A History of McClelland
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History of McClelland Tobacco Company
by Mary McNiel
THE HISTORY
To tell the true, full history of McClelland, I have to go back 30 years to
1967 when I married a pipe smoker named Carl R. Ehwa, Jr.. In 1969,
he decided his interest in pipes and tobaccos was strong enough that he
wanted to make it his career. He went to work for Fred Diebel, then and
probably now Kansas City’s premier tobacconist.
With that, we embarked upon the study of pipes and the study of tobaccos.
We spent a great deal of time with Carl’s grandparents, Dr. and Mrs. W.C.
McClelland. The blending bar was not yet a fixture in most tobacco shops
then, so the tobaccos we would take home to the McClellands to examine
with a magnifying glass and tweezers were the tinned tobaccos from around
the world that could be found on the Diebel shelves.
Carl called leaf dealers for examples of leaf to work with and we learned
as much as we could about grades and types. Carl developed several blends
for Diebel and Fred was so impressed that he built a small factory with
Carl in charge.
We were building quite a body of knowledge with the research we had done
and Carl decided it might make a really nice book so, in 1971, we took
every spare moment we had for the writing of “The Book of Pipes and
Tobaccos which was published by Random House/Ridge Press in 1974. We
traveled throughout the Southeast going to auctions and touring factories.
We visited pipemakers too, such as Paul Fisher in his New York City
meerschaum studio.
By 1977, Carl wanted to create his own factory and the opportunity
presented itself. So he and I and Carl’s best friend since age 5, Bob
Berish, Jr., established McClelland Tobacco Company in the basement of
Carl’s grandfather’s home. We named the company for Dr. McClelland, a
truly wonderful gentleman, very generous and very kind. He did not live
to see the first sale but he was very much involved in all the
preparations of our debut before his death at age 87.
THE EMBLEM. Many people have asked how a land-locked company in the
heart of America came up with a whale for an emblem. Well, it was Carl’s
idea to use it for the company but it came from a story in my family. My
father came to America in 1915 at the age of 17. He was a poor farm boy
who was on the adventure of his life. No English, $10 in his pocket.
Scared. The trip took a long time. Three months. At one point out in
mid-ocean they saw whales, a pod of whales very near the ship. My father
thought that was the most beautiful thing he’d every seen. Totally
unexpected. Sudden. It changed his whole attitude from one of fear to one
of eager anticipation of the next wondrous and beautiful thing awaiting
him in America.
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And so Carl said, that’s what we need. an emblem that will give us courage
and one that will represent the beauty of what we are trying to do and one
that will also be recognized for its rarity because the leaf we use is the
best and it isn’t that plentiful. And we didn’t think about it then but
I’ve thought since that the whale is endangered and certainly in the
anti-smoking high-tax climate that we live in we feel endangered
all the time.
THE PRODUCTS: We began with the original ten tobaccos, the five Matured
Virginias in the brown-label tins and the five Oriental (or English)
Mixtures in the green-label tins. In the beginning we used a paper
overwrap and a hot wax seal. The paper overwrap was intended to show our
commitment to tradition in our products and also to hide the fact that we
didn’t have a way to open the can without a can opener. We wanted to
stick with American-made cans to be sure of our supply but our options
were somewhat limited. So much in America is geared to the large buyer.
As a small company, we have to work with what’s available. It was the
early 80s before we found a pop-top lid that would work for us.
Then we expanded our line with private-label bulk blends that were
designed to be used by the pipe shops on the blending bars. We began
with Matured Virginias and Oriental Mixtures (those using the Greek and
Turkish tobaccos) and then expanded into aromatics.
RESEARCH. We do a great amount of research at McClelland but of a very
low-tech nature. It’s all based on taste. We test new leaf. We modify
our processes. Tobacco is a crop. It changes all the time and we
have to change with it in order to create blends that remain essentially
the same from year to year. We taste our way along.
Back to the history. Until 1980, it had been just the three partners:
Carl, Bob and I. Then Bob, who made the most wonderful pastries on earth,
decided he wanted to be a baker and had an opportunity with an uncle, so
he left and Mike McNiel came to work with us. He had worked with Carl in
the Diebel factory early on and felt every bit as strongly about making
his career in tobacco as Carl. Things went along smoothly. The company
was growing. Then in 1982, we had a devastating loss.
Carl had taken up weight lifting and he was working out when I heard a
weird thud. I found him collapsed and unconscious. I called the
ambulance and the fire department. Mike and even his parents came over to
help. It was a burst aneurysm at the base of the brain. Carl was 36
years old. He never did come back to us. He survived but he wasn’t the
same person. He wasn’t interested in tobacco anymore or cooking or
photography or gardening. I can’t describe it or explain it even today.
He just slipped into another world filled with imaginary characters. It
was a very difficult time and a real test for everyone at McClelland.
Luckily we had good systems in place as a result of my years at Yellow
Freight system in management development where we were taught that
managers should know each other’s jobs so that in the event that
something happened to someone the business could go on.
There were five of us by then. I think the most important one of the
group was Marv Novy, our sales manager. He’s 80 now and was older than
the rest of us then and provided an anchor and stability and a
shoulder to lean on in those terrible times. Our lawyer, who is the
secretary of our little corporation, was and is a wonderful asset. He
made me seek help so I could deal with the situation. With everybody’s
loyal support and dedication, we survived.
The factory took over the house - the McClelland house. It was easier
financially to move us out than it. Then in 1985 the insurance company
came to learn that it was insuring a factory rather than a residence and
suggested in rather strong terms that we move it.
Since then we have been in a 100-year-old building in midtown Kansas City
in what is known as the art district. We have learned that the second
floor of our building where the offices are located was a speakeasy during
the 1920s. That seems rather appropriate. Here we are engaged in a
business that so many people would like to prohibit and we’re doing it in
a building where they defied prohibition so long ago. When we moved into
this building, it seemed huge. Our little operation didn’t take up much
space at all. But now we’re just bursting at the seams. We expect to
move to a larger facility within the next year, or we may build on.
We’re not sure.
Things went along relatively uneventfully. We kept doing research - new
products - more employees. Then I think it was in 1989 that we met Barry
Levin who had some very definite ideas about pipe tobacco. As those of
you who knew him are aware, Barry was a powerhouse of persuasion. He
would talk to Mike everyday about blends he’d like to see -
reincarnations of old products that are no more. He sent us 20 - 30 - 40
year old tins that he purchased along with his estate pipes and he would
say to Mike, “Match that if you can!” Well, it was a wonderful challenge
and a lot of fun.
That’s the thing about a company the size of McClelland. We have at most,
in our busiest months, no more than 10 people. It’s a nice little
family. We have fun developing new formulas. We all have our own
pipes and we gather for tastings. When it’s raw leaf we’re tasting-which
we have to do sometimes - that’s a sacrificial ceremony dubbed “the
sacrifice of the tongue”. We really enjoy working with tobacco and
making it release its flavors.
We developed a number of blends as a result of Barry Levin’s requests. It
was the beginning of the creation of a whole range of special blends that
we tin exclusively for sale under other labels. With Barry we developed a
number of products that we like very much. We were so proud of them that
we let him sell them under our Personal Reserve label. We had used that
label since the beginning but in a very small way - special products for
individuals, good friends. Nothing major. Nothing really commercial.
When Barry died, Kathy tried but then realized she didn’t want to deal
with the business anymore so she asked us to take them back and keep
selling them and maybe keep Barry’s memory alive in that way. The
Personal Reserve blends and the Craftsbury blends are those we did under
the prodding of Barry Levin.
The next development was the cigar blends..Dominican Glory and Dominican
Glory Maduro. That was in the early 1990s. The cigar craze piqued our
curiosity. That was leaf we hadn’t even thought about using, so we began
working with it. It’s very difficult. It has entirely different moisture
holding characteristics from the other leaf we use. It was really a
challenge to create blends that would work in the pipe.
Then in 1992, in honor of our 15th anniversary, we developed Christmas
Cheer. We intended it as a one- time deal but it was so popular that we
realized it could be a continuing project. We skipped 1993 because
we were not prepared. We had not found the special leaf and set it aside
in time. But we’ve had a special Christmas Cheer every year since.
In 1993 Mike McNiel and I were married. A great deal of the time in our
lives is taken up with making tobaccos but we enjoy it. I think what
we’ve found in our own little way is a means to recreate that sensation
my father had at sea back in 1915 when he derived such strength from
seeing those whales. In this high-tech, rush-rush steamroller age, our
work with tobacco enables us to capture the wonder of the natural world
and make it our own.
THE CIGARS. The latest development at McClelland was the creation of our
Ballena Suprema cigars, which are made for us in Honduras and Mexico.
This project came about as the result of our investigations in cigar leaf
for the Dominican Glory blends. We worked for two years to come up with
the blends which are mild, due to the Connecticut shade wrapper, and yet
full flavored. The Hondurans, in the Danif Collection with the red
bands, are milder because of the Dominican leaf in the filler, which has a
nutty character, somewhat Burley-like. The Mexican cigars, in the San
Andres Collection with the teal bands, are fuller flavored because of the
San Andres leaf, which has a wonderful flavor curve similar in some
respects to a Matured Virginia.
FUTURE PROJECTS. We are always experimenting and we have several projects
in the works but nothing is far enough along to discuss. In whatever we
do, it is our intention to maintain our standard of excellence. The one
constant in our growing operation is quality. It was our desire to produce
tobaccos of the highest quality that brought us into this business in the
first place 20 years ago, and we believe it has been our steadfast
adherence to strict standards that has enabled us to prosper thus far.
I plead guilty to the same offense with regard to the PDF library here..........
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McClelland also offers this:
Once upon a time, they carried more than 75 blends..
IN STOCK:
McClelland Avenue Blend TG 2008
McClelland M34 Carnival
McClelland No. 815 Strawberry Daiquiri
McClelland X90 Burley
https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/11451806-mcclelland-tobacco-frog-morton-cellar-pipe-smoking
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🤨…..🙂