I can't say I've seen you make as impassioned a response as that before, Jim. You saying "That's crap." had more impact on me than a florid string of profanity would from anyone else.
@UkuleleDude67 I agree completely, always consider the source.
@Davy I've seen one of these "piping pundits" whip out a torch lighter to start his bowl and then complain about the charred flavour of the tobacco he was reviewing. I refuse to acknowledge You Tube as a reliable source for anything but slap-stick humour.
Yeah, that's strong and unusual for me on forums as I greatly prefer to be a benign presence, but this subject got a ton of play years ago. Sutliff made a couple of public statements on the subject at the time. To hear of somebody who can't be bothered to research the subject, but claims to know what he's talking about as he misinforms the public due to snobbish dislike and ignorance of a company does us all a disservice.
One thing that does bug me is when people go after a company simply because they don't like them or their products. It's one thing if there's a real and documented problem, e.g., the early releases of Mac Baren Old Dark Fired where rust developed in the tins within a couple of years or so due to the vinegar binder in the tobacco. People needed to know about it, and Mac Baren changed the binder so it wouldn't happen any more once they found out about it.
For years, it used to be the "hip and cool" thing to bash Sutliff on many pipe forums for using cheap tobacco. When I'd see that, I would ask what they thought was good tobacco. 70, maybe 80% of them would list blends that they loved that had Sutliff tobacco in them or were made by Sutliff. I would always point that out to them. I heard lots of crickets from lots of bashers who were unaware.
Here's my favorite example of that:
One guy who trashed Sutliff tobacco said, "Why don't they use the same quality of tobacco that is in Russ Ouellette's Hearth and Home blends."
I answered, "All the H&H blends are made with Sutliff tobacco." [Btw, it's not true now, but it was when this debate happened.]
The guy wrote, "I didn't know that. I've never smoked the H&H blends. I was just making a comparison. Guess it was a bad one. Thanks for the schoolin', Jim."
As an analogy: all my years in comic books as a retailer and then a professional taught me that every writer, every artist, and every character is somebody's favorite. Why knock a blend or a company if you don't like it? We can't all like the same things. It's much better to allow people their happiness, especially when they want the same allowance in return.
