Blend Consistency Question

[Briar Lee]

Many years ago I was taught in college that the sellers of consumer products seldom try and improve an established product like beer, wine, soft drinks, foods, or tobacco.

Instead they want your Big Mac to taste like the first one you ever ate, anywhere you buy one in the world.

I’m familiar with the efforts of premium cigar makers to keep large stocks of leaf from different crops and how they constantly strive for consistency.

So, how do pipe tobacco makers keep the consistency in their product?

Tobacco varies some from year to year and field to field.

Yet I think the Half and Half I bought fifty years ago tasted the same as the Half and Half I bought last week.

How, do they do that?

 

[beefeater33]

Where I grew up in Broadway Ohio, there were a lot of wild blackberry bushes.

Leon was the town simpleton, but boy, he could pick them blackberries.
Leon always smoked a Lee 3 star pipe, Middleton Cherry blend...........

Leon's blackberries were the best around, and all the local women wanted Leon's Berries.......
To have a pie with those berries was pure Heaven.......... God's work if you will.

You see, Leon was blind, but he sure could get the berries, and that smell out of the Lee 3 star was just pure Ambrosia to those lonely southern girls........ Leon was a legend for his berries........ biggest berries in town.

Leon always wanted a 4 star Lee, but his pappy said no. Leon was smart though, he got one of those southern gals out of the milk house and she bought him a 4 star....... but Leon didn't like it much........... smoked like shit........ all oil soaked from the inside and he was a pissed-off!

Leon was old, but he put that old oil soaked Lee pipe on E-bay and an old boy from Humansville, MO. bought it and bitched about how it was no good............. all Lee pipes are good, but this one wasn't......... Old Leon quit smoking after that, and moved to Humansville. Became a small town Lawyer, loved his Winchester 101's, and the rest is right here......... history, boys it don't get no better...........

 

[Chasing Embers]

Where I grew up in Broadway Ohio, there were a lot of wild blackberry bushes.

Leon was the town simpleton, but boy, he could pick them blackberries.
Leon always smoked a Lee 3 star pipe, Middleton Cherry blend...........

Leon's blackberries were the best around, and all the local women wanted Leon's Berries.......
To have a pie with those berries was pure Heaven.......... God's work if you will.

You see, Leon was blind, but he sure could get the berries, and that smell out of the Lee 3 star was just pure Ambrosia to those lonely southern girls........ Leon was a legend for his berries........ biggest berries in town.

Leon always wanted a 4 star Lee, but his pappy said no. Leon was smart though, he got one of those southern gals out of the milk house and she bought him a 4 star....... but Leon didn't like it much........... smoked like shit........ all oil soaked from the inside and he was a pissed-off!

Leon was old, but he put that old oil soaked Lee pipe on E-bay and an old boy from Humansville, MO. bought it and bitched about how it was no good............. all Lee pipes are good, but this one wasn't......... Old Leon quit smoking after that, and moved to Humansville. Became a small town Lawyer, loved his Winchester 101's, and the rest is right here......... history, boys it don't get no better...........

 

[Briar Lee]

It’s not just the consistency of the taste of tobacco blends that fascinates me, but also the consistency of the aroma.

In the days before the do gooders convinced people that second hand smoke causes cancer, every smart tobacco company probably had extremely good looking women scent testing blends. Hairy legged boys will smoke Latakia aged over camel dung fires. Men can eat cheeseburgers in the middle of scooping out a sale barn, like I did almost fifty years ago.

Women love the smell of certain tobacco blends,
My first introduction to Half and Half was as a child my grandmother, mother, aunt, and later my beautiful cousins would buy my old Grandpa Half and Half, as a gift.

And the old man had enough common sense to let them open the can, and let them pack his pipe, and then light it for him by having them strike a kitchen match.

Grandpa graduated Weaubleau Christian College (under John Whitaker ) in 1901 and was a very, very wise man.

After graduation he went out West and in two years earned enough to come back to Hickory County and buy a large river bottom farm next to his parents, and never again worked for the other man.

My mother said he didn’t seem to ever work, physically, at anything.

Everyone around Dooley Bend brought him things to repair, he rented out of his farm, my grandmother (his second wife, 17 years younger) earned a lucrative income writing for the Hermitage Index, and after her humorous weekly series inspired the Beverley Hillbillies,,,

The Beverley Hillbillies producers sent him lots of cartons of Winstons, hoping his wife would have Pa in her weekly columns start smoking Winstons.

The real Eric “Pa” Agee smoked the Winstons.

I’ve lit many for him.

But when he bought commercial cigarettes he specified Camels.

All the beautiful women in his life, preferred the aroma of Camels.

I wonder if Camels, still smell the same?

It matters.

 

[sablebrush52]

It appears that the AI is beginning to show some signs of cognitive dissociation.

Aside from the family reunion parade of the more successful results of decades of incest and bestiality, there is an actual answer to the OP's question.

Blending houses often create their blends from sebveral years of product from the usual sources. By averaging crops this way the annual variation is diminished. Think of it as homogenized components. So that's part of how commercial blend flavors are retained year after year. The other part is flavoring additives, which all tobacco blends have. Adjustments are mde for every batch. Last part of the equation is a master blender, whose job it is to taste the product and adjust the blend's flavors prior to production and release.

 

[cigrmaster]

The best houses have massive amounts of similar stock so they are able to keep their blends consistent.
I have been to the Fuente operation in the DR. I have been on a private tour of the Cuban Cohiba factory and a public tour of the Partagas factory in Cuba.

The best quality cigars are coming from the Fuente factories. He has cold ware houses full of 1984 Cameroon wrapper leaf. I am talking about thousands and thousands of bundles. Their factories are run a like a tight ship and attention to detail cannot be touched. The only other company in their league is Padron.

The Cohiba factory was a fucking joke and they couldn't give a shit at their quality control, I was on a private tour of that factory. . The Partagas factory was a little better than Cohiba.

The big pipe tobacco mfgs, are smart and they plan ahead. Mac Baren is one Gawith is one, GL Pease is one. There are more but you get the idea.

Pipe mfgs have thousands of tons of tobacco they use to try and keep their blends consistent. It is their most difficult chore.

aathe problem I think with the pipe tobacco mfgs is they have a system and they stick to it no matter what the supply and demand are.

 

[warren]

Many years ago I was taught in college that the sellers of consumer products seldom try and improve an established product like beer, wine, soft drinks, foods, or tobacco.

Your professors never heard of Coca-Cola I'm betting. How about Studebaker? Their decision to to switch over to"mainstream" appearing vehicles killed 'em.

Instead they want your Big Mac to taste like the first one you ever ate, anywhere you buy one in the world.

Bad choice and demonstrably untrue! MacDonald's caters to regional tastes, their intended customer base. Americans aren't the only people eating at the "Golden Arches." That's one of the reasons a Big Mac tastes so much better in Europe. They don't use American beef there. A Malboro made in Poland tastes very different fro it's American cousin.

You need to travel a bit, widen your horizons. Sometimes you come across as very provincial.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I don't agree that manufacturers don't try to improve a product. But more importantly, they often do redesign it to cut cost either through lower raw material costs or better manufacturing efficiency. They often have to make revisions due to component availability changing.

 

[mso489]

What sablebrush said very succinctly.

 

[Briar Lee]

Your professors never heard of Coca-Cola I'm betting. How about Studebaker? Their decision to to switch over to"mainstream" appearing vehicles killed 'em.



Bad choice and demonstrably untrue! MacDonald's caters to regional tastes, their intended customer base. Americans aren't the only people eating at the "Golden Arches." That's one of the reasons a Big Mac tastes so much better in Europe. They don't use American beef there. A Malboro made in Poland tastes very different fro it's American cousin.

You need to travel a bit, widen your horizons. Sometimes you come across as very provincial.

I was taught economics in the late 70s, before New Coke.

Even before Diet Coke.

Falstaff was still popular back then.

For every rule, there’s an exception.

And as for being provincial I plead guilty, even more than as charged.

My church members are taught the tenents of every major religion at home and church.

At our public schools we learn geography and our teachers constantly teach us there’s a huge world outside of our little corner of it.

As a teenager I was sent around to attend a wide variety of other churches.

Anything beneficial we learn, we have been freely adopting since a rag tag group of 11 of the first Christians escaped death at the hands of the same authorities that murdered our Master.

If Humansville Missouri isn’t the best place on this earth, it’s our fault.

Whatever we are sellin’ the folks ain’t buying’, you know?.

 

[warren]

And as for being provincial I plead guilty, even more than as charged.

Provincial! Not, parochial.

 

[Briar Lee]

The best houses have massive amounts of similar stock so they are able to keep their blends consistent.
I have been to the Fuente operation in the DR. I have been on a private tour of the Cuban Cohiba factory and a public tour of the Partagas factory in Cuba.

The best quality cigars are coming from the Fuente factories. He has cold ware houses full of 1984 Cameroon wrapper leaf. I am talking about thousands and thousands of bundles. Their factories are run a like a tight ship and attention to detail cannot be touched. The only other company in their league is Padron.

The Cohiba factory was a fucking joke and they couldn't give a shit at their quality control, I was on a private tour of that factory. . The Partagas factory was a little better than Cohiba.

The big pipe tobacco mfgs, are smart and they plan ahead. Mac Baren is one Gawith is one, GL Pease is one. There are more but you get the idea.

Pipe mfgs have thousands of tons of tobacco they use to try and keep their blends consistent. It is their most difficult chore.

aathe problem I think with the pipe tobacco mfgs is they have a system and they stick to it no matter what the supply and demand are.

Thank you, for your considerate answer.

I’d heard the best cigar makers do that, and the best pipe tobacco manufacturers would have to do the same, to keep a consistent product.

They’d even have to do it for codger blends like Half and Half.

And the one that does that best, ought to win.

When I was starting pipe smoking 50 years ago, in Humansville Prince Albert was first, Velvet second, SWR third, and Half and Half fourth, in shelf space at the grocery stores.

Today in Humansville you can still buy a pouch of Half and Half.

All the other brands, if any are carried, are newer.

 

[Briar Lee]

Provincial! Not, parochial.

One of the perks, of being raised Campbellite is we do not get offended.

Period.

I had two dear, close friends named Brother Billy and his son David.

Brother Billy was a very successful Baptist preacher. David grew up in his church, learning Baptist theology.

David could play all up and down the neck of his Martin HD-28 and in due time Brother Billy died, and my mother died, and David’s mother died, but we still kept on going to nursing homes playing for the old folks there.

David knew every song in the Baptist hymnal and so did I, and we’d take requests from the folks and entertain them.

Edited- some paragraphs deleted.

 

[telescopes]

Provincial! Not, parochial.

What does it mean if someone is provincial?


1 : of, relating to, or coming from a province. 2a : limited in outlook : narrow. b : lacking the polish of urban society : unsophisticated. 3 : of or relating to a decorative style (as in furniture) marked by simplicity, informality, and relative plainness especially : french provincial.

What does it mean if a person is parochial?


(pəroʊkiəl ) adjective. If you describe someone as parochial, you are critical of them because you think they are too concerned with their own affairs and should be thinking about more important things.

What does it mean to be a Hillbilly?

Hillbilly is a term for people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in southern Appalachia and the Ozarks.

Edit: Some deletions.

 

[warren]

Parochial, was in reference to his religious anecdote. I might have been a wee bit obtuse, I suppose.

 

[sardonicus87]

I definitely have a more sensitive palate than many people, though I won't claim to be some sort of "super taster". However, I can see it being a combination of having large stocks as well as blending adjustments (tobacco can also be topped without being aromatic or having a terribly strong flavor added).

Either case is speculative, but highly plausible.

But consider also how much the average person can taste compared to those with sensitive palates. The same species of tobacco grown in the same place with the same soil properties (soil properties are much easier to control than rain and sun, but even sun can be controlled, just look at newly planted saplings in a place like Arizona with their special sapling shades)... it will differ in taste but, will it differ enough for the average person to notice much, if any, difference? Especially if the curing of the tobacco is highly controlled (which also affects flavor). And the bigger the farmer is, the more easily they can control soil conditions (drainage, macro and micro nutrients, etc).

Unless the tobacco is grown naturally and entirely at the mercy of mother nature, with everything being controlled, the taste shouldn't change that drastically.

But size matters too. The coffee house I go to every afternoon is somewhat small. They do well (Mural City Coffee in Dothan, AL if you want to look them up to see just how well, it's not like some 2-employee operation in a strip mall, but it's also not like a big corporate chain). They have a blend called Aviator and I can tell when it changes. They're at the mercy of the availability of the beans used in the blend, and some coffee is only available at certain times of the year. I can tell the overall taste through the year is similar as the base doesn't change, but it does have noticeable differences to me as a black coffee drinker due to the other beans having to be replaced based on availability.

However, a bigger place that uses a particular bean that isn't available all year for a certain blend could buy enough beans to last the entire year when it's available to hold them over during the times it's not.

And consider as well, can you REALLY remember what this or that particular blend tasted like 20 years ago? If the changes over time are subtle, do you even notice the change? Notice how your grand children seem to grow so much faster than your children did? That's because you watched your children every day, but you only see your grand kids once a week/month/year. Taste is the same way. Lots of things have adjusted the taste of a product over time, slowly and in a subtle way, with the consumer being none-the-wiser, where regular users didn't notice but those that didn't use a product as often could see the change, assuming their memory of how it used to be is even accurate (and it's well known that human memory isn't very accurate at all and is largely constructive) and that their tastes haven't changed over time.

 

[--dante--]

It appears that the AI is beginning to show some signs of cognitive dissociation.

Aside from the family reunion parade of the more successful results of decades of incest and bestiality, there is an actual answer to the OP's question.

Blending houses often create their blends from sebveral years of product from the usual sources. By averaging crops this way the annual variation is diminished. Think of it as homogenized components. So that's part of how commercial blend flavors are retained year after year. The other part is flavoring additives, which all tobacco blends have. Adjustments are mde for every batch. Last part of the equation is a master blender, whose job it is to taste the product and adjust the blend's flavors prior to production and release.

Yep this makes sense. It's similar to how mass-produced bourbons like Jack Daniel's stay consistent. Most new barrels are added to the existing, large batch, so the small changes are diluted. They _will_ have people checking each barrel to see if one has some truly unique quality, in which case they will pull that aside to sell as "single-barrel".
For the most part, they simply add to the existing large batch, so each barrel will be assimilated into it, and the taste and qualities of the overall batch will remain pretty much the same, year after year.

 

[The Amish Tyrant]

Yep this makes sense. It's similar to how mass-produced bourbons like Jack Daniel's stay consistent. Most new barrels are added to the existing, large batch, so the small changes are diluted. They _will_ have people checking each barrel to see if one has some truly unique quality, in which case they will pull that aside to sell as "single-barrel".
For the most part, they simply add to the existing large batch, so each barrel will be assimilated into it, and the taste and qualities of the overall batch will remain pretty much the same, year after year.

I was thinking it would be similar to perpetual soup, ramen, or sourdough starter. Similar concepts that overlap across many industries.

 

[--dante--]

I was thinking it would be similar to perpetual soup, ramen, or sourdough starter. Similar concepts that overlap across many industries.

Yes, exactly.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Guys- keep this on a higher level. Some of you have become, for lack of a better term, bitchy to others. You know who you are.

If you don't you may be taking a break from posting here when you next show how clever you are at insulting others.