Pressed Tobaccos and the Concept of the Flake Pipe

Pressed tobaccos is the shared name for the forms obtained by holding leaf under pressure and molding it over a long period. Flake, plug, navy cut, rope, and coin are members of this family; a detailed breakdown of the forms can be found in the tobacco cuts entry.

They differ from loose ribbon cuts in two respects: they hold more moisture in their structure and burn distinctly slower. These two properties have over time raised the question "which pipe?", giving rise to a description in the community known as the flake pipe.

What Pressing Does to Tobacco

Pressing is not done merely to give shape. Air pockets in the compressed mass close, and a limited fermentation begins. The result is chemical: in a blend that has undergone long pressing, the aromas of the leaves merge into one another, and the individual varieties become harder to distinguish.

The most extreme example of this principle is Perique tobacco. According to records, in the method developed in 1824 in Louisiana by Pierre Chenet, leaves are packed into hickory whiskey barrels and left under pressure; the pressure is released once a month, the tobacco is manually aired out and repressed, and maturation takes a year.

Pressed tobacco also has a branch with roots in seafaring. According to lore, the name navy cut arose from sailors' habit of binding leaves tightly with string and cutting off a slice from the end as needed; John Player & Sons began using this name as a trademark in 1883. Kendal, in England, is considered the center of pressed-tobacco tradition: snuff production in the town dates back to 1792, and Samuel Gawith & Co. is said to still operate a machine built in the 1750s.