By definition, “Orientals” are those tobaccos indigenous to the eastern Mediterranean region, including the various “Turkish” tobaccos and Latakia. An “Oriental blend” contains at least one and often several of these tobaccos. Wine cavendish, even burning, light Virginias mixed with a touch of tasty Carolina Virginias.
You can imagine that this was both inconsistent and had varying results! Fortunately, technology has caught up to make it more science than art. However, this does come with a major caveat in which water pipes pipe tobacco should in no circumstances share a humidor with cigars. As pipe tobacco and cigars are both quite aromatic in different ways, their flavours will certainly marry over a period of time.
The ring gauge and length of your cigar will also affect a cigar’s intensity. Longer cigars require more time for the profile to amplify, while shorter and thinner cigars deliver glass pipes a greater concentration of flavor more quickly. The taste of a cigar relies heavily on the type of wrapper, binder, and filler leaves that are selected for the blend.
Cigars are wrapped in tobacco leaves, and unlike cigarettes, they don’t typically have filters. In pipes, the tobacco sits in a bowl at the end, and a stem connects the bowl to the mouthpiece. For instance, Boveda sells 72% packs, and claims that they prevent mold and mildew. However, many tobacco users say that having too much moisture can actually cause mold and mildew to grow.
At harvest time, the wilted leaves of the tobacco are hung up to dry for two weeks, stripped of hard veins, and packed into bundles . These torquettes are put into barrels under extreme pressure, and allowed glass pipes to cure in their own juices (which collect as run-off at the top of the barrels). Over the course of many months, these bundles are periodically “turned”, and then placed again under pressure in the barrels.