Stems and bits of tobacco pipes are usually made of moldable materials like Ebonite, Lucite, Bakelite, or soft plastic. Less common are stems made of reeds, bamboo, or hollowed-out pieces of wood. A tobacco pipe, often called simply a pipe, is a device specifically made to smoke tobacco. It comprises a chamber for the tobacco from which a thin hollow stem emerges, ending in a mouthpiece.
Because of this, its light, sweet taste is amenable to many. Virginia also burns easy and cool and is found in a number of flake and ribbon-cut tobaccos. Well, there’s actually a pretty big difference between pipe and cigar smoking. The two often get lumped together because in both cases, you don’t inhale. Pipe tobacco, however, is typically fine cut or processed, while premium cigars are handcrafted from whole leaf tobaccos.
To avoid contamination, the best thing to do is keep them all in separate airtight containers. For short-term storage, this might not be an issue unless the blends are heavily aromatic. Tins should be fine, but if they come in bags or packs, I would move them to separate mason jars. Since glass pipes there are so many different types of pipe tobacco, the most appropriate humidity level can greatly vary from as little as 55% RH to as much as 75%. Another small trick that you can use in order to consolidate your collection is by creating multiple environments within a storage solution.
Keep that in mind when keeping popped, plastic-lidded tins. Make sure you either remove the cardboard from the sealed tin , or if you do wish to keep the cardboard, perhaps a few drops of water in the cardboard in order to keep the tobacco from drying. I bought a tin of GL Pease Barbary Coast a few years ago. Popped the tin, smoked about half the tin before moving on to something else, and ended up “losing it” in the cellar. I found it about a year after putting it away, and popping the plastic lid off, it was not dry and brittle like I was expecting.
Without any air to interact with the tobacco, Perique ferments anaerobically, producing the distinctive taste. Turkish varietals, unfortunately, are no longer available, even to professional blenders. Cigarette companies snap up most of the Turkish leaf production, and the remainder is made into a generic Turkish blend. This is the Oriental tobacco (often referred to as “basma”) that one finds either in bulk, or in ready-made blends. No flavoring added – just light smoking Virginia goodness. The perfect morning smoke, this cavendish mixture will open your eyes with the intoxicating aroma of dark chocolate and fresh coffee.
Smokers are twice as likely to have erectile dysfunction as nonsmokers. Otherwise, it should prove to be an effective storage solution. Once you have one of these introduced into your storage solution, you’ll be able to confidently track your storage environment and check whether it needs any maintenance. Gentle fluctuations of temperature, such as a day and night cycle, isn’t all that harmful for tobacco and perfectly fine. Nevertheless, sudden drops or spikes are best avoided. That said, if it’s far too dry or moist, you’ll need to have a more aggressive approach and use multiple packs with much higher levels than you need to overcompensate.
As we briefly mentioned earlier, the key to successful pipe tobacco storage is consistency. Once you’ve familiarised yourself with the concept, it’s important that you maintain your storage solution once it has been set up. One of the most frugal and versatile storage options for storing pipe tobacco is by using tupperware to make what is called a tupperdor.