Hometown Hero: Jeremy Reeves

I’ll give you three guesses: 

No, not the football player, though that’s a good guess, they share the same name. 

No, not the guy from Brideshead Revisited. 

And not the 80’s Sherlock Holmes. 

    Jeremy Reeves is a tobacco blender. He’s like a chef, serving up classic old recipes and creating tasty new ones. He is the head blender at Cornell and Diehl (C&D), the last big pipe tobacco manufacturer in the United States.     

    But even when they had serious competition, not long ago, C&D was a cut above the rest. When I say big, I mean relatively big, they won’t be knocking on “Big Tobacco’s” doors anytime soon. Yet they did produce 120,000 pounds of pipe tobacco in 2023, in 150 varieties. I wonder, how many pipe bowls that would fill? Millions, I guess. 

    Anyway, back to Jeremy, he was born in Portales, yes, Portales New Mexico. I had no idea and I don’t know any more about his life in Roosevelt County. Did he grow up here? Did he come here to attend ENMU? Was he whisked away at birth, destined to tobacco greatness, like some smoky Dalai Lama? I just don’t know. 

    I do know that Reeves is in a small school of blenders like Per Jenson, Russ Ouellette, and Rudiger Will, all legends in the field. Reeves and C&D not only produce fine old school tobaccos, they are often thinking of new variations on the theme. They have put out a yearly vintage variety of Virginia tobacco, when they can find a great candidate. A few years back, Reeves made a blend that included honey from his own hives, which was so popular, he had to resort to a larger apiary for the next year’s batch. He is also working on a fitting replacement for Syrian tobacco (a big deal if you smoke a pipe), a variety that has gone commercially extinct. 

    C&D is committed to keeping the old pastime alive and has partnered with a perique farm in Louisiana, a grower in Turkey, and Ireland’s most prominent pipe manufacturer. Despite their international adventures, the lion’s share of C&D’s product is grown, processed, and packaged in the U.S.A. The company does its work in South Carolina. 

    I think Reeves would be the first one to admit he has a dream job. And that’s my point: there is a world of great, attainable occupations out there. If you browse through this blog, you will see New Mexicans who have won the Nobel Prize (from Raton), been Treasurer of the United States (Mountainair), that bult a Hotel Empire (San Antonio), and many more. 

    It seems like all the great achievers live in New York City or Los Angeles, but they didn’t come from there, they came from here, wherever here happens to be, even New Mexico. 

    This is all done to make money of course, but for Reeves and his fellow blenders, it is also a labor of love. How often does that happen? 

    {Thanks to the good people at The Humidor, in Portales, who first told me Reeves was from here. And yeah, that Factory Smokes Maduro cigar was pretty darn good.}

Francine Neff

(Wikipedia) Francine Irving Neff (December 6, 1925 – February 9, 2010) was the 35th Treasurer of the United States, serving from June 21, 1974 to January 19, 1977.
She was appointed by Richard Nixon but continued serving as Treasurer through Gerald Ford's term in office after Nixon resigned in August 1974.
... Neff grew up on a small vegetable farm outside of Mountainair, NM. Continued

Greyhound Trading Post

Mountainair, New Mexico

Abo Ruins

 

 

The ruins at Abo are part of three sites comprising Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument. It's a few miles west of Mountainair, New Mexico. The site is not only a beautiful pile, but it always seems quiet there, lending itself to wayward ruminations.

Mountainair Mural

Francine Neff

(Wikipedia) Francine Irving Neff (December 6, 1925 – February 9, 2010) was the 35th Treasurer of the United States, serving from June 21, 1974 to January 19, 1977.
She was appointed by Richard Nixon but continued serving as Treasurer through Gerald Ford's term in office after Nixon resigned in August 1974.
... Neff grew up on a small vegetable farm outside of Mountainair, NM. Continued

Gustin Hardware

Mountainair, New Mexico

Country Churches: Mountainair Nazarene

Country Churches: Saint Alice R.C., Mountainair, NM

Abo Trading Company

Another Bean Silo

 

Back in the first half of the 20th century, Mountainair, New Mexico billed itself as the "Pinto Bean Capital of the World." Mountainair and nearby Claunch competed for the title, and I guess Mountainair won, since there isn't much left of Claunch. But Mountainair doesn't produce much in the way of beans anymore, either. Anyway, they had to store the beans somewhere, and this is where they went.

Country Churches: Mountainair UMC

Pharmacy, Mountainair, New Mexico

Country Churches: First Baptist, Mountainair, New Mexico

Bean Silo

Mountainair, NM

Jerry's Ancient Cities Cafe

 

If you ever find yourself hungry in Mountainair, New Mexico, stop by Jerry's Ancient Cities Café, where the food is great, the prices fair, and the service good. Like most NM diners, there is a complete Mexican and American menu. This is not a paid endorsement, I just like the place. It sits along U.S. Route 60, on the west end of town.

Tomahawk Service Station

Mountainair, New Mexico

Courthouse: Mountainair, New Mexico