pipe tobacco

[98thpvi]

Re: plug chewing tobacco

Day's work I know you can get on an american army post in Germany bacause I'm a soldier over here and I tried it acouple of times. It's ok.


Christopher Harwick
98th pvi. Co.A

[jurgitemvaletem]

Re: plug chewing tobacco

Here is a link for the black maria I have never done business with these folks, so cannot vouch for them, and I have never ordered this type of chew, so I dont know how their prices compare to the ones of other places.

http://www.smokeshack.com/browseproducts/Black-Maria-Plug-Chew.HTML

Here is a link to my favorite cigars being sold by the same company. they might just be getting an order for both in a couple of weeks.

http://www.smokeshack.com/browseproducts/Backwoods-Cigars.HTML

thanks,
Jurgitem Valetem

[Old Cremona]

Correct Tobacco- the specifics.

I do apologize if this question has been answered before here; I searched but didn't find specifically what I was looking for.

What type (s) of tobacco were commonly available to the mid-nineteenth century American?

An earlier post said that Burley is incorrect; I've heard just the opposite, that it was just about all that was available. I don't know who's right.

I know that Latakia existed, but had not found it's way West yet.

I like smoking good sweet VA's, were they commonly available?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Justin Runyon]

Re: Correct Tobacco- the specifics.

There are likely to be quite a few answers to this one so I thought I'd just post my usual tobacco and it's provenance.

I almost always smoke a Perique blend. Perique is both and tobacco and a process (fermented and pressed). First developed by the Choctaw in Louisiana, it was taught to the Acadians and popularized within the European community. All indications are that Pierre Chenet was the first white fellow to farm this stuff in the 1820's.

Perique is most commonly blended as it's considered too strong to smoke alone, usually with Virginias.

[Huck]

Re: Correct Tobacco- the specifics.

There was a thread asking this question a while back before the crash, talking about period tobbaco that each of us enjoys.

[M_Kupsch]

Re: Correct Tobacco- the specifics.

Carl,

From everything I have read, burly was developed a little after 1865, so that would preclude it from our use.

You might e-mail Randy Ubben, as he would give you tons of information.

For events, I am now smoking a blend from GL Pease called Piccadilly. It is a mix of virginia, latakia and perique. Just remember that viringias have a high sugar content and tend to burn hot.

[NoahBriggs]

Re: Correct Tobacco- the specifics.

I don't smoke or partake myself. I do know, however, there is an article in the second deition of the Columbia Rifles Research Compendium which addresses this very question.

[TobiasJones]

Re: Correct Tobacco- the specifics.

Oronoko was a popular type of tobacco grown in Virginia. It is has a high nicotine content and one heck of a bite compared to any modern stuff. I don't know if you can purchase it anywhere or even it any farmers actually grow it but we grew a very similar type last year when I worked at Pamplin Park. I know it was obtained through Va Tech to grow for demonstration purposes.

[TobiasJones]

Re: Correct Tobacco- the specifics.

My apologies about signing my full name on that last post:

Evan O'Dell

[Lone Guard]

Re: Correct Tobacco- the specifics.

There was a thread asking this question a while back before the crash, talking about period tobbaco that each of us enjoys.

That was a great thread. I wish we still had it.

[MissouriStateGuard]

Re: Correct Tobacco- the specifics.

Carl,

Sorry I cannot help with the type of tobacco, but having looked through many period Missouri papers I see numerous references to stores offering "pine cut smoking tobacco," which I believe is a finely ground tobacco, almost like snuff. The only other references I have seen for common forms of tobacco is either the twist or plug. Eugene Ware mentions seeing the inhabitants of SW Missouri making "bootheel" plug tobacco: a full leaf was swabbed with molasses and stuffed into a hole augered into a log. The process was repeated until enough leaves were inserted for the desired plug thickness, then a wooden plug was driven into the hole, compressing the tobacco. This process would be repeated down the length of the log.

When the men wanted a new plug they took an axe and chopped the log until they freed one of these tobacco plugs, which was then the color and shape of a boot heel, hence the name.

While this might not help I hope you find it interesting, nonetheless!

V/R,
Kip Lindberg

[Amtmann]

Re: Correct Tobacco- the specifics.

http://www.samuelgawith.co.uk/

[paulcalloway]

Re: Correct Tobacco- the specifics.

Hoping this to be of some interest:

TOBACCO

The experience of camp life has shown conclusively that there is an article contributing greatly to the comfort of the soldier, of which no note is taken in the Government ration. This article is tobacco. It is the universal testimony of officers, chaplains, and especially of the rank and file, that the cheerfulness, good spirits and even general health of the men are greatly promoted by the temperate indulgence of the taste for tobacco. Soldiers caring little for the cigar at home, on furlough, find it indispensable on their return to camp. Some among them say that a five minutes rest and smoke, when on the march, "puts them in wind;" while the five minutes without the smoke leaves them fagged and without renewed elasticity. Others, that it renders them oblivious of discomforts; others, that they are less thirsty on the march; others, that it gives them "pluck." It unquestionably exerts, in some degree, antiseptic effects through the action of the carbo-hydrogen essential oils, produced by destructive distillation in smoking, as the essential oil of coffee does. Whether the use of the pipe, or cigar, or chewing tobacco after a meal, by awakening the salivary glands and with them the general secretory apparatus of the alimentary canal, so promotes digestion, or whether the effect be more immediately upon the nervous system, or whatever its strictly physiological effects may be , it cannot be doubted, that as a matter of fact and Government concern, some more of rendering tobacco more accessible, would be a great boon to the soldier. In 1853 the French Emperor decreed a daily ration to each soldier of one third of an ounce of smoking tobacco.

Horsford, E.N., The Army Ration. How to Diminish It's Weight and Bulk, Secure Economy in it's Administration, Avoid Waste, and Increase the Comfort, Efficiency, and Mobility of Troops. New York (New York, D. Van Nostrand, 1864), 28-29.

[Charles Heath]

Re: Correct Tobacco- the specifics.

Oronoko was a popular type of tobacco grown in Virginia. It is has a high nicotine content and one heck of a bite compared to any modern stuff. I don't know if you can purchase it anywhere or even it any farmers actually grow it but we grew a very similar type last year when I worked at Pamplin Park. I know it was obtained through Va Tech to grow for demonstration purposes.

Tobias,

I have grown this tobacco variety in a number of locations. It's a heck of a big plant when properly cultivated, and the classic "heavy feeder" mentioned so often in history. "Oronoko" also has a number of spelling variations, and "Orinoco" is another common variation of about six in use.

Having not grown any in a decade, I found the carefully packaged seeds to be unable to germinate last year, so that ended our fun relationship with those big leaved plants. The seeds we had came through the American Museum of Frontier Culture in Staunton, Va., and the plants we used prior to that (a commercial USDA Type 57 variety to the best of my knowledge) were from Claude Moore Farm in Northern Virginia. As a non user, a fellow can really get a buzz from the wax on those leaves when suckering and priming. Some folks actually get sick from absorption through the skin. The flowers are very pretty, and one plant can yield an incredible amount of very, very, fine seed.

Some archaic laws are still on the books with regard to tobacco production, sales, acreage, and taxation. These laws are suprisingly still enforced even with the tobacco buy outs and downsizing in many areas. Tobacco for your own individual home use is generally not a problem, and the overflights using remote sensing signatures are generally intended for certain other vegetative production intended for smoking and, ahem, rope manufacture.

Jerry Gouge used to have a commercial source for some beautiful hands of tobacco. Back in the day, he'd make sure the rebs had a good amount of the "noxious weed" in their vittles rations.

You brought back some good memories. Thanks.

[styler]

Re: Correct Tobacco- the specifics.

While I've no knowledge regarding varieties, it should be remembered that tobacco was grown north of the Mason-Dixon Line. I'm sure the war was a godsend to the planters in Connecticut.