Orlik Tobacco Company Video Tour (Part II)
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Kevin Godbee - Aug 16, 2011
- 1 min read
By Kevin Godbee
In Part II, and the conclusion of our Orlik Factory Video Tour, you will see some interesting contrasts in production. There is some highly impressive automated machinery, but the video opens showing the handwork that goes into making of Luxury Bull’s Eye Flake. Watch carefully as the intro photo slideshow goes right into the Luxury Bull’s Eye Flake production as the music continues. We kept the music going here as there was a lot of noise from the factory and all of the conversion was inaudible.
Next, you get to see the de-stemming machine, which is actually called a "threshing machine". The process of de-stemming tobacco is referred to as threshing. You get to see the casing machine in action, and much more. After the video we have a few photos of parts that weren’t shown.
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| Davidoff Tins in Production | Troels Mikkelsen Holds a Slab of Pressed Tobacco | Packing Pouches of Orlik Golden Sliced |
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| The Flakes in the Pouches of Orlik Golden Sliced are Quite Long | How Orlik Golden Sliced Looks in the Pouch | Here’s a Tease. Capstan has lots of fans in the U.S., but it is not currently exported here. |
See the Orlik Tobacco Company Video Tour (Part I) Here
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Kevin Godbee is the Operating Manager of Right Click Media, LLC, which is the the owner & publisher of PipesMagazine.com. Kevin started smoking pipes and cigars in 1998 and started the online magazine & community site, Cigar-Review.com in 2005. The site was acquired in 2008 and no longer exists. PipesMagazine.com was launched in 2009. In the beginning of his career, Kevin worked in the hobby and specialty toy business for 16 years in sales, marketing, advertising and product development for three different manufacturers, and with his own company. Over the last 10 years working in the online business, he has become an expert in Internet Marketing and SEO. Kevin is also a Certified Salesforce Tobacconist (CST) through Tobacconist University. In his spare time he sings, plays guitar, cooks, and takes long walks on the beach. (Seriously, you should see how tan he is right now.) |
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I started out my tasting in cobs, then cut short an unpleasant bowl in a meer, and finally landed on my best instrument with the lovely Dunhill 4427 pictured, a quaint group 4 shell briar with a gentle curve and Cumberland stem supporting a perfectly executed acorn bowl. It surprised me here, as I’ve learned through the years that I generally have the best experience with English blends in large, wide bowls. With this blend it seems that to get the best out of the Katerini’s somewhat diaphanous influence the smaller bowl fared much better. Room note is very English, so the company you keep will either love it or hate it, and it doesn’t linger too much. I find it paired best with a strong coffee; Sumatran beans complement the flavors well, as do Ethiopian if a lighter brew is preferred. Overall impressions of the blend are that it’s a curiously interesting take on the English genre, almost a reductive reconstruction of the theme using the unique components. This blend, if nothing else, expanded my vocabulary of sense perceptions with the uniquely treated leaf. While the average human can distinguish approximately one trillion (1,000,000,000,000!) different aromas, multiplied by seven basic tastes, and wholly dependent on variables from body chemistry to atmospheric conditions, our overworked and underpaid simian brains can’t effectively catalog them all. Our pet adding machines are exceedingly good at this, however, and someday soon they’ll be the ultimate and unequivocal authority on what something tastes, smells, looks, or even feels like. Until that time, friends, revel in the moments that can be stolen to savor over a bowl of Pipe Force: Episode I.
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Excellent and informative video. I thought the casing machine was especially cool, but the entire factory is fascinating. I never thought much about it, but it makes a lot of sense for Orlik to produce a large quantity of base tobacco, and then divide it up for individual treatment to create their various blends.
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Thanks for this insider view of the manufacturers’ role in creating our favorite tobaccos. Maybe some day I’ll get a taste of Capstan. Some tease, Kevin! 🙂
Ha ha Cortez!
awesome video!
i also have to say, the “director” of the video made my day!
i would really not argue with going through some of their trash, i imagine they sweep up more tobacco off the floor every day, than most can smoke in a year!!
@shimrra – “i also have to say, the “director” of the video made my day!”
We only work with the best!
I forgot to mention in the articles that these videos almost got lost forever. While in Denmark, I moved the files onto my laptop and removed them from the video camera.
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Then my hard drive had a critical, unrecoverable error. My computer was dead. I couldn’t even boot up.
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Luckily, Sykes suggested that we share all of our files and he had already copied everything onto his laptop as well.
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There was some other content that did get lost forever, which hadn’t been copied over to Sykes’ machine. Now when I am on the road I make triple back-ups of all content.
Was there smoke and clicking?
Awesome Kevin,
Makes me want to see more and more.
I was amazed how organized and clean the factory is, plus how well it is managed to plan and produce more than 1000 SKUs.
Amazing stuff 4 sure.
Cheers
Fabricio
VERY kewl and informative!
As a former smoker of Capstan, both mild and full varieties, I too wish it was still available in the U.S. St. Bruno flake, also.
Great video, Kev. As always, everything that you post is very informative. Just curious though, and I’m sure you may have addressed this before, why is Capstan not being exported (or imported) to the US? This curious mind wants to know as Capstan is one of my favorites.
@RAM – “why is Capstan not being exported (or imported) to the US? This curious mind wants to know as Capstan is one of my favorites.”
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Good question, and I can only speculate that through very sophisticated market research that the suits decided there’s not enough market demand to make it worth the effort.
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Either that, or someone forgot to place an order.
What a cool set of videos kevin, It tickled my creative juices in seeing how i can do that on a small scale
Wow! I have personally never tried Orlik brand – and didn’t Know they put out so many blends, many I regularly enjoy – seeing how Luxury Bullseye is made is really awesome! – You are a blessing to the pipe community -Thanks again, Kevin!- ps Is there a possibility we will see you inside the hallowed halls of Lane Limited?
@gentlemanjerry – “Is there a possibility we will see you inside the hallowed halls of Lane Limited?”
I’ll see if we can arrange that for next year.
I always love these factory tours, makes me want to drop everything and go work for a tobacco company. Thanks Kevin & Sykes!
Excellent job once again gentlemen…thank you.
Really enjoyed the videos guys. Grat job!
Very informative video.. always wanted to see the manufacturing process. Excellent work Kevin, keep ’em coming!
Capstan and Orlik Golden are regular go-to blends for me, both being well priced and top quality. Virginia Flake and Navy Flake are originally a British pipe smoking tradition, more so than say English latakia blends. Germans tended to smoke aromatics and of course the Dane’s smoked Danish style aromatics. These local old trends have changed a great deal, the English don’t smoke pipes so much these day actually.
I suspect VA flakes are still not a big seller in the USA, but growing in popularity. The Americans are traditionally Burley and Aromatic smokers. Just my take on why Capstan and Three Nuns are not sold in the US, but as I mention, it’s all changing.