What is the perfect size in mm for pipe tobacco?
Although the secret to the universe is 42, nobody can say what size shred is perfect for somebody else. Commercial preparations have always been influenced by considerations other than what is ideal to smoke. What shred packs well in our cans? What shred seems to light most easily? What does our $100,000 shredding machine produce? Mostly marketing decisions.
A fine shred burns hotter. (A humectant treated commercial pipe tobacco needs all the help it can get to burn.) A coarse shred burns somewhat cooler and more slowly. Some tobacco varieties (e.g. Basma types) and some priming levels (e.g. leaf from the upper stalk) may not burn as well as other tobacco, and may benefit from a finer shred.
Most of my pipe tobacco blending utilizes a simple, manual blade to create a coarse shred. That method is illustrated in this post:
Never mind about Maracaibo. Here is a shot from Mudanya, Turkey two days ago. Bob
fairtradetobacco.com
Whether you press it or simply roll the leaf, the shredding is similar. So...there is no "perfect" shred. I suppose that if you own a shredder, then that's your shred. I've been manually shredding my pipe blends with a single blade—for well over a decade.
If you shred, then press the tobacco into a plug, you will be producing what is sometimes called "crumble cake". You just break off a chunk, and crumble it in your pipe.
Your personal experimentation will guide you to your preferences better than any of us.
Bob
