Wait, did you not just yesterday throw down the gauntlet to eat you hat for Pipestud if this happened?
McClelland Panic
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Wait, did you not just yesterday throw down the gauntlet to eat you hat for Pipestud if this happened?
There is no shortage of Red Virginias, ha ha. As long as we have Marlboro cigarettes and the dozens of other we will have mountains of red Virginias. The McNiels just didn't have that one special Virginia they used in Red Cake 5100.
And, keep that damned Tide pod out of your mouth. In fact, stay away from Youtube. Watch some TV, you wippersnappers.
Hey buster, we want to see some hat eating! You're not getting off that easy. Maybe not today, but when the time comes, I'll be keeping score. :
: Ha ha
: Ha ha
I learned my lesson when the good Three Nuns out of nowhere went tits up. I was left with 2 tins and my dick in my hand. I vowed to never let that happen again with a blend I really liked. So now when I find something I really like, I cellar it fast and deep. The latest blend I did this with just so happened to be a Butera blend made by Mc. It is the only Mc made blend in my cellar and I do believe I cornered the market on it. :mrgreen:
It was actually a crow, no stinky sweaty hats for me! You can eat the hat if the doors of McClelland does not lock down this Year!Hey buster, we want to see some hat eating! You're not getting off that easy. Maybe not today, but when the time comes, I'll be keeping score. :
Not sure why there is combativeness and score cards when we are only talking pipe tobacco here and it should be relaxing hobby!
I just happen not to agree with the notion that they are closing down!
Been using the same method i’ve used for saving money as I use for putting away tobacco. A little here, a bit there. It adds up to feeling fairly comfortable now. Blends come and go, some were really favorites. I love seeing that I was paying $29.99 a bulk pound of various Sam Hawith and G&H blends back in 2004 and a bit beyond. Hopefully McClelland lives to blend another day but after those two interviews on the pipesmagazine radio show, I wasn’t real optimistic.
Mike S.
Mike S.
Hey, if you don't finish that crow, can I have the rest? It's an acquired taste, maybe even craving, ha ha. I'm not combative, and screw you for saying that. (irony) ha ha. Just kidding. I love irony.
Look, there is not just one way to ferment the Virginia into a red Virginia. There are many different ways. To think of tobacco types like you would... cucumbers is not accurate at all. Think of it like pickles. McClellands uses a specific pickle, and that grandam no longer makes them. However, there are millions of other grandmas making bread and butter, dills, koshers, etc... And, they are high quality pickles, just not the exact pickles that one grandma makes.
It's not just one way all farmers process their flue cured brightleafs. The McNiels were connoisseurs, artistic chefs in funny hats of the Virginia, which is what made their Virginia products head and shoulder above the rest. They didn't just call up a tobacco manufacturer and order 500lbs of basic red Virginia. They were involved with the whole process.
The idea that tobacco blending by many in the pipe smoking hobby is that you buy 20% of this, 40% of that, and 40% of that, and mix them up and smoke them, and you'll have Balkan Soibranie of some other blend. It is not at all like making a sandwich. Or, at least not for McClellands. They want to be involved baking the bread, selecting the peanuts, roasting and crushing them, making the jelly, and then making the sandwich.
Thusly, the worlds red Virginias are safe, even top quality ones, just the specific one that they use for some blends is not. :::sigh::: Sutliff products all use top notch ingredients. They fuck them up to make them taste that way intentionally. Believe it or not, there are some people who even like that stuff.
Sigh...
I'm just happy I started cellaring when I did, late as that was. There will be blends that I won't get to buy, and I don't really care. I have plenty of great smokes. McClelland's blends are top notch for what they are, and while they never figured highly in my purchases, I have enough of them to scratch the itch.
I'm just happy I started cellaring when I did, late as that was. There will be blends that I won't get to buy, and I don't really care. I have plenty of great smokes. McClelland's blends are top notch for what they are, and while they never figured highly in my purchases, I have enough of them to scratch the itch.
I bought some stuff, a couple extra tins of 40th, 2 tins of Blackwoods, 2 tins of Matured Virginia 24/25/27 to just have some. I went back to SPC and now they are all out of the 24/25/27 just that quick.
I am stocked enough that I am not worried for the future what ever that may be.
I am stocked enough that I am not worried for the future what ever that may be.
It's only been a month since they chimed in on the "A Message From Mike & Mary McNiel" thread, it but feels like the message is getting lost already.
"Mike and Mary have exacting standards for the leaf they use for 5100, but that doesn't mean that there isn't good red Virginia out there. All that means is that what the can currently get won't produce the results they're looking for when they process it."
Russ Ouellette
"Absolutely right. The sky is not falling. There's more to the story, but that quality leaf is unavailable is a gross overstatement. We recently went thru several samples of currently available red flue-cured that were fantastic. I'm sorry to see ANY tobacco taken off the market, especially one with as many followers as 5100. But, it's NOT the end of the pipe tobacco world, and shouldn't be read as such. Nor will we cheapen our products with "inferior" leaf. Period."
Greg Pease
"Mike and Mary have exacting standards for the leaf they use for 5100, but that doesn't mean that there isn't good red Virginia out there. All that means is that what the can currently get won't produce the results they're looking for when they process it."
Russ Ouellette
"Absolutely right. The sky is not falling. There's more to the story, but that quality leaf is unavailable is a gross overstatement. We recently went thru several samples of currently available red flue-cured that were fantastic. I'm sorry to see ANY tobacco taken off the market, especially one with as many followers as 5100. But, it's NOT the end of the pipe tobacco world, and shouldn't be read as such. Nor will we cheapen our products with "inferior" leaf. Period."
Greg Pease
Greg, did you really think a bunch of pipe smokers would not go running around yelling the sky is falling when a venerable blend such as 5100 goes off the market, even for a few minutes? You know how we are, we need conspiracies, we live for this shit. Now shouldn't you be working on your replacement for 5100, I know for a fact the McNiel's gave you the recipe and left it in your more than capable hands. I know I read that on the internet somewhere.
I've said it in another thread but I will state it here as well for what it's worth. I've spoken to my B&M that I've known personally over 25 years. He told me last week if I like anything from McClelland that I should buy it now because he can't order more. If this turns out that Mike and Mary are not retiring, I will eat crow. It just so happens I trust the man at my B&M. I've purchased accordingly. I'm not saying someone like Pease won't buy their blends but I for one know when companies change hands, quality and taste profiles change. If someone like Mike McNiel says he can't source reds that meet his standard, I can't trust future blenders to get HIS (Mike/McClelland's) blends right.
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