Popularity of blends is hard to gauge. We talk about certain ones that appeal to our educated palates, and turn our nose up at overly-topped aromatics, but my guess is we are off on our assumptions.
Compare to beer: if you go by the forums and review sites, Hoppy IPAs and Imperial Stouts top the lists, but the fact of the matter is that Bud-Miller-Coors still dominate the market.
Back to tobacco: it wouldn't surprise me that hard to find Red Virginia leaf was costing them an arm and a leg, and while a component in their most "acclaimed" blend, the cash is to be made elsewhere. Fewer and fewer people are growing tobacco. In Kentucky, Virginia and the Carolinas, people are pulling up crops so they can plant something that still gets the federal subsidy money.
Tobacco is produce: when tomatoes are coming in season, they are plentiful, high quality and cheap all at the same time. Have you ever had a winter blackberry? Triple the price, crunchy, bitter and tasteless. Tobacco is "out of season." Supply is down, cost is up, and quality suffers.
The mass consumption of tobacco is going out of style in the first world. We will be left with a niche luxury market (hopefully). We will have to lament the loss of some of our favorites, just as we saw Syrian Latakia fade away. Hopefully, a few quality growers, and producers will stay the course. Pipe tobacco seems to play second fiddle to Cigars in the current luxury market, but because of the "stuff" that goes with it (pipes, mainly) there is profit to be made by retailers. Snuff and quality RYO should fit in here, too, but they lack the paraphernalia. I don't know the fate of chewing tobacco because of its more pedestrian reputation.
All in all, we already have compulsions to hoard as much tobacco as possible. This is an effective defense mechanism. Keep fighting the good fight.
