Let me start of this missive by saying that I don’t really care for trying to recreate old blends. Let me explain- there are so many issues involved in attempting to match these blends, that it’s a daunting task to even get started. Here are some of the problems: Finding a sample of the blend (usually extinct) to work from, adjusting the blend due to the age of the sample, trying to work from memory (especially troublesome as I believe that my brains have been leaking out of my ears for quite some time), coming up with the same or similar components, getting the proportions right, determining if the tobacco needs to be heated, pressed, flavored. I think you’re starting to get the picture. It’s sort of like trying to match the sound of your favorite guitar riff- what kind of guitar and amplifier were used? What kind of strings? Did they use any effects pedals? What kind of pick?
That said, I’ve done it a fair number of times with varying amounts of success. In some cases I didn’t try to exactly match a blend, but to capture its character. In our product line, I have a handful of products of this nature- Ambassador’s Blend (Dunhill Standard Mixture/London Mixture), Daybreak (Early Morning Pipe), Old Tartan (Vottis’ Black Watch, Iwan Ries original 3 Star Blue, Ehrlich’s DPE), Sunjammer (965), Ten to Midnight (Penzance), Magnum Opus (a brighter, more fragrant Sobranie Original), Virginia Memory #10 (Sobranie Virginian #10) and my best known attempt- BlackHouse (winner of the judge’s choice of the Sobranie 759 Throwdown).
Greg Pease and I discussed this subject one time and he put it very succinctly. What he said, in essence, is that all you have to do is change one component, proportion or process and the blend will go off the mark. Of course, he’s absolutely right. When we get to the taste-testing stage, even more problems crop up. Some people will try the new blend, hoping for an exact recreation of an old favorite and will proclaim the new tobacco to be spot on, but mostly out of a fervent desire to be able to recapture that lost blend. Others will say that something that comes pretty close to be way off because they have elevated the old tobacco, in their mind, to such a lofty status that if you were to give them some of the original blend that they loved, they would swear that it’s not even close.
So why even bother trying to reproduce old blends? Mainly, I do it because of customer requests. I understand the feeling and can identify. A local take-out restaurant in my area was a regular haunt of mine for many years (over 30), because they made the best and most authentic Buffalo-style chicken wings around Albany, NY. At one time they had two locations, and did great business. One of the shops was in an area that had become really run-down, so they shut it down, but there was still the other store, so I was okay with that. But when the other location shut down without warning, I was disappointed. I tried a number of other places, but there was always something I didn’t like (I especially hate over-sauced, sloppy wings). Last year, someone had picked up some wings and brought them to my house and I tried one. It was perfect. It reminded me so much of my old favorite that I asked where the person had gotten them. He told me that he actually had gotten them five minutes from my home at a new place called Scubbers. That explained why they tasted so much like my old go-to- it was the same place re-opened in a new location, and really close to home.
In my opinion, sometimes it’s best to let these old favorites die, because it’s going to be an effort in futility to make a clone. One excellent example is Bengal Slices. The first problem is that the old blend changed at least once, and there were a couple of different versions, so, which one do you recreate? One of the key ingredients in the version I liked was Xanthia, which is an Oriental varietal that I haven’t been able to procure for around 25 years. I could “ballpark” it with some other varietals, but it certainly wouldn’t be the same. An attempt to do so might wind up making a very good blend, but if I didn’t think that it was all that close, should we even advertise it as a recreation of Bengal Slices? And that sets off another potential firestorm. If we did put it out there as a clone, the furious traffic on the pipe forums would make my head spin.
There are a number of blends that I wish I could match. Certainly, I would like to do something along the lines of the old John Cotton’s and Four Square blends, Bell’s Three Nuns, St. Bruno and Capstan. I’d be thrilled if I could make reasonable facsimiles of Lane’s Crown Achievement, 10 Downing St and BS-005. Unfortunately, I have no samples of any of these tobaccos, and if I were to procure some old tins or jars, the age would have changed the blends significantly versus the way I remember them.
I know that other blenders have done a great job of reverse engineering and deconstructing mixtures of the past by separating the components and analyzing the proportions. That method doesn’t work for me; I have to use my palate. I’ll taste the blend and use my memory of flavors to put my “clone” together. Using my method, I may wind up using tobaccos that weren’t in the original blend, but that’s how I roll, as it were.
Will I continue to try to match older mixtures? Most likely, as long as our customers are searching for their old “holy grail” which has disappeared. There’s one thought, though, that gives me some smug satisfaction- sometime in the (hopefully) far-flung future, some poor SOB will be tearing his hair out to try to reconstruct Larry’s Blend or BlackHouse. Ha, ha, sucker.
About Russ
Edgeworth Sliced, please.
Don’t understand the obsession with out-of-production blends considering how many really good blends are available today. If you can’t find your everyday blends from H&H, C&D, Pease, McClelland, Esoterica, the Gawiths, etc., then it ain’t out there. The exception, of course, is blends with Syrian Latakia. My favorite blend is Samovar, which has Syrian Latakia, and when it runs out…well, I don’t want to think about that. Get to work on that for me, Russ.
I’ll try again on the Edgeworth Sliced, but Burleys don’t press very easily. Keep an eye out around the end of spring.
I wish I could do something with Syrian Latakia but there hasn’t been new production for a couple of years, and the last time I was offered some for purchase I turned it down as it was horrible. When I can get some good leaf, I will certainly buy some.
Russ
Russ, this may be a trade secret you couldn’t/wouldn’t reveal whether you have the answer or not, but how much syrian is really left out there? The two biggest producers with it are MacBaren and McClelland, I guess. How much can they have? Enough to keep producing their full line of blends with it for 2 years, 5 years, 20 years?
There hasn’t been any new production, from what I’ve been told, for a few years. The last time I had the chance to buy some, the sample was so bad that I refused to purchase any. McClelland is still working off a batch they bought about 7 years ago, and the tobacco was very good. I don’t know about MacBaren as they’re in Denmark. I would guess that McClelland has enough for at least a few years, anyway.
Russ
A few years? Yikes. Good thing you guys have such reasonable prices on their tins. Better stock up.
Is it the variety of tobacco or the variety of wood used that makes syrian distinct? Don’t cyprian and syrian use the same type of tobacco? If so, I’m surprised someone hasn’t tried “make” syrian by taking untreated leaf and trying different wood types to simulate syrian oak (or whatever it might be). I’d be hard pressed to think there isn’t a commercially available wood somewhere else in the world that would impart the same flavor on the leaf as the syrian wood.
The problem is both the tobacco and the smoking agents. The leaf used in Syrian Latakia is a strain called Shek-al-Bint, and only grows in the middle eastern region. The primary wood is Syrian Oak, which has been over-harvested. Also, they add a proprietary blend of herbs to the fire, so matching it would be nearly impossible. Finally, if you were to try to grow the tobacco elsewhere, you’d wind up with a different type of leaf.
Russ
Well, I never really tasted Penzance….Why? Because if it is hard to come by in the States, just imagine in Canada! Never smoked Sobranie 759 neither, I was way too young to smoke a pipe when it was still around…
I did smoke Ten to Midnight, and BlackHouse, and without being able to compare it to the original, all I can say is that, on their own, they are great smokes! I mean, they have it all, the taste, the richness, the fullness, the price…..Russ, you make some damn good pipe tobacco!
Russ, I have to say this article inspired me. I went to Scubbers the other night to get some wings. They are as good as i remember too, and the pizza is also fantastic. For anyone out there in the Albany area, or visiting our shop (it is beautiful) and you like wings, check them out.
I’m glad to see that people are enjoying the tobaccos, the articles and the wings. That’s got me thinking about doing a Buffalo chicken wing and bleu cheese blend.
Russ
Larry’s Blend is remarkable and I wasn’t disappointed on my first light and last puff of it. I was a fan of Balkan Sobranie 759 and it was all I’d smoke back in the day.
When I’d be in the Albany area I’d make it a must to stop in to my favorite Pipe shop on Clinton Avenue which was a step back into another era. The proprietor made full bodied Balkan blend named Solzsown which I would buy by the pound & would enjoy talking to the cantarkerous owner and his son Michael as it was measured out. I guess between Unc Sam and Unc Pataki [guvnuh when this place closed down] they were taxed out of business. Oh well hope this thing we find pleasure in doesn’t suffer the same fate and have it done of course in the name of healthy living.
Plan on trying Blackhouse Russ since it sounds like my type of smoke.
Rich,
You’re talking about Mel Feldman’s shop, The Smoker, which was actually on Washington Avenue, down the block from the Alfred E. Smith State Office Building. Mel and I have been friends for over 30 years and the business is much the poorer for his having retired. I will be seeing him at the New York Pipe Show at the Wyndham Airport Hotel in Newark on Saturday the 10th, and I hope to see him regularly around the area. It is a shame what NYS did to him.
I hope you try BlackHouse and enjoy it. Based upon the fact that you liked BS 759, I think you’ll be pleased.
Ruiss
Yes Russ…thanks for reminding me of Mel’s name…for the life of me I couldn’t remember it and also for the correct location. His place was always a favorite stop of mine & it wasn’t uncommon to see a barrister sitting in that big barbers chair smoking. Loved Mel’s Estate pipes….bought my first [& last] Dunhill from him. Thanks Russ for the reply!
Russ. I can count around 10 or 12 people (myself included) who might very well give up their favorite patent No. Dunhill for a few tins of Edgeworth Sliced. OR, something close. I finished off my last cellared tin over a year ago. I still miss it. If you’re successful please let us know!!!