Tobacco quality of Peretti, Pipeworks and Wilke and Kramer

[64alex]

First of let me tell I am mainly in the english/orientals and I am not interested in aromatic. I have a question about the quality of tobacco used by the best small blenders companies with a long history notably Peretti, Pipeworks and Wilke, and Kramer.

This is coming out as I tried the Kramer Father Dempsey which I found an excellent English mixture better than other of big companies. My impression is that the quality of the tobacco used was top notch better than others. So my question is how is the quality of the tobacco used by these small blenders companies, can be really better than the one used by the big companies?.

Please note the real reason of this note is not looking for a list of comparative opinions on the specific blends offered by these small blenders but rather a general assessment of the quality of the tobacco used and if in general the offerings of these small companies could be a better option than the correspondent ones from the big ones.

 

[ericusrex]

I THINK Peretti's blends are mostly made by McClelland.

 

[badger]

I THINK Peretti's blends are mostly made by McClelland.

Pretty sure Peretti's blends are made in house. McCranie's blends are mostly renamed McClellands.

 

[pitchfork]

Not trying to be obtuse, but what do you mean by tobacco "quality"?
To try to answer the question, though, no, I wouldn't say that the small blenders' tobaccos are meaningfully better quality, however you define it, than the tobaccos used by the larger blenders. P&W, I believe, get their components from Lane, for example.

 

[bryguysc]

The radio interview with Mike McNeil of McClelland had since pretty interesting stuff about sourcing tobacco.

 

[64alex]

>Not trying to be obtuse, but what do you mean by tobacco "quality"?
This actually is the real key of the question.

I agree it is difficult to define “tobacco quality”. One criteria for me is the use of pure tobacco leaf with no (or minimal) topping or casing. Think the same way as you could think as a steak quality where a high steak quality should be the one from a grass feed beef with no antibiotics added to food, or think as a cage free chicken. Or in the case of fruit and vegetables think about fresh ripe ones compared to the frozen ones.

Same thing applies to tobacco, there are different ways to grow, pick up and cure tobacco which results in different qualities and prices. And very likely the lower the quality of the leaf the more likely the need of casing and topping to cover the problems with leaf (aside from the casing used in aromatics in which I am not interested) which is why one of my criteria in defining high quality is the lack of casing and topping.

These are just my thoughts but they don't have to be the only criteria for judging the quality of the tobacco, while I am sure there are different qualities of tobacco.

 

[pitchfork]

OK, I see what you mean.
As far as additives and casings, I think that depends on the blend as much as the maker. But wiith MacBaren's, for example, most of their blends are cased in some way (even if lightly) and the tobaccos are processed quite a bit to ensure uniformity of product. Like I say, I'm certain that P&W get their stuff already processed and then blend the components, sometimes adding their own flavorings and casings.
I recently tried some of Peretti's burley blends and they definitely have some kind of casing, maybe just sugar water, but it irritates my tongue a bit. It's very light, though, so you might check out their stuff. You could also just ask them. They'd probably tell you, generally, what kind of additives or casings have been added.
If you want less adulterated, more natural tobaccos, you probably want to check out Cornell and Diehl, including both their own brand and GL Pease tobaccos, which they manufacture and tin. In my experience, C&D blends seem to have the least amount of additives. Most of their burley blends are completely unflavored and, as far as I can tell, there's no sugar casing whatsoever. The same is true of GLP's English and Oriental blends -- I wouldn't say that no casings are present in the VAs used, but Pease himself is a foodie and sort of designed the line to have the clear, natural flavors of the tobacco shine. If you like VAs, Union Square fits the bill perfectly.

 

[64alex]

[OK, I see what you mean.
As far as additives and casings, I think that depends on the blend as much as the maker. But wiith MacBaren's, for example, most of their blends are cased in some way (even if lightly) and the tobaccos are processed quite a bit to ensure uniformity of product. Like I say, I'm certain that P&W get their stuff already processed and then blend the components, sometimes adding their own flavorings and casings.
I recently tried some of Peretti's burley blends and they definitely have some kind of casing, maybe just sugar water, but it irritates my tongue a bit. It's very light, though, so you might check out their stuff. You could also just ask them. They'd probably tell you, generally, what kind of additives or casings have been added.
If you want less adulterated, more natural tobaccos, you probably want to check out Cornell and Diehl, including both their own brand and GL Pease tobaccos, which they manufacture and tin. In my experience, C&D blends seem to have the least amount of additives. Most of their burley blends are completely unflavored and, as far as I can tell, there's no sugar casing whatsoever. The same is true of GLP's English and Oriental blends -- I wouldn't say that no casings are present in the VAs used, but Pease himself is a foodie and sort of designed the line to have the clear, natural flavors of the tobacco shine. If you like VAs, Union Square fits the bill perfectly.]
Thank you.This is the king of info i am looking for. What about imported tobacco such as Solani, Germain, Samuel Gawith and so on?

 

[ravkesef]

Peretti's blends are made in house. I've been there. It's the room directly behind the retail shop. It's small batch blending and a pleasure to watch. At the time, I was told that they blend all their tobaccos in house, but I don't know if that is still the case. I have no idea where they source their tobaccos, as that would be another story entirely.

 

[drrock]

Haven't had anything from the Kramer shop, but the tobaccos from Peretti and Pipeworks & Wilke are outstanding so I wouldn't hesitate to order their blends that you find interesting.
In a similar vein, have you also considered Uhle's, Milan Tobacconists, Boswell, and 4Noggins? They're also outstanding in my experience.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Some of the Peretti flakes are repackaged Mclelland blends I have been told (by someone I trust). Some of those I believe use the flake as a base and a topping of some kind is added. However, their non-flake blends are made in-house, no question.

 

[pitchfork]

I was at Peretti a couple of weeks ago and met Stephen Willet. He told me all about their Burley Slice, where they get some of the component burleys and how they press the stuff right there in the next room with an old tobacco press. Apparently they're not making the Slice at the moment because they can't source the right kind of burleys, but he gave me a nice big chunk of it (unsliced) that hadn't pressed to the usual standards. Great stuff. But the bottom line is that this was clearly being made in-house.