British American Tobacco Niemeyer BV
PO Box 41
9700 AA Groningen
complaint about Javaanse Jongens Tembaco
Nijmegen, January 7, 2014
Dear customer service,
For twenty years, I have smoked Javaanse Jongens Tembaco (formally “three quarters”) with great pleasure, until at the end of 2012 I began to notice that the quality greatly deteriorated. I have therefore decided to collect every irregularity I was to find in my tobacco in the course of 2013. Please find enclosed the results of my research, in which I have tried to make a classification of the irregularities (see photos 1 and 2).
1. Unsorted tobacco 2 . Sorted tobacco
On average it takes me two days to smoke a package of tobacco, so the selection included here is from about 180 packages (up to the new packaging 37.5 grams, then 40 grams).
Selection has been made with these instruments on the basis of the following inclusion criteria:
- eyes: there is a different color and/or size;
- fingers: it feels three-dimensional and/or sharp at the edges and/or stiff and/or is too heavy;
- ears: it makes noise when you drop it.
Below I outline the classification mentioned earlier:
- woody pieces;
- leaf that has been badly cut;
- long stems;
- hay-like pieces;
- chip-like pieces;
- dry bits (divided lengthwise, a and b).
1 suggests that something is not going well in the sorting process, the others suggest that something goes wrong in the cutting process. Moreover, all the here collected tobacco samples are dry, which makes me think that the packaging may not close properly (despite the sealing to ensure freshness).
Perhaps you do not agree with all the examples of “irregularities” I herewith send back to you. In particular, the collection in 6b may be open to debate. However, these are the pieces that make for unpleasant surprises, as shown in photo 3.
3. Unpleasant surprise
Despite my exercise in finding irregularities by the aforesaid instruments, sometimes one slipped between the fingers to still end up in my cigarette. The result was that the cigarette not drew well, because the irregularity blocked the airflow. Moreover, as the fire reached the irregularity, it charred it, which broke the cigarette in the affected area. In some cases, the charred piece fell onto clothing or the sofa. In cases I did not respond to it fast enough, this resulted in a small burn hole.
In defense against this dried-up collection you might want to respond with the argument that the tobacco has been persevered for a long time (in some cases from January 1, 2013) and therefore has lost its freshness. In that case, remember that I buy my tobacco in the first place to immediately enjoy it while smoking it, not to extract elements from it so I can return those to you at a later date. This study itself is not the purpose of my purchasing your tobacco.
My baseline is the quality that I have experienced between 1993 and 2012. I hope that quality can be restored, although the harvest of the first week of this year (included in the box labeled “2014”) is ominous.
I have written you twice before. The first time was to notify you that I had discovered a large leaf (approximately two to three centimeters) in my tobacco. The second time was to draw your attention to the fact that your packages were not glued properly and let go on the sides. In both cases, you responded to my satisfaction. I trust that this will also be the case with this letter and look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Floor Basten
