Player’s Navy Cut Flake, “The best there is.”

dutch pipe smoker roald dahl

Roald Dahl

The genius of Roald Dahl
As a child, I had several pipe-smoking influences, such as my grandfather, an uncle and the father of a friend. Only recently, I discovered there was another source of inspiration; the great and late writer Roald Dahl. While the generation after me grew up with J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter saga, me and my young contemporaries were enchanted by timeless stories such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches and Matilda. And, if you think my English is pretty readable, you can thank Roald Dahl. At primary school, we learned the language with excerpts of his tales. Later I discovered his adult novels, amongst them one of my all-time favourite books: My Uncle Oswald.

Goat’s tobacco
Being a youngster I devoured every Roald Dahl book I could lay my hands on in the local library. Like his autobiographical Boy: Tales of Childhood. Recently, being in a nostalgic mood, I re-read it. One of the stories there is called “Goat’s tobacco” and describes how a young Dahl on holiday in Norway with his family secretly puts some dried goat’s droppings in the pipe of his half-sister’s lover who then smokes it and almost chokes (if he would have used a Lakeland tobacco it surely would have had the same effect). But before the lover smokes the droppings he boasts about his tobacco. I quote from the book, of course all copyright things go to the Dahl family:

dutch_pipe_smoker_players navy cut flake quentin blake

© Quentin Blake

We could hardly bear the suspense. The sister who was seven couldn’t bear it at all. ‘What sort of tobacco do you put in that thing? (the pipe)’ she asked with superb innocence. ‘Navy Cut,’ the male lover answered. ‘Player’s Navy Cut. It’s the best there is. These Norwegians use all sorts of disgusting scented tobaccos, but I wouldn’t touch them.’ ‘I didn’t know they had different tastes,’ the small sister went on. ‘Of course they do,’ the manly lover said. ‘All tobaccos are different to the discriminating pipe-smoker. Navy Cut is clean and unadulterated. It’s a man’s smoke.’ The man seemed to go out of his way to use long words like discriminating and unadulterated. We hadn’t the foggiest what they meant.

dutch_pipe_smoker_players_navy_cut_flakeScoring a pouch of Player’s Navy Cut Flake
My head jolted up after I read this while thinking: “Damn, I have a pouch of Player’s Navy Cut Flake in my tobacco closet!” In 2015 a good friend of mine, a true gentleman, went on holiday to England. But before that he asked if he could buy some tobacco there for me. The range of available pipe tobaccos is different in England. They have blends we (European mainland) don’t have. So I browsed through the website of a British tobacconist until suddenly my eye fell on Player’s Navy Cut Flake. Perhaps it had rung a bell in the back of my head (it was before I re-read Boy) but that was the blend I wanted and got. Sadly, when I began my research for this blogpost I discovered Player’s Navy Cut Flake had been discontinued since the end of 2015. So yes, I am very sorry, but this is another write-up about a blend that does not exist any more..

john player original factory broadmarsh

Broadmarsh factory

Early beginnings of John Player & Sons
First some history about the manufacturer, John Player & Sons. The man himself, John Player was born in Saffron Walden in Essex in 1839. In 1862 he came to Nottingham and some years later began a shop on Beastmarket Hill where he sold agricultural manures and seeds. As an extra income he also sold pre-wrapped tobacco. That went so well that it soon became his main business. So in 1877 he bought the tobacco factory from William Wright in the Broad Marsh, began manufacturing tobaccos and cigarettes and opened 2 more shops. Business quickly expanded and in 1881 he bought land in the Radford area of Nottingham where in 1884 the Castle Tobacco factory arose. Sadly Player died in the same year of liver cancer. In the 1890’s his 2 sons, William Goodacre Player and John Dane Player, took over the business.

john player shipping department

Shipping department

The Americans attack
In 1901 a powerful attack by American tobacco manufacturers on the British market led to the formation of the Imperial Tobacco Group in which 13 British tobacco manufacturers joined forces. Although they continued business under their own names and competed with each other. Since John Player & Sons was one of the founding companies they served on Imperial’s first board of directors. The first few decades of the 20th century were good for the company as sales began increasing rapidly. Mainly because of the success of the company’s mass produced, machine-made cigarettes.

Players_navy_cut_logoThe Player’s Navy Cut brand
Already in 1883 the Player’s Navy Cut brand (cigarettes and pipe tobacco) was launched and proved enduringly popular. It was one of the most smoked brands in WW1 and besides Capstan the favourite pipe tobacco of J.R.R. Tolkien and a favourite of C.S. Lewis. Over the years the brand’s sailor and lifebuoy trademark became synonymous with John Player & Sons. But more about that below. Now I could ramble on about the rest of the history but then this blogpost would really become long and focus on cigarettes, and this is a pipe smoking blog. In short Player’s peak was in the late 1950’s. They were employing 11,000 workers (who all got an allowance of 50 cigarettes a week) and produced 15 brands of pipe tobacco and 11 brands of cigarettes. After that it slowly went downhill due to various reasons, factories got closed etc. although to this day Player’s is still in business.

mac-baren-pipe-tobaccoNot Orlik but…
Like I said the curtain fell for the Player’s Navy Cut Flake brand in 2015. I always thought that in the final years it was made by Orlik (read: the Scandinavian Tobacco Group) in license for the Imperial Tobacco Group like Tobaccoreviews.com says. But by someone on Instagram I was pointed in another direction: the mighty MacBaren. To verify this I contacted MacBaren mastermind Per Jensen. He had to say this: “Since 2006 we produced the Player’s Navy Cut Flake for Imperial Tobacco Group, but only for sale in the UK. When we bought the pipe tobacco portfolio from Imperial we did not buy the the Player’s Navy Flake, so production stopped in 2015. The reason, plain and simple, was that Imperial wanted to keep the Player’s name for their cigarettes.”

dutch pipe smoker players navy cut flake packagePackage / tin:
My Player’s Navy Cut Flake came in a (with a health-warning desecrated) pouch with inside a foil covered tray. Most of the pouch is navy blue with the logo of the sailor and lifebuoy in the top middle. The sailor image was first used in 1883 and the lifebuoy was added 5 year later. The sailor was known as “Hero”. Why? Just take a good look at the name on his hat band. Then you also can see the HMS Brittania on the left and HMS Dreadnought on the right. The image of Hero changed for a while (apparently the poor lad had no beard for a short period!) until he was standardised in 1927.

dutch pipe smoker players navy cut flake flakesContents / Cut / Ingredients:
Inside the foil covered tray are 2 rows of neatly stacked attractive looking brown cold pressed flakes with golden highlights. It is a Navy Cut, the slices you get when you cut a navy plug. Originally these had a round shape. Later tobacco manufacturers used the term more broadly and a Navy Cut could also be a rectangular flake or slice. The ingredients are Virginia and Burley with a slight topping of rum.

Smell from the tray:
When I removed the foil and stuck my nose near I was kind of surprised. It smelled a bit like Esoterica Stonehaven! Hay, treacle, dark chocolate and liquor with a certain fruity sourness in the background. Although the liquor smell fades away a bit after the tray is opened for longer.

Taste:
The flakes are easy to handle, not too moist, not too dry. I rubbed out the flakes a little bit, bigger chunks on the bottom of the bowl and the smaller ones on top. Lighting it was effortless and when the first smoke hits your my buds I immediately relaxed, it was smooth and creamy. Above all, it has a great basic taste. Many blends of old had a distinct flavour that set them apart from others. With Player’s Navy Cut Flake you get an almost perfect mix between the grassy, tangy, earthy, toasted, stewed fruits lighter and darker Virginias, the nutty Burley which fills up the holes in the tasting spectrum and the rum which doesn’t do much other than providing a slight dark sugar treacle taste. All by all the different elements are expertly harmonised. The taste throughout the bowl is not a rollercoaster. You get that distinct comforting creamy and smooth Player’s Navy Cut Flake flavour which only deepens and intensifies in the later part of the smoke.

dutch_pipe_smoker_players_navy_cut_flake2Miscellaneous:
Nicotine-wise this blend is surprisingly mild to my relief. I expected more because of the Burley and the fact it had been around a long time, in the old days they made blends more “manly” with more vitamin N oomph. When pushed Player’s Navy Cut Flake has a tendency to bite a bit. But that is ok, it commands puffing slowly which is a good thing. And by doing that you get the most out of this tobacco taste-wise.

Room-note:
When I smoke this one I get almost no comments from the old battle-axe. Only downside is the cigarette-like odour that still lingers the next morning.

dutch_pipe_smoker_players_navy_cut_advertising_1Conclusion:
All by all I was pleasantly surprised by this essential British tobacco. I can fully understand why it was like “bread” for years for the English pipe smoker. Although I would think of it more like that delicious cookie your grandmother used to give you when you were visiting her. And every time you eat it now it reminds you fondly of the old lady. Player’s Navy Cut Flake has something comforting. It is an easy smoke. It is not a roller-coaster of tastes nor bland. It just delivers good ol’ tobacco tastiness when you sit in your chair relaxing after a day of hard work. I smoked it in different pipes and each time was satisfying. I really regret Player’s Navy Cut Flake got discontinued. If today it was available I would surely buy it. Maybe it is the added Burley or the bit of rum flavour, but I burned through the pouch in no time. @MacBaren, perhaps you can convince Imperial to sell you the rights to Player’s Navy Cut Flake, release it worldwide, thus bringing back a little classic gem.

 

Oh Capstan, my Capstan

The new MacBaren-version Capstan tins © PipesMagazine

The new MacBaren-version Capstan tins © PipesMagazine

These days there is a lot of news surrounding Capstan. This because after an absence of 18 years the legendary brand returns to the USA. Not only as the well-known flake, but also as the lesser-known ready rubbed. Also the manufacturer is no longer Orlik / STG, but another Danish company, MacBaren. Of course under license of Imperial Tobacco. Luckily we in Europe were able to enjoy Capstan all this time. It actually is one of the few tobaccos that is available in The Netherlands that I like very, very much.

Old Capstan Navy Cut ad from 1898

Old Capstan Navy Cut ad from 1898

Capstan already exists for a looong time. The brand was introduced by W. D. & H. O. Wills around 1893. The company was founded as Wills, Watkins & Co. by Henry Overton Wills I and his partner Watkins. He opened a shop in 1786 Castle Street, Bristol in 1786. After the retirement of his partner in 1789 the name became “Wills & Co.”. From 1791 to 1793 the company was known as Lilly, Wills & Co when it merged with the firm of Peter Lilly. Then, from 1793 to Lillly’s retirement in 1803, as Lilly and Wills.In 1826 Wills’ two sons, William Day Wills and Henry Overton Wills took over the company and finally in 1830 the company took the well known name of W. D. & H. O. Wills.

Sorting and cutting tobacco for mixtures at the Bristol factory in 1926

Sorting and cutting tobacco for mixtures at the Bristol factory in 1926

The company was good for its workers and pioneered canteens, free medical care, sports facilities and paid holidays. Their first brand was “Bristol”, made at the London factory from 1871 to 1974. “Three Castles” and “Gold Flake” followed in 1878, “Woodbine” in 1888, Capstan around 1893 and Three Nuns from 1957 to the late 1980’s. The company not only had factories and offices in Bristol, but also in Swindon, Dublin, Newcastle and Glasgow. The largest cigarette factory in Europe was opened at Hartcliffe Bristol in 1974 but closed in 1990. The beautiful Art Deco Newcastle factory closed in 1986. In 1901 Sir William Henry Wills formed the Imperial Tobacco company from a merger of W.D. & H.O. Wills with John Player & Sons of Nottingham and 11 other independent family businesses, which were being threatened by competition from the United States by the American Tobacco Company. Imperial remains one of the world’s largest tobacco companies. The last member of the Wills family to serve the company was Christopher, the great great grandson of H.O. Wills I. He retired as sales research manager in 1969. Some time after the closure of the Bristol plant the making of Capstan was finally licensed by Imperial Tobacco to Orlik and now MacBaren. For more (old) pictures of the W.D. & H.O. Wills factories click on this link.

My old (± 1989) Capstan Navy Cut Medium tin

My old (± 1989) Capstan Medium Navy Cut tin

My love for Capstan began when I made a bid on an old Medium Navy Cut tin on the British e-bay. And did not win it.. Fortunately something went wrong with the winner and the seller approached me if I wanted the tin. Of course, but not for the money the winner offered. I’m still Dutch after all. That was possible and after some price negotiations she sent me the tin. It was my first vintage tobacco so I eagerly pried with my Czech pipe-tool under the lid and was rewarded with a *Ssssssss*. The flakes inside smelled absolutely hea-ven-ly. Since then I never came across a vintage tobacco that smelled so nice. A deep, sweet hay / grass/ raisins / figs aroma that reminded me of the hay-barn of my uncle and aunt. Even to this day, when I stick my nose in a Capstan tin I have to think of that. *Sighs* Good ol’ times.. Speaking about those, Capstan used to be the favourite tobacco of well known writer J.R.R. Tolkien and also later of his son Christopher until he quit smoking..

Older rectangular Orlik made Capstan tin

Older rectangular Orlik made Capstan tin

When I put a flake in my Winslow Harlekin and lit it my taste buds had a shuddering orgasm. Before that I smoked some aromatics and wasn’t converted to the dark latakia leaf yet. The taste was full and naturally sweet with the hints of hay and raisins / figs that I smelled before. In other words, the Virginias had aged very well. Yes, that old Capstan really was an eye opener. So I mailed the e-bay lady if she had any more tins left that she was willing to sell and asked how she got does. She answered that she had acquired them from the left over inventory of a closed tobacco-shop and that she had a couple more tins left. I bought those and I still have them. Only on very special occasions I pop one open. After I finished the old Capstan I went looking for the new version. I was in luck, the local tobacco store had one left. When I got home I opened it and was a bit disappointed. Yes the sweet hay/grass/ raisins / figs aroma was there but it lacked the depth of the Old Capstan. But that is not so strange since it was a new tin..

STANUNED flavour info

STANUNED flavour info

When I did some research about the Capstan topping (I knew it wasn’t all-natural) I stumbled upon the used flavour in the earlier years. It had the code-name STANUNED. After some more research I discovered that the Tonka bean (tonquin, coumarin) was used as  an ingredient. Unfortunately the use of tonka bean in pipe-tobacco is now prohibited in most countries.. So I wonder how the current topping is made. A chemical rip-off? Imperial Tobacco has the original recipe so who knows what they have done to it over the years..

Different Capstan tins FLTR: W.D. & H.O. Wills tin, older Orlik/STG tin, later Orlik/STG tin, MacBaren tin

Different Capstan tins fltr: W.D. & H.O. Wills tin, older Orlik/STG tin, later Orlik/STG tin, MacBaren tin

Ok, now it is time to do some comparisons between the Orlik / STG version and the new MacBaren version. As you can see in the picture on the left both the latest Orlik / STG tin and the new MacBaren one are identical. The folks in the USA are fine, every new tin is the MacBaren version plus it has the manufacturing month and year clearly stated on the back. But here in Europe we have some “old” Orlik / STG stock left that looks exactly the same as the new one! The same yes, only the codes on the back of the tin are different.

IMG_9538Let me explain. On the picture on the right you see the backside of the two similar Capstan tins. Left the Orlik / STG version, right the new MacBaren. The Orlik / STG tin has 10 digits and then 4. The MacBaren one has 8 and then 5. That is the difference. As you zoom in on the MacBaren tin you see: 09130281 30212. This is how the code can be deciphered:
09 = Packing machine used
13 = Year of packing
028 = Calendar day of production. That means day 028 in 2013. January 28th.
1 = Shift (1 indicates it is packed on the day shift)
The 5 digit number is the internal batch number.
The Orlik / STG tin code is a bit harder to crack: 1208025527 0164.
12 = Year of packing
08 = Calender day of production. That means the 8th day of the month.
02 = Month of packing.
What the rest of the digits mean, no idea.. The 4 digit number is an internal batch number I guess. But this tin comes from February 8th 2012.

IMG_9543When you open both tins the flakes inside look the same (I already smoked from the MacBaren version at the time of the picture). Ok, maybe the Orlik / STG verison is a tiny bit darker but that is because it is almost a year older. The tin odour is also almost the same although I find that the MacBaren version smells just a bit sharper. Also maybe because of the youthfulness of the flake. I must say that that sharp edge goes away after a week after opening. For the last one and a half week I have been smoking both versions extensively in different pipes. And… I can detect no real difference. They both are a damn fine smoke. The Orlik / STG version tastes just a bit rounder, fuller but once again, that could very well be the age difference. Also Orlik / STG have brought 2 flakes on the market: Orlik English Original and Orlik English Gold. I have not smoked these but it is said that they are similar to the Blue and Yellow Capstan.

MacBarenTruthfully I never expected that MacBaren could pull off a tobacco that I actually like very much. I am not a big MacBaren fan to be honest.. But they have done a damn fine job with the new Capstan, I got to give them credit for that. And for the people who say, it tasted better in the past! Yes, the old W.D. & H.O. Wills tins taste superior. But keep in mind the formidable ageing of the Virginias! Anyway, I am just glad that I can buy a new tin of an old brand without worrying.