Ribbon – Long, thin ribbons of tobacco – a type of cut.

Rubbed Out Tobacco – Rubbing tobacco in-between your thumb and fore-finger. You can also do it in the palm of your hand. The technique is used specifically on plug and flake tobacco. 

Raleigh – Of the Sir Walter fame, generally accepted as the first person to smoke a pipe in England and is credited for making smoking “hip” in England.

Shag – A very finely shredded tobacco.

Shank – The part of the pipe where the bowl and stem meet.

Stain – As you can probably guess, this is applied to the outer part of a pipe to give it a distinct coloring.

Stem – The part of the pipe where the bit and shank meet.

Tamp – The technique of “tamping” down your lit tobacco or packing it (not too roughly!) so that your pipe does not go out.

Tamper – A tool that lets you tamp your tobacco.

Virginia – Arguably the most popular type of tobacco out there. It is mild in taste, with a gentle sweetness, which it derives from its abundance of fructose (beware diabetics!). You can find Virginia is pretty much every blend.

Vulcanite – A material used primarily in the manufacturing of pipe stems. It is typically said to be softer than Lucite.

Summary

Thanks once again for stopping by and reading another part in our series of Puff Glossaries. As always, if you have a comment or questions, or some more information to add, please feel free to shoot us a line. We would love to hear from you!