Rattray's is a personal favorite - possibly my top manufacturer based on weight in my cellar. I do wish they'd accompany the HOTW/OG/BC trinity with a straight Virginia, but then I wouldn't buy as much of the 3 mentioned above.
I think what twists some peoples' panties here re: this conversation (which seems to occur monthly) is the dinosaurs think everyone wants old McClelland with the old labels and for everything to be like it was in the early 2000s. Maybe some want that, but what I usually read is people asking about the reproducibility of the techniques, which the dinos always read as "exact copy of McClelland." There's a key distinction in which question is being asked that gets glanced over every time this comes up.
Dino here. Techniques can be reproduced. There's millions of oil painters, sculptors, dancers, writers, actors, playwrights, etc, etc. They have access to the same tools, develop new ones, teach each other techniques, etc, etc. Yet 99% of what they do is at best mediocre or just plain shit. Techniques get you only so far and instinct and innate physical abilities are what makes the difference.
What the Dinos are complaining about is IP theft and/or IP misappropriation. And what this Dino complains about is perpetration of a fraud and/or theft of intellectual property, a practice that has become much more widely accepted socially because it's now so effortless to do so. You want the unearned advantage of access to the McNeil's work to exploit as you see fit. Screw how they feel about it.
The McNeils built on what others had done before them. Go do the same. If techniques are so easily reproduced, it should be a snap, and if they're not, then work at it.
Personally, I have no issue with sharing the techniques I've developed with others who can benefit. I spent more than a decade hauling my tired old ass to teach at an Industry vocational school after a long days work, so that I could teach other people new skills that would help them adapt to a changing technological environment and help them stay employed. I mentor my staff on the shows I work on.
But that's MY choice. What the NcNeil's choice is, is THEIR business and nobody else's.
