Direct answer: Traditional tar is a broad phrase for tar made or used through older craft and industrial methods, especially wood tar for boats, rope, timber, and rural work.
Before modern petrochemical coatings, people relied on materials that could be made from forests, coal, peat, and other organic sources. Traditional tar often meant a locally produced wood tar, but the exact meaning changed by region. A Scandinavian boatbuilder, a British roofer, and a rural farmer might all have used the word differently.
Traditional tar appears in boatyards, heritage building, reenactment, blacksmithing, rope work, log construction, and old agricultural practice. It is valued for water resistance, smell, historical authenticity, and compatibility with certain natural materials.
The phrase should never replace a specific material name. Pine tar, birch tar, coal tar, pitch, bitumen, and creosote are not interchangeable even though all can live in older “tar” vocabulary.
In short: A broad historical and craft phrase. Often points to wood tar, especially pine tar. The exact material depends on place and period. Specific product identification is still necessary.