NY. 75% excise tax on pipe tobacco.
Esoterica Drop
- Thread starter ben88
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Found a couple of bags and tins sitting on TP. By the time I pulled the trigger, the bags were gone and I had to settle for a couple tins. Also found some Tilbury & Dunbar someone sent me to try. Tilbury is good, but not chase-worthy, IMO. Dunbar, on the other hand, well, I've got a minivan, a great dog, organic beans I grew, a shed in great shape and a spare kidney (kind of banged up) I'd be happy to trade for more, pound for pound. Not ready to trade the wife and kids as they're kind of dear to me.
Maybe some of the online retailers haven't listed their shipment yet. At least that's what I'm hoping for. No idea which ones had them sold yet, I didn't get a chance to see anything anywhere ? crazy how fast it goesI love Tilbury. Been trying to get peacehaven for awhile but missed this drop
Would love to hear some recommendations on top readily available Virginia flakes. I've seen you and @cigrmaster post about harder-to-find Wessex blends etc., but I'd prefer to try some easier to source blends. I've enjoyed SG FVF (sometimes available) immensely, and I've liked Duhill (Peterson) Flake, GLP Union Square, and Capstan blue, but there have to be some others out there that I'd like as much as FVF.
You can't go wrong with Peter Stokkebey Luxury Navy Flake
Thanks for the thought. I love LNF and it's s a regular in my rotation, but I'm looking for more of a straight Virginia or at least a Virginia-forward blend, rather than a spicy Va/Per like LNF.
EDIT: and I realize this is an Esoterica thread, and basically the opposite of "readily available" but even so, I'm all ears for VA Flake recommendations, please pardon my off topic posts
What you are asking for is the exact niche that was fulfilled by McClelland for 40-years until 2017.
That said, my top McClelland replacements thus far are PS LNF and MacBarens HH Pure VA Flake. I like the K&K stuff (Rattray's, Wessex and McConnell) but there's a strange saccharin aftertaste to most of their blends.
Dessert analogy below:
Esoterica = Lemon meringue pie, home made angel food cake, hot chocolate made with milk on the stovetop after a cold morning shoveling 2-ft of snow.
Gawith = Apple pie, home made plum pudding, and freshly made Amish sticky buns bursting with honey and pecans.
I don’t agree about the aftertaste.
@lawdawg Try Sutliff Red VA Kake and 515RC-1 ?
I wouldn’t call PS LNF or HH Pure VA any type of replacement for any type of McClelland.
Not many are what I'd consider easy to get although if you pay attention, you can generally get some when they become available. I like SG Best Brown Flake as much if not more than FVF. C&D opening Night is good and readily available. Others would include Wessex Gold Slice and Gold Virginia Flake, Vauen No 14, John Aylesbury Classic Virginia Flake, Astley's No 44, Dan Tobacco Hamborger Veermeister, Fribourg & Treyer Cut Virginia Plug, Vintage and Special Brown Flake. HU Haymaker same Sunset are good. Mac Baren Virginia No 1 and HH Pure Virginia are really available and quite good,
Don’t worry @hoosierpipeguy... only 75% of your list is hard to find
@hoosierpipeguy and @BROBS thank you all for the recommendations. I've greatly enjoyed Sutliff aromatics as well as a MacBaren burley flake that I thought was quite good and about as nuanced and refined as a burley can be, so I might have to try some Sutliff and MacBaren VA flakes. Will keep an eye out for SG Best Brown as well. I also have a tin of C&D Opening Night in my cellar that I need to pop.
I have not had problems. I have several hundred pounds of those blends, over 100 tins each of the Vauen and Cut Virginia Plug.
Also Newminster 400 as far as inexpensive and available. It’s great.
the Sutliff stuff hits way above the price point IMO.
the Sutliff stuff hits way above the price point IMO.
I'll look for some of the "rarer" flakes you've mentioned. I just don't order all that often, and I generally just place big orders a few times per year when I get hankering to add to my cellar, so having things readily available when I'm ready to buy is just a nice convenience, though I'm willing to go further out of my way for something that would merit the extra attention needed to find it.
Sorry, you are correct; I didn't mean exact replacements so much, rather they are both decent VA flakes that I can stuff into the bowl, smoke without much fuss and enjoy in the same manner that I did my favorite McClelland blends.
Gotcha yeah they are great products. Just misunderstood you. ?
I'll give a BIG second to C&d opening night. Might be the best I've ever had, and that's fresh. Can't wait to try some with 5 years on it. SG fvf is also pretty remarkable
Don't drag me into this, you all can keep the gold bagged garbage. If Mark's like me, some of the sites call us with availability updates because of years of buying from them.