Black sheep from Holts?

[T.G]

Originally Posted by MrOneEyedBoh

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.

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.