Pipes on the ships of old were nothing new. Tobacco and rum made their appearance in short order with tobacco inherited from American Indians and rum from the Caribbean. Smoking aboard ship was allowed by limited to a safe area and at safe times, ergo the "smoking lamp". Where? Usually near the Galley, as it is here. A huge thanks to the amazing da'rum - a man of high ideals and many talents. This is just one of them.
It all started with da'rum's recent experiment with Perique (I'd just tried a nice VaPer), which got me curious - a dangerous situation. So after a bit of research I've started to narrow things down:
Virginia: longleaf, red or flake. My concern burn rate and sweetness first, then brightness. Flake is sweet and cool burning. Longleaf has caramel tones, red is widely used. Or... Carolina: flake, sweet and tea, cool burn. A possible substitute for the above.
Burley: a double toasted white for sweet nuttiness and cocoa.
Latakia: a Cyprian ribbon cut - smoky, over leather and a bit of anise, or... Kentucky: a dark fired burley that is more subtly smoky, earthy but high in nicotine, to be used cautiously.
Perique: St. James, alleged to add cooked-fruit, musty, mushroom-like aroma. Cool smoking. Turkish: a blend of several Turkish described as bright and clean and particular good with Latakia. Cavendish: Green River Black Cavendish, brown sugar, slightly sweet, reputed to mellow, soften and sweeten the blend.
This is my first run through, and subject to change any microsecond now. I've included a couple interesting links for blending in general, and a second link from Dan Pipe with some suggested recipes using existing products (but that could use your own blending tobaccos)...
Same here, I have a vanilla cavendish called "Black Swan" by Sutliff (reviewed here). So many people over at Tobacco Reviews suggest blending an aromatic with burley (in my case Prince Albert, an OTC) to stretch and lighten it.
I went about 2/3 aro and 1/3 burley and voila! Very, very nice - lightened it nicely while adding some body and nuttiness of burley, also much improved burn. As an addendum though I finished with a half bowl of Barbados Plantation, which was and remains a tremendous blend with some authentic Bajan rum added.
Can't recommend this last one highly enough, also by Sutliff (see the review, also in this section)