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Swiss pipe makers
Moser - based out of Thun. They may or may not be related to the tobacco shop by the same name in Thun. They sell their pipes mainly through a local Swiss auction site (Ricardo).
Witschi - based out of Bern. This brand is available on Ricardo as well as at a few shops that sell tobacco.
Roman Peter - based in Affoltern am Albis in the Kanton of Zürich, they manufacture pipes and even offer courses on how to make your own pipe. Their shop sells their pipes and tobacco.
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Swiss Tobacco
Tabakfabrik Roth - Based in the Kanton of Aargau in the town of Beinwil am See, according to their website they are the only Swiss manufacturer of tobacco for pipes and roll-your-own cigarettes.
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I will add more as I find them.
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Very cool! I’ll have to try and snag some offerings from Tabakfabrik Roth while I’m there, something to smoke after a nice Raclette dinner perhaps 😃.
They offer some boxes with 20g samples of their various tobaccos so you can discover what they offer.
I have tried their "Naturnah" series (translates as "close to nature") they are pretty good if you like very light burley / Virginia blends, some are very lightly topped, others seemingly not at all. I would describe them as delicate. Not unlike Burrus 40, which is made for the Swiss market by Orlik. It is more like a cigarette tobacco that you can smoke in your pipe, not bad as a morning wake-me-up.
I have yet to try their Jabuca line (most seem to be topped, even their English blend). Redcoat's Return reviewed the Jabuca Vanille, he liked it. I will likely order a sample box today.
That being said, maybe buy some tinned tobacco at Roth's shop, something that you know will work after a Raclette 😀Â
Also, in general, there remain very few brick and mortar stores that carry pipe tobacco. If they do, it will be something like Burrus or Westminster, maybe a few tins of Davidoff or occassionally a blend like Three Nuns. Most of what they carry will be aromatic. The dedicated tobacco stores usually carry a larger selection of pipe tobacco, but normally are located in the big cities (St. Gallen, Bern, Zürich etc). There is one Urs Portmann in Kreuzlingen (fanstastic shop!). In Geneva you have two shops (Au Boa Fumant and Davidoff) but the Davidoff there carries very little variety in pipe tobacco these days and Au Boa Fumant only sells their own blends, in Lausanne you have Besson which is a good shop with a wide selection.
If I may make a recommendation for your Raclette, if you like a strongly flavour Raclette, the regular offerings from Coop, Migros (brands like Raccard etc) have little if any flavour (and the Raclette from Aldi or Lidl tastes like butter that has gone off). Instead, they now try to get you to buy "Val de Bagnes" assortments of Raceltte, which are good but they are also very expensive.
If you can, try to see if the local Landi (farmer shop) has Raclette from a local cheese maker, or even a Manor can have better stuff in their hand-cut / open cheese section.
If you are going for a Fondue, you are best to buy and cut the cheese yourself (it's really easy!). Recipes can be found on swissmilk.ch
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Thanks, I will pass that on to my wife. She does the Raclette buying, she doesn’t settle for lesser cheese. We have a specialty cheese shop here in metro Detroit that flys cheese in from Switzerland regularly. She arranges to get a whole wheel of a particular one that is outstanding. I can’t remember the maker’s name off the top of my head. Twenty five years ago I knew nothing about Raclette, but since then it has become a mainstay and a favorite. I have a quarter wheel in the refrigerator right now.Â
What both of us really miss concerning cheese is that my mother in law, although she had moved here to the US, would go back to Switzerland at least twice each year and she would always bring back a wheel from a small local cheese maker that was beyond anything else I have ever had. True perfection. Sadly, she passed about four years ago.Â
Before she died, she taught me how to make Bratzeli and gave me her Bratzeli machine, so I supply my ex wife and stepson with it.Â
Wow, sounds great that you can get good Raclette outside of CH! If you didn't know already, you can freeze it too, comes out just like as if it were fresh. it is best to slice it first before freezing and keep it in a isolated container (takes less time to unfreeze that way).
There are quite a few well-known Raclette makers. There is even a championship and yearly award to the best maker. Some videos can be found on Youtube about it, but it's mostly only in French.
My condolences for your mother-in-law, real Swiss who appreciate and can make real Swiss food are becoming fewer and fewer these days.
If you get a chance, try a home-made Fondue, it's really easy (if you can get the cheese and the Chasselas wine, for which there really is no substitute).
Bricelets (as they are know in Suisse Romand) are fantastic! Glad to hear you are continuing the tradition 😀Â
We have done fondue less since my mother in law died. Before it was a once each month event, fondue and Kirsch. Your mentioning it makes me want to revive the tradition. 🙂
If I may, the best time to eat a raclette is from may to october. It sounds absurd because raclette feels more like a winter dish BUT the cows are on the "alpages" from april until the end of september, and they eat the best swiss grass from the altitudes of the alps, so the milk is kind of a magic potion!
Happy raclettes to you and sorry for your loss Ted
I was fortunate enough to smoke some Wellawer blends when they were Swiss made. Their Latakia blends were among the best I have smoked. They offered pure Syrian Latakia of the very best quality (I finished my last tin a year ago). Now, the brand is made in Germany by Planta, and they made just one or two blends that I never tried.
A very good swiss independent tobacco blender is Mr. Schürch, based in Aarberg (Bern Canton).
Old style tobaccos, very full and satisfying. Some people say that old mr. Schürch is almost blind and developed a peculiar way of blending his mixtures. Is it true? Is it a legend? Who knows...
Thanks for the recommendation. Is this the one you mean? https://whisky-tabak.ch/de
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Yes! I tried the Corona Mixture, very nice and perfect for cold weather.
Many people talk about their Torina and Sob.128 mixtures, apparently, they say, they're quite similar to Balkan Sobranie (personally I never tried the sobranie so I don't know 🤔 ).
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