With a rainbow of rich, aromatic blends to choose from, each bowl of Pipe Tobacco provides a unique sensory experience. With the ability to mix and match blends, you can find the perfect balance of flavors and strengths that suits you best. In other words, pipe smoking is like a tailor-made suit for your taste buds – perfectly fitting and one-of-a-kind. The endless options result in a smoking experience that’s all yours. Unlike cigarettes, which are often viewed as a drain on your wallet, smoking pipe tobacco can be a financially intelligent move.
The alternatives include discount tobacco stores, drugstores and convenience stores as well as some supermarkets, gas stations and truck stops, all of them selling cigarettes as their main tobacco product. The combination of low-grade, often dried out tobacco and additives leads to an unpleasant pipe smoking experience and a greater chance of developing health problems. There is a growing tendency towards “natural” tobaccos which derive their aromas from artful blending with selected spice tobaccos only and careful, often historically-based, curing processes. Most pipe tobaccos are less mild than cigarette tobacco, substantially more moist and cut much more coarsely. Too finely cut tobacco does not allow enough air to flow through the pipe, and overly dry tobacco burns too quickly with little flavour. Pipe tobacco must be kept in an airtight container, such as a canning jar or sealed tin, to keep from drying out.
China produces some 2-3 million tons of tobacco leaf each year, which is about one third of the world’s production, closely followed by India, Brazil, and the USA. Because tobacco is seen as a very profitable industry, countries such as Argentina and Mediterranean countries like Pipe Tobacco Greece, Italy and Spain all helped with the proliferation of tobacco products across the globe. Pipe smoking has been built on the premise that the pleasure one gets out of the preparation of the tobacco is just as important to the pipe smoker as the flavour of the blend.
Because of this expense, pipes with bodies made of wood (usually mahogany) instead of gourd, but with the same classic shape, are sold as calabashes. Both wood and gourd pipes are functionally the same (with Pipe Tobacco in Cans the important exception that the dried gourd, usually being noticeably lighter, sits more comfortably in the mouth). They consist of a downward curve that ends with an upcurve where the bowl sits.
However, it is too early to provide a clear answer on the long-term impacts of using them or being exposed to them. HTPs are, like all other tobacco products, inherently toxic and contain carcinogens. They should be treated like any other tobacco product when it comes to setting policies.