C. B. Perkins Tobacco Questions

[Bonanzadriver]

Hello all,

I recently acquired 29 jars of C.B. Perkins Tobacco...

http://brothersofbriar.forumotion.com/t34802-hello-my-name-is-dino-i-have-tad

As my other post indicates, my initial reason for buying these was to get the jars. But I've learned that all but 3 or 4 of the jars are over 1/2 full of tobacco. The seller, admittedly not a pipe smoker, shared with me that the tobacco was surprisingly moist. That's a good thing I hope.

So, my questions are...

1. Has anyone heard anything about C.B. Perkins Tobacco blends?

2. Did they do the blending themselves or use someone elses services?

3. Any recommended sources or sites that I could research these on?

4. Any other knowledge or information on or about C.B. Perkins would be appreciated
(Basically all I know about em is that the first store opened in Boston MA in the early 1900's and that they sold out to DES Tobacco Corp in 1986.)

Thanks in advance.

Dino

 

[idbowman]

No first hand knowledge, so this is all just guesswork based on a few minutes scouting around the internet.

It looks like they've got two locations, both relatively small. It seems like they have a reasonable selection of cigars but are doing a lot of RYO and E-cig business, too...given that, it's hard to imagine that they're doing enough pipe business to justify blending their own stuff - in fact, the website lists the pipe tobacco they carry it's mostly OTC stuff (Captain Black, Borkum Riff, etc). There are also some CB Perkins pipes out there, but they don't list them on their website, and I don't see any looking at pics of the shop, so that's probably a thing of the past, too.

So, putting it all together, my best guess is that they were a boutique shop at one time. Pipes were popular enough to carry, but the operation might not have been large enough to support actual pipe manufacturing or tobacco blending...I'd bet they had pipes made by an outside carver and rebranded them, and that they probably renamed/blended a handful of the usual bulk suspects for their house blends. Some of that probably went by the wayside when they were bought out, or as a strategic decision in response to market changes.


But that's all one huge guess. Maybe there's someone here from up that way who actually knows? Or maybe they're still a full-scale smoke shop and they just have a lousy website?

 

[Bonanzadriver]

Thanks Bowman,

I just got off the phone with one of the shops in MA.

Seems that they are all independently owned Pipe and Cigar shops. Used to be over a hundred of them back in the day.


Anyway, they're all independently owned now and get their tobacco from various suppliers.


So, looks like I'll be smokin some "mystery leaf" in the very near future. 8)

 

[Ozark Wizard]

I would estimate that a good portion of those bulks, still being moist and all, are the usual suspects in B&Ms.........

Lane's Bulk blends, ( 1-Q, BLWB, BCA, that kind of thing)

Maybe some McClelland bulks like 5100, 5125, and M-95.

The standards in OTC, ( PA, Borkum Riff, Cpt. Black, Red Cap, etc.....)

And the few rouge 'shop blends' PA and 1-Q, yadda, yadda.........

If you could get some samples of those mentioned, I'll bet you could place the taste pretty easily. Unfortunately I don't carry any of those products or I would send you some.