13 December 2013
How is Pipe Tobacco & Cigarette Tobacco Different?
To compare pipe tobacco and cigarette tobacco is like comparing cheese to chalk. They are so similar in principle and are very closely connected but in terms of overall taste and experience, they are worlds apart.
It’s important to start the head-to-head comparison with the two by saying that cigarette tobacco is reputedly much worse for your health and it’s unsurprising why when you consider just how many harmful additives and chemicals are added during production.
During the picking process in whichever country across the globe, there can be the utmost amount of care given to selecting the rights leaves for cigarette tobacco (typically of the Burley blend) but then it is just simply adulterated with a whole host of harmful chemicals which include insecticide, arsenic, ammonia, toluene to name a few. Any offcuts of tobacco are then re-used for the next batch wherein they are sprayed with further chemicals for mass production and then mechanically pressed.
There’s a stark contrast when you look at how pipe tobacco is made. In rare instances, preservatives are applied where moisture is necessary over time but apart from that, you’ll seldom find anything in this tobacco which wasn’t already present at the time of harvesting. All pipe tobacco is also prepared by human hands so with each strand of every leaf, you’ll have nothing but the utmost in care given to the process.
As for the actual experiences of smoking the respective varieties themselves, there’s been much discussion about it over the years. Pipe connoisseurs will note that there’s a whole host of different blends to partake in with different experiences from each whilst cigarette tobacco sticks to its main blends but mostly Burley. You can have all kinds of different flavours with both but pipe tobacco seems to be the one with most variety as it can be purchased in a plethora of different strengths, spices and forms.
However, there is one thing which separates the two the most and that is the smoke itself. Pipe smokers will know not to inhale after a puff as pipe tobacco is far stronger. The principle of this technique is that pipes are for the flavours and not the nicotine itself whereas cigarettes are altogether different.