The Smoker, Mel Feldman

Years ago, there was a New York tobacco shop where I'd order blends to my specifications. The shop was The Smoker and the hand blender was Mel Feldman. I was buying from Mel long before he had an internet presence. As I've been blending myself, I began thinking about Mel and started an internet search and found this article.
From the article:"In early 2013, the owner of Pipes and Cigars.com, Scott Bendett approached Mel about the idea of bringing back those original tinned blends, some of which date back to the 1930s. When he expressed interest, Feldman worked together with longtime friend and blender for Pipes and Cigars.com, Russ Ouellette, to recreate those blends."

Does anyone know/remember if Pipes and Cigars.com did actually make some of Mel's blends?

I found the following on Google groups from 2009.

MELVIN FELDMAN THE SMOKER LTD​

Jan 6, 2009, 10:02:30 AM

Hello All,
Im Melvin Feldman who was the owner of the oldest established Tobacco Store in Upstate New York that was opened in 1931 and i
closed it due to retirement in 2000, and a award winning Cigar and Pipe Store, I am just a Pipe and Tobacco Hand Blender of Pipe Tobacco's now.........link

I can't believe Ol' Mel typed all that cigar information!! Darn good thing I never saw his email; I'm still drooling over what he had and the prices he was asking!!!
I did some business with Mel way back when. Mostly tobacco but I did buy one pipe, an Upshall, from him. Crap pipe, poorly made and has never smoked worth a damn.
I do believe P&C did reproduce some of his blends; don't think they are around anymore.
One could instantly recognize Mel's ads/promos due to his "run-on," rambling extended length sentences! I believe his son, Michael B. Feldman, is selling on EBay now under the name "Mr-TVF" with the same unique writing style. FWIW, FTRPLT

Mel Feldman passed away last year.

Published on 5/12/2021

Broken Pipe... We Mourn the Passing of Albany, NY "The Smoker" Legend, Mel Feldman...

On behalf of the entire NY Pipe Club, please allow me to extend our deepest condolences to Mel's family. We all knew Mel from either the historic shop in Albany, NY or from spending countless hours with him at the NY Pipe Shows over the years. We absolutely loved Mel and are so very saddened by the news of his passing. I assure you that Mel's memory will live on with our Club and we raise many bowls in his honor. We'll have the pleasure of smoking his wonderful tobacco blends and from pipes we have purchased from him over the decades. He will be sorely missed.

To Mel's family, please accept our deepest condolences and we grieve with you as we remember him with love.
Feldman, Melvin "Buddy" ALBANY Melvin "Buddy" Feldman passed peacefully away at home at the age of 89, on Monday, April 5, 2021. He was born in Yonkers, N.Y. on July 24, 1931, to Samuel and Shirley Feldman. He moved to Albany at a young age and attended the Albany Public school system. He served in the United States Navy from 1951 to 1954 and served during the Korean War aboard the USS Coral Sea. Mel met the love of his life, Barbara Noonan, and they were married in 1954. Mel worked for the state of New York as a draftsman and also for the Albany Regional Planning Commission until he bought the tobacco store "The Smoker." The Smoker became his passion and he was a well-known tobacconist, with many loyal customers. He so loved his Saturdays at the store where his customers would spend the day sitting and smoking in his shop. He is survived by his beloved wife of 68 years, Barbara; his children, Lori (Frank) Lasch, Cheryl (Peter Doody) and Michael. Mel was the much loved "Pa" to his four granddaughters, Bethany Lasch, Aimee Lasch, Sarah Doody and Victoria Doody and one great-grandson, Jackson White. Mel is also survived by his twin sister, Barbara Engle of California. Mel enjoyed many hours with his cat, Sadie, by his side. The family would like to thank Hospice of Albany for all of the care given to him and his family, especially his nurse, Marita. Due to COVID-19, the service will be for family only. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Community Hospice of Albany County. To leave a condolence message for the family, please visit www.levinememorialchapel.com


I had always assumed that Mel was much older. When he closed the shop in 2000, he was only about 67. When I spoke with him on the phone, I thought he was Methuselah's tobacconist. May he rest in peace.
Fond memory: He sent me a very large box with two estate pipes and at least five pounds of tobacco. It was not my order. I phoned him and he got very defensive. I calmed him down and asked that he check his orders and call me back. About 15 minutes later, he called to say that he'd had some helpers in the shop who must have misaddressed the box and would I please forward the package to the correct person; that he'd reimburse me for the postage cost via my next order.

I had a few conversations with Mel...a long time ago. Got some tobaccos from him time to time.

Yes, but...he was entertaining and informative.

I still have around five pounds of MacBaren Virginia No.1, jarred up, that Mel sold me during one of his "fire sales" at the New York Pipe Show. He was quite a character.

Sutliff made the Feldman recreations for P&C, but they didn't sell, so they only lasted three or four years at most. I reviewed several of them at TR.

RSteve said:

I don't recall that at all. Did the tins say, original blends by Mel Feldman?
You know how you can buy some greeting cards that when you open them, they play a song or vocalize a greeting. I thought it would be a good idea for someone re-creating Mel's blends to have one of those chips in each tin, that when opened you could hear Mel talk for about 10 minutes about being the last of the hand blenders.

Click to expand...

Here's the original announcement. Mel's name was on the tins. Btw, there are still hand blenders: Ernie at Watch City and John Brandt does the Wilke blends.

https://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-news/mel-feldmans-the-smoker-blends-are-back/

Mel was going out of business and he had a beautiful Volcano for sale made by Elliot Nachwalter. I let it go and kick myself to this day!

Pipestud posted a tin of The Smoker Ltd Black Noble for sale today. I am relatively new to pipe smoking and had never heard of this brand. Went to Google to do some research and there are no pictures of the tins to be found. Does anyone have any pictures of the pipesandcigars.com release of this brand?

I do have a dozen or so of the reissues of The Smoker around, as well as a few originals.

hp
les

I enjoyed many visits with Mel at his shop in Albany and when he attended the NY pipe show ( In Newark NJ ).
I smoked many pounds of "Woodlands" a very full english/balkan mixture. As a matter of fact this was the blend that Mel himself smoked every day.
During one of my shop visits I asked Mel to tweak "Woodlands" and make it a bit richer. Mel complied and a new mixture was born. Mel named the blend "Fred Goldring Special" As a confirmed Sobranie 759 smoker I now had a wonderful replacement in this Mel Feldman creation.
In watching Mel prepare my blend he used only McClelland tobaccos.
When the blends were recreated by Pipes and Cigars the blends were produced by Sutliff including my namesake. I am guessing that the hand blending Mel did had to be replaced along with tinning that Sutliff did.
The blends for me were far from what Mel blended in shop. I will not say Sutliff produces a poor product, I have smoked and enjoyed to this day many of their blends.
My final comment. I had many conversations with Joe Lankford before his blends were produced for the Seattle Pipe Club. Joe used to mail me a blend that he produced at home that was another full english/balkan. This was another great blend that satisfied my Sobranie addiction. This was one of my go to blends along with Mel's "Fred Goldring" special. Joe would always included a note with each tobacco order. It was June and close to "Father's Day". This time along with my tobacco was another note from Joe. As a Father's Day gift, Joe sent me the recipe for the blend. The tobaccos were all McClelland tinned tobaccos not Sutliff. Joe's gift to me that Father's Day allowed me to mix up this great blend.
Mel Feldman and Joe Lankford were not only great tobacco blenders, they were truly wonderful people and I was very fortunate to have known them. May they both Rest in Peace.
I want to say one more thing. .....Russ Oulette is a tobacco blending genius. Russ stands with the greats I just mentioned.

Fred Goldring

RSteve said:

Years ago, there was a New York tobacco shop where I'd order blends to my specifications. The shop was The Smoker and the hand blender was Mel Feldman. I was buying from Mel long before he had an internet presence. As I've been blending myself, I began thinking about Mel and started an internet search and found this article.
From the article:"In early 2013, the owner of Pipes and Cigars.com, Scott Bendett approached Mel about the idea of bringing back those original tinned blends, some of which date back to the 1930s. When he expressed interest, Feldman worked together with longtime friend and blender for Pipes and Cigars.com, Russ Ouellette, to recreate those blends."

Does anyone know/remember if Pipes and Cigars.com did actually make some of Mel's blends?

I found the following on Google groups from 2009.

MELVIN FELDMAN THE SMOKER LTD​

Jan 6, 2009, 10:02:30 AM

Hello All,
Im Melvin Feldman who was the owner of the oldest established Tobacco Store in Upstate New York that was opened in 1931 and i
closed it due to retirement in 2000, and a award winning Cigar and Pipe Store, I am just a Pipe and Tobacco Hand Blender of Pipe Tobacco's now.........link

Click to expand...

I think I recognize the writing style . . . Unless I miss my mark, this was written not by Mel but by his son Michael.

It's easy to spot Michael's eBay sales ads by the above referenced writing style! If by style you mean the longest single run-on sentence paragraph known to man!!!! Hilarious!!
FTRPLT