Tobacco "Vintage"?

[conlejm]

Hi Folks:
As with most agricultural crops, there are good growing years and there are bad growing years. Wine connoisseurs seek out bottles of wine in which the grapes were grown in certain years because it was a particularly good year for the grape growing season.
I am wondering if there is a similar phenomenon with tobacco. Certainly there are better tobacco growing seasons than others, and I am wondering if anyone keeps track of that and seeks out tobacco grown and/or tinned in certain years.
Perhaps it is a non-issue. A tin of Escudo, for instance, is a blend of several tobaccos and one tobacco may have had a good year while another a poor year. Or it may be that there are several different years' tobacco contained within a single tin.
Just curious if anyone ever seeks out a particular year of a certain tobacco.
Thanks.

 

[mikestanley]

Of course, there are the McClelland Christmas Cheer and McCrainie's Red Flake and Red Ribbon that are from crops of a particular "vintage". I have some favorite years of CC. Most blends rely on consistency year in and year out. The only blends I can think of that were "better" certain years were some G&H blends. I think it had as much to do with the lack of Zimbabwean Virginias as anything. I remember a batch of Bob's Flake in 2008 was particularly good but I don't know how I would have sought it out specifically.
Mike S.

 

[kcvet67]

Larger blenders are looking for consistency in their blends and will combine leaf of the same type from several different years to "even out" the difference in flavors of different years crops. There will still be some variation in the taste of different batches, but there is more consistency over the long haul. As Mike noted, there are a few blends which rely on a particular "vintage", they are rare.

 

[jitterbugdude]

Exactly as kcv said! All manufacturers do this. A McDonalds hamburger better taste the same in Oregon as it does in Virginia or McD will start getting a lot of complaints. Tobacco is no different. Strictly from a home growers perspective though. There is often times a noted difference in a tobacco crop from year to year. Lack of rain or excessive rain will change the taste of the leaf in subtle ways as will the addition of fertilizer.