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No.430 June 7 - 20, 2018

The woes and wows of Briar Pipe manufacturing.

I have never been involved in manufacturing of any product, but it does interest me.
Putting together artificial components for a constant end product is, to my mind, an easy process where volume may be the deciding factor in the profitability.
But working from a base product, which has been subject to the vagaries of climate and other natural growing deficiencies, is another thing altogether, especially in Briar Pipe manufacturing.

The contents of a typical bag of 1000 Ebauchons (briar blocks) will invariably be spread over a range of qualities and basic shapes for the manufacturers to work with, including some that will only be best used in the furnace. All at the same unit cost.

This is where the woes and the wows come in.

The wows will be for the number of possible high quality pipes in the mix, usually not more than 5%.
The woes will be in the handling of all the rest to make the most of them, and possibly in the large number of unfinished bowls that accumulate in the stock room.

This is why only those manufacturers able to market a range of pipes at different price points, in different finishes, can survive over a period of time.
Certain costly basic processes cannot be omitted or even trimmed without prejudicing all the final products.
In another article we have written about the ingenuity and artistry that manufacturers have shown in tackling these problems to keep the factories going. We spoke about Savinelli – and in our recent visit we found further examples of their skill, …. more later.

Stanwell has also been one of the more innovative brands. They have identified their top-selling 12 shapes which they try to have always available in the most popular prices brackets.
They send regular lists of available stock.
But even they can be put to the test of being able to fulfil all orders all the time.
Fortunately our orders are not for any large number of any particular pipe shape in any of these ranges.
Even if the shape we want is not included in the availability stocklist, we order, and sometimes receive a few pipes of the particular shape and finish.
But not the Royal Danish.
Nor the De Luxe range – it isn’t available in polished or sandblast at present, just a few sandblast left.
In the absence of any De Luxe polished pipes we were able to find two “top 12” shapes in the lower priced special Danske Club range, shapes 246 and 88. Danske Club were originally named for an A C Petersen tobacco promotion. To avoid confusion of brands, the pipes are not stamped Stanwell.
These Danske Club pipes appear to have a little less hard wood, but we’ve imported them in the past and there is no shortfall in quality.

We’ve very recently received another shipment of Stanwell which includes some of the Hans Christian Andersen
and Army Mount pipes we were short of, and the Danske Club pipes in 2 shapes.

We invite you to take advantage of our less 25% discount on all Stanwell pipes to introduce you to this brand, or to add another one to your collection.

From 14 – 27 June, 2018 25% off the normal price of Stanwell pipes. Normal prices from  R1465.00

Father’s Day June 17!! Maybe you’d like to look at some of our gift ideas – Manicure sets, cufflinks, shaving sets, Mug in a tin, card cases, hip flasks and more.

Until 27 June buy online with 50% subsidised shipping, within South Africa. (The shipping will be adjusted when the order is processed)

Colin Wesley

No.430 June 7 - 20, 2018

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No.431 June 21 – July 4, 2018

More Cigar Tips & News

Some “Tips”:

1. A cold taste!
Not something everyone tries but worth considering – just for the fun of it.
After clipping the end of the cigar suck air through it, onto your palate. The effect can give you an idea of what to expect from the cigar when lit up.
A sharp, strong kick - smoke carefully this is going to be a “big” smoke with lots of flavour.
A flat, cool, neutral taste – this will be a nice mild smoke relax and enjoy it.
An unpleasant cold taste – think twice about lighting this one up. The tobacco may be raw or under prepared in fermentation or ageing.

2.  “Finish”
This term refers to the taste on the palate after each puff, not at the end of the complete smoke.
A mild cigar will leave very little taste.
With a rich, full-bodied cigar the taste may linger and be recharged with the each following puff.

3. A “hot” smoke
– either you are puffing too often, and, or, too hard, or the cigar has been under filled and poorly rolled, resulting in a loose draw – slow down or put the cigar down.

Did you know?
Cuban tobacco growers may only plant seeds approved by the Government Tobacco Institute.
These seeds are disease resistant with high yield potential. These characteristics serve to preserve the unique flavours and aromatic properties of Cuban cigars.

Pairing cigars with wine is often said to be impossible because of the acidity of the wine.
This is obviously not the opinion of Habanos, as it happens on an annual basis during the February Festival. This year the chosen wines were from Chile. The cigar was a Romeo y Julieta Churchill.

News:

May 2018 was not a good “Merry Month of May” for Cuba. Unusually wet and very humid, flooding wreaked havoc in the hanging barns causing a great deal of tobacco to go mouldy. This was the case especially in those barns without concrete floors.
This could cause some shortages in the future.

In the month of May 2018 tributes were paid to three people in the world of cigars.

• Mr Richard Overton – aged 112, the oldest man in the USA puffs on 8 to 9 small Tampa Sweets a day.
• Winston Churchill – who at 65 on May 10, 1940, was called upon by King George VI to become Prime Minister of Great Britain and lead the defence against Hitler.
• Cano Ozegener died at 81. He was the founder of the C.A.O brands and lived by the motto of “if you can dream it you can do it”. Tim, his son, continued this philosophy. I remember Tim’s response to a suggested radical new blend for a cigar. Would it be good or not?
  “you just got to throw it out there” and “if-it-sticks-to-the-wall-it’s-good”
  I think for the retailer this translates into to “Try it. We will put it on the shop shelves - if it sells, with repeats, it’s good. If not it isn’t.”
  Never shy to experiment C.A.O made an array of great cigars.

Further news.

Our new “Wrapper Selection” consists of 3 Dominican Robusto cigars from La Aurora, R430.00
Their Black Lion has 4 varieties. We have chosen the three with the same filler and binder, each with a different wrapper: Connecticut, Cameroon or Corojo.
Choose the one you like best and buy some more singles for your humidor.

The French Puro “Hedon” has arrived. The “Eclatant” is a Petit Robusto (105mm x Ring 50)
Filler, binder and wrapper all from Beam in the South West of France,
originally part of the Kingdom of Navarre. Hedon cigars first started in 1999
with Cuban seeds planted in the area and tended to by Cuban farm workers.
This first attempt failed but the second attempt has been successful.
The new Hedon brand was launched in 2016 with the intent of being a small-scale, high quality cigar with the unique French taste, aroma and flair.
At R3950.00 for a beautiful box of 10 or R400.00 for a single cigar it is well worth a try.
“Rare, exceptional, utterly French”.

You may like to invest in a case to carry your robusto cigars.
How about one with a pocket for a cutter or cigar scissors?
And how about one with cigar scissors included?

 

From 28 June to 11 July, 2018 25% off the normal price of Cigar case for 3 Robusto size cigars, with front cutter pocket. 73-Ex142 Special price R567.44 73-Ex142c Scissors included; Special price R752.80

The cigar world is full of surprises – be it floods in Cuba, a new cigar province in France, the opportunity to compare different wrappers, or our special offers.
What next?
Visit my blog in 4 weeks to find out.

Colin Wesley

No.431 June 21 – July 4, 2018

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No.432 July 5-18, 2018

A Good Surprise                                                                                                 

Life is full of surprises, so they say.

Well, while I don’t fancy any surprises for breakfast, I’m not averse to receiving a good surprise every now and then.
We have been short of the small 10 minute pipes from Lorenzo for so long that I had forgotten that we even had an order outstanding. Then it arrived, unannounced by either fax or email.
Two fairly large boxes, covered with Lorenzo stickers, delivered by courier.

That was surprise number one.
Surprise number two was that it was our complete order of Bamby, Club, Dinky and Mini pipes all in smooth Walnut finish (Brown, Burgundy), and autumn-gold Two Tone finish, and all well-priced between R295.00 and R330.00.

Bamby

Club

Dinky

Mini

These little gems are essential in today’s busy lifestyles, coupled with where and when a short smoke can be enjoyed.

As we have said in previous articles smoking a half full pipe, whether it is the top half or the bottom half is not a satisfactory option. Pipe bowls are made to give of their best when used to their full capacity, not compromised in any other way.
While it is not impossible to half-fill and smoke a normal size pipe, a few grams of tobacco in the bottom of a large bowl will not be easy to light, and the relatively wide surface area will probably encourage it to burn so fast that it will be burnt out before you have had time to enjoy it.
A good 10 minute pipe will be tailor-made so that the ratio between the diameter and depth of the bowl will be such that your tobacco will burn comfortably down to the last few grains.

Naturally, the size of the shank does not allow room for a filter option (even 6mm), but a few crumbs of Keystone pellets will absorb any juices at the bottom of the bowl.

Not only do these small pipes smoke well, they are also small enough to slip into a pocket, briefcase or backpack, either filled ready to smoke, or not.
If filled - it might be a good idea to pop the pipe into a zipseal packet to catch any dislodged tobacco.
Whether filled or not filled, it would be prudent to remove the mouthpiece and put both parts separately into a zipseal packet, or cloth sleeve, to prevent possible snapping of the peg or cracking the shank.

For two weeks only we offer these very useful little pipes at less 25%.
We will even include a free zipseal packet.

From 12 – 25 July, 2018 25% off the normal price of Lorenzo 10 minute pipes Normal prices from R295.00 to R330.00

If you don’t yet have a “short smoke pipe” in your collection, take advantage and buy one now.
If you do, you’ll know how useful they can be.

Colin Wesley

No.432 July 5-18, 2018

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No.433 July 19 – August 1, 2018

Cuban Cigars – Did you know?

Plantations:
Each tobacco plantation is registered with the Cuban Tobacco Institute, with details of the soil composition, annual yield, and from which seeds – monitored annually.

Seeds:
Cigar tobacco growers can only use seeds allocated to them by the Government Tobacco Institute.
Leaves from these seeds will have been approved by the official tasting panel to ensure that they will produce cigars which preserve the taste and aromas unique to Cuba.
They are also high yielding and disease resistant.

Wrapper leaf colour:
The sorting of the wrapper leaves into their respective colour shades is done by women, who are perceived to do this more accurately than men.

The Torcedor
Each Cuban Torcedor (highly skilled and specifically trained cigar roller) completes the whole cigar on his own. This is contrary to most other countries where the bunching and the rolling are separated.

Machines:
The Cubans do not use bunching machines.
One area where the Cubans have accepted machinery in the process of cigars making is the use of “draw testing” machines.
This has been proven to reduce the plugging problems experienced in the 1990’s boom.

The Binder:
Besides being sturdy enough to hold the filler leaves in place, the binder is crucial to the combustion rate of the cigar, allowing for a smooth draw, especially if the filler includes flavourful, oily leaves that are not easy burning.
Quite often the binder is made with two leaves rather than one large leaf, assisting in better combustion and allowing for greater complexity in the blend.

Pairing cigars and wine:
Habanos does not accept the theory that cigars and wines cannot be paired because of the acidity of the wine. A pairing is done each year at the festival.
Festival 2018 paired Chilean wines with a Romeo y Julieta Wide Churchill

The future:
Tobacco growers are looking into the past for bottles of old seeds with flavours that can be revived and used today. We will follow up on this.

Your cigars
Humidification should no longer be a major headache - Nano bead technology has solved many problems, including keeping your cigars in good condition.

You don’t have a bead humidifier yet?
Well here’s your chance to upgrade your system.

From 26 July to 8 August, 2018 25% off the normal price of  brand Humidifiers Normal prices from R186.62

There is more to the Cuban cigar industry than meets the eye.
A cigar is not just a cigar!

Colin Wesley

No.433 July 19 – August 1, 2018

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No.434 August 2-15, 2018

The return of the Lorenzo 9mm pipes

Lorenzo pipes are famous for both their unique shapes and good value;
plus, of course, for their excellent smoking qualities.

However, even with all the best intentions in the world every business can be hit, or plagued, by something beyond their control.
In 2016 we visited the Lorenzo stock room in Italy as usual.
We selected our normal ranges of pipes, and in the 9mm filter pipes there were two selections better priced than the others. One we knew, better priced because the bowls were smaller, but the other for no apparent reason.
We bought - with the idea of using them for one of our pipe “specials”, making them even more attractive to our loyal Lorenzo customers, and as a good “first” pipe for the novice.

Our “special” was well received but within a few weeks we had reports of broken or cracked mouthpieces from the buyers of the larger 9mm model.
In terms of our normal business practice, and because the pegs were all standard 9mm Teflon, we replaced the mouthpieces with the intention of asking Lorenzo to send us replacements.
In 2017 we bought more of the smaller bowled 9mm pipes, and different ranges in the larger sized bowls, thus avoiding the troublesome range, we thought.
Alas our thoughts were wrong and we soon had trouble with more of the new 9mm pipes.
Unable to identify exactly which pipes might give trouble we withdrew them all from sale, while we had discussions with Lorenzo as how to resolve the situation.

After much patience from us, and delving and experimenting from Lorenzo, we think the problem has been resolved.

Early this year we were sent 2 sets of 3 pipes with different mouthpieces for testing purposes.
After 16 weeks of regular smoking there has not been one problem with the mouthpieces on all 6 pipes.
As hoped for the “Guinea Pigs” have been enjoying the true pleasure of a Lorenzo pipe.
They will keep the pipes as a thank you for their cooperation.
It appeared that the problem had been resolved.

We visited Lorenzo in May, and agreed that the best solution would be for them to replace all the mouthpieces on our stock of pipes. We knew the standard 9mm tenons would be a perfect fit, and were aware that the outside join between shank and mouthpiece might not be a perfect match.
In the pipe making process, after the mouthpiece is fitted to the shank, a final polishing ensures that the outside of the join is perfectly flush.

We have now received our first batch of replacement mouthpieces and, as expected, the 9mm Teflon peg fitment is perfect in each case.
However, on some pipes the line where mouthpiece joins the shank is not perfectly flush – just a small fraction out. Not noticeable to the eye, but you can feel it when you run your finger along the line.
Until they have sold out, these pipes will be on sale at a discounted price of 15% off the normal price.

Even better:
From next week we will be offering the refitted pipes at 25% off the normal price.

From 9 – 22 August, 2018 25% off the normal price of Lorenzo Filtro, Pavia and Titano Normal prices from R420.00

Remember that there isn’t, nor has been, any problem with the bowls of these pipes.
This is a great opportunity to pick up a Lorenzo pipe with its excellent smoking qualities.

Colin Wesley

PS In the parcel with the mouthpieces were some Churchwardens – our stocks were running low.
We have now added 3 lovely bents to the Lectura range in:

Glowing Black Sandblast or Rich Satin Brown finish

Light brown Spot Carved

 

Also a new range
of longer 10 minute pipes – the “Lady”

 

No.434 August 2-15, 2018

You can read previous articles from "Across the Counter" in The Library.