What's Cooking Fall/Winter 2020/2021!

Here in Boston we have a phrase that sums up 2020- "Wicked Suckey". And suck it has! It has been a year of personal and global health issues, Political unrest and other dire nonsense. Our thoughts go out to everyone who has been affected by the COVID19 Situation.

Personally, from August 2019 to March 2020 I suffered from a mis-diagnosed streptococcus infection in my blood which caused a rather nasty case of Endocarditis- an infection and subsequent bacterial growth on my Tricuspid valve.Originally diagnosed as "Lupus" an auto-immune disorder, I suffered 7 months with a cache of various symptoms including Pleurisy, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Neuropathy, Brain Fog (more than normal), Pericarditis, Chills, Fevers, night sweats and a fairly heavy increase of my normal ornery-ness. In March, days from going septic, a young infectious Disease doctor drew a blood culture and found the real issue. 45 days of a strong intravenous antibiotic and It was back to basically normal! Just in time for a global pandemic! 

Anyways, getting back to blending was the first thing I did. Recipe ideas were flowing like crap through a tin horn! We blended, tasted, blended more and tasted more and finally we have a bunch of new offerings produced which are bulk aging in drums right now! Here's a list of what's in store over the next few months. I won't give exact dates for most, as bulk aging blends is rather subjective. Here's where we're at-

Rouxgaroux- October 31st Release

Not a new blend, but our bi-annual release of our celebrated Va/Per. Released twice a year on Halloween and April Fool's day, this rich blend build upon a bed of our Simply Red to which we add, Matured, Stoved and Bright Virginia as well as a large portion of Louisiana Perique. 

Simply Voriental- (November 2020)

We sourced a rare variety of Oriental called Macedonian Prilep for this Virginia-Oriental mixture. It is an extremely aromatic varietal which seems to possess all the earthiness and sweet undertones of good oriental leaf without as much bitterness. A base of Stoved, Bright, Matured and Red Virginia really shows off the Macedonian! We hope to offer this yearly around Thanksgiving if we can continue to source the tobaccos!

Watch City Micro-Batch Project: English Ernie-ental- (January 2021)

Let's ring in 2021 with a hearty English blend of Red Virginia, Stoved Cavendish, Macedonian and our own house tempered Latakia (We have perfected a natural method of aging fresh latakia to remove the harsh "creosote" aroma and harmonize the flavor) This is absolutely delicious and I can't wait to release it! It made me re-realize why I used to like Latakia so much!

Christmas 2020- "Double Barrel" (December, 2020)

I know you've all been waiting for the reveal of this blend! A lot of labor was involved in the making of this blend but I loved every minute of it.  First, we took our Crumb Cut Burley and cured it with Jefferson Reserve Bourbon. We sourced a beautiful grade of mixed Virginia ribbon which we cured in Lemon Hart Demerrara Rum. A precious cache of English Black Cavendish was lightly flavored with a unique "Burnt Sugar" flavoring. The curing process combined with the ligjt flavoring harmonizes and enhances but does not overpower the natural flavor of this Virginia/Burley forward mixture.

I wracked my brains deciding wether or not to produce this blend, due to the irony of not being able to sell it in our home state of Massachusetts (Can't ship/sell flavored tobacco to/within Massachusetts) but in the end I decided not to deprive the majority of my customers due to the idiotic legislation of one state.

There's a lot more in the fetal stages and we hope 2021 will be a better year for everyone!

Ernie Q.