Large Pipe and Small Pipe

[toomanymatoes]

I am trying to understand the definition of Large and Small pipe tobacco varieties. Sorry if this question has been answered in the past. It is clearly a difficult term to search for properly.

I came across these terms referring to types of tobacco grown and sold in Canada in the past, but am not sure what they mean. Is it as simple as large and small sized plants used for pipe tobacco?

What exactly makes a pipe tobacco different from the others?

Thanks!

 

[Alpine]

I can’t be of any help since I’ve never heard of a difference between large and small pipe tobacco (or any other sort of baccy for that) but I will follow with interest. Some strains cited in the (article? Book?) are well known among FTT members while others are completely new… to me at least. We definitely need a québécois to chime in.

pier

 

[deluxestogie]

What is the source of this material that you "came across"? Publication date?

 

[toomanymatoes]

Sources are from the Canadian Government found through Google searches.

First one is a book from 1935 and the others are some type of summary documents of tobacco stocks grown in Canada in 1934 and 1935.

Information archivée dans le Web | Information Archived on the Web

publications.gc.ca

Stocks of unmanufactured tobacco on hand .: CS32-014-PDF - Government of Canada Publications - Canada.ca

Publication information / bibliographic Record.

publications.gc.ca

 

[deluxestogie]

I have grown Kelly burley, Harrow Velvet burley, Comstock Spanish, Havana 38, Little Dutch. I have never seen a mention of long pipe and short pipe tobacco in any of my reading. My guess is that whatever the terminology meant at the time, its meaning is lost. The USDA tobacco "class" was created in the late 19th century to define the market class of tobacco varieties, and differed by growing region (i.e. botanically meaningless). Perhaps these Canadian terms would fall under a similar market-based rubric. Note the mention of grades of cigar varieties intended for pipe use. That suggests not a varietal distinction, but rather a categorization based on the physical condition of the leaf for specific manufacturing uses.

I've attended a tobacco auction in North Carolina, in which entire 700 pound bales of nothing but "flyers and trash" were sold—I believe to manufacturers of cheap, bulk "pipe" tobacco. "Flyers and trash" are the very bottom leaf of the stalk, and is presentable under only the best circumstances. The Spanish term of cigar leaf "Volado" simply means flyers.

Bob

 

[toomanymatoes]

I was probably overthinking this too much due to all of the specific terminology used in tobacco farming. It is probably just literal - large plants and small plants given the names of the "Small Pipe" varieties: Small Canadian, Small Havana and Small Red.

 

[deluxestogie]

At the moment, I'm smoking a bowl of very small pieces of 10 year-old cigar filler scrap in a very large pipe.

Bob

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

At the moment, I'm smoking a bowl of very small pieces of 10 year-old cigar filler scrap in a very large pipe.

Bob