Perique Question:

[Gerald Boone]

I love perique tobacco and am always looking for the best perique tobacco on the planet. Towards that end I bought some whole leaf perique which is, according to it's description, from St James parish in Louisiana; as it should be. Well it is a good and wet leaf but does not smell like the shredded perique I am accustomed to. Being wet I expected the smell to be strong and it isn't. The perique I bought rather smells sweet ; which is not what I expected. Hence my question: Will the perique tobacco smell less sweet and smell more like the dry shredded perique tobacco I am used to when it is more dry? Do I have to wait for it to age? If I have to wait, how long until it matures? Did I waste $40 on a tobacco leaf shredder? Should it dry indoors or outdoors or does that make a difference?

 

[sablebrush52]

While I can’t answer all of your questions I can speak to flavor differences.
Within St James Parrish there are different growing regions and the flavors of the processed leaf vary from region to region, and from year to year. There is no one Perique flavor.

 

[Mrs. Pickles]

Thinking back to a Pipes Magazine radio interview with Jeremy Reeves, I seem to recall him saying there’s a lot of batch variation in Perique, saying something along the lines of “every barrel is different.” I wonder if what you have there is a flavor thats unique to that batch.

Rather than drying it all, maybe experiment with keeping half it at the moisture level it came with and jar it up for six months to see if a sweaty anaerobic environment doesn’t add the some of the flavor you’re looking for.

 

[sablebrush52]

I had many conversations with the late great Mark Ryan and he commented on the variability of St James Perique. He thought that the Acadian Perique was more consistent, which may be why commercial St James Perique was sometimes blended with Acadian Perique.

 

[BayouGhost]

I would expect the process in the barrel to affect things the most. You can drive across the parish in about 15 minutes and geologically it is all almost uniform alluvial river deposits that are poorly draining clays and silts. A lot of sugar cane is grown there, and the fields are burned to regenerate them. I don't expect the nuances to be like the east bank and west bank of the Rhone valley in other words, but I will defer to Jeremy and the people who deal with growing it directly.

I am curious as to what barrels are used. I know down in Avery Island they source Jack Daniels barrels for Tabasco. The barns are not climate controlled so there may be some differing weather-related effects year to year, but there is mostly one climate, "Hotter than the hell fires of the underworld" from May to September and no matter how many coins you give to the boatman Charon, you cannot escape. It does get quite cold in the winter, with spells down into the 20s and sometimes teens at night so there may be some sort of barrel wood exchange similar to whiskey. The process basically destroys the cell walls of the leaf and releases a tarry liquid that ferments and then the leaves are hand worked and re-arranged so there may be some differences in process depending on who is doing the re-stacking of the leaves. I have wondered if the liquid settles leaving the top leaves a bit drier or lacking as much of this dark liquor substance, hence the rotating of the leaves. I would imagine that when some of the "High quality H2O" (as Bobby Boucher, Linebacker for the SCLSU Mud Dogs would say), evaporates, it will leave the more concentrated oils and tars and maybe enhance the aromas, and volatile compounds will begin to evaporate. Give us an update when it dries a bit. I am curious to know.

 

[Gerald Boone]

While I can’t answer all of your questions I can speak to flavor differences.
Within St James Parrish there are different growing regions and the flavors of the processed leaf vary from region to region, and from year to year. There is no one Perique flavor.

Thank you that explains a lot. Even the processed perique tobacco I have bought has differences. You explained why thanks again.

 

[Gerald Boone]

Thinking back to a Pipes Magazine radio interview with Jeremy Reeves, I seem to recall him saying there’s a lot of batch variation in Perique, saying something along the lines of “every barrel is different.” I wonder if what you have there is a flavor thats unique to that batch.

Rather than drying it all, maybe experiment with keeping half it at the moisture level it came with and jar it up for six months to see if a sweaty anaerobic environment doesn’t add the some of the flavor you’re looking for.

Thank you Right now I have the majority of it as it came; granted your advice I will leave it for 6 months. I have some shredded leaves in a tin (a big tin with a lot of air) and some blended with my processed perique. So the jar with the dry processed along side the wet freshly shredded I am really curious about because I am, perhaps, affecting the dry perique with moisture and fermenting organisms from the new wet perique I just bought. Quite the science lab project.

 

[Gerald Boone]

I would expect the process in the barrel to affect things the most. You can drive across the parish in about 15 minutes and geologically it is all almost uniform alluvial river deposits that are poorly draining clays and silts. A lot of sugar cane is grown there, and the fields are burned to regenerate them. I don't expect the nuances to be like the east bank and west bank of the Rhone valley in other words, but I will defer to Jeremy and the people who deal with growing it directly.

I am curious as to what barrels are used. I know down in Avery Island they source Jack Daniels barrels for Tabasco. The barns are not climate controlled so there may be some differing weather-related effects year to year, but there is mostly one climate, "Hotter than the hell fires of the underworld" from May to September and no matter how many coins you give to the boatman Charon, you cannot escape. It does get quite cold in the winter, with spells down into the 20s and sometimes teens at night so there may be some sort of barrel wood exchange similar to whiskey. The process basically destroys the cell walls of the leaf and releases a tarry liquid that ferments and then the leaves are hand worked and re-arranged so there may be some differences in process depending on who is doing the re-stacking of the leaves. I have wondered if the liquid settles leaving the top leaves a bit drier or lacking as much of this dark liquor substance, hence the rotating of the leaves. I would imagine that when some of the "High quality H2O" (as Bobby Boucher, Linebacker for the SCLSU Mud Dogs would say), evaporates, it will leave the more concentrated oils and tars and maybe enhance the aromas, and volatile compounds will begin to evaporate. Give us an update when it dries a bit. I am curious to know.

Thank you I will give an update in time, it may take a while for my science experiments to yield results. This is what the leaf drying looks like

 

[Sobrbiker]

The process basically destroys the cell walls of the leaf and releases a tarry liquid that ferments and then the leaves are hand worked and re-arranged so there may be some differences in process depending on who is doing the re-stacking of the leaves. I have wondered if the liquid settles leaving the top leaves a bit drier or lacking as much of this dark liquor substance, hence the rotating of the leaves.

I could see the specific gravity of the “jus” changing top to bottom necessitating the leave rotation, but isn’t the batch o’ bacco pressed down into the mire the whole time and taken out, aired out, reshuffled, and squished back into the brine?

 

[Mrs. Pickles]

Thank you Right now I have the majority of it as it came; granted your advice I will leave it for 6 months. I have some shredded leaves in a tin (a big tin with a lot of air) and some blended with my processed perique. So the jar with the dry processed along side the wet freshly shredded I am really curious about because I am, perhaps, affecting the dry perique with moisture and fermenting organisms from the new wet perique I just bought. Quite the science lab project.

I'll be eagerly awaiting the results of this experiment. Please do keep us updated!

 

[BingBong]

You could create a blend of the same proportions but no two batches alike and call it "Elgar", alluding to his Enigma Variations.

 

[ChubbyOldHiker]

I would expect the process in the barrel to affect things the most. You can drive across the parish in about 15 minutes and geologically it is all almost uniform alluvial river deposits that are poorly draining clays and silts.

I do think there is some climatic variation as St. James Parish straddles the largest river on the continent. Despite the presence of the levee system on either side, the river does form a microclimate that is higher in humidity and cooler in temperature than the climate half a mile away. Winds also shift down here and can blow that around, aided by strong thunderstorms and occasional tropical weather. I agree we have only 2 seasons, hot and hotter, but agriculturally speaking, the climate is not completely uniform across the parish despite the uniform geology.

I would agree, though, that further west there are fewer confounders and the climate is more uniform across a broader area (though maybe a bit less so because of Atchafalaya Swamp, which is shallower and slower moving than the Mississippi River).

I have wondered if the liquid settles leaving the top leaves a bit drier or lacking as much of this dark liquor substance, hence the rotating of the leaves.

I believe that is true, but in the videos I’ve seen, they mention (and show) that the mother liquor bubbles and foams, which is common with fermentation processes. Assuming that happens throughout the barrel, the bubbles rising will cause some slow vertical mixing, which is aided and likely accelerated by the hand turning. It’s like a compost pile—turn the pile every day, and you’ll have soil in a couple weeks; leave it alone, you’ll still get soil, it just takes 6 months.

 

[Gerald Boone]

I'll be eagerly awaiting the results of this experiment. Please do keep us upda

I'll be eagerly awaiting the results of this experiment. Please do keep us updated!

Definitely will update probably around the first part pf December. I have a good amount of processed perique that I can consume; so I'm not hurting for perique.

 

[Gerald Boone]

I could see the specific gravity of the “jus” changing top to bottom necessitating the leave rotation, but isn’t the batch o’ bacco pressed down into the mire the whole time and taken out, aired out, reshuffled, and squished back into the brine?
View attachment 394909

That is a good question.

 

[Gerald Boone]

I do think there is some climatic variation as St. James Parish straddles the largest river on the continent. Despite the presence of the levee system on either side, the river does form a microclimate that is higher in humidity and cooler in temperature than the climate half a mile away. Winds also shift down here and can blow that around, aided by strong thunderstorms and occasional tropical weather. I agree we have only 2 seasons, hot and hotter, but agriculturally speaking, the climate is not completely uniform across the parish despite the uniform geology.

I would agree, though, that further west there are fewer confounders and the climate is more uniform across a broader area (though maybe a bit less so because of Atchafalaya Swamp, which is shallower and slower moving than the Mississippi River).


I believe that is true, but in the videos I’ve seen, they mention (and show) that the mother liquor bubbles and foams, which is common with fermentation processes. Assuming that happens throughout the barrel, the bubbles rising will cause some slow vertical mixing, which is aided and likely accelerated by the hand turning. It’s like a compost pile—turn the pile every day, and you’ll have soil in a couple weeks; leave it alone, you’ll still get soil, it just takes 6 months.

Bubbling and foaming fermentation, yes, that is the perique I had hoped for.

 

[JoburgB2]

You could create a blend of the same proportions but no two batches alike and call it "Elgar", alluding to his Enigma Variations.

Yes, Nimrod!

 

[pappymac]

Back in 2015 I took a tour of the L.A. Poche perique facility as part of the New Orleans Pipe Show and I took a lot of notes about perique then and in later visits I had with Mark Ryan. I'm trying to find them to see if I have any answers to some of the questions.
I don't remember what type barrels were used but I want to say they reused barrels as often as they could.
Also, the barrels and lids they used were not watertight. You could see the "juices" that had leaked out from the sides when under pressure and the liquid would also collect on the top of the barrels.
The perique would be transferred to "new" barrels that didn't leak or seep for aging and shipping.

 

[Gerald Boone]

Back in 2015 I took a tour of the L.A. Poche perique facility as part of the New Orleans Pipe Show and I took a lot of notes about perique then and in later visits I had with Mark Ryan. I'm trying to find them to see if I have any answers to some of the questions.
I don't remember what type barrels were used but I want to say they reused barrels as often as they could.
Also, the barrels and lids they used were not watertight. You could see the "juices" that had leaked out from the sides when under pressure and the liquid would also collect on the top of the barrels.
The perique would be transferred to "new" barrels that didn't leak or seep for aging and shipping.

I am wondering if the aging part is the big part of the equation I am missing. I expected the leaves to be really pungent and they are not. Thankfully I have a lot of processed perique. I am letting the rest age. Thank you for your comment. I wish I could of been on that pipe tour sounded great

 

[Gerald Boone]

Definitely will update probably around the first part pf December. I have a good amount of processed perique that I can consume; so I'm not hurting for perique.

Well it's mid December and I have learned a few things. My leaf shredder was $40 I really could have saved. I shred all my tobacco by hand now and it is fun to do. The perique I stored under some pressure and it aged and smokes well; it is a bit more flavorful. I didn't see mine visably referment, that is no liquid bubbling away as I had hoped. In the spring I hope to use a pasta press. I saw a guy on you tube use tobacco wrapped in parchment paper and pressed in a pasta press achieve the liquid measure of success I aspire to achive. I would think it essential to wrap it well as to protect it from the metal of the press; I may stick with plastic bags. So I think I am still tweaking and experimenting. I have a good first batch of perique, a bit better than the perique I started with. No mold, I'm so thankful for that. In my next batch I will have perique solely alongside perique and Virginia mixed. The Virginia is rather tasteless to me and I'm hoping to flavor it. I am indebted to a member that posted about Whole Leaf Tobacco (online store), they have become my tobacco supplier. The tobacco comes just like it says, whole (wet) leaves. Drying and shredding the leaves is something I enjoy.