What Would You Do? Last Bowl...

[pcfdave]

Title edited, Rule 9.

Looking for some advice on a no longer produced tobacco blend. I have two bowls left of a 2014 blend called Brigadoon (I imagine it was sourced from McClelland's tobacco's). Kind of a sweet English blend. I haven't been able to locate anyone sitting on a stash of it. (purchased in Portland, OR at Cascade Cigar and Tobacco shop). If you were in my shoes, do you find a memorable event and smoke the rest of it, only to retire it forever in your memory. Or do you hold on to it and bring it around to veteran pipe blenders and hope if they take a whiff of it or smoke a bit of it they can point you to a similar blend?

 

[olkofri]

The latter, ASAP; then smoke the rest anon.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Surely you have some other tobaccos that you also enjoy. Smoke it and put it behind you. I don't think anyone is ever going to be able to copy a McClelland blend. Not to the degree that someone who really enjoys a McClelland would.

 

[fireground_piper]

I'd just smoke it and enjoy it.

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

The McClelland English Crossovers (frog series) were based on Lane HGL. Give that a try, its still very widely available and a great smoke.

 

[pcfdave]

Surely you have some other tobaccos that you also enjoy. Smoke it and put it behind you. I don't think anyone is ever going to be able to copy a McClelland blend. Not to the degree that someone who really enjoys a McClelland would.

True I have plenty. This will be the first that not only is it no longer in production of which there is plenty and can still buy for a pretty penny. I literally have never seen this sold anywhere on the secondary market. That is what makes this sad to let go

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

According to Cascade Cigar's website they still have Brigadoon.

 

[reloader]

I'd just enjoy it until its gone. You can then go on a blend testing spree to see if you can find anything close.

 

[pcfdave]

According to Cascade Cigar's website they still have Brigadoon.

Got excited. Called and they confirmed their website hasn’t been updated for years. Lol.

 

[pcfdave]

Another thought. Any veteran blenders in this community that if a bowl was sent could email me with suggested matches? Just a thought

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

Got excited. Called and they confirmed their website hasn’t been updated for years. Lol.

Sorry...

 

[ThermionicScott]

Got excited. Called and they confirmed their website hasn’t been updated for years. Lol.

If they don't offer it anymore, perhaps they'd be willing to spill the beans if it was an in-house blend, or just their label on a bulk?

 

[Coreios]

I would hang on to it if it's that spectacular to you. Maybe someone someday will point you to a similar blend.

 

[DeerparkDays]

I would enjoy it while alone, and afterwards have the satisfaction of remembering it in your heart for what it was……like a distant girlfriend.

 

[orvet]

I help set up Cascade Cigaar and Tobacco 1992. Their first store was in Milwaukee Oregon but they have later added several stores. I don't remember the original blend list but Lane HGL is probably what it was, or something very similar. After I left, they hired another well known Tobacconist who had retired, he may have changed the blend list. I know Lane's HGL was on our original blend list, I just don't remember what it was called, but Brigadoon sounds right. That would definitely give it a try. Unless Lane has discontinued it, someone should have it in their blend list because it was a very good seller. When I managed T. Whittaker Tobaccos in Portland and Salem Oregon, HGL was probably in our top 10 or 15 best sellers and definitely the best selling blend with Latakia that we had on our bar.

 

[Grangerous]

That’s really tough. What I might do, is make it last by filling my pipe 3/4 with something else and topping it off with Brigadoon.

You’ll get to enjoy it a bit longer.

Or load the bottom 1/3 with Brigadoon and look forward to getting there!

I do this parfait often. One practical reason is that I seldom smoke the bottom 1/3 of a bowl, so it makes sense for me to load the bottom with something I don’t care about and it stretches the good stuff. —But I learned that I enjoy the “changeover”.

Yesterday it was 5 Brothers atop Pegasus just to get it burning. You appreciate blends in this manner as you experience the changeover.

On edit: Feeling your pain… if it were Granger out of production and me down to my final bits—I would definitely stretch it. There will never be a better “tasting” tobacco…for me.

 

[pcfdave]

I help set up Cascade Cigaar and Tobacco 1992. Their first store was in Milwaukee Oregon but they have later added several stores. I don't remember the original blend list but Lane HGL is probably what it was, or something very similar. After I left, they hired another well known Tobacconist who had retired, he may have changed the blend list. I know Lane's HGL was on our original blend list, I just don't remember what it was called, but Brigadoon sounds right. That would definitely give it a try. Unless Lane has discontinued it, someone should have it in their blend list because it was a very good seller. When I managed T. Whittaker Tobaccos in Portland and Salem Oregon, HGL was probably in our top 10 or 15 best sellers and definitely the best selling blend with Latakia that we had on our bar.

Thank you so much for this information. Can’t wait to track down some of this stuff and see how it matches! Cheers

 

[pcfdave]

Also can I ask. Does a store “blend” require that it is more than simply a renamed “brand” blend I.e. does Brigadoon have to have not only Lane HGL but a dash of something else to allow B&M’s to rename it?

 

[kcghost]

Why would anyone want to put a phony brand on a pipe blend unless it isn't selling??

 

[greysmoke]

I'd smoke it. Otherwise, that remaining bit of tobacco will become a talisman: something you hold on to, afraid to use it for its intended purpose as it will be forever gone or altered.

Sometime in 1998 or 99, I stumbled across a new diamond shanked bent billiard Upshall Grade A. I put it away thinking I'd save that first smoke for a special occasion. I'm still waiting. So is the pipe. At some point, it becomes absurd.