"Mark Ryan single-handedly rescued the Perique industry."
God Bless Mark Ryan, he may have helped and been the prime mover for pipe tobacco and Perique, but no, he did not "single-handedly" rescue the Perique industry. Props go to Christopher Brown and Matt Nichols and Mike Little who helped Ray Martin. Mark Ryan came along a few years later and jumped on their band wagon.
"About 15 years ago, the world supply of the pungent Cajun tobacco perique was down to about five barrels. One of the rarest tobaccos in the world, it comes from St. James Parish, about 50 miles west of New Orleans."...
"The backbreaking labor associated with that preindustrial process, combined with a succession of storms and low prices, had led to a long period of attrition. When two tobacco enthusiasts, Christopher Brown and Matt Nichols, decided around 1998 to go see where one of their favorite products grew, they were shocked to find just a few acres of farmland left.
Mr. Brown and Mr. Nichols resolved to do something to preserve perique. They helped Ray Martin send samples of his tobacco to major companies, and one of them ended up on the desk of Mike Little, now the president of Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, which makes American Spirit cigarettes."...
"In 2000, American Spirit introduced a perique cigarette, giving Mr. Martin the consistent buyer he needed. Over the years, American Spirit and its perique blend kept expanding, finding plenty of willing buyers in America and overseas. Mr. Martin also runs a processing plant for the growing ranks of perique farmers."...
"In 2005, a North Carolina businessman named Mark Ryan bought an old processing facility in nearby Convent, La., with a lineage going back to Pierre Chenet, thought to be the first Westerner to produce perique. Recently, he added to it. Mr. Ryan has more demand than he can fill with his local farmers, and augments his barrels with tobacco from places like Kentucky, Virginia and Canada, as his predecessor had done for years as more and more farmers left the business."
This "story from a Pipes Magazine article is disingenuous to say the least and should be revised to reflect reality and not preen someone's ego.
"So, the world didn’t know it, but for about five months, the world supply of Perique was gone forever other than what was the legacy and the inventory in the factory. So when I bought it in 05, I went on the secondary market, because I couldn’t buy direct because everybody already sold their products, so I got some to process and we got a little start that year and we’ve been growing it every year since. I’ve been working very aggressively on it. I’ve got seven farmers growing for me now. I’ve got farmers in Paulina.
PipesMagazine.com: Why was there no Perique in 2005 when you bought the company?
Ryan: It was too labor intensive, none of the young kids want to do it. We physically pull every stem out of every leaf. They have to be wrapped in bundles, they have to be put in a barrel very carefully, you’ve got to put the pressure on it, you got to watch the pressure everyday. The kids don’t want to do that. It’s too labor intensive, they don’t want to do the work. They can work in a chemical factory down there, chemical plant, and make a lot of money. The young kids today don’t want to do the labor work."
Wow, just wow. Let's keep it real.