gv21

Seems like Butera's and McCranie's (is it?) are the last men standing
among the monovarietals, any other -ONE LEAF- tobacco out there?

- Butera's -Royal Vintage Golden Cake-:
"Bright, Golden Virginia long-leaf, ripened to perfection, mellowed
for years. Flue-cured until fully seasoned."

Butera's Golden Cake ... chuckle ... seriously, this flake is made
100% with one particular Virginia leaf from a specific crop so I doubt
there is anything like it. Keep searching though, perhaps there is
something out there similar you will like as much or even more...>>

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- I am not sure if McCranie's -Red Ribbon- is a monovarietal:
"Aged Red Virginia. It is [now it was] a special allotment of a 1983
crop North Carolina leaf that we have secured for our discriminating
pipe smokers."

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- Stone Pine Tobacco Co. -Seven Veils-. "A Unique Oriental Varietal"

<<Small-leaved, sun-cured "oriental" tobacco grows in many parts of
the Middle East, the Balkans and Russia. This tobacco has a
distinctive flavor and aroma, arising from the alkaloids and aromatic
waxes that the plant secretes in its growth process.

Each region produces one or more varieties with characteristic flavor
and burning qualities arising from the specific microclimate and soil
characteristics of the area, as well as the farming and curing
practices employed. Together these many varietals represent a broad
array of intriguing "colors" for the blender. From this array, we have
selected a single rare varietal, long absent from the American market.
Thin and rather unattractive in the leaf, when properly cured this
tobacco comes into its own-it burns cool and sweet, has a soft mouth,
and reveals layer upon layer of delicate but distinctive flavor as it
burns.

The aroma compliments the flavor, and speaks of salt, pine woods, and
myrrh. It needs no addition or combination, and receives none except a
sprinkle of distilled water in the preparation. An excellent doorway
to the intriguing world of oriental tobaccos.>>
[ http://www.stonepinetobaccos.com ]

A short lived tobacco, I believe it was discontinued about one year
ago. Their website is up, so I wonder if they have any plans to
resuscitate.

------------------------------------

-I can understand. There is a mystery about this which stimulates the
imagination; where there is no imagination there is no horror-
("A Study in Scarlet", Arthur Conan Doyle)

rob novak

Only every edition of McClelland's Christmas Cheer. ;-) Every year,
they pick leaf of a single variety from a single crop.

--
Rob on the Web: http://rob.rnovak.net
Electronic Music: http://www.ugotawanit.com

dave at the piperack

Not many. The problem from a commercialization standpoint is that you would
be dealing with a finite amount of the product by definition. Tobacco
crops/varietals/years, etc., are blended so as to maintain a consistency
from year to year.

I know of one company that does huge production runs of pipe tobacco; they
typically run two years worth at a time. They use tobacco from three
different crop years in each run, so as to compensate for the natural
variation in the leaf. This is how they are able to maintain a consistency
each time you go buy a tin of one of their tobaccos, and this is the typical
type of practice for most companies that have access to any amount of raw
leaf.

The other issue is that most tobacco companies do not have access to
varietal leaf. Even if they wanted to produce a varietal blend, they
probably couldn't.

McClelland's, which produces every varietal tobacco mentioned, has direct
access to varietal leaf. They have some of the finest quality leaf
available, every bit as good, if not better, than any of the big boys. And
when I say big boys, I'm talking about the big American cigarette companies
and Orlik in Denmark. I'm sure they have some awesome leaf, too, but they
certainly aren't going to do productions run of 500 tins; it's just not cost
effective for them.

Kind Regards

Dave Z.
The Piperack
http://www.thepiperack.com

gv21

Thanks for the thorough reply, I believe you when you say that
McClelland <<has some of the finest quality leaf available, every bit
as good, if not better, than any of the big boys>>. You got to know,
selling as you sell at The Piperack the best tobaccos ever made by
boys or adults. The cited McCranie's -Red Ribbon- and Butera's -Golden
Cake- (both manufactured by McClelland) give equal testimony of
McClelland's leaf excellency.

To me and some other puffers, the problem with McClelland is the level
in which they sometimes molest such leaf, abusing it with that
nastiest McClelland's ketchupy acetic signature (PG Galore and/or over
fermentation) that might go beyond the odor. May the day come upon the
earth when McClelland takes out behind the barn the one responsible
for the ketchup thing and "shoots it." Then they could advertise: "We
heard you."

I understand the consistency argument if consistency means lack of
deficiencies, not if it means as usual: uniformity. Those appealed by
mono varietals do not seek a uniform, continuous tasting tobacco. I
detect some uniformity obsession in a more and more specialized market
where individuality should be the selling difference, an individuality
always prone to infinite natural variations screaming: do not
compensate me!

Isn't it about time of some mono varietal tobaccos sold with
indication of the crop year (as McCranie's does)?
And if not mono varietal, don't we all age and buy vintage pipe
tobacco clumsily following cryptic clues in absence of a fair
description? "Consistency" at what price?

Wine commerce has been inconsistent for ages, and even large
monolithic companies like R.J. Reynolds (Camel) are seeing the
opportunity of doing the same specialty thing with quality cigarettes.
So here is me wishing the best inconsistent tobaccos are yet to come.
Meanwhile we have as many as two (that I know of).

Regards,
Vives.

inquisitor

Well, again, the Christmas Cheer series are crop year specific. As to the
rest, I happen to LOVE the McClelland signature. It has nothing to do with
PG (which is odorless and tasteless), especially since most of their
Virginia blends have little or no PG in them (watch an open Dark Star tin
dry to crumbly dust in a few days if you need proof!)

Sincerely,
A McClelland lover,
Christopher