The Case Against Whole Leaf

[anotherbob]

This is an odd rumor, that I don't think I have heard before, and I have no idea where this would have started. I have used tobacco from WholeLeaf, as well as from LeafOnly for home blending, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, but C&D does not buy anything from small volume resellers like this because it would not be practical or sustainable for a business our size and because the variety and volumes of leaf available are far too limited to meet our needs.

Probably one of those 1/4 fact here 1/8 of a fact there mixed in with a filler of assumptions. Oh he bought that in the past no way they don't buy it now.

I find this rumor fascinating, but we simply could not sustain our business purchasing any type of tobacco in 25 lb. or 50 lb. increments. We purchase tobacco in volumes of 1,000's or 10,000's of pounds and we tend to buy several grades of each variety. We are dealing directly with the green leaf buyers.

I would love to see the operation someday just to blow my mind at the scale and what it says about the reality of our hobby on the wider world.

On your question regarding casings, Old Joe Krantz contains one component that is cased prior to blending. Haunted Bookshop is entirely uncased. The majority of our products, in fact, are uncased.

Oh so that's why I can't stop buying your stuff and smoking it. Fun fact I mainly smoke MacBarren and C&D both of which seem like high quality examples of opposite ends of these spectrums. I mean on the whole issue of casing. Oh and thanks for making those blends. Thanks for helping us all nerd out a little bit more.

 

[minerLuke]

When I smoked cigarettes, the last couple years I bought whole leaf Bright VA and processed them myself to get around the obscene tobacco taxes here in British Columbia. It was a fair amount of work to process and I knew absolutely nothing about casing and topping so while certainly smokable, they were pretty rugged as far as cigarettes go. Now that said, after I got used to them I couldn't bring myself to smoke commercial cigarettes they were so nauseating. They tasted like pure nasty chemicals to me.

But I quit cigs years ago and now only smoke my pipe. I have kept the whole leaf option in the back of my mind but as of right now if I can order 1 lb bags of good bulk tobaccos like Daughters and Ryan, Peter Stokebye, Smokers Pride etc at $20-35/lb I would rather stock up on those options.

 

[mortonbriar]

This is an odd rumor, that I don't think I have heard before, and I have no idea where this would have started. I have used tobacco from WholeLeaf, as well as from LeafOnly for home blending, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, but C&D does not buy anything from small volume resellers like this because it would not be practical or sustainable for a business our size and because the variety and volumes of leaf available are far too limited to meet our needs.

I find this rumor fascinating, but we simply could not sustain our business purchasing any type of tobacco in 25 lb. or 50 lb. increments. We purchase tobacco in volumes of 1,000's or 10,000's of pounds and we tend to buy several grades of each variety. We are dealing directly with the green leaf buyers.

On your question regarding casings, Old Joe Krantz contains one component that is cased prior to blending. Haunted Bookshop is entirely uncased. The majority of our products, in fact, are uncased.

HEY! Stop messing with my assumptions, rumours and opinions!

Seriously though, thank you for contributing, these kind of discussions benefit greatly from industry voices...

 

[Ahi Ka]

I think the “rumour” was that WLT purchases their whole leaf from one of the same sources as C&D.

As for the OP. I’d say the majority of what I smoke over a given year is whole leaf, or homegrown. I used to post GCR (goose creek red) a lot in the ways thread, which is a dark air cured Virginia similar to the filler leaf in GH brown twists. This week I have been picking up rare Samsun Maden leaves from the floor of my hot house and shoving them in my bowl.

If I’m honest, I got a bit self conscious always posting homegrown as it made me feel like I was being pretentious. Ok, sounds like it is time for me to buy a fez

 

[mortonbriar]

I think the “rumour” was that WLT purchases their whole leaf from one of the same sources as C&D.

As for the OP. I’d say the majority of what I smoke over a given year is whole leaf, or homegrown. I used to post GCR (goose creek red) a lot in the ways thread, which is a dark air cured Virginia similar to the filler leaf in GH brown twists. This week I have been picking up rare Samsun Maden leaves from the floor of my hot house and shoving them in my bowl.

If I’m honest, I got a bit self conscious always posting homegrown as it made me feel like I was being pretentious. Ok, sounds like it is time for me to buy a fez

Sew those homegrown samsun leaves together, and wear it like a fez, then start a new thread with what's left on the needle.

 

[jeremyreeves]

I think the “rumour” was that WLT purchases their whole leaf from one of the same sources as C&D.

That makes a lot more sense to me. They undoubtedly are purchasing tobacco from some of the same companies that manufacturers do.

 

[jeremyreeves]

HEY! Stop messing with my assumptions, rumours and opinions!

Seriously though, thank you for contributing, these kind of discussions benefit greatly from industry voices...

My pleasure! Discussions on this forum are always interesting reads and I am happy to be able to contribute. Thank you!

 

[jpberg]

I think the “rumour” was that WLT purchases their whole leaf from one of the same sources as C&D.

As for the OP. I’d say the majority of what I smoke over a given year is whole leaf, or homegrown. I used to post GCR (goose creek red) a lot in the ways thread, which is a dark air cured Virginia similar to the filler leaf in GH brown twists. This week I have been picking up rare Samsun Maden leaves from the floor of my hot house and shoving them in my bowl.

If I’m honest, I got a bit self conscious always posting homegrown as it made me feel like I was being pretentious. Ok, sounds like it is time for me to buy a fez

Make sure it matches your smoking jacket and pince nez.

 

[David D. Davidson]

When I smoked cigarettes, the last couple years I bought whole leaf Bright VA and processed them myself to get around the obscene tobacco taxes here in British Columbia. It was a fair amount of work to process and I knew absolutely nothing about casing and topping so while certainly smokable, they were pretty rugged as far as cigarettes go. Now that said, after I got used to them I couldn't bring myself to smoke commercial cigarettes they were so nauseating. They tasted like pure nasty chemicals to me.

But I quit cigs years ago and now only smoke my pipe. I have kept the whole leaf option in the back of my mind but as of right now if I can order 1 lb bags of good bulk tobaccos like Daughters and Ryan, Peter Stokebye, Smokers Pride etc at $20-35/lb I would rather stock up on those options.

As a fellow Canuck who's not border hopping anytime soon, I drool at those bulk prices. North of the border those prices are multiplied by 10-15x. Really the only reason I ever consider whole leaf is the lack of duties attached.

 

[fightnhampster]

This is an odd rumor, that I don't think I have heard before, and I have no idea where this would have started. I have used tobacco from WholeLeaf, as well as from LeafOnly for home blending, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, but C&D does not buy anything from small volume resellers like this because it would not be practical or sustainable for a business our size and because the variety and volumes of leaf available are far too limited to meet our needs.

I find this rumor fascinating, but we simply could not sustain our business purchasing any type of tobacco in 25 lb. or 50 lb. increments. We purchase tobacco in volumes of 1,000's or 10,000's of pounds and we tend to buy several grades of each variety. We are dealing directly with the green leaf buyers.

On your question regarding casings, Old Joe Krantz contains one component that is cased prior to blending. Haunted Bookshop is entirely uncased. The majority of our products, in fact, are uncased.

 

[anotherbob]

View attachment 234381

no freaking way. Don't vote for someone who is already doing a job you want them to keep doing or anyone that you don't want to die prematurely. Now if he's someone's advisor or cabinet pick that would be a completely different thing. Frankly I like what he's doing too much now to put him through that crap. Plus he seems like a nice guy and you shouldn't do mean things to nice people.

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

Y

I have been exploring various leafs sold at Wholeleaftobacco.com under their "traditional pipe" category.

A brief glance at the ***What Are You Smoking*** forum shows that we don't rely on these often at all.

Although it may have a place in a cellar or in one's journey discovering the nature of different leafs, I suppose the reasons whole leaf doesn't appear often in our rotations are:

1 Hassle
2 Flavor
3 Harshness
4 Lack of stay-lit-ability (more relights)
5 It ain't Old Joe Krantz

Why is whole leaf tobacco not a more regular in your rotarotation

Your not wrong. It takes work, experience/trial and error, lots of time and patience. But it's alot of fun and can turn out great results.

I've got roughly 5lbs of whole leaf blends aging right now. Flakes, plugs, cakes, ribbon cut. It's hard not to test them, they just simply need time (like a certain large manufacturer's VA blends). Though i do have a couple jars of stoves ribbon cut blends I'll smoke on every blue moon and they're great albeit young.

Its cheap and there's endless videos online to aid in creating something that suits your taste. I think if your interested in blending and genuinely excited about tobacco, its a great thing to try and won't cost must.

 

[Doctor Chopper]

The way I see it, mixing my own would be the equivalent of a cooking competition with a master chef and I have no recipe or experience. I would never expect to come out on top. Why try? We have people like @jeremyreeves who dedicate themselves to making great blends at reasonable prices. I would be arrogant to think I could do better. Even if I had the recipe / knowledge /experience, I could not account for the quality of leaf, handling, aging, preparation that they oversee for every blend.

Thank you @jeremyreeves and all the other blenders out there who make amazing tobacco's for us to enjoy.

-Doc

 

[Doctor Chopper]

View attachment 234381

+1

 

[JB00]

I have been exploring various leafs sold at Wholeleaftobacco.com under their "traditional pipe" category.

A brief glance at the ***What Are You Smoking*** forum shows that we don't rely on these often at all.

Although it may have a place in a cellar or in one's journey discovering the nature of different leafs, I suppose the reasons whole leaf doesn't appear often in our rotations are:

1 Hassle
2 Flavor
3 Harshness
4 Lack of stay-lit-ability (more relights)
5 It ain't Old Joe Krantz

Why is whole leaf tobacco not a more regular in your rotation?

Anymore, I only smoke whole leaf blends that I make myself. After a few years of smoking whole leaf, commercial blends just seem to be missing something.

As far as your reasoning goes, here is my response:

1. Hassle: I don’t find it to be a hassle, it’s something I enjoy doing.

2. Flavor: I can attain any flavor I desire and I can fine tune it to my tastes.

3. Harshness: Proper processing completely alleviates these issue. Yes it takes time to learn them and perform them, but it works.

4. Lack of stay-lit-ability (more relights): if you’re experiencing this problem, then it’s too moist.

5. 5 It ain't Old Joe Krantz: you’re right, it’s better.

 

[seanv]

The way I see it, mixing my own would be the equivalent of a cooking competition with a master chef and I have no recipe or experience. I would never expect to come out on top. Why try? We have people like @jeremyreeves who dedicate themselves to making great blends at reasonable prices. I would be arrogant to think I could do better. Even if I had the recipe / knowledge /experience, I could not account for the quality of leaf, handling, aging, preparation that they oversee for every blend.

Thank you @jeremyreeves and all the other blenders out there who make amazing tobacco's for us to enjoy.

-Doc

I am considering trying my hand because I live in Canada and just paid $88 plus tax for a tin of ABF. Ordering online is easy but duty is a killer and usually adds $50-70 per order of 2 50G tins. Between availability and price, America is probably the best place in the world to be a pipe smoker.

 

[mortonbriar]

I am considering trying my hand because I live in Canada and just paid $88 plus tax for a tin of ABF. Ordering online is easy but duty is a killer and usually adds $50-70 per order of 2 50G tins. Between availability and price, America is probably the best place in the world to be a pipe smoker.

Maybe someone on the south side of the border could load up a churchwarden, and just put the stem across the border for you to smoke. Tax is for leaf, not smoke.

 

[elvishrunes]

This is a necro-thread, but I experimented with blending tobaccos, not whole leaf, and had some good results. However, I came to the conclusion I’m not going to out perform my favourite blenders, especially on toppings, not possible, so I stopped. Even though we are now getting heavy taxes as Canadians, I only smoke around 1/2 pound a year, so I can manage, just less experimenting, but I’m really starting to know what I like…

 

[Doctor Chopper]

I am considering trying my hand because I live in Canada and just paid $88 plus tax for a tin of ABF. Ordering online is easy but duty is a killer and usually adds $50-70 per order of 2 50G tins. Between availability and price, America is probably the best place in the world to be a pipe smoker.

You got a point my friend. Now I am left wondering how Canadian tobacco tastes?

 

[kcghost]

I am one of those people who is not in the whole leaf brigade. If someone out there can't blend better than I can I'll quit smoking. Can't blend for the life of me.