Description
TL/DR- A wonderfully Natural Burley flake produced in Europe to our formula. Minimal casings bring out the natural Chocolatey, Earthy flavors in this long cut flake of African and Brazilian. Burley and No B.S. Just like us Massholes!
The whole story- Several years ago I was reminiscing with one of our tobacco importers about how Wessex Burley Flake at one time came in a bulk format. 5 Pound bricks of long flakes. He suggested that maybe it would be possible for one of the European companies he does business with to create a bulk Burley Flake for us. He asked me to send him a description of exactly what I wanted. Sent a couple recipes and examples of what I would be looking for and.....never breached the subject with him again. I had moved on to other things. He never mentioned the project again and I assumed that it was a no-go.
Flash back to about 4 months ago and I get a call. "Ernie, was it you who I spoke to a while back about a Burley Flake? Because I've been sitting on a shipment for about a year and I finally got around to remembering who it think it was for."
No test batches. No correspondence. Just a shipment 3 years later. So we bought the shipment (Around 400lbs in 10KG bricks) When it came in I was surprised at how close it was to my idea. long flakes of nearly pure burley (I had asked for African/Brazilian Burleys with a minimal amount of a cocoa based casing and no top note and that is what these flakes taste and smell like).
I asked this importer if it was possible to get another batch made and the response was "Maybe eventually". So we're calling this a limited blend for now. There's a good amount of it and it ain't cheap so we hope we can make it last into the next year or two.
I can't tell you who the importer/factory is, so in traditional Boston Nice fashion I'll say to you "Go pound sand!" if you ask. As Chris Farley's Character Tommy Boy said " “I can get a good look at a T-Bone by sticking my head up a bull’s ass, but I’d rather take the butcher’s word for it”. This is good stuff.
