T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: Jon Christopher Brown COLLECTION: 4700.1367
IDENTIFICATION: Perique tobacco marketer, ethnobotanist.
INTERVIEWERS: Persephone Hintlian
PROJECT: Perique Tobacco
INTERVIEW DATES: August 29, 2000 FOCUS DATES: 1990s
ABSTRACT:
Born December 3, 1949 in Jersey City, New Jersey; father was policeman, mother a commercial artist; parents’ education; father flew spotter plane for the artillery in World War Two; younger brother Mark, a mechanic, lives in Vermont; early education; high school at Montclair Academy, a preparatory school; learned resourcefulness from grandfather, who was a mechanic; inspired by grandmother, who taught him to cook; worked ten years between high school and college At various jobs; studied botany at University of Massachusetts, Boston; BS in 1984; worked and traveled for a few years, then started graduate school at University of Massachusetts, Amherst; got M.S. in botany in 1992; finishing Ph.D. in biology at Tulane; dissertation on plants of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in Campeche, Mexico; trip to St. James Parish with friend Matt to learn about Perique tobacco; stopped at local restaurant to get information on Perique farmers; visited Percy Martin, last full time Perique farmer; Perique is difficult to grow, very dependent on weather, easy to lose money on a crop; feeling that Perique was grossly underpriced compared to other specialty tobacco on market; Brown decided to help Martin find alternate markets that paid better; description of amount of hand tending required; comparison to other specialty products, like champagne and caviar; Martin more a farmer than businessman, lack of interest in retailing to specialty individuals who would pay higher price for small amounts; Brown and his friend Matt decide to go into business with Martin, helping him market Perique and hoping to save Perique culture; rules surrounding sale, taxing, and manufacturing of tobacco; chain of production, from raw to retail tobacco; pitching Martin’s Perique to European tobacco blenders; difficulties breaking into tobacco business; negotiating prices with European tobacco blenders; reluctance to disclose prices for record; eventually managed to double the price Martin originally got for Perique; Brown’s efforts to find buyers after he bought several barrels of Perique from Martin; selling small quantities to individuals; import company in New Orleans got interested in selling Perique.
Tape 1991, Side B.
Mayan Import Company in New Orleans began to promote Perique; front page Times Picayune story on Perique; newspaper story gave them credibility overnight; successful ongoing deal with Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, makers of American Spirit; plans to increase production; possibility of Perique cigars; interest from other companies; increased cost of diesel driving price of Perique up; planning the slow expansion of Perique crop; plans for increased advertising, improved webpage; Brown more interested in wholesale than retail; Perique will never be the crop it once was, as agricultural land in St. James Parish has decreased; amount of Perique farms can yield; hand labor will keep price up; must compete on quality, not price; people who complain about the high price.
TAPES: 1 (T1991) TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 1 hour, 17 minutes
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 40
OTHER MATERIALS: Gift agreement, correspondence
RESTRICTIONS: No commercial use without permission of Jon Christopher Brown and no use without permission of Persephone Hintlian until 2010.