|
|
Post by pappyjoe on Jan 12, 2018 10:10:03 GMT -5
Attended the New Orleans Pipe Club meeting at Mayan Imports (Metairie location) last night. The shop moved into a new location in December and the staff has been busy opening boxes and stocking the shelves. I was browsing the tobacco when a tin with a light sepia colored label caught my eye. It was a tin of C&D Captain Earle's Mystic Blend with a date stamp of 02/25/15 on the bottom.
This shop used to be a Tinderbox located in the big mall just a block or two from the current location. The Tinderbox decided to close down when the mall decided to raise the rent and wanted a higher percentage of the sales. Mayan bought them and moved the shop into a strip mall location where they were told smoking was allowed. a year later they were told smoking is not allowed, so they bought their own building and built a shop with two smoking lounges. My guess is this tin of tobacco and some others got lost in the shuffle until now.
For a medium English blend, Mystic Blend is very smooth. When I opened the tin it almost smelled like an aromatic because of the sweet tin note. My guess is the almost 3 years of aging has made it even better than it was when new.
|
|
|
|
Post by Darin on Jan 12, 2018 10:26:24 GMT -5
Definitely flying under the radar as far as oft-discussed blends. While I haven't had the Mystic blend, Private Stock and 10 Russians both have a good placement in my cellar. Congrats on that pick up!  |
|
|
|
Post by daveinlax on Jan 12, 2018 12:01:06 GMT -5
Definitely flying under the radar as far as oft-discussed blends. Sadly the Hermit and Capt. Earl's brands have slipped since the owner, creator/blender, ambassador and my close late friend J Jones passed away to soon. Most of the blends were originally developed on his beloved Hermit farm using antique presses with aged tobacco from estate collections J, Louise and their backer bought from all over the country. J and Louise were regulars at pretty much every show across the country and he was a popular buyer because he would buy it all at a very fair price and not just cherry pick. He was a real character, a collectors collector with an awesome Dunhill collection that he was not shy in displaying. The lobby lost a lot with his passing and I miss him.  |
|
|
|
Post by Darin on Jan 12, 2018 12:05:15 GMT -5
Thanks for the additional info ... good stuff! |
|
|
|
Post by pappyjoe on Jan 12, 2018 12:07:00 GMT -5
Definitely flying under the radar as far as oft-discussed blends. Sadly the Hermit and Capt. Earl's brands have slipped since the owner, creator/blender, ambassador and my close late friend J Jones passed away to soon. Most of the blends were originally developed on his beloved Hermit farm using antique presses with aged tobacco from estate collections J, Louise and their backer bought from all over the country. J and Louise were regulars at pretty much every show across the country and he was a popular buyer because he would buy it all at a very fair price and not just cherry pick. He was a real character, a collectors collector with an awesome Dunhill collection that he was not shy in displaying. The lobby lost a lot with his passing and I miss him. When did he pass away? |
|
|
|
Post by daveinlax on Jan 12, 2018 12:26:51 GMT -5
I'm away from home and I don't remember exactly but it's been a few years now. Mike Reschke's widow Nancy Had a bunch of photo albums of pipe show pictures for us to take from and I got a bunch of J and Louise and sent them to her and got a nice note in return. Louise is well and she's splitting her time between the Hermit Farm and their native Brooklyn. Their web site is still on line but hasn't been updated in years (it's hosted on Big Jack's(RIP)Pipe Ring server that we talked about on another thread)but has some good stuff. www.pipestyle.com/ |
|
|
|
Post by Darin on Jan 12, 2018 13:16:31 GMT -5
Sadly the Hermit and Capt. Earl's brands have slipped since the owner, creator/blender, ambassador and my close late friend J Jones passed away to soon. Most of the blends were originally developed on his beloved Hermit farm using antique presses with aged tobacco from estate collections J, Louise and their backer bought from all over the country. J and Louise were regulars at pretty much every show across the country and he was a popular buyer because he would buy it all at a very fair price and not just cherry pick. He was a real character, a collectors collector with an awesome Dunhill collection that he was not shy in displaying. The lobby lost a lot with his passing and I miss him. When did he pass away? It was in 2011 |
|
|
|
Post by lestrout on Jan 12, 2018 16:05:05 GMT -5
Yo pap - I'm a big fan of pretty much all the Hermits. I first ran into Jay and Louise at the New York pipe shows and was entranced by the many Latakias they produced. I spent many a cold hour out in the Ramada Courtyard deciding on what to buy (eventually all of them). I have about a dozen Hermit blends residing in the Top300 Cellar. I've lately ranked Mystic at the top of my Hermits because the Orientals in it provides a lot of complexity over the usual Latbombs. I puffed a few bowls with Jay and enjoyed his tales of his many adventures in our hobby. I was dismayed that the ever charming Louise hasn't come to the last few shows.
hp
les
|
|
|
|
Post by dervis on Jan 12, 2018 16:13:00 GMT -5
Thanks for the posts on this, Both the introduction of the blend and the personal history with the creator. Was a fun little read. Haven't smoked any of their blends yet but this one does sound good to me. I have a tin of ten Russians unopened. Might have to change that over the weekend.
Thanks again !
|
|
