C&D Small Batch Red Virginia is back!

I got 3

My usual 3. 1 for now, 2 for future.

It's been another spendy week on TAD.

In for 10 as well. 

On another forum Jeremy Reeves made an account and went to great lengths talking about the mold issue, along with C&D's processing and other stuff.

You're welcome. There's a good bit of info there. He doesn't come in til the later pages, but he came in, answered questions, gave info, etc.

C&D have a couple of my favorites, they also make a crap ton of blends. With that much going on, something is bound to happen at some point.

Here's another, but a lot less involved

Thanks for the links Josh, lots of good information there. I got to chat with Jeremy at the Richmond show for a few minutes and he seems like a decent guy.

So I finally got to read through all that Jeremy had to say and he really took the time to explain things. I learned much more about blending and still know that I know truly nothing of blending. I gotta give it to him and can only imagine he had to take the time to throw back a few drinks or even smoke a little something to help keep the nerves cool. I'm sure this is why he and many others in certain fields avoid forums and all. The to so-called "experts" have so many things to say on something they truly know very little about let alone even work in. It's like listing to others comment about what a sports team should or shouldn't do during the game or how stupid certain choices are. I just wanna tell them to quite their current job and go work for that professional team if know so much. Hell, most would make much more money then they do now, get better health benefits and vacation.

But I digress, Jeremy did a great job in trying to explain as much as he could as best he could in text form in something that truly is a hands-on kind of education.

Thanks again roadsdiverged for the links!

I bought five just so I could keep the yearly cellaring plan in place....every year I buy some of this.

Buying less than what qualifies for free shipping, and the taxes now involved, it came to $12.78 per tin instead of the $10.00 advertised...I can see a point soon at least in Arizona that if a tobacconist has it on hand, the price differences would be nominal.

Interesting enough a while back, C&D was being bashed for the mold incident on another forum. After a few days, the mold went from one time to everything had mold. Fortunately, Jeremy took the time to address the forum members questions and false information . He seems to have a handle on it.

I agree, exactly for the reasons stated.

From what I have gathered, cellaring for years to reap the benefits of aged tobacco, is more of a recent practice, do so at your own risk. I talked to Greg Pease and he told me that based on what he knows about the process, he is surprised that mold doesn't happen more often...and he knows more than I do about it, so I will take him at his word.

We enjoy the benefit of aged tobacco and grumble when things go south, but it can be a gamble...I read in the thread where C&D replaced some aged tobacco with fresh when a moldy container was returned...and I got the impression that the poster complained that he had to settle for fresh over his aged....maybe he should have kept his aged tobacco ....And to replace it by C&D is to take that person's word that they didn't store it in a barn in bayou country during 7 sweltered summers.

C&D did take a marketing gamble with the "cellar series"..."Best when aged 15 years"...I don't think anyone knows what that will be like at that time...I have some, but it won't sit for that long.

McClelland's seems to have never had an issue with moldy tobacco, (correct me if I am wrong) In interviews, Mike McNeil made a point that he used "food grade containers" and when he spoke of some perfectly preserved really old tobacco's tinned by tobacconists of the past, they did the same...It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison of the inside of a McC tin and a C&D to see if the inside treatment differs.

Steve from our pipe club stored tins of Cope's Escudo for many moons under great conditions...not until he noticed pinholes rusting from the inside out did he realize that the tins had been compromised and the contents degraded.

Even under Ideal conditions, aged tobacco reaches a point of diminishing returns...with all the varietals involved, the robustness of the container, or lack thereof it can be a guessing game.