If you’re a pipe smoker who appreciates a personalised smoking experience, try creating a bespoke mix. Learn how to create your own pipe tobacco blend. As many pipe smokers who enjoy personalised experiences can attest, creating your own tobacco blends can be a rewarding hobby. By starting from scratch or building on good quality pipe tobacco blends, you can create a smoking experience that is uniquely yours.
Different Tobaccos, Unique Characteristics
Each of the many different varieties of tobacco used in pipe blends has unique characteristics. The basic characteristics of the most popular tobaccos include:
Burley: This tobacco is known for earthy, nutty, and sometimes spicy notes. It has low sugar levels and a stronger nicotine content.
Cavendish: Unflavoured Brown Cavendish is known for mild brown sugar aromas and flavours.
Latakia: Producing a cool smoke, Latakia has strong smoky, leathery, earthy, and campfire aromas and flavours.
Orientals/Turkish: Some oriental pipe tobaccos have light, sweet, floral, and herbal notes, while others are deep, musky, and rich.
Perique: Dark brown to black Perique tobacco produces a cool smoke, has pepper and plum flavours, and should be used sparingly.
Virginia: A popular choice for a variety of pipe tobacco blends, hot-burning Virgina is known for sweet, citrusy, toasty, and tea-like notes.
How to Create Your Personal Pipe Tobacco Blend
When creating your own pipe tobacco blend, your personal tastes are the most important consideration. During blending, remember that you can put more of a certain tobacco into a blend you’re making, but you can’t take it out, so start small and experiment with proportions to suit your tastes.
One of the good methods of making a balanced blend is to mix two parts of a rounder, sweeter tobacco with one part condimental tobacco and a little hot-burning tobacco to help the blend burn. This example uses an English blend variation:
- Blend a base tobacco: The base tobacco is the foundation of your blend. In a bowl, blend 200g of Red Virginia and 90g of Brown Cavendish.
- Create a condimental tobacco blend: The flavours of your condimental tobacco should complement your base tobacco. Blend 90g of Latakia and 60g of Oriental tobacco, or use 150g of a good-quality Blended Turkish and add it to the base blend.
- Add a tobacco to help the blend burn: Add 30g of Maryland to the bowl.
- Mix and store: Blend the tobacco in the bowl, seal it in an airtight jar, and store it in a cool place away from direct sunlight for one week for the flavours to come together.
The creative freedom and satisfaction of crafting your own pipe tobacco blends goes beyond the ordinary. Choose the Black Swan Shoppe as a trusted source of tobaccos and tools to create your own blends and enjoy a personalised smoking experience unlike any other.
