Glossary

A

Aromatic: A type of tobacco which is either cased or top flavored in order to produce a taste and room note other than the tobacco's natural smell, whether simply sugar or molasses, whiskey or other alcohols, or many other flavorings. Used as a major category for pipe tobaccos, along with non-aromatic and latakia based blends.

B

Briar: Actually a mistranslation of the French bruyère, briar among pipe smokers refers to the wood of the erica arborea, a species of flowering plant in the heather family. After 30 to 60 years of growing time, the football sized plants are harvested, cooked, dried for several months, and further processed before they are made into pipes.

C

Cake: Cake refers to the buildup of residual carbon that forms in the bowl of a pipe. Most recommend trimming back the buildup to keep it at roughly the width of a dime in a briar pipe in order to create a protective layer which cools the pipe and reduces moisture. Cake is frowned upon in meerschaums, and the subject of much debate among corn cob pipe smokers.

D

Dottle: The leftover plug of unburnt tobacco and ash left in the heel of a pipe bowl after smoking. Dottle is avoided by smokers as a waste of tobacco and occasionally souring of the bowl, but is sometimes unavoidable.