Questions re Classification of Tobacco

[mate]

Volk, the problem was that until very recently I was allergic to latakia, it brought on terrible hiccups. As a result I was limited to Mac Maren and like tobaccos.
But with my new found passion for Latakia, I am like one of those souls, that drank, gambled, cheated on their wives, stole from their business associates, beat their wives and children, and even worse their dog. But has suddenly converted.
As a result, I am shouting "Praise be to Latakia", from my pulpit and I dedicate my life to English, Orientals and Balkans"
And like those folk that become sudden zealots, I look down on Danish and American Aromatics and condemn those who enjoy them to tongue bite for all eternity.
But like many sudden converts who knows when I will slip off the wagon, and partake of some cherry vanilla.
After all the flesh is weak

 

[mate]

Re my Trial yesterday
⅓ McLellands Blending Latakia (Brunette)

⅓ McLellands Blending Oriental (Blonde)

⅓ S&G Squadron Leader (Red Head)
Seems this could be a staple for me, keeping the first 2 and substituting the last with, Commonwealth Mixture, Skiff or some Dunhill 956 Copy
But this fine concoction needs a name, and I am putting two forward for comments:
a) Trinidad, as this is where I live, and the island got its name when Christopher Columbus saw three mountain peaks and it reminded him of the Holy Trinity. I think GL Pease already uses this name and somehow has it mixed up with something to do with Jamaican Rum.
Thats like mixing up Mexicans and Canadians, they are separated by a great distance and have little in common
b) But on reflection, as we were discussing Blonds, Brunettes and Red Heads, I decided to call my blend
Ménage à trois

 

[mate]

A Dirty Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

 

[mate]

Its weird but true, thankfully i can now enjoy one of the finest things in life
Next time you have hiccups, try smoking a pipe, its impossible, you keep thinking you are either going to bite through the stem, or remove your tongue
With my new foray in English, Oriental and Balkan types, I no longer know what it is to have tongue bite.
I can also smoke one bowl right after another, and even use the same pipe something I never did with the pancake syrup aromatics.

 

[lessechler]

All this info is valid but in general the pipe world will classify all tobaccos in one of three ways. One, Virginia blends have mostly VA tobac and no latakia. Two, English blends which have latakia, although some exceptions are noted but in general if you tell someone a blend is an English blend they will expect it to have latakia tobacco in it. I have never heard of Old Gowrie being classified as an English before but an argument could be made that any tobac made in the UK could be considered English, even though few modern blends are actually made in the UK. Three, aromatic blends that are flavored with some form of sweet tobacco flavoring like vanilla or some other terrible substance. If one smokes aromatic blends, which is often the case if you smoke around a woman, it will adulterate the pipe and that flavor will be there perhaps forever. Use either not at all or only in certain pipes that you keep for that purpose. Balkan blends are a sub category of English blends the most notable being Balkan Sobranie which is certainly an English blend. - Les

 

[mate]

Les,
I am hoping that my "adulterate pipes" (what a nice word, being a sailor, I would have used a more ADULT verb), will improve over time. I am trying to use heavy Latakia in them, to bring them back to if not Virgin, well not so Adult state.
This brings up the question, that if you buy Estate Pipes, they may be heavily adulterated, if the previous owner smoked a lot of pancake syrup baccy, and they may never smoke nicely?

 

[mate]

Well since the world blames the USA for every evil, real or imagined. So I'll add my own.
If America had not wanted t be be rid of British Rule and behaved badly by dumping the Brits Tea in the Boston Harbor, then tobaccos would have remained the ENGLISH TYPE, and the world would not have been inundated with the American Drugstore Aromatic Blends.
Shame on you yanks now make restoration to the rest of the world by:
1) Removing all taxes from Tobacco

2) Easing up on the anti smoking laws

 

[mate]

Excellent Point re Classifying or Pigeon Holing

 

[lessechler]

All very valid points but it is my view that the perception of a thing may be quite different from the reality of a thing, and when most of the pipe world uses the term "english blend" they are not referring to a straight VA tobacco. So, in reality the rule does not always apply but in common use I would not consider Three Nuns an English blend (originally from Scotland) since it has no latakia. I have sent the question on to other collectors I know and will post some of the replies for their entertainment value. L

 

[admin]

Tobaccos made in England are English blends, are they not?

Maybe.
I think it all comes down to semantics.
Look at your rhetorical question again, "Tobaccos made in England are English blends, are they not?" and apply it to food.
IMO, if a hamburger is made in China, it is still American food.
When you go to get Chinese takeout here in the USA, it is still Chinese food even if the ingredients were grown and made in the US, it is food in the style, preparation and taste originating in China ... it is "Chinese Food".
Now apply this to tobacco. What if a pipe tobacco blend was physically made in England, but it included an added top flavor? Then it is not an English blend, right?
What about "Virginia Tobacco" that is not grown in the US state of Virginia?

 

[admin]

Here's another response from Les that got lost and I was able to recover for him.
This is from Les, not me:
Completely true in every respect, however, over the years definitions of things change. For instance, when I was a bartender I used to get lot of orders for martinis. About one third of the time they came back when the drinker expected vodka to be the booze used in making the drink. After explaining perhaps 20 or 30 times that a martini was a gin drink I just gave in to the reality that quite often the martinis of today are in fact made with vodka. There after I asked the customer what they wanted and about 30% of the time they wanted vodka. This is especially true in California. In any case, calling a blend a latakia blend is a great way to be understood better, and a habit that many of us should try to cultivate. How easy it is for us to fall into the habits that are not precise.

 

[admin]

I am also going to start a martini thread in the drink forum with this same post and a response.

 

[mate]

Re Kevin said "This is especially true in California."
I think things from California are especially hard to categorize,
For example the POP STAR that died recently, was it male or female, black or white. I am really at a loss to categorize that one

 

[admin]

Hmmm ... it seems volk deleted his account as all his posts are now "Anonymous" and he has disappeared from the site.
Did I say something wrong?

 

[mate]

Re "Hmmm ... it seems volk deleted his account as all his posts are now "Anonymous" and he has disappeared from the site.
Did I say something wrong?"
No more than likely ts something I said.
I suffer from chronic HOOF IN MOUTH disease

 

[admin]

It's too bad. He seemed to know a lot about pipes and pipe smoking. However, you can't force someone to stay somewhere they do not want to.
I didn't think anything here was offensive, and I have certainly seen some forums that are plenty rough.

 

[admin]

I exchanged emails with him. It wouldn't be right to repeat private conversation in public, so suffice it to say, he didn't feel like participating anymore for personal reasons.

 

[mate]

This is from the following link:

http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/08/balkan-sobranie-postscript.html
WHAT IS BALKAN TOBACCO?
There are any number of pipe-tobaccos on the market that use the term Balkan as part of their description or name. This did not begin with Balkan Sobranie, but it is largely due to them that the term Balkan gained such currency. The success and popularity of the Balkan Sobranie Original Mixture started a veritable cult among pipe smokers that continues to this day, even though the Balkan Sobranie Original Mixture is long gone.
Most Balkans, like the Balkan Sobranie itself, derive the greater part of their flavour from Turkish tobaccos - that being the term in common use for small leaf fragrant tobaccos grown in the Southern Balkans and Asia Minor. Many of the best Turkish tobaccos come from Greece, Macedonia, European Turkey, and Izmir (Smyrna). Some other Turkish leaf comes from the Black Sea coast. Other areas that grow 'Turkish' tobacco are the Crimea, Syria, and, formerly, Egypt. The term Turkish, in the case of tobacco, refers to leaf grown in the former Ottoman sphere of influence rather than modern Turkey.
Balkan tobaccos are a subset of Turkish. The Balkan Sobranie was compounded with Yenidje tobacco, grown in Macedonia - at one time part of the Ottoman Empire; it should not be confused with either Yenice in Çanakkale which straddles the Dardanelles, or Yenice in Karabük which is located between Ankara and the Black Sea. The Yenidje from whence the tobacco is now called Giannitsa or Yannitsa - both Greece and Macedonia claim the name. Yenidje tobacco as such is not available, but the precise same cultivar is grown in European Turkey, and yields a very similar leaf.

 

[python]

Good info John!

 

[mate]

I came across this Site and it answered many of my questions re Classification of Tobacco
It also had other useful info on Aging etc
http://www.nocturne.org/jason/aging/categorization.php#q1
While I personally like things broken up into Black or White, On or Off, it appears that in the world of Pipes & Tobaccos, there are no clear cut distinctions.........
But the data here is very informative and usefull
This post is dedicated to Volks