First FDA regulation casualty I've heard of

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Jevverrett

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I kind of expected this one when I read through the FDA regs a bit. Russ Ouellette is canning his monthly blend line. I've personally never tried one that I can remember, a lot of people have though. Nothing about his standard house blends though. Yet anyway.

I'm guessing this would indicate stuff like the C&D small batch line is gonna go too. I would imagine that seasonal offerings are planned months, or even years in some cases. I doesn't seem as bad as I thought it was going to be. The timeline issue is an unknown for me, but nothing else in the summary of the news regs seems too off though. With acception of the fees structure.
 
I read that email about the monthly blends to. I cant help but think its there way of weeding out an item that maybe wasn't worth there time selling, maybe the monthly blend wasn't selling well. Just my thought on it.
 
Yup, got that notice as well.....

I figured that some of the 'spur of the moment' or 'seasonal' blends were going to 'follow the dinosaurs'. Russ, or whomever 'secures bottom line decisions' at P&C, saw which way 'the wind was blowing' and are most likely clearing out 'financial decisions' in favor of 'Grandfathered' products.

Good business sense, yet sad to see such artistic ability 'culled' by yet another 'Nanny States of America's' meddling..........

Good grief, I used a lot of buzz lines....

I need to get busy on my stash of plants, bales and blends.... I'll miss the TADs, but what can a guy do?

I looked, and I see that I have yet to try any of those blends. So, perhaps you can't miss what you never had? Right?
 
I doubt he could launch a new product every month, without having to work ahead by several months. I dont know what the time period is for launching a new line with the fed, but it can't be too crazy. Microbreweries and wineries have the same sorts of regulations. Except that a grape is a grape by definition. Tobacco is tobacco too. Its just going to take some time to work out with the Feds. There is only so many different combinations of pipe tobacco you can have. That and the treatments for them are somewhat limited outside of natural products and mechanical processes.
 
Jevverrett":nr5fxrqd said:
I doubt he could launch a new product every month, without having to work ahead by several months. I dont know what the time period is for launching a new line with the fed, but it can't be too crazy. Microbreweries and wineries have the same sorts of regulations. Except that a grape is a grape by definition. Tobacco is tobacco too. Its just going to take some time to work out with the Feds. There is only so many different combinations of pipe tobacco you can have. That and the treatments for them are somewhat limited outside of natural products and mechanical processes.
Oh my, yes! It takes a while to create palatable blends. It's rarely a moment in the morning of, "Today I will create!" If I'm reading the paperwork right, the product would need to be made to what the blender was after, then an up to two year testing period would be undertaken, lists of ingredients like on food products, health risk labels proposed, marketing, most of the usual stuff. The big issue I see at hand is the price tag. If alleged numbers hold true, a limited edition of 2400 tins would demand an astronomical price tag to warrant production, just in fees.

 It'll be cheaper to get your stuff from the UK or Australia than at home. At least for anything post 2007.....
 
I'm pretty sure I'd read/heard that Russ/P&C had flirted with ending the Blend of the Month program due to demand beginning to fade...my guess is the impending regs made that tough decision a little easier, but I don't think it was the only (or maybe not even the biggest) factor in the decision.

This is still very young - suits and countersuits have yet to be filed; injunctions, stays, and exemptions have yet to be sought. I doubt very much that the real-world lay of the land two years from now will look the way it does on paper, today. I'm guessing (hoping) that most of the major producers are of a somewhat similar mind and are waiting to see how the next 6-12 months play out before making any painful decisions.
 
It seems P&C are the only major retailer (e-tailer) addressing these FDA regulations. I have not heard nor seen anything from Smokingpipes, 4noggins, cupofjoes.... nadda. I could be missing it, as I have not spent countless hours reading or searching, but it looks to me like most retailers are treating it like it's going to drag on and this Aug 8th wont be the final nail in the coffin...

... am I right about this?
 
Old Nate":xoebks07 said:
It seems P&C are the only major retailer (e-tailer) addressing these FDA regulations. I have not heard nor seen anything from Smokingpipes, 4noggins, cupofjoes.... nadda. I could be missing it, as I have not spent countless hours reading or searching, but it looks to me like most retailers are treating it like it's going to drag on and this Aug 8th wont be the final nail in the coffin...

... am I right about this?
Who knows? They may cut a deal or delay or compromise. Even if true, the ratchet tightens. Government is out of control, in case no one has noticed. The whole thing is B.S. We're supposed to control it, not the other way around. The Founders told me so. The acquiescence and acceptance bothers me as much as the regs.
 
Old Nate":xpigbn6p said:
It seems P&C are the only major retailer (e-tailer) addressing these FDA regulations. I have not heard nor seen anything from Smokingpipes, 4noggins, cupofjoes.... nadda. I could be missing it, as I have not spent countless hours reading or searching, but it looks to me like most retailers are treating it like it's going to drag on and this Aug 8th wont be the final nail in the coffin...

... am I right about this?
Aug 8th is when things go into effect on paper, but everyone has two full years to comply with the new regulations.  That means we've got about 26 months before the post-2007s are either approved or off the market.  A lot can happen in two years.

I'd bet dollars to to donuts that the reason we haven't heard of any action yet is because no one can take action yet, as the regulations aren't in force, yet.  The earliest we could possibly expect to see the industry pursue legal action/relief is on the August effective date, but I'd imagine it will be a few months after that before anything starts to move.

In short:  The relevance of August 8 is nothing more than that's the earliest companies can begin submitting products for approval and/or begin pursuing legal means to challenge the regulations/process.


I should add: I'm no lawyer.  I work with contracts and legalese all day, every day, so I have a reasonable understanding of the situation, but that doesn't make me anything close to an expert.  I have a few lawyer friends who agree with my interpretation, but none of us have read the 500 pages in their entirely, so take this all with a grain of salt.
 
Old Nate":8p07t3xl said:
Thanks, Ian. Sums it up pretty well.

And RB is right, too. It's not even a Republican/Democrat thing anymore...it's the whole system. It's just too big, too present, too much. I'll leave it at that lest I tempt the powers that be into kicking this over to the RR.
 
I have a lot of trouble believing our government put something together that is going to work the way it was intended to. Trying to set up a system as large as this and get it moving is going to take the full two years at the least. I think the smaller outfits of the tobacco world are pulling out bc they don't have the infrastructure to handle the legal aspect of this. Maybe the smaller fish will band together into schools in time.
 
Jevverrett":t0woijgx said:
I have a lot of trouble believing our government put something together that is going to work the way it was intended to. Trying to set up a system as large as this and get it moving is going to take the full two years at the least. I think the smaller outfits of the tobacco world are pulling out bc they don't have the infrastructure to handle the legal aspect of this. Maybe the smaller fish will band together into schools in time.
Bingo.

I expect the "big fish" to win a few battles worth fighting and that'll let the smaller ones work their way back into the pond.



This, by the way, is new territory for me. I'm pretty much always the eternal pessimist.
 
Usually the "law" requires that the plaintiff (that's them what makes the product!!) show that "harm" has been done by the actions of the accused (that's the scum-sucking gummamint pukes!!). As of yet, no harm, I guess. The feathers will fly in the next two years or so. :cheers: FTRPLT
 
I be interested to see an American counterpart to the STG personally.
 
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