Top » Catalog » The Smoker's Dictionary » THE SMOKER'S DICTIONARY - A to M

Mr. Bill's Pipe & Tobacco Company

THE SMOKER'S DICTIONARY - A to M

THE SMOKER?S DICTIONARY Part One   AGE: To age or "sleep" before processing; it is vital to the mellowness of tobacco.   AIR CURE:  Done by hanging the harvested leaf in tobacco barns with openings through which the air circulates.   AMBER:  This is fossilized resin from ancient trees.  It is clear, translucent, varying in color from yellow to brown.  From it are carved beautiful and costly pipe stems.   APPLE:  One of the classic briar pipe shapes, with an apple shaped bowl and medium short stem.       AROMATIC:  A highly fragrant pipe mixture.  Also an aromatic flavoring added to tobacco.   ARTICULATED:  Used to describe pipes made in several pieces, easily taken apart for cleaning and storing.   BAND:  A ring of metal around the joint between the shank and bit of a pipe, for strength, decoration or both.   BILLIARD:  One of the classic shapes for a briar pipe, with medium short, straight stem from which the bowl rises at a right angle.   BIRD'S EYE:  A special cross cut of the whole tobacco leaf, so that the stalk looks like a bird's eye.  Properly cut and cured, a little of the stem in tobacco adds mildness.    BIT:  The mouthpiece of a pipe, sometimes called the stem, though the latter also refers to the part formed from the same piece as the bowl.   BITE:   An unpleasant characteristic of some tobaccos which tends to make the tongue smart.   BLAST:  Or sand blast - a method of carving briar pipe bowls to decorate them and make them lighter in weight.   BLEND:   Generally means putting together tobaccos of the same type.  For example, Blue Grass is a blend of Burleys from different years, crops, ages, and growing areas, to maintain a uniform fine flavor, aroma, and smoking quality.   BRIAR:  The root of the Mediterranean heath tree.  Discovered about the middle of the last century by French pipe makers, it is light, strong, tough, has very beautiful grain and takes a fine finish.  Best wood ever found for pipes.  Roots should be at least 60 or 70 years old.  Botanical name: erica arborea.    BRIGHT:  Tobacco distinguished by its bright "Golden Lemon" color. Produced mainly in Virginia and North Carolina.  Bright tobacco is field ripened, harvested, and allow­ed to wilt under the sun's golden rays.   Finally, it is hung in special heated barns and cured to its bright color at carefully controlled temperature.   BRUYERE:  French name for briar, which they discovered, and which has become the world's dominant pipe material.   BURL:   Gnarled formation in a briar root which yields a curly grain.   BURLEY: Fine, cool smoking leaf, grown principally in Ten­nessee and Kentucky.  Burley is probably the world's best all-around pipe tobacco.  Finest Burleys are field ripened, then the leaves are hung in special ventilated but weather-tight barns where the tobacco ages and cures under natural atmospheric conditions.   BULLDOG:  One of the classic briar pipe shapes, somewhat stubby with square stem and short mouthpiece.   CAKE:  The char which forms inside the bowl of a properly smoked pipe.  It is all important to smoking quality.  Most seasoned smokers agree that 1/16" is about the ideal thickness for cake, which should be uniformed throughout the bowl.  They usually ream out surplus cake, a job best done with a reaming tool.   CALABASH:   Bottle gourd from the stem of which a very hand­some pipe is made with clay bowl lining.   CALUMET:  The highly decorated ceremonial pipe of the American Indian.  Often referred to as a Peace Pipe.  Usually passed from hand to hand around the council fire to ratify agreements.   CANADIAN:  Another of the classic briar pipe forms, with bowl rising at right angle from stem.  Shaped somewhat like a billiard pipe, but with longer stem and short mouthpiece.   CASE:  To add special basic conditioning ingredients to pipe tobacco, for example licorice. This is done as the tobacco moves through slowly revolving drums. The result is a major improve­ment in the smoking qualities of the leaf.   CAVANDISH:  This is an interesting and controversial word in the pipe smoker's lexicon. Some authorities say it originated from a captain of that name who used to ship tobacco in empty rum barrels which gave the leaf a rich, distinctive aroma and flavor.  Perhaps much of the tobacco Captain Cavendish ship­ped was eventually long cut.  At any rate, many pipe smokers refer to this cut as Cavendish.  Others speak of Cavendish as a type of leaf, though this cannot be authenticated either.   CHAR:  Some briar pipe bowls are pre-charred on the inside, which the makers claim helps them break in faster.   CHERRYWOOD:  A popular and inexpensive pipe bowl material, especially in France, is the cherry tree root.   CHURCHWARDEN:  A very long stemmed pipe.  It may either be briar or clay.   CLAY:   One of the earliest materials used for pipe making, and except for it?s brittleness, one of the most satisfactory.  It was domi­nant until the advent of briar.   CLEANER:   A long, thin, inexpensive and disposable brush for  cleaning pipe stems and mouthpiece.  Their regular use is vital to good smoking.  Keep them handy at home, at the office and carry some rolled up in your pockets.   CONCAVE:   Refers to the inside top shaping of some pipe bowls, designed to prevent spilling tobacco, either while packing the pipe or after it is lighted.   COOL:  This has two important meanings for the pipe smoker.  One is to let a pipe cool before smoking it again, a very wise habit for avoiding sogginess and foulness.   The other meaning of cool is the way a tobacco smokes, without irritating the mouth.                              CUBE:  A way of cutting tobacco, popular with many pipe smokers because of its packing and burning qualities.  Finished tobacco is formed into cakes under very high pressure.  Cakes are cross-cut to form tiny cubes.                                                                                                                                                     DOTTLE:   The last bit of unsmoked or partly smoked tobacco remaining at the bottom of a pipe bowl.   Should be as little as possible, both to avoid waste and to keep pipe caking evenly from top to bottom.   Knock out the dottle by tapping pipe against heel of hand - never against a hard surface.      DRIP:  Bitter moisture condensed in the stem or mouthpiece of a pipe.  Some smokers like a metal moisture trap in their pipes to prevent drip.  Others are vehemently against such traps, claiming that a pipe kept properly clean has no drip problem.   DUBLIN:  Still another classic briar pipe shape. The stem and mouthpiece are straight and of medium length.  The rather high bowl slants out at an obtuse angle.    ERICA ARBOREA:   Scientific name of the Mediterranean heath tree.   Its gnarled roots provides the light, tough and artistically grained wood for your briar pipes.   FINE CUT: Tobacco cut into very narrow ribbons. Most often used in cigarettes, but also found in pipe tobaccos.                                                                             FLAKE:  Tobacco pressed into cakes, and then cut into generous, irregularly shaped pieces or "flakes".   In some countries outside the United States, the term "flake" means sliced pipe tobacco.   FLAVOR:  In a pipe tobacco, "flavor" means the taste of the smoke, not the taste of the leaf itself.           FLUE CURE:  This is one of the ways in which tobacco farmers prepare leaf for market.  In the old days, the tobacco strung on poles was cured in a light barn heated by stovepipe flues from an outside furnace.  As the furnace fire had to be tended around the clock, farm families were apt to make the night shift festive with song and story.   Modern methods have made this picturesque scene history, along with the many burned barns that went with it! Today, flue curing is done with close, mechanized temperature control, resulting in far more uniform and fine col­ored tobacco.   GOLDEN LEAF:   This term describes the most nearly perfect, field ripened tobacco, heat cured to a "Golden Lemon" hue for which buyers gladly pay premium prices at the auctions.   GRAIN:  The grain of a briar or cherry pipe may be straight, curly or "flame" according to the smoker's taste.  The choice is a matter of esthetics, not smoking quality.  A beautifully grained pipe should not be lacquered but hand rubbed.             GRANULATED:  Tobacco cut two, three or more times.  It results in irregular pieces that are convenient for packing a pipe.   HAND RUBBED:   This is the ideal but costly way to finish briar pipe bowls.  It gives a fine, transparent polish.  It will not crack and it brings out the beauty of the grain.          HOOKAH:  One name for the Oriental water pipe.  As the smoker takes a puff, smoke from the tobacco bubbles through water on its way to the mouthpiece.       KALLIAN:  Another name for the water pipe, from the Turkish word "ghalian" meaning to boil.  The similarity of the bubbling pipe and boiling water is obvious.   LATAKIA:  A highly aromatic, small leafed Oriental type tobacco grown in certain countries bordering on the Mediterranean.    LICORICE:  Used as an ingredient in certain domestic and imported pipe tobaccos, licorice adds both mellowness and unusual flavor.   MEERSCHAUM: A light, white mineral, found in Asia Minor, first used by the Hungarians as a material for pipe bowls.  Its literal meaning is "sea foam" which it resembles in its natural state.  After long and careful smoking, Meerschaum pipes color to a rich, golden brown.  Even a good plain Meerschaum is expensive, while those with intricately carved bowls bring large sums.   MILD:  Refers to the flavor of tobacco, not its nicotine content.   MIXTURE:  This is usually made by putting together different types of tobacco to achieve a desired flavor and aroma.   MOUTHPIECE: The part of a pipe held in the lips or between the teeth.  In a briar, it may be called the stem or bit. Usually made of hard rubber, some are synthetic; high priced pipes mouthpieces are sometimes made of natural amber.

This article was published on Tuesday 17 October, 2006.