From: ??????????????????????? (Elias Mazur)
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 89 03:47:23 EST
Received: by rodan.acs.syr.edu (5.54/Academic-Computing-Services)
	id AA14592; Fri, 17 Mar 89 03:47:23 EST
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To: ??????????????????????
Subject: Types of tobaccos.
Status: R


Dear pipe smokers fellows:

After smoking a bowl of Dunhill Night Cap in a recently acquired italian pipe,
there was nothing left for me to do except to sit by the terminal and give a
small contribution to our mailgroup.

In a recent mail exchange with Steve, and after noticing the interest of some
of the members of the group about different types of tobaccos and their
properties, I am sending a brief glossary of the most common types of tobaccos
available. Most of the information was taken from the book of Richard Hacker,
The Ultimate Pipe Book, but I'll try to give my own impressions about the
tobaccos I've tried myself.

Virginia: grown mostly in North and South Carolina (not in Virginia as one
might expect), it is a commonly bright yellow tobacco, being that the reason
why they are referred to as 'Bright', although dark Virginia does exist.
Bright Virginia has a pleasantly sweet, woodsy taste, making it very popular
in blended tobaccos. Used in moderation provides a superb flavor to almost any
blend. Be careful, though, for too much Virginia will tend to burn 'hot'. I
know of two blends of pure Virginia: one is the Dunhill Virginia blend, which
is more of an English oriented taste, for obvious reasons (it is a Dunhill),
and the other is the MacBaren Virginia #1, which I just bought a tin can last
week. It is a long matured tobacco, with a very distinctive and original
taste.

Burley:  
light yellowish green to yellow-brown in color, it is a extremely light
tobacco. It has almost no taste itself, but absorbs the flavorings added to
aromatic tobacco. Very popular for that reason. MacBaren has a blend called
Burley; I haven't tried, but will soon.

Latakia: grown in northern Syria, this oriental tobacco is usually very
expensive. It is dark brown, almost black in color.  Latakia produces a very
rich, heavy taste, and is usually found in most quality English mixtures
(which I favor unconditionally). I usually buy pure Latakia to mix with other
tobaccos, like Half-and-Half, which is half Virginia and half Burley. I liked
the mixture and hope that some pipe smokers fellows will try it too.

Perique: 
very rare, slow burning, strong-tasting, it is only grown in a small area of
Louisiana. It is the opposite of Burley. Should never be smoked by itself, or
we will probably loose one member of our mailgroup. When mixed with skills, it
produces a very distinctive taste. Dunhill has one mixture called 'Elizabethan
Mixture', which contains a bit of perique. I've tried it and encourage those
who like English mixtures, or those willing to try, to do so.

Maryland:
grown in Maryland, it is of rich brown color, and is used with the same
purpose as of Burley. I never tried this kind of tobacco. If someone did,
please let us know about it.

Turkish:
it is a broad classification of a variety of tobaccos that are actually grown
in Greece. It is of good quality and burns evenly.  They are rarely used in
pipes, but can be found in some of the more exotic blends. I once bought a
blend called Turkish from a store in Boston at Harvard square (I forgot the
name, but it is a quite famous pipe store), and really enjoyed it.  I think I
will have to plan a trip to Boston to get more of that superb blend.

Cavendish: a generic term for tobacco that have been flavored with some kind
of external flavor, such as sugar, maple or rum, and then heated and pressed
in recurring cycles. There are a dozen different types of Cavendish. I don't
know much about the history of Cavendish, but (please correct me if I'm
wrong), Cavendish was an English admiral that during his trips used to mix his
tobacco with rum in the ship.  The best Cavendish in my opinion is the dutch
blend Amphora red pouch (there is also blue and green cans and pouch). I have
tried a number of different Cavendish, but lately I've been favoring English
blends.

Well, I hope that this will help some of our pipe smokers fellows in the
group. I have been smoking pipe for over 7 years and the suggestion I have as
long as tobacco is concerned is: try them. This is the best way of really
knowing about them. And if you don't like one particular blend, try it again
years from now. You might be surprise.

Have all a pleasant and peaceful smoke. (with good tobacco, of course)

Elias Mazur.   ~\U