|
|
Flake tobacco was developed for life at sea hundreds of years ago and became so popular that we continue to enjoy it today, though more for its flavor than its traveling convenience. But 300 years ago, when seamen spent months and sometimes years at sea, flake tobacco became essential for enjoying the comfort of a pipe while navigating perilous oceans, unknown lands, and precarious futures. Whether following a routine day, or multiple sleepless nights of masterful seamanship outrunning a hurricane, a pipe helped unjangle worries and was a companion for sharing precious intervals of peace. But not until the advent of flake tobaccos were sailors able to maintain smokable tobacco.
The pipe has become an archetype of life at sea, probably because in the early days, sailors were the first and most enthusiastic practitioners of pipesmoking. They brought it to Europe from the New World, after all, and for hundreds of years, most trade vessels carried tobacco in one direction or another. Novels, films and advertising have all conditioned us to think of grizzled, gray-bearded seamen with weather-beaten pipes when we think of life at sea, as well as young, able-bodied sailors with pristine pipes perched in their teeth. The great American novel Moby Dick is rife with pipesmoking, making it easy to identify Ahab as the villain, because he deliberately throws his pipe overboard, the swine.
Look, too, at all of the pipe tobacco blends that have been named for symbols of the sea. On tobaccoreviews.com, there are 50 tobaccos currently listed with "Navy Cut" in their titles, and that omits the majority of Navy Cut tobaccos that don't include the designation in their names.
Then there are the tobacco blends that include imagery of the sea: Pirate Cake, Pilot Flake, Captain Black (with its famous ship logo), Sail, Flying Dutchman, and Royal Yacht, to name a handful. Whether "Old Chum" should be included depends on interpretation. "Chum" may carry a meaning of "friend," or "pal." Or, in contrast, it may refer to the fish guts and blood used by fishermen and teenage horror movie characters to — and I'll never understand this — lure sharks to come after them. While more ruggedly outdoorsy, it's unlikely that fishbait-style chum would have made a refreshing tobacco topnote, so omission from the list is recommended.
Chum considerations aside, it's no wonder we associate pipe tobacco with the sea. And flake tobacco made it possible.
Whether following a routine day, or multiple sleepless nights of masterful seamanship outrunning a hurricane, a pipe helped unjangle worries and was a companion for sharing precious intervals of peace. But not until the advent of flake tobaccos were sailors able to maintain smokable tobacco.
The problem was that tobacco tended to dry out on long sea voyages, over time becoming little more than dust. Sailors tried wrapping it tightly in canvas and sealing it with tar, but we all know how quickly tobacco picks up odors, so you may imagine the result. Replenishing its humidity level with water did not alleviate the problem, as the tobacco still broke down over time.
A strategy that did help was the use of sugar water or rum. The tobacco was soaked in a sugar solution and tended to keep longer that way. This method also helped with the space that tobacco monopolized; when damp with sugar water or rum, it could be compressed by hand into tighter, less bulky packages, an essential characteristic for the tight quarters endured by sailors.
Tobacco pressed in this manner dried out less quickly because less surface area was exposed.
Tobacco companies took notice and began pressing blocks of tobacco. We can only speculate about how much experimentation that process required, and different tobacco companies follow their own protocols, but eventually tobacco was available in pressed block form. Men at sea now had tobacco that maintained smokability over time. It wasn't pre-sliced at first, though. Sailors would carefully slice flakes from the tobacco block for smoking.
On tobaccoreviews.com, there are 50 tobaccos currently listed with 'Navy Cut' in their titles, and that omits the majority of Navy Cut tobaccos that don't include the designation in their names.
Flake tobaccos start out as any tobacco blend up until just before pressing. Some companies add sugar water for some blends for some duration and then let the excess liquid unabsorbed by the tobacco evaporate. The tobacco is then steamed and placed into molds for a hydraulic press to apply pressure. These blocks vary in size depending on the tobacco company, but are typically around an inch and a half thick. They are stacked and placed into another press, and many tons of pressure is applied for 8-24 hours. Then the blocks are stored for the flavors to marry, usually about a month, all while maintaining pressure.
The blocks are then trimmed of their edges, which tend to be loose and frayed, and each neatly geometric block is cut into thin flakes, which are hand packed into tins that those sailors of 300 years ago would doubtless have found enormously convenient.
When our pipesmoking forebears were sailing the oceans with tobacco that wouldn't maintain smokability, they developed a solution, and that solution catalyzed and became a new cut of tobacco, one enjoyed today by countless pipe enthusiasts around the world. Flake tobaccos represent a unique way to enjoy the history, tradition and innovation of pipe tobacco, and to connect, however tenuously, with those seamen of yore who toiled in extreme conditions with little to sustain them but the comfort of a friendly pipe.
You may also enjoy:
Comments
Nice article. Thanks 👍
Is sugar water always applied before steaming and pressing? Makes me wonder if this is part of the sweetness we get in flake vs. ribbon?
i have been told by those who have experienced. That Erinmore Pipe tobacco prepared as Flake is more harmful then the Erinmore Mixture. I have smoked both and i agree with the experience. As flake does seem like a added chemical to prpare. Which is more harmful. Please advise your views..!! Anyone..!!
Very informative. Thank you.
Excellent article. Thanks.
Well done article love flake tobacco and it’s history!
Very interesting! I have never tried a "Navy Cut" or any flake type tobacco in my 50 years of pipe smoking. I am now going to order some to try as you have piqued my interest.
Thank you!
Lord Steven , you been missing out ! Hope you enjoy and would love to see your pipe collection after that many years ... wow
Outstanding article ... smoked a ton of it but never knew its origins? Thank you
I LOLd at the Ahab comment. :-D great article!
Wonderful piece and thoughtfully written. Thank you!
It’s so beautiful, the sea, I hope to be like a crew, free.I like flake!
Well researched and explained topic, thanks alot.
Enjoyed the read. Very well written and informative article. I have always found flakes intimidating but interesting and unfortunately never taken the time to try them. This has renewed my interest.
As usual, excellent article by Chuck Stanion. In my 50 years of pipe smoking I have smoked only flakes, mainly of british provenance. To me, they simply taste better, esp."the old" style variety flakes like St.Bruno, Condor, St.James, Bothy flake etc.
Can remember my Grandad smoking Erinmore Flake in the 1950's, and the sweet aromas from his pipe. I think Erinmore originated in Ireland (the name sounds Irish), but is now apparently a Scandinavian product.
@Gene Bowker While we can't speak for all tobacco manufacturer's, it certainly is a common practice. Part of the sweetness you pick up could be from this process, but can also be attributed to the sweetness of the leaf in many cases!
@Lord Steven H. Cohn @Greg Wallace Let us know how you like the flake tobacco. I'd be surprised if flake tobaccos don't work their way into your rotations in the future after trying them!
Great article. Need to try a good Navy Flake. Any suggestions?
@Chuck Dombek Good question! That will largely depend on what kinds of tobaccos you prefer, as the components differ between blends. A few that I would recommend are:
Escudo Navy Deluxe (Virginia, Perique)
Peter Stokkebye: Luxury Navy Flake (Virginia, Perique)
Mac Baren: Navy Flake (Virginia, Burley, Black Cavendish)
And one to throw in the cellar, Cornell & Diehl: Speakeasy Navy Blend (Virginia, Perique, Orientals, & Dark Fired Kentucky)
Very Interesting, I love flake tobacco and history, In my opinion the old English company's do it the best.
@Gene Bowker
Cassie is right about the leaf providing sweetness, but I messed up that sentence when I wrote it and have revised it, thanks to your observation. Sugar water is not always added before steaming and pressing. Some companies use it, others do not, and most use it for some blends and not others. I've amended the text and hope it’s no longer misleading. Thanks for catching that; it's an important distinction!
My favorite cuts are flake & cake. As a child I worked in family tobacco fields , has been in my blood since. It's history is the very heart of America , founding fathers, etc. It has never a hobby, more like a way of life. I do enjoy my pipe, and never have never met a smoker that wasn't ready to discuss pipes and or tobacco. Enjoy my friends.
Great story, I really enjoy flake tobacco very much today.