Unilock introduced Classico in 1983. It gave the installer the ability to use full and half circles, fans and sweeping curves. Promenade later renamed to Olde Village Paver was released a few years later. With it's tighter joint size it was a natural evolution. Classico was made for sweeping curves and visual motion. If you wanted to make straight lines, that was more challenging. You better have your string line handy and check, check and re-check. O.v.p offered a tighter joint size which made better straight lines. With o.v.p's circle bundle, it was a match made in heaven.
As I was attending Unilock's Greater Toronto Area contractor's meeting. I sat down and opened up my handout 
packet. I opened up the product changes brochure for 2011 and there it was. Product deletions, Olde Village Paver, All Sizes, all colours. The shock, the horror, not really. You could see it coming. Unilock first starting reducing the amount of colours that were being produced. After that, they cancelled the Large Rectangle/Jumbo. This is how they usually do things when a line is cancelled. Reduce sizes, reduce colours, cancelled. This actually makes total sense to me. It's simple, small stones are not the trend in hardscape design. The trend is the reverse. Paving stones are increasing in size. This has been a trend for many years and I don't see it reversing. You can special order il Campo, Series 3000 and Umbriano in 36”x36” sizes. These are special order items but it reaffirms my point that big is in. The twinkie has been retired.
The Twinkie was always challenging to work with. Sometimes you would end up with twinkie extras that were unusable left overs. I never met a twinkie I didn't like, except when handling bundles of Classico, o.v.p. The dreaded ... twinkie. It was every installers worst nightmare! The twinkie stone was bundled with square and twinkie in one section. It could be quite challenging trying to clamp a section of square and twinkie stones successfully. Putting pressure on the side of a section would cause the middle to bow out. Enough pressure on the sides and the section would explode. Break out the wheel barrow. Double handling time, not exactly the most efficient way to do things. Classico was the worse. Forget about trying to clamp a section. Not happening. Great and sometimes frustrating memories for this installer.
Even though I will miss this stone, it was a love hate relationship, It's time to part ways and say goodbye. Goodbye o.v.p, old friend, here's to the memories. Enjoy your retirement.