newbie asking about cross-pollinating tobacco and pipes

[atjurhs]

Hey guys,
As said above, I'm a newbie to the pipe tobacco world, but I've read that you should not intermix/cross-pollinate certain blends of tobacco between pipes, that they will change the flavor.
So I would like to know if in the following list of tobaccos (in no particular order) should I set aside certain ones for a specific pipe, certain groups of blends for a specific pipe, or all these plenty enough alike to smoke anyone of them between all my pipes without cross-pollinating:
- Frog Mortons Classic and Cellar

- Dark Kentucky Strong

- Gaslight

- Chonowitsch T16

- Night Cap

- Mac Barren's Old Dark Fired

- G.L. Pease Union Square

- Irish Flake

- Gawith Hoggarts Kendal Kentucky

- 3 Nuns
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HELP
Todd

 

[Chasing Embers]

All up to the individual. I have a few pipes dedicated to particular genres, and some dedicated to particular blends. Lakelands, latakias, aromatics, and strong Perique blends will ghost a pipe. Some dedicate pipes, and others don't. I would suggest getting a handful of cobs to tinker with preferences and then decide how to assign any dedications.

 

[atjurhs]

Thanks for your thought!
For whatever reason, idk, I don't enjoy using corn-cobbs
Do any of the ones I've listed fit in specific "genres" To be honest, I really don't know which ones are Latakias, Perique Orientals, or Virginas blends. I don't think any of those are aromatics, but I could be wrong, but I do see there is a consistency that many are "Kentuckians" but that's about all I know.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Some would say the Kendal Kentucky, but I've never noticed the typical floral Lakeland topping.

 

[kanse]

x Frog Mortons Classic and Cellar

x Gaslight

x Night Cap
z Dark Kentucky Strong
p Chonowitsch T16
y Mac Barren's Old Dark Fired

y G.L. Pease Union Square

y Irish Flake

y Gawith Hoggarts Kendal Kentucky

y 3 Nuns
I'd split them u like this, between 2 or more pipes.

X being Latakia-centric blends, they should be fine from one pipe. If you have a pipe with 0.8" bowl width and about 1.5-1.6" bowl height, I'd devote it to these blends.
Y being Va-burs, they will do fine from a single pipe as well. I've tasted Kendal shag before and I do not believe it has any floral ghosting quality, or a topping at all for that matter. Union Square is a straight VA but I don't have a problem smoking that from a VaBur pipe.
Chonowitsch is a vaper+oriental, you might want to try it from a vaper pipe if you have one, or stick it in one of the previous pipe groups. I'd do it from the English smoker plainly because it's similar in composition to nightcap and I would not want a perique ghost in my vabur pipe.
Dark strong Kentucky, I've never had it, but I know it has a topping and I do not know how strong it is. If it is not particularly prone to ghosting just send it into the Y group.

 

[atjurhs]

kanse, that is incredibly helpful to me!
what is "ghosting" and "topping" and "vaper"
THANKS AGAIN!
Todd

 

[kanse]

VaPer is a Virginia/Perique blend.

Topping is a sauce applied to tobacco to impart taste and aroma.

Ghosting is an occurrence, where a tobacco leaf or the topping, after being smoked from a pipe leaves a trace of it's aroma or taste in the pipe for a long while. It's quite significant in some cases, not so much in others.

 

[mikestanley]

VaPer is a Virginia Perique blend. Three Nuns used to be that, but I believe it is simply a Virginia blend now. Ghosting is the leaving of a scent or flavoring from one tobacco blend that effects other tobaccos smoked in the same pipe. As an example, if you smoked a couple of tins of Nightcap or Gaslight in a pipe and then smoked a tin of Union Square in the same pipe. The latakia flavor may stay in the pipe walls and have an effect on the lighter Virginia blend. This is only a problem if effects the flavor to you. It may not.
Topping is a flavoring added to a blend later in the process. It effects the aroma of the burning leaf and the flavor. Think Honey, Rum, Chocolate etc.
Mike S.

 

[toobfreak]

Cross-pollinating pipes and tobaccos? What are we talking about here? There is no pollination going on here! Just keep your stronger aromatics apart from your English blends. You don't need no fricking slide rule or algebra to smoke tobacco. Sooner or later you may find yourself mixing them anyway. I don't know why people like to make things more complicated than they have to be.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I believe you meant "cross polluting"!
In any event, since I am mostly an English blend smoker, I dedicate a only a couple of pipes to VAs and VaPers. I don't smoke aros or Lakelands. And a bowl of VA in my English pipe goes by unnoticed. Steady smoking of one type for a bunch of bowls can ghost the pipe for a very different blend, of course.

 

[kanse]

mikestanley

Nuns are Va/Kentucky these days.

 

[atjurhs]

Awesome! that's exactly the kind of info I needed.
Sounds like I may need to buy a couple more pips
Thanks!
Todd

 

[mso489]

The only blends I'd worry about are Lakeland aromatics. Some people are sensitive about mixing Lat blends with others; I'm not. It's the persistence of flavor, not that you pick up an occasional whiff from the previous bowl. But if you find that unpleasant, you can designate pipes to specific blends. It doesn't bother me in the least. Some people like to preserve some pipes for Virginia blends only. What music do you dance to?

 

[atjurhs]

kanse, I do happen to have a very nice pipe that fits those exact dimension, thanks!
What is meant when you guys say "English" is that meaning any blend that is not an aromatic? btw, I almost never smoke aromatics (too much of a "purest") but if a buddy gives me some to try, and I don't want to offend him, I always smoke any aromatic from one specific pipe that is set aside just for this very situation.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Okay, I get to post again. At work. :|
An English blend tends to be one containing Latakia. Though these can be divided into English, Scottish, and Balkan. Va/Per, Virginia, and Burley blends fall into the non aromatic category.

 

[toobfreak]

Steady smoking of one type for a bunch of bowls can ghost the pipe for a very different blend, of course.

Another fertile thought. If that were the case and I would not disagree, then mixing it up smoking a variety of blends in your pipes might tend them away from ghosting as much, and I would think that a really good cleaning might as well. If not, then the source of the ghosting likely remains in the cake of the bowl. If true, then a light ream or salt bath might fix that.
Lots of intentional assumptions here. That said, I have much more tendency towards ghosting in my briars than I do my meers. The first thing I discovered with my first cob was how much my briar pipes impacted the flavor! For a long time, I had three sets of briar pipes: for strong aros only, for Virginia forward blends, and the third group for the English types. That too seemed to work well.

 

[atjurhs]

Fortunately I don't smoke aromatics, can't even stand the smell of them in an open tin. So that will save me on buying a pipe just for them

 

[toobfreak]

Have you smells all aromatics? There are thousands of them of every kind imagined and not imagined, in fact, the vast majority of blends are!

 

[Perique]

IMHO, it is wise to dedicate pipes to particular styles of pipe tobacco. At minimum: VA, VaPer, Latakia (be it English or Balkan), aromatic.
Personally, I'll segment out VA, VaPer, English, Balkan, Oriental, Aromatic, and Burley/hybrid. The key, however, is to recognize when a pipe finds its soulmate blend, and isolate that combination. All tobacco blends will "ghost" a pipe. It's just a matter of whether you can smoke through it or whether it will require deep cleaning to eliminate the ghost. I figure, why bother? Mate the blend to the pipe.
And then there's the matter of which shapes do justice to which types of blends....