I didn't like Carduff at first, but after a couple of days getting familiar with it's slightly different topping I came to like it quite a lot.
Esoterica Blends: A Conundrum
- Thread starter Servant King
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Not uncommon if it isn't slightly moister than just shy of bone dry. There seems to be a narrow moisture range where it opens up and you get everything in the bag note, chocolate, raisins, the whole enchilada. Too moist and it tastes of nothing. Too dry and it tastes of nothing. Stonehaven is a total PITA. And to make it even more like winning the Lottery, batches vary quite a bit, batch to batch. Some batches are flat out dead.
But on those rare occasions when the stars align and the virgins have been sacrificed to the volcano, it is one of the most fabulous smokes one can have, dammit!
I enjoy the beginning of Cardiff, but I haven't found a way to enjoy maybe the second half of a bowl. It keeps turning stale on me almost like an ashtray taste. It's definitely different.
You give Germain and Arango too much credit. A few years back, there was a shortage time wise of Esoterica drops during the period when the distributon contract switched from Mike Butera to Arango. People started whining about it, then the Chinese picked up on it and the gold bags became a status symbol.Esoterica is marketed beautifully...”old world” production processing leads to limited supply, gold bags for the miners, scuttle amongst the interwebs on absolutely how delicious their blends are, anticipated drop cycles that are calendarized...Germain’s & Arango know what they are doing.️
I have a friend who is a pipe smoker and lives in one of the larger coastal cities. He has shown me pictures of a room that one big wheel has that is the size of a walk in humidors. It even has track lighting focused for display. Amongst the Davidoff and limited edition Cuban cigars, the shelves on the whole back wall were devoted to displays of Pipe tobacco tins and one whole floor to ceiling section displaying the gold bags.
Because of the exclusive nature of the contract between Germain and (now) Arango, Arango can’t sell Esoterica in China, and Germain can’t sell it except in the US through Arango People in this industry who are family concerns honor contracts. Arango is controlled by Mike Gold’s family, Germain by that family. Neither will try subterfuge to try to find a way to profit from the Chinese demand.
If they were as smart and profit motivated as many assume, they would get together, form a joint venture, pull Esoterica from the US market and sell all of it to China at at least triple the wholesale price here.
The hell with gold futures...I'm gettin' me some tobacky futures!
Will Arango still be selling pounds of Balkan Supreme in the US in this scenario? That's all I care about.
Arango Balkan Supreme is made by Stokkebye, which also sells it as Peter Stokkebye Balkan Supreme. This is a strange trade. Sutliff is owned by MacBarens. They sell 507 c. They also sell Newminster 400, which in the trade is considered a direct competitor. A B&M might very well carry one as their Virginia flake, but very likely not both. MacBarens makes Newminster. They buy 507 c from STG. Don’t believe me? Ask @woodsroad. 507 c, btw, has a long history, going back to the old World Tobacco Company, then Consolidated Cigar, and various rights holders, until it ended up as a product distributed by Sutliff. But the same basic contract arrangement has been in place for over 35 years.
There appears to be a small cottage industry of people who buy bags and flip them to Chinese agents, who in turn send them to China. One of the B&M's I deal with, after a month, sells their unsold stock to an agent in Texas. Surprise, surprise, folks! The stuff doesn't fly off the shelves at B&Ms with no online presence.
Indeed there is such an industry. It isn’t as vibrant as it used to be, though, particularly for the non flakes.
Maybe we can throw them a red-herring. Come up with something that no one here would want and start building hype for it.
Like Prince Albert? <ducks>
Packaged in bright red bags with gold trim...
I never tried them several years ago when it was less of a PITA to get them. My tobacco FOMO is gone, there is plenty of other stuff I love that I can get easily, so I am just leaving it alone. It feels like it would be a second career to try to start sampling and then cellaring these blends now.
Anyone know when there will be another drop? Last time I talked to my local shop a few weeks ago they said their distributor didn't know when the next shipment would be.
It's a mystery, wrapped in a tortilla. It's been about 4+ months since the last one, so not much longer. Once it appears online, hit the B&Ms where you're a customer.
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