Definitions

[Tom-202]

I renewed my interest in pipe smoking a year or so ago. I have a wide taste palate and keep buying new blends. This process feels a bit like an addiction. Before retirement I was a shrink.

I devised a simple category-based Word doc and went to all the tins and baggies which I had already marked with a five point scale. I thought I had 35 or so tobacco. To my surprise I had twice that and then some.

GLP Windjammer initially got a lower rating. I think that’s because I wasn’t sure what I was tasting. And that goes to the categories. Is this a VaPer or something else?

Windjammer says it has a bit of rum. Does this make it an aromatic? Apparently not.

Does the ‘presence’ of a type of tobacco create a definitional category?

Hey it’s a hobby. Who cares? We are all different. I suspect newer blenders are challenging the traditional categories. All good. Taste is individual. Still, new folk can get confused easily.

I don’t care for reviews where people tell me what they taste. I do like reviews where this named tobacco is compared to that named tobacco. So people can calibrate.

I like GLP Windjammer. I like Westminster or Quiet Nights and know they are not VaPer’s. But distinguishing VaPer’s is so far illusive for me.

I need to get to The Container Store. Or maybe stop trying new blends. No. I’m not going to do that!

 

[FLDRD]

+1 for the container store...

And use tobaccoreviews.com as a source for reviews. Some will tell you what is tasted from various leaf, others will compare blends to one another. You may find a reviewer with a style that helps you.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Does the ‘presence’ of a type of tobacco create a definitional category?

Categories are always getting lines crossed with the creativity of the blenders. Ultimately categories exist to try to make it easier for customers to know what to expect, but then it gets fuzzy.

Casings are flavors added early in the process of creating the blend. They can have alcohol in them or fruit flavors, but they are supposed to merely enhance the flavor of the tobacco, keep blends consistent over the years, or some companies use them to add a proprietorial flavor to the blends. These would be considered just regular tobacco to the manufacturers.

Toppings are what make a blend an aromatic. They are flavors that are added later in the process.

However, sometimes it gets hard to distinguish whether something is merely cased or topped.

For categories to make it easier for us to know what to expect, the lines do get fuzzy.
For me, "in my opinion" alcohol would make it an aromatic. But, I am not an expert, nor someone to whom the industry would want my opinions, ha ha.

 

[Tom-202]

+1 for the container store...

And use tobaccoreviews.com as a source for reviews. Some will tell you what is tasted from various leaf, others will compare blends to one another. You may find a reviewer with a style that helps you.

Thanks. I check TobaccoReviews often but wish people would compare this one to another one. The flavors one senses are ephemeral — but I know people are trying to help.

 

[anotherbob]

I renewed my interest in pipe smoking a year or so ago. I have a wide taste palate and keep buying new blends. This process feels a bit like an addiction. Before retirement I was a shrink.

I devised a simple category-based Word doc and went to all the tins and baggies which I had already marked with a five point scale. I thought I had 35 or so tobacco. To my surprise I had twice that and then some.

GLP Windjammer initially got a lower rating. I think that’s because I wasn’t sure what I was tasting. And that goes to the categories. Is this a VaPer or something else?

Windjammer says it has a bit of rum. Does this make it an aromatic? Apparently not.

Does the ‘presence’ of a type of tobacco create a definitional category?

Hey it’s a hobby. Who cares? We are all different. I suspect newer blenders are challenging the traditional categories. All good. Taste is individual. Still, new folk can get confused easily.

I don’t care for reviews where people tell me what they taste. I do like reviews where this named tobacco is compared to that named tobacco. So people can calibrate.

I like GLP Windjammer. I like Westminster or Quiet Nights and know they are not VaPer’s. But distinguishing VaPer’s is so far illusive for me.

I need to get to The Container Store. Or maybe stop trying new blends. No. I’m not going to do that!

the only hint I can give you to help is that all these terms are not factually solid, they're marketing terms. They're what the person who packaged the blend wants you to think about it before you buy it. Which means there is some consistency in these terms but there is not any guarantee about what the terms mean. I never paid any attention to that stuff until being here on this site. I'd buy a blend because it sounded good but the whole burly, VA, etc. And honestly I have favorites in each category and least favorites in each. And it's hard to pinpoint where the magic is. I think magic is an under utilized term for the intangible but efficacious qualities of pipes.

 

[AJL67]

That reminds me, I need to go to the hammock store, either Hammocks R Us or maybe the Hammock Hut probably one of those two.

 

[anotherbob]

That reminds me, I need to go to the hammock store, either Hammocks R Us or maybe the Hammock Hut probably one of those two.

Hammocks Hammocks Hammocks is the better choice.

 

[sardonicus87]

This is why I only use 4 categories (aro, English, VA, burley). Well there's a 5th category for weird stuff that truly doesn't go anywhere else, but what bin I use depends on it's nature (Rustica goes in the VA bin, oriental in the burley bin). I don't separate VA into VA/bur, VAper, straight, etc. If VA is dominant and the basis, that defines it as a VA to me regardless of what else it's mixed with.

If something is listed as "English aromatic", I put it based on taste. Is it an aromatic with heavy dose of lat? Then it's aro and goes in the aro bin. Is it an English with just a hint of added flavor? Then it's English and goes in the English bin.

I don't see the need, personally, for sub-genres beyond those 4, let alone even tighter micro-genres. Even then, that's just so I can more easily find what I am in the mood for.

 

[Tom-202]

the only hint I can give you to help is that all these terms are not factually solid, they're marketing terms. They're what the person who packaged the blend wants you to think about it before you buy it. Which means there is some consistency in these terms but there is not any guarantee about what the terms mean. I never paid any attention to that stuff until being here on this site. I'd buy a blend because it sounded good but the whole burly, VA, etc. And honestly I have favorites in each category and least favorites in each. And it's hard to pinpoint where the magic is. I think magic is an under utilized term for the intangible but efficacious qualities of pipes.

Exactly! Well put. Well said.

 

[nathaniel]

VaPers are just Virginia and perique. Any other component like oriental/lat/burley/cav/ makes it something other than a vaper.

 

[nathaniel]

English/oriental/balkan... Now THAT'S where definitions get janky.

 

[renfield]

Hammocks Hammocks Hammocks is the better choice.

There’s also Swing Low, Sweet Chairiot. It’s down in the Hammock District as well.

 

[anotherbob]

There’s also Swing Low, Sweet Chairiot. It’s down in the Hammock District as well.

yeah but they always try and rip you off with their warranty silliness!