How Much Tobacco Pipe Is of % of Total Tobacco Use?

[64alex]

The tobacco pipe is a very small fraction of the total tobacco production, but how much is it? 3%, 1%, 0.1%... The real underlying reason of the question is, given the overall small amount of pipe tobacco compared to the total tobacco production, if the tobacco pipe in its varieties (virginia, burley, orientals, latakia, dark fired, perique) is originally grown/cured to be pipe tobacco or is it a byproduct of cigarette or cigar production. I have to say I know nearly nothing about cigarette and cigar as I only smoke tobacco pipe but I think it should be an interested topic to be sort it out.

 

[jvnshr]

Crops vary from year to year, and the fact that what's currently available on the tobacco market (from previous harvests) doesn't satisfy one specific set of requirements does not mean that 1) it won't be there in the future or 2) the rest of the supply isn't good. It's very similar to wine in that respect. What's different is that winemakers and wine buyers understand vintage variations, while tobacco producers and smokers seek consistency. (That some classic blends have been morphed into something completely different from what they once were yet still retain an enthusiastic audience belies this statement, I realize, but there are always outliers to any trend.)
Believe it or not, the big cigarette companies are very particular with the leaf they buy. I've met some leaf buyers, and the knowledge and experience they bring when buying tobacco is remarkable. As a $120-billion dollar per year industry, cigarette producers drive the bus. We're fortunate, in a very real way, because without them, either pipe tobacco wouldn't exist or it would be prohibitively expensive. Still, more quality leaf is grown than they buy, and we get to take advantage of that.

Original post by G.L.Pease

 

[daveinlax]

Another question is how much pipe tobacco sold is Traditional Pipe Tobacco and how much is relabeled RYO "pipe tobacco". I take at guess at less than 5% is Traditional. 8O

 

[mso489]

I bet that figure, or those figures, are hard to pin down. The tobacco market is so proprietorial and secretive, but I'm sure the percent of the market so hugely committed to cigarettes, and to a lesser degree cigars, is minute in pipe tobacco. I hope this tiny demographic will protect the tobacco pipe industry, but perhaps it only makes it a small "fly" to swat.

 

[seacaptain]

Less than 5% for sure, probably 2% or so, but that's just a guess.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Probably somewhere between 5-1%, and then 95% of that is aromatics. We have always had to note to our members here that we are a freakishly small percentage of the whole market, which makes the facts look skewed, since we don't get many aromatic smokers on here. They tend not to have much to offer in discussing tastes and such. Probably because aromatics don't have much tastes. It just be a much of guys talking about smells, and that'd be weird. ::

 

[pipesticks]

Chinese tobacco production is about ten times what the U.S. produces. Here's stats by country from 2016....
https://www.statista.com/statistics/261173/leading-countries-in-tobacco-production/
They also consume about ten times more cigarettes than the U.S.

 

[jndyer]

I have to agree that a discussion involving guys and smells would not be a great discussion.

 

[64alex]

[Chinese tobacco production is about ten times what the U.S. produces. Here's stats by country from 2016....
https://www.statista.com/statistics/261173/leading-countries-in-tobacco-production/]
It looks like it is on a subscription only publication.

 

[kcghost]

I would guess it is less that 1%.

 

[craiginthecorn]

I seem to recall an industry guest on Brian Levine's show say it was .50%. I can't recall who it was, though.
According to a CDC publication, in 2006, a year which predates tobacco legislation that blurred pipe tobacco statistics due to low-taxed "pipe" tobacco being used for roll-your-own cigarettes, cigarettes accounted for 95% of tobacco usage by weight. Pipe tobacco accounted for roughly 10% of the balance at .57% of the total.

 

[craiginthecorn]

Another observation about that CDC report is that "pipe" tobacco usage increased nearly 700% in the couple of years following the 2009 tobacco tax changes. This is a key reason why the FDA wants to mess with pipe tobacco, because nearly 90% of what is classified as pipe tobacco is actually used for cigarettes.

 

[pipesticks]

Another observation about that CDC report is that "pipe" tobacco usage increased nearly 700% in the couple of years following the 2009 tobacco tax changes.

Tobacco is tobacco. The only thing that has changed is cig tobacco cut changed to pipe cut to do an end run around the ridiculously stupid overtaxation of RYO tobacco. That's it. That year in 2009, if I remember right (and I'm guesstimating here), pipe tobacco tax went up like $2 a pound where RYO tobacco went up more like $40 a pound. Insane.
Traditional cig tobacco is burley or a burley/VA or a burley/oriental or a burley/VA/oriental blend. They even make cigs with perique or latakia added. Tobacco always has been and always will be dual purpose. Stuff your pipe or roll one. Pulverize it and it is now snuff. Keep it larger and moister and you can chew it. It's not an "us" vs "them" thing but many pipe smokers like to pretend there is a clear separate distinction.
Saw a guy claim on youtube how nice and clean his house walls were because he smoked pipe tobacco and not that nasty cig tobacco. That one really cracked me up. Guess what?....it's all the same leaf, folks.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

...it's all the same leaf, folks.

Yes, and no. It all starts off as the same leaf, but RYO is actually a much better tobacco than what is actually in the cigarettes sold over the counter at gas stations. I did a tour of a cigarette plant as a teen, with a friend who's dad worked for them, and our families. It was pretty cool, but they explained that to get the correct dosages of nicotine and the trademark flavorings, they took the tobacco through a process. They pressed all of the natural oils from the tobacco, and then collected the juices and seperated the cellulose of the leaf (pretty much dry paper pulp). The juices were all then balanced for nicotine and such with flavorings added, like cherry, apple, licorice, and a bunch of other stuff that you never taste in the cigarette. Then it was rehydrated with the mix. Then, it was made into cigarettes.
At one time cigarettes were natural tobaccos. RYOs use the natural tobaccos, and taste rather good in the pipe too. But, if you crumpled a cigarette from a pack and put it in your pipe, it would taste nasty. Try putting a flake of tobacco on your tongue and a flake of RYO. The first will burn with all of the chemicals, the second will just taste like tobacco.
But, originally, it was all the same. RYO in a pipe cut is rather tasty in a pipe. It was one of the first I smoked when switching from cigs. But, what is in manufactured cigarettes is not what I would call a natural product. There may be other brands that use natural tobaccos in their cigs, but then how would they regulate the nicotine and tar content? Natural tobaccos are different depending on nitrogen in the soil, sunlight, environmental conditions, whether it was top leaves or bottom leaves... Too many variables to get an accurate estimate.
I notice a difference between the smell in my house now as opposed to when I smoked cigarettes. It used to have that stale barroom smell, but now people remark on how good my house smells. It has more of a natural tobacco smell. Unless of course I smoke latakia or dark fired. Then my family says it smells like a barroom. ::