in his blends. G.L. Pease tobacco blends are made by hand and in small batches to maintain the integrity of his blends.

He also runs his own website [glpease.com] which is loaded with useful information about pipe tobacco and the G.L. Pease tobacco blends, all of which is written by Greg himself. You can see all of the G.L. Pease tobacco blends with their descriptions at glpease.com and cornellanddiehl.com.

I recently had the opportunity to ask Greg some questions. Here is our interview with Greg Pease of G.L. Pease Tobacco:

PM: When you first started blending pipe tobacco blends, was it more of a hobby or did you have plans to make it into a business?
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Tobacco Pipe Packing Methods - Part 2 (Videos)

By Bob Tate

This is a companion piece to my article, Tobacco Pipe Packing Methods. I apologize that it took me so long to get this piece up, but here it is. It is the video tutorials on how to do the methods described in Part 1.

I am not going to repeat the written directions as you can read them in Tobacco Pipe Packing Methods – Part 1. I am just going to post the videos in this article so that you can see visual instructions that go along with the written instructions. I am going to post the videos in the same order as the methods are listed in Part 1.

So, here they are! Read the rest of this entry »

Flake Pipe Tobacco Preparation

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! Read the rest of this entry »

Tobacco Pipe Packing Methods - Part 1

By Bob Tate

[Editors Note: Be sure to read Part Two of this article, Tobacco Pipe Packing Methods - Part 2 (With Videos), to see instructional videos on how to perform these methods.]

There are a lot of different ways to load your pipe for smoking. Here I will list a few different methods that I know of and give a brief description of them. Remember that there is no exact set of rules for packing your bowl. The goal in packing your pipe is to get a proper draw, it doesn’t matter how or which method you use to do it. The most commonly accepted draw should feel like you are drinking through a straw. When it feels like that, you should not have any problems. I prefer my draw to be a little looser than that.
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