Jim, the wrapper differences do come down to minuscule differences,
which might be called blemishes "only" if you were trying to yank
my chain. These differences are well documented!

You actually proved my point because you now say that your Chinatown
cake is #2, yesterday you said your Chinatown cake was identical to a
whole different cake. The 2 wrappers look so similar you didn't
realize that they were different teas. The reality is that they were
both made at the exact same factory, and the same wrapper was used to
wrap any number of totally different teas potentially even hundreds.

The price is definitely more believable at a wholesale cost $1.29 each
and a retail $4 each; however your assumption that your Chinatown cake
is #2 cannot be substantiated by simply looking at the wrapper alone.
You Chinatown tea could have been made from the leaves of an entirely
different farm and an entirely different processing recipe. The
"generic" wrapper won't make those distinctions. Think of these
CNNP wrappers like you would think of the generic "white label"
products you see in a drugstore, they simply say Yunnan Qizi Pu'er
Cha and not much more. Any number of different teas from different
years can be inside of these wrappers.

Here is a solid example from my private collection showing that the
wrapper is NOT a comprehensive identifier:

Look at
http://www.pu-erh.net/graphics/Stock/DSCN0974.jpg
and now look at
http://www.pu-erh.net/graphics/Stock/DSCN0978.jpg
can you tell any difference in the wrapping?

Now look at tea that is inside of the first wrapper
http://www.pu-erh.net/graphics/Stock/DSCN0975.jpg
it is a 2004 raw silver bud cake
Now look at tea that is inside of the second wrapper
http://www.pu-erh.net/graphics/Stock/DSCN0979.jpg
it is a 2004 cooked Jipin Pu'er cake

These 2 teas are on opposite ends of the pu'er spectrum yet they have
identical looking wrappers!

Now both of these wrappers look identical because they ARE indeed
identical. Both cakes were made at the same Meng Hai factory for the
Import/Export distributors. The factory used the exact same wrapper
for every cake destined to this Import/Export distributor unless the
distributor specifically requested otherwise. In order for them to
"request" a different wrapper the distributor would have had to
purchase a minimum of 5000 cakes and there would have been a small
surcharge. This is seldom done by the Exporters, they are trying to
save every RMB/Yuan they can. They don't cater to our "truth in
advertising" sensibilities YET!

Mike
http://www.pu-erh.net