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Tarek Manadily tells flakesters what to look for

Finding the ideal flake pipe was not always as tricky as it often proves nowadays. In the heyday of compressed tobaccos up to 1960, most bowls were smaller and often more simply shaped than today's. Such pipes were naturals for flake smokers, who therefore rarely talked about their 'hardware requirements'. From the briar point of view, it's the wide range of shapes and sizes now available that makes flake smoking a minor science. A bulky Wiley or Bang simply isn't suited to compressed blends. The wearisome result has put many an adventurous pipester off flakes for good.

In recent decades, the growing popularity of large freehands has gone hand in hand with the rise of ready-to-smoke aromatic mixtures. Flakes, more complicated to produce and demanding a little extra effort by the consumer, were almost relegated to 'fuddy-duddy' status just a few years back. And while today, online discussion forums indicate smokers' renewed interest in compressed tobaccos, market availability sometimes points in the opposite direction. Even household names such as Capstan, St. Bruno and Three Nuns have temporarily or permanently disappeared from some countries' stores over the past few years.

Swiss-based online pipe dealer Tarek Manadily says its "sad to see pressed tobaccos disappearing from the scene, one after the other." But he adds that there are encouraging signs, too. "It looks like the German and the American tobacco manufacturers do intend to fill the gap, as well as they can. Indeed there are some quality pressed tobaccos emerging."

Lost latakia love

Born in Egypt and educated as a linguist, Tarek is best known to many pipesters for his love of flakes. He's the guy who buys just about every small pipe Claudio Cavicchi carves, marketing them in his webstore (http://www.theitalianpipe.com) as the 'Cavicchi Flake Pipe'. The range is a reliable source of quality briars for lovers of compressed tobacco the world over. Other producers offering smallish pipes excellently suited to flakes are Dunhill, Peterson and Mark Tinsky (the Featherweight range). Old BBBs usually meet the standard, too. Also look at some of Trever Talbert's affordable Ligne Bretagnes, the pipes he makes from pre-turned stummels in addition to his high grades.

Tarek Manadily

Admittedly, flakes came late in Tarek's pipe career, as they often do for today's smokers. For years, he was a dedicated latakia fiend until he took a look at himself and discovered an almost sacrilegious change of spirit. "With all due respect, I was starting to get a little bored with latakia. Yeah, I was smoking so many different mixtures from a variety of blenders, and regardless of what tobacco I was about to smoke, there was always this annoyingly predictable element - the latakia. So, I looked around and settled on the logical step: natural, pressed VAs. Once, I found my own technique and got over the tongue-bite and the frustration with combustion, I never looked back."

Tarek says that "there are a few aspects about pressed tobaccos that never fail to give me a buzz." Apart from the interesting range of shapes and sizes - curlies, twists, plugs, navy cuts - he praises the scope for experimentation. Flakes and their relatives can be cut, smoked whole, rubbed to various degrees, broken or rolled into a 'sausage' (e.g. Escudo).

But, above all, Tarek thinks compressed blends are honest: "You can smell a tobacco you've never smoked before and get a fair idea of what it is like from its tin aroma."

Not large

Rather than talking of 'small' pipes, Tarek says that the basic requirement for a flake piece is that "it should not be large". His own ideal size is a Dunhill Group 3, though he owns a couple of 'small' Group 5 lovats that work well.

"Over time," Tarek explains, "a few practical facts have showed me that smaller pipes are more suitable for pressed tobaccos. "For example, pressed tobaccos tend to smoke a little hotter and moister than unpressed ones. This means that the bigger the bowl, the more concentrated the taste and flavour of the bottom layers of the tobacco - and the more taxing the smoke is on the pipe, as well as on the tongue."

"Also, they last a lot longer. An unpressed tobacco smoked in a particular pipe might last 45 minutes - a pressed tobacco, on the other hand, would last 60 to 75 minutes in that same pipe. I don't know about you, but I almost never have two or three hours to smoke one pipeful. Besides, I'd much rather smoke two bowls in a row than one in a very large pipe. I believe that the experience will be a whole lot more fun and rewarding - also, it makes any unpleasantness less likely."

Surprisingly, Tarek's views on shapes do not echo common wisdom in every detail. For example, a Pot doesn't automatically qualify as a flake pipe in his books - though some small ones might. "I once tried to smoke pressed tobaccos in a Pot with a diameter of 25mm. It ended up being a disaster over and over again - until I gave up and drew my conclusions. In a case like this, the little lit ember that is ideally in the centre of the chamber will not produce enough heat to reach out and burn the tobacco that is 12 or 13mm away."

Basic shapes are easiest

Billiards and all their close relatives do best with compressed tobaccos, he says. "This is mainly because of the upright tobacco chamber shape, with a diameter running almost regularly from top to bottom. That is quite conducive to the tobacco burning evenly and more easily, and this is a particularly important element in the case of pressed tobaccos, which are more difficult to burn consistently."

Shapes that come close are Apples - or even Bulldogs and Rhodesians, according to Tarek, who may be approaching controversial territory here. Those to avoid are the Stack (Chimney), the Oom Paul, the Zulu and the Horn.

Escudo entities

For many smokers, the ultimate compressed tobacco challenge is finding the right pipe to stuff with Escudo. That regal blend is considered choosey by most experts, though Tarek doesn't understand the problem.

"I smoke Escudo in different ways, depending on the pipe, its shape and size - and, of course, on my mood and the circumstances. Usually, I would just break the discs up slightly and then pack. When the pipe is quite small, and I'm aiming at the longest smoke possible out of it, then I don't rub the tobacco out at all. I just take one or two discs, fold them, and plug them into the bowl."

As for the ideal pipe shape to smoke Escudo in, there is the general answer and there is the Tarek Manadily answer. "The general answer is any pipe that is not large and has a conservative shape, with upright, regular walls. The Tarek Manadily answer is - a Lovat, of course."

(October 29, 2003)

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