maîtres artisans

I always hated smoking, since the time I was a kid, partly because cigarettes are noxious and perhaps even more so because I watched two uncles suffer (one fatally) from the effects of cigarettes. Aside from an occassional cigar, most of my adult life has been as distant from tobacco as I could manage. There was always one exception - the sweet smell of pipe tobacco, which is like incense in the nostrils of God.

Two American classic blenders still at work:

Peretti and Wilke, both in Massachusetts.

https://ljperetti.com/product-category/l-j-peretti-tobacco-cat/

https://www.wilkepipetobacco.com/history

Where to start? Where to end?