House Blend or House Package?

[Noreaster]

I was watching a video about Boswell's Tobacco and having a discussion with a forum member about one of their blends and it got me thinking. How can you tell which of these tobacconists actually come up with their own blends and which just re-package bulk blends form larger companies. The two local tobacconist that I have visited (one good, the other less so) were both straight forward that their store brands were re-packaged something else. If they were not forthcoming with that information though, how could one tell? Are the tastes and aromas really discernibly different between two similar blends from different vendors that it can be easily told apart or is it just blind trust?

 

[Ocelot55]

Ok, I've had limited experience here, but from what I have observed, VERY FEW smoke shoppes actually create their own blends from scratch. It just wouldn't be cost effective. Working in a B&M I can attest that we re-package a lot of blends, mainly Stokkebye and Lane, and name them something else. Every now and then I will flavour a batch of pipe tobacco as an experiment and sell it as a seasonal blend. Other times I will blend several bulk tobaccos together to get a new blend but with prepackaged components.

 

[Storm_Crow]

I'm not leaning over J.M.'s shoulder while he's doing his thing in the backroom, but I'm as certain as is possible without doing so that Boswell blends are all their own.

I would be shocked beyond all measure if this were not the case.

Having said that, most places really just repackage. If you're buying from a place that mainly sells cigars and the owner gives you a look that says he's internally rolling his eyes when you ask after pipe tobacco, or from the local mart...I doubt they're blending their own stuff.

 

[monbla256]

I would have to say that firms such as Edwards\'s, Boswell's, Milan etc. who have been doing thier own blending for years do NOT re-package as I know the B&M I have been going to here does. The owner is first of all a gigar merchant who is trying hard to pick up the pipe smokers and admits to re-packageing Lane and Stokkebye bulks for his "house blends" As has been discussed on other threads here, blending is truly an ART which takes TIME to learn and practice, so unless your retailer has some "age" on 'em, I would imagine they are re-packaging available bulk blends. A good Lane or other bulk blend is GOOD no matter what the name is on it !

 

[gravel]

I would add Pipeworks & Wilkes and Just For Him (to some degree using McClelland componants) to that list.

 

[monbla256]

I would add Pipeworks & Wilkes and Just For Him (to some degree using McClelland componants) to that list.

I didn't say it but the B&M I go to has added two "new" house blends which are re-packaged McC's bulk blends and he's getting such good response to them, he told me he's going to add some more from McC's as well as add some more of McC's tinned blends to the 4 he handles now :cheers: Looks like he'll get to be a real "tobacco store" Re-labeled/packaged doesn't really matter if it's GOOD stuff to begin with

 

[jj1015]

Most B&Ms traditionally either sold repackaged blends or else made blends comprised of other blends (i.e. two parts 1-Q, one part RLP, etc.). I don't know that anyone really cared about this until the Internet pretty much took over the pipe industry a few years ago. Also, some would buy Lane components (burley, latakia, etc) and then make their own mixtures. Lane even held contests to determine which B&Ms could come up with the best new blends using their tobaccos! Heck, my local B&M's best-selling blend for decades now has been a mixture of Lane's black cav and some burley. They even mix it up right in front of you!

I'd be surprised if Boswell repackaged anything, but I would NOT be surprised if I were to learn they used some Lane or PS components (which isn't the same thing at all, to my mind).

Personally, I couldn't care less unless it were a price issue (meaning that a local B&M was selling 1-Q at $60 a pound and wouldn't tell anyone where it came from out of fear that their customer would get it cheaper elsewhere). This whole debate is, I think, the result of contemporary "boutique" sensibilities coming into conflict with traditional large-scale marketing tactics. Since the explosion of "boutique" blends there's been a tremendous surge of interest in all aspects of tobacco production and "blending," with hundreds of us getting online and waxing poetic with reviews and such. All of a sudden, people care a LOT about the pedigree of the tobacco they're smoking. The first decade I smoked a pipe, I met VERY few who talked that way!

It's kind of like the difference between guys who like good ol' store bought beer versus those who live exclusively on microbrews. Twenty years ago, most pipe smokers (and beer drinkers) just picked up whatever tobacco/beverage they liked the most and moved on without worrying a whole lot about its pedigree. That certainly isn't the case now, as guys now seem to like drinking microbrews and smoking boutique blends. It's all part of the larger cultural trend against mass production and faceless industrialization versus small scale, "authentic" products.

I'm not dissing this trend -- I think it's a positive development, overall. But again, I just can't really get myself worked up because some B&M owner decides to label as his own what is in effect a "generic" product made specifically for the purpose of re-branding (heck even the name "1-Q" is NOT a proper blend name like "Haddo's Delight" or "Nightcap" -- it's a numerical designation for a product designed to be named something else for resale).

I'm perfectly happy buying generic toothpaste and potato chips labeled "Kroger" or "Walmart" (although they come from the same factories) without implying that the retailer is being dishonest....why should it be different for pipe tobacco?!?

 

[monbla256]

Most B&Ms traditionally either sold repackaged blends or else made blends comprised of other blends (i.e. two parts 1-Q, one part RLP, etc.). I don't know that anyone really cared about this until the Internet pretty much took over the pipe industry a few years ago. Also, some would buy Lane components (burley, latakia, etc) and then make their own mixtures. Lane even held contests to determine which B&Ms could come up with the best new blends using their tobaccos! Heck, my local B&M's best-selling blend for decades now has been a mixture of Lane's black cav and some burley. They even mix it up right in front of you!

I'd be surprised if Boswell repackaged anything, but I would NOT be surprised if I were to learn they used some Lane or PS components (which isn't the same thing at all, to my mind).

Personally, I couldn't care less unless it were a price issue (meaning that a local B&M was selling 1-Q at $60 a pound and wouldn't tell anyone where it came from out of fear that their customer would get it cheaper elsewhere). This whole debate is, I think, the result of contemporary "boutique" sensibilities coming into conflict with traditional large-scale marketing tactics. Since the explosion of "boutique" blends there's been a tremendous surge of interest in all aspects of tobacco production and "blending," with hundreds of us getting online and waxing poetic with reviews and such. All of a sudden, people care a LOT about the pedigree of the tobacco they're smoking. The first decade I smoked a pipe, I met VERY few who talked that way!

It's kind of like the difference between guys who like good ol' store bought beer versus those who live exclusively on microbrews. Twenty years ago, most pipe smokers (and beer drinkers) just picked up whatever tobacco/beverage they liked the most and moved on without worrying a whole lot about its pedigree. That certainly isn't the case now, as guys now seem to like drinking microbrews and smoking boutique blends. It's all part of the larger cultural trend against mass production and faceless industrialization versus small scale, "authentic" products.

I'm not dissing this trend -- I think it's a positive development, overall. But again, I just can't really get myself worked up because some B&M owner decides to label as his own what is in effect a "generic" product made specifically for the purpose of re-branding (heck even the name "1-Q" is NOT a proper blend name like "Haddo's Delight" or "Nightcap" -- it's a numerical designation for a product designed to be named something else for resale).

I'm perfectly happy buying generic toothpaste and potato chips labeled "Kroger" or "Walmart" (although they come from the same factories) without implying that the retailer is being dishonest....why should it be different for pipe tobacco?!?

+1

 

[Noreaster]

]

....why should it be different for pipe tobacco?!?

Because I would like to know that if I get blend XX from the B&M it's the same as getting blend Xx from the source. There ARE so many different blends and flavors and so many different internet retailers out there that if you want to be trying something new or ordering something unusual you DON'T want it to be the same thing that you can get at your local B&M. Conversly, if you walk into a B&M Far Far away and you like, for example, 1-Q, you would want to be able to pick up 1-Q without having to sift through vague descriptions on un-informatively labeled packages or asking un-informed clerks answers to questions that they don't know. If I get Storebrand Cola in NH it might flow from the same tap as Coke in the factor. In MT it might be RC. In FLA it might be Pepsi. But in all three places the Coke will be Coke, the RC is always RC and Pepsi still tasteless like crap. This is particularly important to mea s a rookie since I wouldn't be able to differentiate the subtle differences between similar blends from different vendors.

 

[Anonymous]

I think/hope recently B&Ms are actually promoting blends by their real product name. People had rather buy Lane and Stokkebye blends than the same blends relabeled as "Capt. Bill's Cavendish". The local Tinder Box has Stokkebye and some other blends from before I was born. Ain't many pipe smokers here.

 

[jj1015]

I think/hope recently B&Ms are actually promoting blends by their real product name. People had rather buy Lane and Stokkebye blends than the same blends relabeled as "Capt. Bill's Cavendish". The local Tinder Box has Stokkebye and some other blends from before I was born. Ain't many pipe smokers here.

That's fair! I hadn't really thought of it that way.
I will say, though, that virtually any online vendors are going to be advertising their products accurately. Most B&Ms don't do Web sales, and all of the main sites have their own unique products as well as advertising stuff like "1-Q" under it's real name. Pipesandcigars, Low Country, 4 Noggins, Boswells, Peretti, etc., all produce their own product lines and also label their Lane blends accurately. So, I really don't think you have to worry much about it if you're buying online (which is the only way for most of us to get access these days anyhow). If you're going to a local B&M, however, I think you've pretty much got to rely on their honesty.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Tobacco Road in Sacramento mixes all sorts of "house pipe tobacco" from various sources. Sometimes, I think, from different manufacturers. The owner, Zee, has 30 years of doing this, and has made some incredible mixtures, some of them quite complex. I couldn't care less what he calls them, provided he can keep experimenting to such a successful end, and stick with the stuff he's managed to put together for years.

Tinder Box, on the other hand, has very specific "formulas," all from Lane (at least this is my Tinder Box's policy) with a little creative leeway if the folks working there have an idea. Lane doesn't produce the tobacco I find blows my mind in depth and flavor, so mixing them doesn't do much more than create flavors (and much of those are aromatics). Guys go in there all the time and have their own "blends" which are half of one, half of another, and so forth. Mixed right on the spot.

Tobacco for pipes (even cigars) is much like microbrewing, or even craft brewing, these days--we have so much to choose from. Sometimes I fear if the trend will edge out the tried-and-true mixtures and blends, but I think that's a long way off, if ever.

Names? Meh. If it tastes good, you like it, keep smoking it. Source is often irrelevant, and even if they did tell you, there comes the myopic notion of "well, where did the LEAF come from?" Because VA ain't just grown in VA, but around the world. Kind of a slippery slope.

8)

 

[Cadfael]

So . . . if blenders are not using Lane (or Altadis) from where would they procure their blending components? I usually pick up that tell-tale Lane aroma/chemical taste, but do not get it from certain "house blends."

 

[Kyle Weiss]

That's up for them to divulge, or not. *shrug* Could be McClelland, C&D, anything.

 

[Anonymous]

C&D does small run custom blends.

 

[Dave_In_Philly]

I assume all house brands are just repackaged until I learn otherwise. You can often tell because the shop will often list the same description as the blender.

For example Iwan Ries actually refers to the two re-branded McClelland Flakes as 2010 Flake nd 2035 Flake - and their description of IRC Slices: "Old Belt Flue-Cured Virginia with just a whisper of Perique" is awfully similar to Stokkebye's description of Luxury Navy Flake: "Very mature Old Belt flue-cured Virginia's spiced with Louisiana Perique."

I have found that most are forthcoming if asked directly. Even, the folks at Nat Sherman in Manhattan happily told me where each blend came from.