Pipe tobacco emerges from a weird uneven topography much like death metal. There are niche blending houses, big ones, and a few outliers that make no sense but delight those who resonate to their outlook. Today we look at one of the big blending houses and one of its exceptional products.

If you think of every product in our society as the result of people seeking to advance their own careers at jobs by standing out from the rest, the world of tobacco blending starts to make sense. The randomness we see often comes from those attempts.

Some however are legacy tobaccos, meaning those that come to us from ancient times before corporate registrations and intellectual property. These were blends that came about through ancestors which reflected what people could acquire that fit the taste of each region.

Amsterdam Shag, despite the trendy name, comes from the same sub-genre as Drum or other Dutch tobaccos, namely an even mixture of dark fired Kentucky Burley and a blend of Virginias, bringing sweetness and spice together into a molasses flavor.

These are blends designed for people who are doing something other than smoking a pipe while smoking a pipe, and although the shag cut is designed for cigarettes, if you can use a meditative pace on your breathing while breath-smoking, they produce a wonderful easy and flavorful bowl.

To load up with Amsterdam Shag, pull out the mossy mess of interlinked shag — a cross-cut that is very fine and clumps like wool — and stuff it into the pipe, then compact more than normal. You want this blend a little bit tighter because owing to the fine cut, it breathes very easily.

Once you have a dense wad in the pipe, light it and wander off enjoying the flavor. The Peter Stokkebye blends are compressed and released before slicing, making them very soft, and cased to take the edge off the tobacco flavor even when new. They burn easily and smolder long.

With the Dutch variety, you can expect more nicotine than almost all other Peter Stokkebye (or competitors Newminster, Sutliff, and Lane) blends because popular blends focus on low bite, low nicotine, and aromatic flavor leaving a room note. Here you get some strength as well as taste.

Despite having many blends at the ready, for many of us Amsterdam Shag will always be a favorite because like the best of the mass-produced blends, it provides an easy smoke that delivers a satisfying flavor without complications.

That will not sound exciting to the boutique pipe smoker (they sometimes say “piper” which sounds terrible) crowd who want nuance, shifting flavor, and a cool backstory of some kind, but for those of us who are busy working or relaxing when we smoke, it hits the spot time after time.

Tags: peter stokkebye, pipe smoking, pipe tobacco, tobacco