Blending Options and Different Virginias

[Sir Humpsalot]

Hey folks. I have two questions that have been nagging me ever since I started smoking a pipe. I understand what Latakia, Perique, and Orientals are in the abstract. And RevSmoke was kind enough to bestow upon me a generous sample of aged pure Perique for blending. But I want to gain a better appreciation for the constituent parts. To this end, I thought it'd be cool to acquire some Perique, Latakia, and Oriental tobacco, and then sample them all and start to play around with them.


My first question is, what "bare bones" tobacs are out there that can be purchased? So far, I've found that McClelland carries straight blending Perique, Latakia, and some sort of Oriental blend. This leads me to my second question...

How much different would McClelland's Orientals be from another company's? I'd imagine it could vary greatly. What about the Perique or Latakia? Would there be as much difference?

Third, what other straight tobaccos are available for blending? Who sells them?

Fourth, when selecting a Virginia base, what options are out there? Are there many different types? And what makes the difference? Is it the region where it's grown? The way it is processed? a bit of both? I've smoked some Bright Flake that I thought was awesome. What the heck is bright flake?

Fifth, Where can I buy straight cavendishes?

Sixth, would anybody be interested in a swap where everybody buys maybe 4 ounces of one straight tobac and then we all exchange until we have a sample of each?

Sorry for all the questions. I haven't posted much lately and had all these thoughts running through my head...

[smokinmojo]

http://www.cornellanddiehl.com/blending_tobaccos.htm

http://www.briarpatch.biz/pipetobacc...ingtobacco :tu