Factory Vs House Blends

[warren]

My experience with house blends is not extensive. I smoke IRC's 3Star Bluewhich is a house blend by definition and an outstanding one. My brick and mortar, sadly no longer in business, presented house blends which were excellent. Some of these were developed for specific customers, others by the proprietor and a few were simply Lane bulks favored by customers. All were available for test driving and all were acceptable smokes with a couple being exceptional.

 

[crashthegrey]

I started out all house blends, but I was lucky enough to do so in Albany where they were largely blends created by Russ. I will still buy a house blend from any shop that I happen upon during my travels. It's something to collect an experience rather than a physical item. But I usually ask for the blender and talk to them to make sure it isn't just a Lane blend. House blends are now my fun treats, whilst most of my tobacco comes from the big companies.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Dottie, you make a good point about being able to sample a 'shop blend' prior to making a purchase. However, in my experience of such blends they are generally of the tooty fruity aromatic style that to be honest a four-year old could knock up.
I wonder how many 'shop blenders' come up with anything like Condor, Royal Yacht, Full Virginia Flake, Irish Flake and the like? Not many is my guess and there is a reason why that is so.
You also mention cost with 'shop blends' generally being cheaper to buy. There is also a reason for this, granted they don't have the overheads of 'factory blenders' but also they do often use less superior tobaccos to make their concoctions.
I have no doubt such blends appeal to some folks whether for reasons of taste or economy but in my humble opinion the 'factory blends' are far better and they get my money.
Come the day I find a 'shop blend' that appeals to me then of course I will go that route but I don't see that happening any time soon.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[crashthegrey]

Jay, you are not likely to find good Virginia blends at a shop. However, at least in the States, you'll find some really solid English and Balkan blends in shops. I've had a really good Burley blend and some others. I don't even touch the aromatics at the shops and I always find something decent.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

If the house blend is not a Lane, it can be any of the other bulk blends.
Years ago, I argued with the guys at the Gatlinburlier after they let me taste test their "small shop" blends... each one was just a renamed Peter Stokkebye blend. Tried to tell me that PS LNF was grown just off the Blue Ridge Pkway. Phhht. I went through and told them which one was which, and the two guys adamantly denied that they were renamed bulks. Backed into a corner, they chose to climb the tree to stick to their lie. I was the only customer in the store, why not just fess up?They would also tell you wild tales about their wall of bucket pipes, ha ha.

Just before this last Christmas they were visited by someone else, and they told their lies. They ended up confessing to the Feds, and settling with HUGE fines.
I hated to hear it, but... why not just admit that the blend is just a bag of bulk that was opened and poured into a jar? Skip at the Briary has always had a policy of telling you exactly what is in his jars. It's not like your spoiling some kid's Christmas by admitting that there is no Santa Clause.

 

[crashthegrey]

Cosmic, this isn't always true. Yes, blending tobaccos still come from the same guys who sell their own bulk. However, a lot of the shops here have recipes and blend true blending tobaccos. Sometimes they use a bulk blend, as some ingredients are hard to find, but they blend it with other tobaccos until it is not recognizably the original bulk. I go to one shop where if you move the jar, you'll see the whole recipe written out behind the jar.

 

[mso489]

Then there are always home mixes, which I don't call blends because they don't involve pressure, heat nor aging. Lots of good things can be done at home in a bowl.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Cosmic, this isn't always true.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that. Greg Pease and Russ, got there starts in small shops. If memory serves.

 

[skraps]

Crash, that's a different situation and I agree.
What Cosmic is saying though is not uncommon. I have come across a few places that will insist that their jar of 1Q that they call Wilshire or some other fluffy name, is a hand made, custom blended tobacco when in fact it got dumped out of a 5 lb. bag from their distributor.
It's the honesty factor that's an issue.

 

[mawnansmiff]

There's another aspect of 'shop blends' that I find a little strange and that is they always appear to be moist yet of those I have seen are kept in large plastic jars that don't look to have a great seal.
How do they do this?
Regards,
Jay.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

PG preservatives. And, possibly spritzing it with some water from time to time.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Then there are always home mixes, which I don't call blends because they don't involve pressure, heat nor aging. Lots of good things can be done at home in a bowl.

90% of what people call blending is just mixing a few oz of this with 1.5 oz of this, and ,5 oz of that. No casing, no topping, no processes. It's like making a peanut butter and jelly and saying that your a chef, ha ha.

 

[pagan]

I have both in my rotation but Id stick with the factory blends just for consistency

 

[crashthegrey]

@Cosmic and @skrapsoftobacco, the honesty of a shop is definitely the deciding factor. That's why I always try to talk to the blender for the store. Or look for the recipes behind the jar. Heh.

 

[pipesmokingtom]

For me, it's mostly a cost-based decision. I like supporting B&M where possible, but I can rarely get 3Lbs for under $100 there. Know what I mean?

 

[kanse]

Good houses charge about the same for bulk blends as you'd pay for tinned ones.

And the less-known ones, they are most likely relabeling the cheap bulk stuff.
As in most trades, when somebody goes out of the way to produce high quality product with his own hands, he charges more than your average factory produced stuff costs.

 

[hmhaines]

I was sad to hear about in-house rebrands. Makes it hard to trust people when that sort of thing is normal.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Kanse... Truth!!!

 

[mawnansmiff]

"I have both in my rotation but Id stick with the factory blends just for consistency."
Pagan makes another good point for siding with 'factory blends'. I know a now retired 'tobacconist' who I would occasionally see mixing up 'blends' on an opened out newspaper with bulk bags of whatever tobacco he was using that day. Despite having a set of scales in front of him he just measured out with his hands and mixed it on the newspaper...and all of this went on in the middle of his shop!
I was smoking RYO at the time and though he was a really nice chap (I used to drink with him in the Blue Anchor, a famous Cornish brew pub), I don't think I would have trusted his 'Terry's Blends' of pipe tobacco.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[dottiewarden]

There's another aspect of 'shop blends' that I find a little strange and that is they always appear to be moist yet of those I have seen are kept in large plastic jars that don't look to have a great seal.

The other day the lady in the B&M opened a jar of some pretty soggy leaf to temp me and come to think of it, it wasn't sealed.