St. James Perique

St. James Perique is one of the single-varietal tobaccos pipesandcigars.com sells for home blenders. Perique is a tobacco grown in Louisiana's St. James Parish region and fermented under its own pressure inside a barrel; production continues on a small number of farms using methods passed down through generations. This process gives the leaf a sharp character evoking fermented fruit, vinegar, and pepper.

It is a slow-burning tobacco high in nicotine, and smoked alone it sits heavy on the palate; its main use is adding spice to sweet leaves like Virginia. Being high in moisture, it should be stored cool. It suits smokers building their own blends who want to control the Perique proportion themselves; it is not a tobacco meant to be smoked alone by newcomers.