I asked questions about Perique...

[cosmicfolklore]

DM, less extreme than what? As it has been done this way for over 60 years. This wasn't Mark's decision, as he just owns the company. It would have been blended for years before he got there.
Well, a good debate is about the ideas, not the people. Me? I'm a goob that posts on a forum and buys a heck of a lot of VaPers. And, I love the history of the process and seeing the ancient equipment that goes into making a delicious condiment like perique, and seeing the fields full of the Burley. But, I am no expert. I just enjoy the product. But, I also don't see the point of splitting hairs on how the product that so many of us love. Mark Ryan could of invented the product last year, and it would still be just as yummy.

 

[deathmetal]

DM, less extreme than what?

Less extreme than only the straight variety of Perique. Might as well broaden the flavor palette a bit before fermenting.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Well, this has definitely given Pappymac's post more exposure and kept his thread alive more than if we had of all just said, "great post." ::

But despite what we all think or decide here today, the industry will do what it continues to do.

 

[deathmetal]

No way. It's time for educational films:
"Our Friend Fermentation"
"Perique's Not For Geeks"
"Microbes, Soil, And Aleister Crowley's Pact With Satan"

 

[jmill208]

So, Mark Ryan makes Perique, jitterbugdude makes barrel fermented tobacco product
So how does Mark Ryan make Perique? He has changed the process, hence he has changed the final product.

That was somewhat of a rhetorical question. I have no doubt that he makes excellent Perique but by the definitions offered by people on this forum, he doesn't make "real" Perique to sell to the public.

Jitterbugdude, I Apologize for the snarky remark. I meant that to be flippant and was really trying to point out that you sir, are correct. I guess I should have learned from Nate, italics next time....

 

[cosmicfolklore]

My "hooch" statement was meant to be flippant also :: although, I don't see any negative connotation with that word for this group. I thought "hooch" was a positive thing, ha ha.

 

[pappymac]

Mark Ryan has not changed the process. He is still using the process that Poche had in place. The only change he made was to start paying the workers more for their work.

Poche started adding other cultivars to the perique tobacco back in the 1950s or before.
The "process" by the way, is pressure fermentation which was in use by the French and Spanish before it was introduced in Louisiana. The story about native Indians packing tobacco in hollowed logs and apply pressure using rocks and stones is a legend but there is no historical documentation of it ever happening.
According to one document I found from 1942, the perique was placed in casks and then put under pressure using industrial jacks. Sounds pretty much like what the company Ryan owns is doing now.

 

[cortezattic]

I puff on my VaPer blends and, in a reverie, envision Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians furtively packing Perique into a hollowed out log.

Don't ruin it for me, Pappy! In fact, just now I think I snatched a glimpse of Pierre "Perique" Chenet peeking from behind a nearby tree, hoping to learn the secrets of their magical process.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Ah, a Perique by any other name would taste as sweet! Or something like that. Amidst the smoke and half-jibes, there's good information. Thank you, gents.

 

[jmill208]

::

 

[yaddy306]

I find it curious that some people who are insistent that Perique (capital "P") is only "real" or deserving of the name if it comes from Louisiana seem to have no problem calling that smoked Oriental tobacco from Cyprus "latakia".
After all, Latakia is a city in Syria, so only tobacco from Syria should be called latakia, right?

Do Cypriots even call their tobacco "latakia"?

 

[sablebrush52]

I find it curious that some people who are insistent that Perique (capital "P") is only "real" or deserving of the name if it comes from Louisiana seem to have no problem calling that smoked Oriental tobacco from Cyprus "latakia".
After all, Latakia is a city in Syria, so only tobacco from Syria should be called latakia, right?

Do Cypriots even call their tobacco "latakia"?

Fair point.
I suppose some could quibble over the appellation "St. James Perique" being applied to a product that isn't 100% made up of Perique grown in St James Parrish, just as Champagne, by law, has to be made from grapes 100% grown in the Champagne region of France and processed under strict guidelines. Anything else is sparkling wine even if the methode champenoise is scrupulously followed. It cannot be labeled as Champagne.
But there is a crucial difference. Champagne is a region, not a grape or varietal. Perique is a variety of tobacco leaf and the process. So whether St James Perique is, or isn't 100% St Jame parish grown leaf, it is Perique.
Personally, all I care about is whether the product tastes good. The Periques that Mark produces are wonderful. St. James parish grown product will have a distinctive flavor due to its climate, soil, growing, and processing, and that taste will vary from year to year. But I might not find that flavor necessarily better than Perique made from other regions, just different. Also, since the practice has long been to combine St James grown leaf with other leaf, then what the tobacco industry has traditionally called St Jame Perique is the result of blending.
I would be interested in knowing what percentage of St James grown leaf is in the mix.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I wonder, just what is the percentage of "perique" grown and processed for commercial use NOT in Louisiana, outside of the hobby growers.

 

[wyfbane]

Interesting thread. I'm not going to weigh in. But it was interesting. Hug it out, you guys.

 

[jmill208]

I would be interested in knowing what percentage of St James grown leaf is in the mix.

If I recall correctly, that percentage varies from year to year depending on the success of the local farms. Weather is obviously a major factor in that equation. Also, I do believe that Mark Ryan said that there were only a handful of local farmers still growing. He had hopes of more farms coming back to the crop with his increasing success. I guess time will tell.

 

[blendtobac]

Also, I do believe that Mark Ryan said that there were only a handful of local farmers still growing. He had hopes of more farms coming back to the crop with his increasing success. I guess time will tell.

When Mark took over L.A. Poche, there were, to the best of my knowledge, only three farmers who supplied him with leaf. When Mark raised the rate he paid for tobacco, took the responsibility for stripping the leaf upon his company rather than the farmers, and brought in a greenhouse to help get the crops ready to plant sooner, more farmers came on board. The last I talked to him about it, he had 11 people growing for him.
Russ

 

[jpmcwjr]

For those of you who have been there, does one take a bit of matured Perique as a starter for a newly loaded barrel? (Thinking like starter dough for sourdough bread)
And to all youse guys in Chicago-land, lets see some photos!!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Jpmcwlr, I didn't ask, but he never said that a starter was used. But, the barrels look well used and goopy. The process squeezes all of the juice out of the leaf, and it is a soup that rises to the top, and while compressed like this and the pressure constantly being tightened, the juice turns black and starts to bubble. Then it turns to a tar looking consistency, and then the pressure is loosened slowly, allowing that fermented black goop to be reabsorbed into the leaf. At that point, Mark said that it is not the nicotine that makes it potent, but all of the other compounds that have formed, or whatever (I am no scientist, but the nicotine becomes a different thing altogether) is what makes the perique more potent. I found it most interesting that he said that only a small percentage of the population can feel the effects of perique. So, I must just be a natural born perique freak, ha ha.

 

[deathmetal]

Perique is a variety of tobacco leaf and the process. So whether St James Perique is, or isn't 100% St Jame parish grown leaf, it is Perique.

One cannot forget the terroir however: soil, air, water, microbes.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Thanks, Micheal. It's great to know there's some black magic going on there.
John