Perique (pronounced peh-REEK) gets its distinctive flavor from barrel fermentation, a technique Louisiana settlers are thought to have picked up in the 18th or 19th century from the local Choctaws who aged tobacco in stumps. The current system has changed little since then.

After harvesting the plants, the farmers nail them to the rafters of a barn with a small piece of wood called a cop-cop, for the noise it makes. When the plants have dried, leaves are removed by hand and placed in oak barrels under giant jackscrews. Every few months, workers take all the leaves out, put the bottom ones on top and press them back under the screws. The entire curing process takes more than a year.

The result is a powerful experience. Fans describe perique as spicy, earthy and rich. It is a “condiment” tobacco, more akin to an intense habanero hot sauce than ketchup. It rarely makes up more than 15 percent of any given blend, and that is enough to make its presence known. Most people in St. James have a story about someone who tried to smoke or chew perique straight. It never ends well.

The backbreaking labor associated with that preindustrial process, combined with a succession of storms and low prices, had led to a long period of attrition. When two tobacco enthusiasts, Christopher Brown and Matt Nichols, decided around 1998 to go see where one of their favorite products grew, they were shocked to find just a few acres of farmland left.