Blend type - how many?

[tnpiper]

I ran a search to see if this has been discussed and nothing came up under "blend type," but I'm sure it's been addressed. I'm seeing all these different types of blends. I thought there were three 1) Aromatic 2) Virginia and 3) English. Is that incorrect or are there subs under these blends? Also, do blends go from weak to strong? Is there a progression? Thanks!

 

[johnsteam86]

There is so many blends but so little time. I'm still in search of the perfect working mans blend.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

Virginia, Virginia Perique, Virginia Burley, Burley, English, Balkan, Scottish, Oriental, Lakeland. Aromatics aren't really a blend type, in my honest opinion, as they can be a number of different blend types but with aromatic properties. I'm certain I'm forgetting some.

 

[mso489]

Here are a few genres, some of which overlap: English, American English, Balkan, Oriental, Virginia, Virginia Perique, burley, all-burley blends, dark-fired and associated blends, Cavendish and Cavendish blends ... and aromatics in most of those genres. And many others. Study the tobacco offerings in the pipe tobacco pages of our sponsors and you will begin to grasp the magnitude of your question! More than ninety percent of pipe tobacco sales are aromatics, although Forums members seem to lean toward non-aromatic blends numerically, with some staunch aromatic smokers in the group.

 

[cortezattic]

These links may be helpful, tnpiper:

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/tobacco-touchstones

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/categorize-pipe-tobaccos

 

[smokingcricket]

I've noticed in my a time smoking people that smoked cigars first tend to go for non aromatics while people who just get the urge to try a pipe pick up some captain black.After I mentioned wanting to try pipe smoking my wife brought home a mm cob a pouch of captain black dark and a bag of Ryo labeled as pipe tobacco.Sorry to get off subject.

 

[bnichols23]

Just on Englishes alone, you can have mild, medium, & full, each progressively stronger due to addition of heavier flavors [mainly latakia, a (nowadays) mostly Turkish tobacco]. You may hear that latakia is flavoroied by roasting over fires fueled by camel dung. That might have been true at one time, but isn't today.
"Mild" Englishes will have the least latakia (10-20% maybe); mediums a bit more (25-40% roughly), & full English is often 50% latakia or more. Being a hedonist from eons back, I've often preferred just straight 100% latakia, no blending. The taste is quite strong, & most people around can't stand the smell. I've heard it described as smelling like "dirty socks," "somebody''s old shoe," "burning rope," & [the BEST & most concise description ever] "just RANK!"
All that said, my wife actually *likes* the smell of it. For reasons I won't go into here due to propriety & etiquette.

 

[echambers]

This was one of those questions that drove me crazy when I first started smoking a pipe. I really wanted a clear style guide for, as the OP suggested, to be able to compare say English blends to English blends -- but after having tried several English blends I realize that if you've tried one Engligh (or VaPer, or Burley, or ____) then you've tried one English blend.