Balkans... Rubber Tire?

[Kooky]

I smoked cigarettes (quit a long time ago, many years before I smoked a pipe) and cigars (which I still smoke) before I picked up a pipe, and the only pipe tobaccos I truly dislike are Latakia and flowery Lakelands. It isn’t a question of “taking a while to enjoy them,” I am 100% certain I don’t like them. I gave them a good chance, and they’re not for me.
I also don’t like raspberry vinaigrette. I don’t stress about it or try to acquire the taste. I just eat the salad dressings that I enjoy. Same with pipe tobacco.

Ever since I became a V-word I have trained myself to like 100% of the flavors I get my hands on, things I absolute abhorred not long before. Anise and dill were my last bastions, I actually just ate anise tonight in one of my favorite stews of all time which uses an Uyghur spice blend. I do feel it's possible to acquire tastes for things.

However, I love dill, and I love cucumbers, but dill pickled cucumbers I can take or leave (I know this is blasphemy to some), they have flavors I enjoy but the end result is just eh. Dill pickled fennel I can eat by the cup full. I think this is a more suitable analogy for how you feel albeit not perfect.

I am on a quest to find tobaccos with absolutely no casing. The trade secret, hidden info about blends sort of peeves me in this regard. They leave it to us to figure out what's on it if it's not utterly blatant. I'd rather be told so I don't waste my money.

 

[OzPiper]

I am on a quest to find tobaccos with absolutely no casing.

Look up Vincent Manil's Semois tobaccos.
Burley grown in Belgium. Unadulterated.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

I placed my first order knowing nothing.

The Tobacco Locator

www.smokingpipes.com

Look at the categories under the "Family" filter in the Tobacco Locator, it will nicely separate all of the available blends by genre.

 

[Kooky]

The Tobacco Locator

www.smokingpipes.com

Look at the categories under the "Family" filter in the Tobacco Locator, it will nicely separate all of the available blends by genre.

Yes that’s how I bought my second batch after getting some aromatics in the first. I’m still convinced a couple of the English I’ve tried have a casing…

 

[pantsBoots]

Yes that’s how I bought my second batch after getting some aromatics in the first. I’m still convinced a couple of the English I’ve tried have a casing…

Most pipe (and cigarette) tobacco has a casing. After it is cured using the respective method (air, flue, or dark fired), it is usually stored dry to age. When they're reading to start working with it, they spray with water and usually at least a little sugar to temper the rougher edges. If you've ever smoked cured tobacco with no casing, you'll see the rationale.

I'm like you - I like my tobacco to taste like tobacco. Pipes are somewhat changing that for me, though I still shy away from aromatics and tobacco blends where the topping/casing doesn't burn off after a few minutes. If I want pure, unadulterated tobacco, I grab a cigar.

 

[canucklehead]

Yes that’s how I bought my second batch after getting some aromatics in the first. I’m still convinced a couple of the English I’ve tried have a casing…

With very few exceptions, all pipe tobacco is cased. Some a lot more than others, and some with more funky stuff, but in general, pipe tobacco is cased.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I find the UK flag unsurprising in this case... I am a huge soccer fan, sometimes I feel like I should've been born in the UK. Wonder how shunned pipe culture is there compared to America?

What is/are your teams?

Spurs here; some Champions League watching; some matches of other leagues, but no American teams.

 

[Kooky]

Most pipe (and cigarette) tobacco has a casing. After it is cured using the respective method (air, flue, or dark fired), it is usually stored dry to age. When they're reading to start working with it, they spray with water and usually at least a little sugar to temper the rougher edges. If you've ever smoked cured tobacco with no casing, you'll see the rationale.

I'm like you - I like my tobacco to taste like tobacco. Pipes are somewhat changing that for me, though I still shy away from aromatics and tobacco blends where the topping/casing doesn't burn off after a few minutes. If I want pure, unadulterated tobacco, I grab a cigar.

Sorry, I should’ve said a casing beyond something simple like sugar. As far as I can tell they need casings for preservation.

However like the blend I mentioned, I tasted menthol but my palate is still new. I’d presume a sugar casing has minimal flavor, maybe mild sweetness. But yea, the simpler the better. Besides the tobacco usually being sprayed with pesticides I can imagine that the casings are not organic either. Less pesticide is always good, and I’d rather just have pure tobacco coming from an infrequent cigar smoker (probably 5-10 over a decade).

Aromatics remind me a bit too much of vapes. Aromatic tobacco to the industry, from a video I watched, usually refers to Orientals.

Once my tobacco plants get going, I have space for 54... Typical "smoking tobacco", cigar leaf, Iranian pipe tobacco, and perique I believe will take up all the slots. Apparently 2-3 entire leaves creates a cigar, which sounds good to me. I will have to experiment with casings... It'd be nice if this information was "open source" so people could try and improve.

 

[Kooky]

What is/are your teams?

Spurs here; some Champions League watching; some matches of other leagues, but no American teams.

I am not a sports fan. As in I won't turn the TV to watch whatever sport is on, but I do enjoy soccer very much. Randomly got into it watching the Copa America. I liked Brazil but have no affiliation with any team. Those boys can play, much more rough and rowdy than Premiere League and La Liga, which I'm watching now. However they're all good. I played soccer for a decade, was into powerlifting before the pandemic. Now I run maybe 2 miles a day if I'm lucky, I hate running for no reason.

For PL I like Arsenal, because that was the team I'd always choose for no reason when I was younger and played Fifa...

 

[lukasstrifeson]

I am not a sports fan. As in I won't turn the TV to watch whatever sport is on, but I do enjoy soccer very much. Randomly got into it watching the Copa America. I liked Brazil but have no affiliation with any team. Those boys can play, much more rough and rowdy than Premiere League and La Liga, which I'm watching now. However they're all good. I played soccer for a decade, was into powerlifting before the pandemic. Now I run maybe 2 miles a day if I'm lucky, I hate running for no reason.

For PL I like Arsenal, because that was the team I'd always choose for no reason when I was younger and played Fifa...

If you like football, Copa America is definitely not to be missed.

Luiz Dias really put on a show to take Colombia to the Finals this year and now he's doing the stuff at Liverpool.

 

[pantsBoots]

Sorry, I should’ve said a casing beyond something simple like sugar. As far as I can tell they need casings for preservation.

However like the blend I mentioned, I tasted menthol but my palate is still new. I’d presume a sugar casing has minimal flavor, maybe mild sweetness. But yea, the simpler the better. Besides the tobacco usually being sprayed with pesticides I can imagine that the casings are not organic either. Less pesticide is always good, and I’d rather just have pure tobacco coming from an infrequent cigar smoker (probably 5-10 over a decade).

Aromatics remind me a bit too much of vapes. Aromatic tobacco to the industry, from a video I watched, usually refers to Orientals.

Once my tobacco plants get going, I have space for 54... Typical "smoking tobacco", cigar leaf, Iranian pipe tobacco, and perique I believe will take up all the slots. Apparently 2-3 entire leaves creates a cigar, which sounds good to me. I will have to experiment with casings... It'd be nice if this information was "open source" so people could try and improve.

You're growing Perique! Now is this a One Sucker Burley, or a varietal sourced from Louisiana? I've read that they are one and the same. How are you planning on curing it?

 

[jpmcwjr]

Perique is made, not grown.

 

[PoplarWight]

Latakia tobacco is dark fired. Unlike Kentucky & Tennessee dark fired tobaccos which use hickory, sycamore, and other local woods, Latakia is fired, at least in part, by mastic tree slabs and chips. I've always assumed the "burnt rubber" notes of Latakia come from the chemical components of that particular tree. Somehow, it works (for me).

That explains something that I had noticed. I have chewed mastic gum before, and heard that the Egyptians used it as incense, so I lit some on fire. Very pleasant. Explains the "incense" like aroma I get from Lat occasionally.

 

[canucklehead]

Perique is made, not grown.

Perique is a tobacco varietal as well.

Perique Tobacco - Victory Seeds®

Historically used as a smoking, chewing, cigar, and cigarette variety.

www.victoryseeds.com

 

[Kooky]

What is/are your teams?

Spurs here; some Champions League watching; some matches of other leagues, but no American teams.

I got into soccer last year when I watched the Copa America

Perique is made, not grown.

The perique that we smoke and everyone knows is "made" but only after it's grown as a specific varietal from Louisiana. Hence, I just planted the perique heirloom varietal from Louisiana which is different from other varietals, regardless of the processing after harvest.

You could take some some broadleaf green leaves, and do everything to it that is done to perique, but it wouldn't be perique.

 

[Kooky]

Here's the list I've got going (Nicotiana tabacum is what we smoke)... The first name is just a specific varietal. I only have maximum, 18 of each plant started right now.

Smoking tobacco - Nicotiana tabacum (pipe)
Perique tobacco - Nicotiana tabacum (fermented pipe)
West Indies tobacco - Nicotiana tabacum (fermented cigar)
Shirazi tobacco - Nicotiana tabacum (Iranian Oriental, pipe, is this in our blends?)
Walker's tobacco - Nicotiana tabacum (fire cured, cigars)

Oneida tobacco - Nicotiana rustic (Native American tribe, apparently this can be smoked and enjoyed)
Huichol tobacco - Nicotiana langsdorfii (Mexican, make yourself puke or ceremonial, or don't smoke it)
Hopi tobacco - Nicotiana rustic (Native American tribe, same as above...)

I'm going to sun-cure everything I can. I'll try to find a used barrel/lid and pressure ferment perique. Maybe I will fire cure Walker's if I can build a clay, Earthen oven.

It will all be quite interesting. The above is the only reason I picked up pipe smoking. Interesting to see how this all plays out. I'd love to have an organic farm.

I will try to document how this plays out so that I can post the info here. From what goes right to what goes wrong... Harvesting, curing, fermenting, smoking...

​

 

[pantsBoots]

Perique is made, not grown.

That is incredibly over-simplified and not entirely true. While I understand the Perique process is fermentation under pressure in a barrel (in Louisiana), the fact is they use, I believe, one lone varietal in this process. That varietal is most closely related to One Sucker Burley, the same used to make dip and some chew.

 

[Kooky]

That is incredibly over-simplified and not entirely true. While I understand the Perique process is fermentation under pressure in a barrel (in Louisiana), the fact is they use, I believe, one lone varietal in this process. That varietal is most closely related to One Sucker Burley, the same used to make dip and some chew.

The correct thing also a bit goofy.

you can grow perique but it might not be perique. you can make perique but it might not be perique…

one word seems to be a varietal as well as a traditional process.

I just got a Cajun cookbook. Kind of want to visit Louisiana someday.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Just because someone calls some leaf and seeds "Perique" doesn't mean it's a real varietal. At one point, some tobacco in St. James parish became preferred for the fermenting barrels. It became called "perique leaf". Now, whether it's been coaxed into its own varietal or not, I cannot say.

But the process is far more important that the strain of burley used.

 

[Kooky]

Just because someone calls some leaf and seeds "Perique" doesn't mean it's a real varietal. At one point, some tobacco in St. James parish became preferred for the fermenting barrels. It became called "perique leaf". Now, whether it's been coaxed into its own varietal or not, I cannot say.

But the process is far more important that the strain of burley used.

And just because they call a seed Perique doesn't mean it's fake.