Can I make a pipe blend with cigar type varietals?

[Dr.Pierce]

It's late March and all my plants are up and growing. In my mad rush to get started- I planted mostly cigar type seeds:

Conn. Shade
Florida Sumatra
Little Dutch
Cuban Criollo
Penn Red
Havana 142(mwaller)
Corojo (mwaller)

I really enjoy cigars. And someday making my own sticks has been a goal for years.
But my everyday smoke is the pipe.

Is is possible to use leaf from the list to create a palpable blend?

 

[Dr.Pierce]

*palatable.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Is is possible to use leaf from the list to create a palpable blend?

Yes, you'll feel it.

 

[mwaller]

If you're not too picky about trying to reproduce a particular style of pipe tobacco, you'll have plenty to keep you busy. Little Dutch is somewhat sweet and aromatic, so that is good one to have. My Corojo 99 crop turned out a bit sweet, too, and somewhat floral. It's not particularly cigar-like, and would fill in for a strong Burley or Dark Air.
Florida Sumatra is fairly neutral. I turned my tip leaves into perique, and it worked out fine.
I personally like robust pipe tobacco, and many if these will fit the bill.

 

[greenmonster714]

I've had commercial blends that had some cigar leaf in it and wouldn't hesitate to use any of my cigar scraps in a blend. With cigars I usually end up finishing it off in a pipe anyway. Cigar tobacco in a pipe does give aittle tongue bite but it's manageable if ya slow down and sip it instead of puffing away at it.

 

[Dr.Pierce]

Thanks, you guys. I have my answer.

 

[deluxestogie]

I smoke cigars--lots of cigars--whenever the weather permits. I love cigars. I smoke a pipe indoors when the weather is crummy. I never smoke cigars indoors. The nose knows.

I've found that most cigar tobaccos smoke well in a pipe, BUT...but...BUTT! It makes your pipe stink like a stale cigar butt for weeks thereafter, and if you smoke it indoors, the house will smell like cigars. This seems to be true with every cigar leaf variety, no matter how it is processed. So, for the past 30 years, I've avoided smoking cigar leaf in a pipe.

What I would suggest, especially if you are picky about the taste and aroma of your pipe tobacco, is that you dedicate several pipes (cheap corncobs come to mind) to smoking your cigar leaf harvest, while keeping your rotation of "nice" pipes free of cigar leaf.

Of course, that's just me. I want my Latakia pipe blends to taste like what I've blended, and not like last week's cigar leaf. And I dislike the odor of stale cigar smoke lingering in the fabrics of my carpets and furniture. And I live alone--nobody else to moan and groan about "room note".

Bob

 

[greenmonster714]

Bob makes a good point on dedicated pipes for certain tobaccos. You can always just order some VA, dark air, Turkish, perique, and latakia if you like it. Blend your own pipe tobacco and save your cigar scraps for big fat cigars. Wlt and BigBonner have some really nice leaf.