Master Chefs and Master Blenders

[lestrout]

setter said in another thread: "I place tobacco blenders on the same level as Master Chefs, and deservedly so given the investment and dedication".
I myself place Master Blenders like Greg Pease and Russ Ouellette on a plane at least one or two levels above the greatest chefs. The reasons I believe this is that our hobby involves factors that are central to piping that are more complex than with eating food. The big one is that the ageing of tobacco blends introduce a meta element into formulating recipes; in general, chefs cook food to be eaten soon after preparation.

Then the fact that there is a time continuum to the enjoyment of a bowl of tobacco: a great blend develops and changes flavors as one works their way down the bowl. It is true that one pays attention to taste development with wines - aftertaste is a big part of enjoying a great wine or single malt, and perhaps some gourmets pay attention to a similar trait in some foods. A trivial aspect of this would be the current fad of scorching one's taste buds with ever higher Scoville scale chilis.

The feedback cycle with cooking is quick - season and taste. A cook can almostly instantly determine what part of the flavor spectrum he/she's in. Even with a fresh tobacco blend, just to get a personal point of assessment requires packing a bowl (and there are many ways of packing), and then it takes a good while to puff through a bowl.
Allied to this complexity is the fact that one blend will give you different experiences depending on chamber geometry, substrate, cake, sequencing and history of recent blends (ghosting, in the extreme). To better conduct A vs B tasting comparisons, I have a bunch of pipe pairs, each consisting of the same brand and model, and as close to the same age as possible. Despite this diligence, when I run the same sequences of blends on a pair of pipes, in every case, with certain blends I obtain different experiences. Such mysteries - is it the wood, my pH at the moment, phase of the moon?
Some blends are finickey for me: FVF has soared me into the Zone a number of times, but usually it's just very good. Squadron Leader is one that does the same. Fortunately, most of the light VA flakes and heavy Lats that I subsist on are more stable in the experiences they produce.
hp

les

 

[pruss]

Yo Les!
This! Now this is a meaty and fulsome thread starter that I can really sink my teeth, and taste buds, into on a Friday morning as I slurp down the first espresso of the day. Thank you, good sir, for providing fodder for cogitation.
I don't think you're being entirely fair to chefs, Les; your characterization might equate to 'cooks' but I think that someone who has truly earned their stripes through study, exploration, creation, failure and customer loyalty to earn the moniker 'chef' is likely someone who does exactly what you describe as the hallmarks of a master blender.
Chefs are people who understand their ingredients in varying states of preparation; raw through to charred and in every prep method in between. They seek out new ways to evoke flavour, taste or sensation by using ingredients differently, preparing them in different ways, and applying them in different service methods. Chefs seek out ways to make what gets delivered on the plate significantly greater than the sum of its parts. They do this by ensuring that each ingredient delivers the desired sensational and physical result; by making sure that the plating and service wear is additive to the desired finished result and that the guest is presented with a finished plate which delivers the chef's expected result. Chef's are part botanist, part butcher, part chemist, part apothecary, part bartender, part sommelier, part archivist, part physicist and part explorer.
Truth be told, I'd say the same about the best tobacco blenders. I'd also go to bat in the same way for sommeliers, coffee buyers and roast masters, tea buyers and blend masters, and the best brewers, vintners, and distillers.
Each and every person involved in these crafts is someone who needs a deep understanding of the fundamentals of flavour and taste. They need to know where their ingredients come from; how terroir, cultivation, harvest and processing influences root flavours; how flavours are enhanced or bastardized through various post-cultivation processes (baking, roasting, smoking, drying, sun-drying, packing in seaweed and fermenting in caves...); and how to evoke a finished flavour profile that delivers a physical and sensational experience which the end consumer will enjoy, buy, and return to buy again.
I'd also posit, and this is simply hypothesis, that the feelings of joy we get from a 'perfect smoke' are very similar to the feelings of joy we receive when we have a 'perfect pint', 'perfectly done steak', 'perfect spaghetti bolognese', 'perfect martini'... meaning, I think that chefs, tobacco blenders, sommeliers, coffee buyers/roasters/baristas, vintners and distillers are all working to stimulate the same pleasure centres in the brain, and that when it works... it really, really, works.
Here are some quick videos to add to the dialogue... might I also add that Somm, and Jiro Dreams of Sushi are two wonderful films.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhOV89EQtJs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw0PR3zm4z8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buF540VBwAE
-- Pat

 

[bonehed]

Here is a recent clip of Jeremy Reeves cooking up some sauce for C&D.

 

[bonehed]

There was a caption for the above, but it vanished. A recent clip of Jeremy Reeves cooking up sauce for C&D.