"Cigar" Type in Pipe Blends

[BarrelProof]

As a 25 year cigar smoker and recent convert to pipes, I have really enjoyed C&D Habana Daydream which you can get in bulk. I did score a 4 year old tin so that may have something to do with it, but I've found it to be a very nicely balanced blend with no bite. I also like to use burley and cigar leaf to cut aromatics and Englishes to make them a little more to my tastes. Burley tends to agree with my cigar-loving mouth. Virginias smoke very hot to me.

Your dad also might like something like Sutliff J4 burley or Sutliff 79 mixed with a bit of cigar leaf.

Thanks! This is more in line with what I’m looking for. Solid advice from @mortonbriar and @shermnatman but if I’m trying to get him to explore pipe tobacco, cutting up a cigar and stuffing it into a pipe is only going to have him thinking it’s not worth his time. Just my opinion, but I know the old man and how he is.

I’ll grab a few of these tins, along with Winchester, between now and when he gets here and then report back.

 

[kcghost]

I dearly love cigars and in fact prefer them over pipes, but I have never tasted a pipe tobacco that had cigar leaf in it that I thought was any good.

 

[Sjmiller CPG]

There are a number of cigars that use Pennsylvania Broadleaf as a wrapper.

 

[logs]

I dearly love cigars and in fact prefer them over pipes, but I have never tasted a pipe tobacco that had cigar leaf in it that I thought was any good.

I sort of know what you mean. I always wanted that cigar flavor in a pipe tobacco and never got it. Then I started buying various types of cigar leaf from Whole Leaf Tobacco and realized none of them actually tasted like cigar either (at least when smoked in a pipe). I think the problem is the term "cigar leaf" is way too vague. There are a million different types of leaf that can be used in cigars and they all taste different. Once I gave up on looking for the typical cigar flavor from any of these then I could start to appreciate what they actually bring to the table.

 

[JRW11b]

I think C&D Billy Budd is wrapper, but I don' know more than that. Kay Largo lists "velvety cigar wrapper leaf" on the tin.

I understand wrapper leaf comes from non-tobacco-belt states like Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

I like cigar leaf. C&D sells it separately as a condiment for mixing your own. I think it adds a nice tone to a blend, but I don't think the effect is like smoking a cigar. Cigars are engineered, if you will, for a certain taste and burn. In a pipe they are light and lively to me. A pipe sort of sets them free -- my highly subjective experience.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe the C&D one is PA broadleaf, one of my favorite wrappers on a cigar.

 

[mso489]

Cigar leaf or not, you just can't get a cigar experience with a pipe, or a pipe experience with a cigar. I enjoy cigar leaf in a pipe by itself, mild but rich and burns well. I think of a cigar as a restaurant meal, where the chef makes all the decisions and you eat the meal -- smoke the cigar. Whereas with a pipe, you make all the choices and take all the blame. The pipe tobacco blenders are like good grocers providing the means.

I do enjoy the occasional cigar, every month or every few, but I'm more involved with pipes. Since I'm a moderate smoker, the cost difference isn't decisive for me, but you can get twenty smokes or a few more out of one tin for the price of one premium cigar. That makes me feel rewarded for preferring a pipe.

 

[ParkitoATL]

Since I'm a moderate smoker, the cost difference isn't decisive for me, but you can get twenty smokes or a few more out of one tin for the price of one premium cigar. That makes me feel rewarded for preferring a pipe.

Cost was one of the things that really pushed me over to pipes. I was never a huge Cuban fan, even a few years ago I thought they were ridiculously overpriced, but when HABANOS indexed to the Hong Kong market and many of their already outrageous prices doubled or tripled, I was OUT. For New World cigars, I've found that even mass market cigar mediocrities like Oliva and Perdomo are sometimes double the cost of a good bulk OUNCE. It's kind of unreal, to be honest. I've got some Cuban boxes I will eventually sell to finance a few good Meers and then put cigars in the rear view mirror, more or less.

I'm surprised more people haven't caught on to pipes. I frankly wish someone had slapped me on the back of the head 20 years ago and said "try a pipe you big dummy!!" Not that I regret smoking cigars, but pipe smoking is just a much more enjoyable experience. I can taste the smoke in a way I never could with cigars, and my wife doesn't hate the smell or make me take a shower after I finish!