Cigar vs Pipe-Fermentation and Mixing

[gshaw722]

The discussions on cigar tobacco refinement seem more focused on fermentation while the pipe dialogue is about mixing of varieties. Mr. Goff's book on blending was awesome. Is there value in purchasing bulk leaf varieties meant for pipe smoking and subjecting them to fermentation prior to mixing? thank you.

 

[Hayden]

A short answer would be that all tobacco can be fermented and you do it for pipe and cigar tobacco. The reason why we talk more about fermenting cigar tobacco is that there is more stuff in it we want to get ride off. But all air cured tobacco needs some fermenting to taste really good and also flue cured tobacco (virginas) will profitate from a resting/fermentation time.
Mixing takes place after the resting/fermentation and is also done in cigars.

The tobacco from whole leaf is already finished and ready to use. Additional resting

 

[Tobaccofieldsforever]

This post will shed some light on the question you are asking: https://fairtradetobacco.com/thread...-out-shredded-tobacco.7718/page-3#post-153768. Here is a quote from that post

We often say things like "burley is not fermented," and "cigar leaf is always fermented." The only real difference is that most cigar varieties require a lot more oxidation to tame the proteins and carbohydrates, when compared to burley or other non-cigar varieties. "Fermenting" non-cigar varieties does not cause them to smell or taste like cigar varieties. Those distinct characteristics are inherent within the specific tobacco varieties

Aging, sweating, fermentation are referring to the same process at different points in the leaf processing time line. Since I don't know exactly what you mean by "bulk leaf varieties" it is difficult to answer your question precisely.

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum, @gshaw722. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself forum. Thank you for the kind words about the pipe blending book.

Leaf from Wholeleaftobacco.com is ready to use for blending, as is. With pipe blending, small variations make for a lot of fun in blending. I usually kiln commercial burley and Maryland for two months, but you really don't need to do this. Pressing tobacco straight, as well as pressing blends leads along a different fermentation path (likely dominated by specific microbes), and renders some blends fruitier and smoother.

Bob