Aged 5100, this Stuff is Delicious!

[9mmpuffer]

About 15 years ago, I bought a pound of 5100, put it into three large mason jars and left it in a box in my basement.

Yesterday, I opened a jar, put 1/3 into a smaller jar and smoked a bowl.

Wowwee! This stuff is insane. Maybe the most well rounded and tasty tobacco I've ever smoked!

We need to get this stuff back. It can't be impossible to grow high quality red Virginia, now we just need Mike and Mary's processing secret!

 

[Chasing Embers]

Mike and Mary's processing secret

They're taking that one to the grave.

It's not bad for a blending tobacco but like many things, we'll never see it again.

 

[sablebrush52]

About 15 years ago, I bought a pound of 5100, put it into three large mason jars and left it in a box in my basement.

Yesterday, I opened a jar, put 1/3 into a smaller jar and smoked a bowl.

Wowwee! This stuff is insane. Maybe the most well rounded and tasty tobacco I've ever smoked!

We need to get this stuff back. It can't be impossible to grow high quality red Virginia, now we just need Mike and Mary's processing secret!

I have about a pound left from 2013 and I have to agree it's gone from zero to one hundred.

As for recreating it, for a whole host of reasons that have been explained to death, the possibility is zero.

 

[gervais]

About 15 years ago, I bought a pound of 5100, put it into three large mason jars and left it in a box in my basement.

Yesterday, I opened a jar, put 1/3 into a smaller jar and smoked a bowl.

Wowwee! This stuff is insane. Maybe the most well rounded and tasty tobacco I've ever smoked!

We need to get this stuff back. It can't be impossible to grow high quality red Virginia, now we just need Mike and Mary's processing secret!

Funny, I just smoked half a bowl of 5 year old 507c and IT might be the tastiest tobacco that I've ever smoked too. Two pipe smokers have their nirvana smoke in one day..... The Leaf Gods are happy today

 

[9mmpuffer]

I have about a pound left from 2013 and I have to agree it's gone from zero to one hundred.

As for recreating it, for a whole host of reasons that have been explained to death, the possibility is zero.

I'll continue my pipe dream

 

[renfield]

Old 5100 is definitely a really nice smoke. That classic McC Red Virginia flavor.

I still like it best blended into something else, especially Virginias and VaPers. It really can take a good blend to another level. It’s the main reason I (fortunately) ended up with a lot of 5100 jarred up.

 

[Brad H]

About 15 years ago, I bought a pound of 5100, put it into three large mason jars and left it in a box in my basement.

Yesterday, I opened a jar, put 1/3 into a smaller jar and smoked a bowl.

Wowwee! This stuff is insane. Maybe the most well rounded and tasty tobacco I've ever smoked!

We need to get this stuff back. It can't be impossible to grow high quality red Virginia, now we just need Mike and Mary's processing secret!

Agreed. I’d properly kept. It’s better than pretty much anything I have smoked… ever.
I picked up a pound few weeks ago. I was fortunate.
If you find yourself with too much I’ll gladly take it off your hands.

 

[Brad H]

About 15 years ago, I bought a pound of 5100, put it into three large mason jars and left it in a box in my basement.

Yesterday, I opened a jar, put 1/3 into a smaller jar and smoked a bowl.

Wowwee! This stuff is insane. Maybe the most well rounded and tasty tobacco I've ever smoked!

We need to get this stuff back. It can't be impossible to grow high quality red Virginia, now we just need Mike and Mary's processing secret!

It’s great stuff!

 

[bent1]

It’s superb as a blending VA also. Mixed 1/4 5100 & 3/4 Haunted bookshop, wow!

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I have a pound or two stored in Mason jars. I happen to really like 5100 smoked straight. Aged, it is divine.

 

[Sig]

Ive got a bunch....no idea how much.
It's from 2012 and 2013 back when I didn't weigh tobacco before I jarred it.
Unfortunately it's in 16 ounce jars, so when I open them, I'll need to re-jar the tobacco.
I haven’t smoked any 5100 sinse maybe 2017 or so. I'll be opening a jar this Spring.

 

[jguss]

Great stuff indeed. While we’re pining for the past, I miss 2015.

 

[jguss]

…It can't be impossible to grow high quality red Virginia…

Possible to grow, sure, but actually grown is another thing. There is a significant difference between what can be done in theory and what is economically feasible.

Mike has been very clear that getting acceptable leaf, even for him (and he had contacts and relationships dating back decades and unique in the pipe world) was moving from difficult to impossible. I stress the relationship aspect because what Mike could get, with a lifetime of connections, wasn’t available to everyone. The demand for leaf for pipe tobacco is so minuscule compared to cigarettes that getting the highest quality amounted to a favor, and favors are exchanged between old friends.

Is red Virginia still available? Of course. Is what you can buy equal to what McClelland used? No. All leaf is not the same.

When Mike says, as he did repeatedly, that ability to source adequate (by his exacting standards) leaf was a major factor in the decision to pull the plug I take him at his word. Anyone who doubts that apparently believes they know more than Mike about what’s necessary to make McClelland tobacco.

As a reminder here’s what he said in a written statement almost exactly seven years ago:

We’ve made our pipe tobaccos–Virginias, Oriental mixtures, Aromatics, etc.–from the highest grades of leaf and stripped tobaccos because of their basic richness and natural sweetness. That has been the beauty of McClelland and that is now the problem. We can no longer access tobacco of the quality we need. The time-honored labor-intensive process at the farms are disappearing. The aging of leaf over several summers to mellow is largely a thing of the past. We need old school methods at every stage before manufacturing to make it possible for McClelland to draw from the leaf the flavors that have been our hallmark.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I bought enough to last me the rest of my life.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It can't be impossible to grow high quality red Virginia

The state of red virginias is fine. Nothing ever happened to affect the world's red virginia supply. I am so tired of hearing this. Everyone has read that farewell note from Mike wrong. Red Virginias are grown in abundance for the cigarette industry. It is one of the predominate leaf used in cigarettes,

The problem was (for Mike) that the farmer he worked with stopped supplying him with the exact leaf he wanted in the exact condition he needed it to be in to cure it like he wanted to. Everyone has this idea that blenders get one of twelve varieties from an auction and pour shit on it to make it taste the way it does. Sure, most blender do, because they don't know these other processes. I liken these blenders to chefs who work only with products sold by Sysco. Sure, some of them are really good at this... depending on what your definition of "good" is. But, Mike was more like the chef who starts each meal from the garden.
Mike specialized in various techniques where he would cure the leaf in a way that gave it new tastes. He also required an exact set of leaves from the plant. Anything else would not even come close to filling the bill for him taste wise.

That era is over. We had several years of warnings from Mike. Anyone who talked to him at pipe shows would know that he constantly talked about quitting for a couple of years leading up to the actual day they tit's upped. Some of us headed his warnings and stocked up. End of story.

 

[Brad H]

I had someone send me a sample of 5100. It’s great stuff.