D'Addario Organic Reserve Bb Clarinet Reeds

Note: These are priced per reed. One of 'em. (Not a box. Though you're welcome to buy 10 of them, and I may just throw in the box for free)

Let's talk about the "Organic" thing for a second, because it's not just marketing.

When D'Addario bought Rico in 2004, the deal included cane plantations in France and Argentina (Bio-geeks: the Argentinian cane started as French rhizomes, so it's all got the same DNA).

In 2008, a dude named Philippe Weibel took over the French plantation and started transitioning to fully organic farming. No pesticides, no synthetic fertilizers — they use the cane itself as fertilizer and a hot-water fumigation process instead of chemicals. Fifteen years later, they got USDA Certified Organic status. They even ditched the plastic reed holders for paper, which apparently eliminates 70,000 pounds of plastic waste per year.

So yeah — "Organic" means something here. It's not just a sticker.

As for the reed itself: the Evolution is most like the Vandoren 56 Rue Lepic. (D'Addario's marketing compares it to the V21. I totally disagree, but you're welcome to fight me on this.)

Same as the other D'Addario Organic reeds, these run a skosh harder than the equivalent Vandoren strength, so some of them come out of the box playing a little stuffy, but break in nicely with some time and attention. Consistency is pretty solid across the box.

If you're a Rue Lepic player — or you've always been curious about that cut but wanted something slightly different — this is your reed.