Dark Twist Replacement

[Peter Turbo]

All this talk of ropes and such makes me want to break out the Motzek Strang.

Do it, you wont.

 

[sablebrush52]

Do it, you wont.

Yep, it's time, 1 lb+ has been jarred for the past 8 years. Frau Motzek's final batch before the shop changed hands to the current owner, who stopped making it, and later when he did start making it, fucked it up.

Gonna have me some...

 

[ReformedPiper]

All this talk of ropes and such makes me want to break out the Motzek Strang.

What is this? I've never heard of it. In my current plight I am hesitant to try something that might be my new favorite. Is this hard to get and/or going away?

 

[sablebrush52]

What is this? I've never heard of it. In my current plight I am hesitant to try something that might be my new favorite. Is this hard to get and/or going away?

Strang was produced in the town of Kiel in Germany by Motzek Tobacco. Basically, one needed to keep watch on the site for an announcement regarding availability and be ready to spring on it. This required having a member of the group who lived in Germany, since it was not exported. The last batch produced and released was in 2016 after which the shop changed hands. Strtang reappeared a couple of years ago and was more Strang light, the new owner not being quite the artist that the Motzeks were.

Here's the current site. You can look to see if they are still producing Strang:

Dein-Tabak.de - Dein-Tabak.de

dein-tabak.de

There was really nothing like it, but that could cut both ways. Unlike a lot of popular blends, Motzek Strang was not bland. The tobacco flavors were potent, the Virginias, Burleys, and Perique (and possibly other components, it has a lot of leaf rolls inside the overall rope) resulted in a unique profile which most people loved and some people hated.
Discounting the Strang lite rerelease of several years ago, the blend hasn't really been produced since 2016, and this was a boutique hand made product of uncompromising quality, so there isn't much of it around. The last time I saw some of it auctioned off those $15 sticks were going for about $150 per stick, each stick being about 100 grams.

 

[coming to_falling too]

Definitely not a perfect match ...but this thread made me think that STG really needs to bring back Orlik Dark Strong Kentucky -- definitely not a 'match' for Dark Twist (which is lovely), but it has scratched a similar itch for me at times.

I definitely miss this one. I think I have a single tin left. Brings a tear to me eye to think about it being so lonely haha

 

[kg.legat0]

@coming to_falling too -- i hear ya man! some of the prettiest flakes ever. when you finally crack that tin, post a pic - cheers!

 

[buroak]

You US guys who love KY ought to grab a pound of whole leaf and experiment. You have so many blends avaliable (still) that something pretty darn tasty could be mixed up at home. Its around 20 bucks a pound and that stuff is so potent it would make a bucket of tobacco once mixed.

Its not rocket science to ammend a currently made blend. It would be fun to see more home recipies on the forum. Maybe after this closure it will become more active

I am definitely looking more seriously at wholeleaftobacco.com. I could make shag cut blends that are not available commercially. The casings and top flavors will be the real challenges. We need something like Confessions of a Tobacco Blender with recipes. The archived Pipesmoke article about A&C Petersen suggests the ingredients are available to us.

 

[buroak]

All this talk of ropes and such makes me want to break out the Motzek Strang.

That’s just cruel. All I have left it some of the Motzek #7.

 

[buroak]

E

Exactly! Like the other Millennials on this forum, the Golden Age of tobacco was over and its blends gone before I took up the pipe. Newer pipesmokers missed the tobaccos from McClelland and other companies that have disappeared or been gobbled up. A lot of these bygone tobaccos were not much loved until their imminent disappearance was announced. There are still good tobaccos and unless you dwell on unobtainium and unicorn blends, you won’t know what you are missing.

 

[Philosophical Smoke]

My oldest kid was studying abroad in Germany in 2012. I made a trek to Kiel and bought 8 bags of Strang and 2 of Herbst 84. 6 of those bags of Strang are still fermenting deep in the back of the cellar! I'll wait 10 more years before diving in. Amazing tobacco!

 

[Ahi Ka]

I definitely miss this one. I think I have a single tin left. Brings a tear to me eye to think about it being so lonely haha

Have you tried HU aus dem Krater 5?

 

[coming to_falling too]

Have you tried HU aus dem Krater 5?

I have not. Is it similar?

 

[Pipke]

There are still good tobaccos and unless you dwell on unobtainium and unicorn blends, you won’t know what you are missing.

Technically a boomer here, and I'm with you.

 

[Ahi Ka]

I have not. Is it similar?

I heard it was possibly even the same blend. To be clear I haven’t smoked it, not super familiar with dark strong Kentucky. Just have a mate who was looking into similar blends (like the old Heindrichs blend)

 

[coming to_falling too]

I heard it was possibly even the same blend. To be clear I haven’t smoked it, not super familiar with dark strong Kentucky. Just have a mate who was looking into similar blends (like the old Heindrichs blend)

Dark Strong from Heinrichs is similar, though I liked the Orlik better. Not even sure if that one is being made anymore either. I tried looking for the HU blend but couldn't find it on Estervals. They had the other Krater blends so maybe that one is gone too. The Krater plug looks interesting though. I almost placed a big order with Estervals last night mainly just for that blend haha. But, my better judgement got the better of me.