Same brand, different tobacco altogether

[mateusbrown]

Pretty much all I want to smoke is C&D #3 day in and day out. I usually order five tins at a time. It's Burley with some Virginia, and a good proportion of Perique and Dark Kentucky. For me, it's my favorite, delicious, strong, high nicotine, unflavored tobacco bliss, etc. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I opened a tin, and it was altogether different than usual. It has been very consistent from tin to tin, but this one was lighter and had a different smell. It is usually dark and with a vinegar/earthy smell. I wondered if they had a mix-up in their packaging or labelling. I smoked it and it was pretty good, but I mixed in some Dark Kentucky, about a 1/3 ratio to 2/3s of the different #3 to strengthen it up a little several times. I opened another tin yesterday, and it is the #3 I know and love. I just found it strange that they would be so inconsistent, so I am hoping this was a one-time mispackaging.

 

[RookieGuy80]

Pretty much all I want to smoke is C&D #3 day in and day out. I usually order five tins at a time. It's Burley with some Virginia, and a good proportion of Perique and Dark Kentucky. For me, it's my favorite, delicious, strong, high nicotine, unflavored tobacco bliss, etc. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I opened a tin, and it was altogether different than usual. It has been very consistent from tin to tin, but this one was lighter and had a different smell. It is usually dark and with a vinegar/earthy smell. I wondered if they had a mix-up in their packaging or labelling. I smoked it and it was pretty good, but I mixed in some Dark Kentucky, about a 1/3 ratio to 2/3s of the different #3 to strengthen it up a little several times. I opened another tin yesterday, and it is the #3 I know and love. I just found it strange that they would be so inconsistent, so I am hoping this was a one-time mispackaging.

It sounds like you just got a bum tin. It sucks, but it sounds like just a one off. Good luck you had what you needed to mix in though. Send C&D a quick email letting them know.

 

[yanoJL]

I agree with @RookieGuy80 that an email is warranted. Last year, I sent an email to the address on their website. A week later I got a reply from Jeremy Reeves. I thought I was just emailing a generic "info" address. But Jeremy reads and replies on that account.

 

[kcghost]

You could complain I suppose but if it is a one-time thing, I wouldn't bother them. If it is happening every so often then you have something that Jeremy would like to know. Remember being courteous in your email is everything in in email.

 

[sardonicus87]

You could complain I suppose but if it is a one-time thing, I wouldn't bother them. If it is happening every so often then you have something that Jeremy would like to know. Remember being courteous in your email is everything in in email.

This is my take.

It doesn't matter how big or small a company is, or how well they do quality control... they're still just all humans, and mistakes happen sometimes. If it's one mistake in 1,000, eh it happens. If it was inconsistent or a mistake for one in every 10 or something... well that's an issue that deserves bringing up. But whether it's 1 bad in 10 years or 10 bad in 1 year, courtesy definitely should be used.

OP, how many tins of #3 have you been through at this point to only get one that's a little off?

 

[RookieGuy80]

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean a nagging or accusatory email. Just a quick little "Hey, this happened. It's fine, I just wanted you to know."

 

[makhorkasmoker]

Mateus, the beauty of C&D tobaccos is that they are natural. The dark burley for example in your preferred blend is air cured, piled like cigar leaf, and that's about it. But like a lot of natural things, they are variable. There's been relatively little processing and flavoring to make the tobaccos more uniform and unchanging from year to year. And a lot of tobaccos from C&D are not really known for being aged much. This makes them even more volatile. I regularly smoke their blenders, and to my tastes they change pretty dramatically, whether from aging--even a few months can make a difference--"vintage" or something else. The burley-perique mixtures can smell really barnyard at first--then settle down, transform. In short, I've come to expect--and appreciate--some variation. it's part of the fun.

 

[crashthegrey]

I can assure you that they will want to know if there is a wrong tin out there. They'll want to figure out how and why that happened.

 

[vosBghos]

They do all their work in-house and a few tins could have gotten mixed up in the tinning process or labeling phase, then someone caught it but 1 or 2 snuck through, definitely hit them up. They will make it right, always do.

 

[mateusbrown]

how many tins of #3?

I've been through maybe 15 or so tins of this blend so far. All have been consistent until this last one, so probably not a quality control issue on C&D's part. I've got three more in the cabinet. Will see how these are. I looked up the other blends in this series. I've never tried the other four, but the picture I found of #1 looks like what I had. Very light, almost yellow to light tan mostly, which makes sense since that one has the red Virginia in it. Like I said, I liked it, but it just wasn't the same at all as the accustomed #3. I've never been one to do a lot of complaining about anything, so unless the next tins are off, probably won't say anything, but if I did, it would be a nicely written email, of course.

 

[krizzose]

I can assure you that they will want to know if there is a wrong tin out there. They'll want to figure out how and why that happened.

I agree they will want to know. Their customer service is great, and I bet they’ll readily replace the tin even if you’re content to keep it.