Re: Black sheep from Holts?
 

What I meant by Mock was to "Make" ( as you said ) it seem like its a darker maduro wrapper. It just seems crazy to me that they would dye the leaves. As you said, I wouldn't see it practiced much anymore.

Re: Black sheep from Holts?
 

That's not quite what I said - I think you might be misunderstanding two entirely different situations that I was referring to, because I didn't spell everything out.

Let me explain in a bit more detail:

Color enhanced wrappers, which are naturally fermented, are one thing. I don't really know how many manufacturers engage in this practice with their cigars. To me, this isn't such a big deal, and while I'd just as soon do without it, I don't look at it as really any different than treating a wrapper with a bethune, which is a lot more common than you might think with NC cigars. Basically, naturally fermented wrappers can be splotchy, uneven, dissimilar from wrapper to wrapper - what they are doing here is making all the wrappers fairly uniform in appearance with a normally light dye coat. Aesthetics sell. Not a big deal to me, just so long as I don't end up looking like I stole Marlin Manson's lipstick (not all dye rubs/bleeds off - done right or light, it shouldn't, heavy coats are another issue...). *shrug*

Now, the maduro-matic and dying process I mentioned, this is cheating. Instead of fermenting wrappers for weeks or months, the leaves are cooked in a steam/pressure oven to darken them. What should take weeks, takes hours. They then heavily color dye the wrapper to hide the telltale sheen from the process. Think of this as going to a fancy restaurant and ordering a $25 dinner, only to have the cook open the freezer, pull out a pre-made meal, microwave it, and then transfer it from a cardboard tray to a plate and then sprinkling chopped parsley, paprika and a bit of extra cheese/gravy/sauce/whatever to try and hide the fact that it was a "TV dinner".

I can see a reputable manufacturer using dye as a bethune or as an ingredient in one, but I have a hard time believing that any reputable manufacturer would engage in maduro-matic processes.

Hope that clears things up a bit.

Re: Black sheep from Holts?
 

crap - realized that some things came across completely different than what I had meant (like the part about how many manufacturers engage in a practice with natural wrappers, I didn't mean the use of natural wrappers, but rather the dying of naturally fermented wrappers...) anyway - tried to substitute the following edit, but ran out of time - please subsitute the following for the above quoted paragraph.

--begin

Color enhanced wrappers, which are naturally fermented, are one thing. I don't really know how many manufacturers engage in the practice of touching up naturally fermented wrappers, but I do know the practice exists. To me, this isn't such a big deal, and while I'd just as soon do without it, I don't look at it as really any different than treating a wrapper with a bethune, which, while maybe not commonplace, does occur more than one might suspect/think with NC cigars. Basically, naturally fermented wrappers can be splotchy, uneven, dissimilar from wrapper to wrapper - what they are doing here is making all the wrappers fairly uniform in appearance with a normally light dye coat. Aesthetics sell. Not a big deal to me, just so long as I don't end up looking like I stole Marlin Manson's lipstick (not all dye rubs/bleeds off - done right or light, it shouldn't, heavy coats are another issue...). *shrug*

---end

Re: Black sheep from Holts?
 

We've gathered that you don't have any to send yourself...


haha

Re: Black sheep from Holts?
 

/\ I would be willing to send some when I have some to send. Like I said I have a buddy that is over there and has been for around 2 years or so. He is a marine, but does some type of special missions. He is at a SEARS (sp?) school now and has been fore the past 2 weeks.


Yeah I got it now.:tu

Re: Black sheep from Holts?
 

Re: Black sheep from Holts?
 

SERE is an acronym for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape. Training that Marine Aircrew bubbas go to.

Re: Black sheep from Holts?
 

Fookin' awesome.

Re: Black sheep from Holts?
 

Thanks for that SERE acronym breakdown. I heard he is now in a decomission or something like that. Its like a rest period after the SERE school.

Thats Coastietech

Re: Black sheep from Holts?
 

Enhancing, dying call it what ever you want. All I know is that your lips shouldn't turn black after smoking a cigar. That's exactly what happened to me the last time I smoked a cigar from Victor Sinclair. I had black stuff on my lips where the cigar was. I didn't realize it until I looked in the mirror and saw it on my mouth. I interacted with several people at that point, they must have wondered what the heck it was.

From my understanding they do it because it's cheaper than properly aging the leaves.

Re: Black sheep from Holts?
 

i wouldn't smoke that cigar if it were laced with 100 dollar bills!

Re: Black sheep from Holts?
 

You would if someone put a Gurkha band on it. :D

Re: Black sheep from Holts?
 

I promised never to lie... Pnoon is right! but it would be deception, and I would see right through it!!!!

http://word.oftheday.com.au/userimag...1146537790.jpg