The Last Third of the Bowl

I’m a fan of both the last third of a bowl or a cigar. To me it’s the deepest as far as favor and experience. Obviously if neither is biting or smoking well. Id ditch it by that point

Very rarely do I smoke to the bottom unless it's a cob. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesnt.

All aromatic blends lose their flavor at mid bowl for me. English blends are good to the last puff.

I always smoke the last third . . . and the second third.  I try to avoid the first third.

This is where public education has left us.😁

I like the last 3rd of the Bowl, I usually smoke all the way to the bottom until it goes out, then I become sad...

The last third of the bowl is where all the flavor is, its my favorite part of the smoke in a briar.
I find the bottom of the bowl in a cob doesn't taste as good though but, smoke it down anyway just to try and keep it
dry at the heel.

A cased process is necessary to make the tobacco smokable, typically a good dosage of sugar water (or something similar), as mentioned before. An aromatic blend has an additional casing(s) and/or topping(s). Non-aromatics have the first treatment only. The way I see the difference between so called non-aromatic & aromatic blends is the lack or addition of the second treatment, respectively.

PG Propylene Glycol(PG) can be found in both aromatics and non-aromatics. Propylene Glycol is not meant to flavor tobacco persay (Whether it actually "flavors" the tobacco is another discussion 😁. Pease makes the point that PG issues are related to its over use by some blending houses, which in general I agree.) but act as a preservative, most often encountered in over the counter (OTC) blends.

Some folks state the word "casing" defines the first process all pipe tobaccos go through while top flavoring defines the second treatment of aromatics. I do not believe so, as the difference between cased and top flavoring appears to be the level of treatment.

GL Pease:

"A: There are two things of interest here, namely "casing" and "top flavouring." They are two distinctly different approaches to altering a blend's flavor. Some tobaccos employ both.

"Casing requires that the tobacco be soaked in or sprayed with a "sauce" that may contain sugar, molasses, liquorice, alcohols like rum or whiskey, and various flavourings, natural or otherwise, depending on the manufacturer. Once the tobacco "drinks" the sauce, it's conditioned in large cylinders that dry it back to the desired moisture level, generally between 12% (on the dry side) and 22% (very moist). Optimal moisture for smoking depends on the smoker, but it's generally in the 13-16% range. The aromas and flavours imparted by casing will remain in the tobacco pretty tenaciously, and will affect the smoke throughout the bowl.

Top-flavouring is added by spraying the finished blend with scents and flavourings. This is usually a much lighter application, and doesn't alter the moisture content of the leaf dramatically. Sometimes called "top-notes," this can be quite ephemeral. Because of the volatile nature of many of the commonly used components, a tobacco left to "air out" may lose a lot of the perfume that's applied this way.

Depending on the casing used, tobaccos can become very sticky. Some producers use humectants to maintain a specific moisture level in the final product. You'll hear people talk about PG, or propylene glycol, the most commonly used humectant these days. It's generally spoken of in rather disparaging terms, thought it's not the PG that deserves the condmenation, but the blending houses who use it with reckless abandon. If the tobacco won't dry out, PG is likely the culprit. In small quantities, it does its job well. In large quantities, it produces a sticky, wet smoking, pipe clogging weed that should never see the inside of a pipe.

Not all flavoured tobaccos are cased, and casing is not always a bad thing, but the term is used incorrectly more often than not, so a lot of confusion has been created."

www.glpease.com/FAQ.html

In my reply, I modified an earlier post (different thread) of mine and then looked up a GLPease statement that might help. There is allot of disinformation out there that makes understanding difficult. Typically I read the experts first, looking up articles, books, blogs etc. to hopefully find the truth. However, even amongst those who are truly "knowledgable" there are differences of opinion on topics like what constitutes an English, Balkan and other Latakia containing blends. 😁

You will find the link to GL Pease's comments at the bottom of my last post.


PS More food for thought:
pipesmagazine.com/python/pipe-tobacco/english-blends-and-latakia-blends-one-in-the-same/

In general, I prefer the flavor from the first two thirds of the bowl. This isn’t true with all tobaccos, but with most of them. If a baccy is going to start tasting harsh, ashy, or overly peppery for me that happens in the last third.