Quote Originally Posted by fastnbulbous View Post
Bulk vs Jarred tobacco.

I have not bought any tins yet. All I have are jarred bulk tobacco.

1. Would you guess that most of these bulk tobaccos have tinned counterparts, or are they housemade?
2. If a bulk tobacco is called Devonshire, does that mean it would be one of a hundred different brands?

The jarred tobaccos that I have bought seem to have generic type names, but no brand names.

3. How do I know what I am getting?
I assume the answer to this is to ask the person you buy it from, but I am just checking how many different tobaccos are out there with the same name.
Hi Adam,

Welcome to the pipe side of things.

Bulks can be vendor (stores - B&M, online) created blends or repackaged (wholesale) bulk that they buy. There are a finite number of bulk suppliers so either the blend itself or the components will have come from one of them. Some manufacturers sell tin and bulk versions of the same blend, like Gawith Hoggarth Bob’s Chocolate Flake (as an example).

Some vendors make their own blends, some don’t and what they tell you about the derivation of the tobacco may or not be true (they may not want to disclose their source). If it’s a bulk supplier blend then it’s sure to be sold by many vendors under different labels.

“Devonshire” sounds like a house name but I can’t tell you anything about it.

I’d suggest learning about the component leaf and the general types of blends like English, Virginia and Aromatics as a start. Try going to the online vendor sites like 4Noggins, Pipes & Cigars, PipeTobacco, etc., to get a feel for what’s out there and keep asking questions.