I'd rather have a total whore roll my cigars.Yeh, but you never hear pipe guys make wild claims about certain blends only ever being touched or shredded by the hands of virgins.
A Perique Story...
- Thread starter spicy_boiii
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They'd probably roll them a lot thicker, ha ha.I'd rather have a total whore roll my cigars.
This is the most thorough thread I've been able to find about perique, so I wanted to throw a few questions out there, as I have been messing around with blending perique, and now have some 'Whole Leaf Tobacco' perique I will be working with.
First of all, my understanding is that straight St. James Perique is all processed the same way: de-stemmed, pressed in a barrel, juices squeezed out, leaves turned repeatedly, allowed to ferment. Does this process take place for all St. James perique before it is sent to Sutliff, McClellands, Whole Leaf Tobacco, etc.? Meaning the only thing the recipients do is chop it up? Or is there something additional that they do to it after receiving? I got the impression from reading a Mark Ryan interview that he did all these things BEFORE sending it to blenders. What they did to it, I'm unsure about.
The 'Whole Leaf Tobacco' website says: "Whole Leaf Tobacco purchases these damp leaves packed into a barrel. We vacuum seal this tobacco to preserve freshness and prevent oxidation and mold growth." They say nothing a bout turning the leaves. If I bought from them, am I getting perique leaves that have simply been picked and vacuum-sealed, and will I still need to de-stem, turn the leaves, allow to ferment?
I'm hearing that the McClelland's blending perique was excellent, as was 'Jewel of St. James'. Why were these any different/better than D&R So. Vachery, Paulina, etc.?
Thanks.
First of all, my understanding is that straight St. James Perique is all processed the same way: de-stemmed, pressed in a barrel, juices squeezed out, leaves turned repeatedly, allowed to ferment. Does this process take place for all St. James perique before it is sent to Sutliff, McClellands, Whole Leaf Tobacco, etc.? Meaning the only thing the recipients do is chop it up? Or is there something additional that they do to it after receiving? I got the impression from reading a Mark Ryan interview that he did all these things BEFORE sending it to blenders. What they did to it, I'm unsure about.
The 'Whole Leaf Tobacco' website says: "Whole Leaf Tobacco purchases these damp leaves packed into a barrel. We vacuum seal this tobacco to preserve freshness and prevent oxidation and mold growth." They say nothing a bout turning the leaves. If I bought from them, am I getting perique leaves that have simply been picked and vacuum-sealed, and will I still need to de-stem, turn the leaves, allow to ferment?
I'm hearing that the McClelland's blending perique was excellent, as was 'Jewel of St. James'. Why were these any different/better than D&R So. Vachery, Paulina, etc.?
Thanks.
+1 for Whole Leaf tobacco. Their perique is excellent! Highly recommend. Make sure that you don't confuse them with the other "leaf only" supplier as the products and service are terrible from that "operation".I just received some Perique from Whole Leaf. The aroma of the leaves were very... barnyard ish.
I did not smoke any yet, I just sliced it and stuck it in ball jars to age. It was quite moist and the leaves varied in color from black to a lighter brown, very interesting.
St. James Perique Tobacco
Perique is a rare, slow burning tobacco. With high nicotine content, we suggest blending it with other tobaccos. Perique is often used as a condiment tobacco and lends a fruity/spice flavor to the…wholeleaftobacco.com
They are already "turned' and fermented. You'll just need to pull any thick stems and process with your blend.
Try this thread which includes a link to a video with Mark Ryan and an interesting contribution or two from Jeremy Reeves of C&D.
From what I've gathered from listening to a few blenders is that different large operations do treat their perique differently (casings, humectants etc), although the leaf arrives at said large operations already fermented and in form as perique. I think it was @ernieq who mentioned once a specific perique from a supplier that he preferred to use in his blends because the way they treated, cut and cased it fit what he liked. I could be mistaken.
I know of only two places that make Perique, La Poché and Percy Martin. They make the Perique from leaves grown in different Parishes and other locations that can provide them with the leaf they need. Perique is the result of a process, not a varietal. If what whole leaf is selling is Perique then the leaf has been put through that process.
There was also an informative post on Perique from the master blender at C&D a number of months ago.
All great information - thanks for your responses!
It will be interesting to see how the Whole Leaf Tobacco compares to some of the others mentioned. So far I've only used D&R So. Vachery, which I like a lot, and C&D.
It will be interesting to see how the Whole Leaf Tobacco compares to some of the others mentioned. So far I've only used D&R So. Vachery, which I like a lot, and C&D.
Right, but if you buy blending perique from, say, Sutliff, it'll be treated with whatever casings or humectants or mold inhibitors they use in house. I would imagine the C&D, P&C, even the McClelland stuff is no different. I doubt Ernie or even Russ are buying entire barrels straight from LA Poche, but I could be wrong.
That's where I had bad information in my head - I thought Perique was a type of leaf and that people refer to Acadian Perique as 'Perique' even though it's mixed with burley, but undergoes the same process as St. James Perique.
So I was thinking 'unprocessed' perique leaves vs 'processed' perique leaves.
Thanks.
I think you've got it straight. Pretty sure the straight St. James is rare to come by as the farmers in St James can't produce enough to meet demand, so most of what we smoke in commercial blends is the Acadian perique, which as you've said is a blend of a burley and the St James perique leaf....which is itself close to a burley type plant.
Listen to some interviews with Mark Ryan, he really lays it all out and explains the process, the different leaves used and the hardships involved in producing perique.
That's what I read in a Mark Ryan interview. I believe all the stuff I have is straight St. James, except the C&D and maybe the Decade Series. I'm also curious about the 'Jewel of St. James' Perique, as I thought Mark Ryan was the only one processing St. James back then, but maybe he bought his business after they were through?
There's Percy Martin, too, but he's under contract with American Spirit these days and all of his stuff goes into black Spirit cigs. Whether it's a blend or not, I don't know. I seem to recall some pipe tobacco coming from him a long time ago.
If it just says "Perique" it's the Acadian, blended Perique which has been the dominant form of Perique for a few generations now. The pure St James gets produced when they have enough leaf from the farmers to do a handful of barrels of it by itself, so some years no pure St James is produced at all if the farmers have a bad year. It tends to be labeled as such. D&R sold pure St James at one point, and the Rimboche SJ contains pure St James.
I've had both, and, in a blend I'd be challenged to taste a difference.
I don't know if it's a blend, but he gets his St. James perique with stems included (I've read), so his supplier is separate from those who supply pipe tobacco blenders.
So does C&D and all the rest. They get a barrell from LA Poche, and de-stem, cut and case themselves. The whole leaf you are getting came from Mark Ryan at LA Poche.
I will have to go back and see where I got that information - it implied that because cigarette smokers don't mind stems, that it made the preparation, and thus the supplier, different.
But I really know nothing - it's all from reading stuff I find in forums and the internet.
Ok I see. Here's how it works: LA Poche supplies all of the pipe tobacco manufacturers with Perique. It comes packed in a barrell, whole leaf moist and with stems etc. The Manufacturers ( Sutliff, C&D, MacBaren etc) then cut, case, treat with humectants etc the perique to suit their individual needs. When you buy a tin of Perique from C&D for example, it came as whole leaf from LA Poche, then was cut, cased and tinned by C&D.
The leaf you're looking to buy just hasn't been cut or de-stemmed yet. It most likely was produced at LA Poche, as the only other Perique producer (Percy Martin) is under contract with American Spirit. The stuff you're getting as whole leaf Perique is the same exact stuff that the pipe tobacco manufacturers get, just absent their processing steps. A cigarette blender might cut and treat their raw Perique very differently than a pipe blender, but it all comes to them having undergone the exact same process at LA Poche.
More great info - thanks. I have 2 pounds I'll be picking up at a friend's place in mid-August. Just trying to get myself prepared for working with it.
As an aside - I knew that Mark Ryan bought the La Poche Company in 2005 and that D&R no longer sells blending perique. Does Mark still actually own the company?