What is the difference between pipe tobacco and cigarette tobacco?

People who are against cigarette smoking due to health reasons are endorsing pipe tobacco, which they consider in safer than cigarette tobacco.

Is it really so?

Pipe tobacco is a symbol of sophistication since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mark Twain. Natural and coarse tobacco leaves are used in pipe tobacco. A pipe comprises of the bowl (a chamber) in which tobacco leaves are placed and lit, and a hollow stem called shank emerges from the bowl to end in a mouthpiece.

A cigarette contains dried and finely cut tobacco leaves which are wrapped and rolled in a thin paper. One end of a cigarette is lit and inhaled through another end.

Both the handmade and machine made pipes are available which are made up of either wood or minerals like catlinite and soapstone.

Tobaccos to be used in pipes are treated and blended very carefully to obtain a distinct flavor. Mostly, Burley and Virginia's tobaccos are used in pipes. Flavor of these tobaccos is further enhanced by mixing them with spice tobaccos from the Syria, Orient, and Balkans. The tobacco leaves are treated with a food based casing for flavor and aroma.

Pipe tobaccos come in different flavors such as whiskey, wintergreen, cognac and much more. Some tobaccos are even sweet in taste.

Nowadays, most of the cigarettes are made using enhanced tobacco with two different flavors, menthol and regular.

The flavor and aroma of pipe tobacco are added when the plants are still growing by spraying them on the leaves. Whereas the flavor and aroma of cigarette tobacco are added chemically.

The term cigarette was first used by the French. In 1800s cigarette gained popularity in Europe. Presently, cigarette tobacco is widely used in developing nations, whereas its users have reduced in developed countries due to health concerns.

Pipe tobacco is more natural and safer to smoke in comparison to cigarette tobacco.