Where have all the good tobaccos gone?

Brothers of Briar

Help Support Brothers of Briar:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
SocWorkerSmoker

SocWorkerSmoker

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
74
Reaction score
0
Isn't there a song by that title? ;)

Anyway, recently I returned to smoked pipes after taking a long hiatus while my wife was pregnant (the smell was too much for her) and for the first few months after my son was born (just no dang time or, strangely enough, no energy). I have finally reached the point where I am thinking about creating my cellar and seriously amassing my supply. However, all the blends that I enjoyed before my break (keep in mind I had only been smoking for about 1 year prior) I can't find anymore. Ie. Esoterica Tobacciana (especially Penzance), Dan tobaccos and Samuel Gawith (especially squadron leader). Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Is there normal ebb and flows of tobacco availability and I just need to be patient until the "flow" comes again for my favorite blends? Is there something else going on that I am not aware of? Am I ever going to see these blends again? It is frustrating that when I finally start to enjoy a specific blend, I can't find it anymore.

Helping me understand this phenomena would be very helpful

Cheers
SWS
 
Pipe tobacco is a shrinking market with on-the-low-side profit margins and an acute shortage of master blenders.

Most of the great houses and blends are gone, or their names survive only as characatures of what they once were.

Available exceptions, IMHO, are G. L. Pease and Gawith/Gawith-Hogarth (England -- still producing but supplies are erratic). I would be stocking up on these.

:face:
 
Just to underline what Yak said, Gawith Hogarth is the foundation of my cellar and if I can help it, I'll have enuf for eternity! :tongue: Ken
 
Part of the problem (and pure speculation on my part) is the Taxs suffered the last few years.....

Guys stocked like crazy trying to beat the higher price.. Production ramps up.. Tax gets implemented, we slow down our purchases.. tobacconist have stocked shelves and slow orders... Slow orders causes a cut back in production.. When the stuff is gradually bought off the shelf the tobacconist places an order BUT the tobacco house has shifted to snus, shisha, or layed folk off or whatever.. It takes awhile to settle out production to meet actual demand. I am somewhat certain Gawith and Esoterica blends will come back.
 
My understanding is that the new tobacco tax (federal) was applied earlier in the supply chain. My father used to be a partner in a small wholesale company in KY, and they collected the tobacco tax when they sold to the retailer, and remitted it to the state.

the new tax evidently applied to stock already in the pipe line, so a lot of wholesalers and retailer suddenly had to pay tax on stock that they already had on the shelves, and many found this a big hit. They cut down on the level of stocking, since they did not have the immediate cash to pay for their previous level of stocking. So suddenly we have more cases of blends being o/s.

Added to this have been some problems in production, both in shortages of key ingredients for blends like the historic shortage of Syrian Latakia which we all know about, and even some African tobaccos are short due to both climate problems and political problems.
SG reportedly had a problem with compromised canning, which caused the company to have destroy a bunch of tobacco (this is not a known fact, but a rumour I have heard repeated by "usually reliable sources") causing short term supply problems.

The problem is even worse in some locales. I was recently in Florida where a local B&M owner told me that they would no longer have McClellands blend because McC had declined to ship due to the new Florida tax rules. They have seen a much higher tax jump combining the new federal and state tax increases with tins that were $10 a year ago now running $16! And evidently the Florida red tape just made McC say it wasn't worth it.
 
SG and Esoterica have been sporatic for while now. Dan tobaccos are still available from places like Pipesandcigars, smokingpipes and MarsCigars. There are a lot of good tobaccos left to buy though. Go to tobaccoreviews.com and research them.
 
PB........ now that you mention it........ well said brother, I find the same thing here in RSA, even with local crappy house blends. I am trying to get some Pete uni Flake into the cellar. A couple of months ago the stuff was to be found on every street corner. Now suddenly the suppliers are not delivering to the tobacconists!........ bye bye Uni Flake!
 
Yes, but you have that wonderful OTC Blend Fox which I tried last week for the first time and I enjoyed it very much! Wish we could get it here!
 
Strongirish........

I'm impressed...... Muddler and I despise the stuff just like you guys despise your OTC baccy:)
I will send you some brother. The reason I do not offer local stuff to you guys in the states is that is somewhat embarrassing but hey, I like Walnut so go figure!! :lol:

Many brothers here have reached out to me in deep dark Africa..... it is time to give some back!

PM SENT
 
I guess i am weird, I smoke a lot of American OTC tobaccos, love Prince Albert!
 
Piet Binsbergen":u6m5yhjd said:
Strongirish........

I'm impressed...... Muddler and I despise the stuff just like you guys despise your OTC baccy:)
I will send you some brother. The reason I do not offer local stuff to you guys in the states is that is somewhat embarrassing but hey, I like Walnut so go figure!! :lol:

Many brothers here have reached out to me in deep dark Africa..... it is time to give some back!

PM SENT
Click to expand...
Piet,

while it is true that some tobacco "snobs" look down their stems at all OTC blends, not everyone does. Obviously if you are a Latakia hound or a Perique Phreak you are NOT going to find an OTC to fill your bowl, but if you are a burley man (not a "girly-man") there are several very acceptable American OTC blends worth smoking. From the gentle all dy smoke of PA or SWR, to some real kickin' blends like 5 Brothers.

What almost everyone disdains are the super syrup blends, with gobs of "moisturizers" in which you cannot taste the tobacco and which defy any attempt to dry them out. And I will "out" myself, I can still enjoy the occasional bowl of Captain Black's Blue, White, or Gold blends. But not the dreaded Red (cherry) blend, which I swear is cased with "cherry" cough syrup.

OTC's is not common because they are bad, they are common because they appeal to large numbers of smokers. Even "quality" blenders tend to have to recognize that a whole lot of smokers fill their bowls with aros.

Enjoy,

Al (in Canada)
 
Pipes and Cigars and Smokingpipes were all out of Dan tobaccos a couple of weeks ago; so I ordered several blends, including Gordon Pym, from CuppoJoe's . As luck would have it they were out too. Been told they'll send it in a couple of weeks, but as they backed the charge out of the rest of the order, I can only hope.

It seems that over the last year or two some broader changes are in the works in regards to European imports. Think it started with the Dunhill supply to the States petering out. Maybe it had something to do with Orlik. Also have to figure that since CAO now makes their own blends, they may have stopped importing the Pipe Dan tobaccos ( since there are plenty of the new CAO's around). Still plenty of stuff out there, though. Time to experiment? Try some Pelican, some Bombay Court, or some Presbyterian Mixture ( and tell me there really IS some Latakia in it...) :roll:
 
SocWorkerSmoker":3ncf09bn said:
Isn't there a song by that title? ;)

Anyway, recently I returned to smoked pipes after taking a long hiatus while my wife was pregnant (the smell was too much for her) and for the first few months after my son was born (just no dang time or, strangely enough, no energy). I have finally reached the point where I am thinking about creating my cellar and seriously amassing my supply. However, all the blends that I enjoyed before my break (keep in mind I had only been smoking for about 1 year prior) I can't find anymore. Ie. Esoterica Tobacciana (especially Penzance), Dan tobaccos and Samuel Gawith (especially squadron leader). Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Is there normal ebb and flows of tobacco availability and I just need to be patient until the "flow" comes again for my favorite blends? Is there something else going on that I am not aware of? Am I ever going to see these blends again? It is frustrating that when I finally start to enjoy a specific blend, I can't find it anymore.

Helping me understand this phenomena would be very helpful

Cheers
SWS
Click to expand...
Did you find any Penzance yet? I am sitting on a couple of 1 year old tins and could ship you a couple you could return when available if you would like. If interested PM me.
 
How does the Escudo of today compare to the Escudo, say, of 1985? Or if not that specifically, how does the Escudo of today compare to the original blenders/co?
 
The generosity of all the 'brothers' on this forum continually amazes me. Thank you Pipes & Bikes for the offer! PM sent.

:cheers:
SWS
 
How does the Escudo of today compare to the Escudo, say, of 1985?
Click to expand...
Nothing of today compares with the Anything of 1970 other than as a parody of what it once was trading on the name of it. Dunhill, Balkan Sobranie, Rattray, Bell, Cope, Fox and the rest of them are either extinct or represented by impostors that would have been rejected indignantly 40 years ago.

The one continuing exception is Samuel Gawith/Gawith Hoggarth.

Fortunately, GLP picked up the baton where it was dropped. His body of work in blending upholds the old standard. Maybe (from what people say) Hans Schurch does also, in Switzerland. After that, there's stuff that people like, but I can't say that any of it rises to the level that GLP never misses.

FWIW

:face:
 
Al in Canada":cnmrs5lp said:
[snip] The problem is even worse in some locales. I was recently in Florida where a local B&M owner told me that they would no longer have McClellands blend because McC had declined to ship due to the new Florida tax rules. They have seen a much higher tax jump combining the new federal and state tax increases with tins that were $10 a year ago now running $16! And evidently the Florida red tape just made McC say it wasn't worth it.
Click to expand...
The law here exempted cigars from the new rules, but threw pipe tobacco to the wolves. Once Florida manages to "ramp up the internet", as it has been threatening to do for some time now, there will be nowhere else to go for pipesmokers residing in Florida. Unless they already have a lifetime supply cellared. ;)
 
I believe that there are a lot of good tobaccos still around. You just have to search around a little bit and you may be surprised to discover that the best stuff out there is in the most unlikeliest place. I give a lot of my hard earned dollars to the fine folks at Pipeworks & Wilke and Peretti's. P & W makes great English blends and their #10, #400, and #524 blends are among my favorite English/Balkan blends out there. Carole gets high quality Syrian Latakia, in addition to some wonderful Oriental leaf. Even though I despise aromatic tobaccos, I will say that her aromatics are tolerable even for those people like me only like true tobacco taste. Try her #191 or Rumcake sometime. It may surprise you! Peretti's Royal Blend is my absolute FAVORITE English blend, better IMO than any GL Pease blend I have tried. I have also tried Tashkent and some of their burleys, which all seem to be high quality. Beyond that, the folks at Uhles make some great blends and Max Engel seems to blend good stuff too, though I have never been able to get any of his blends yet. The point of this message is that I believe we are living in the golden age of tobacco right now. Don't pine over what you can no longer get and what was good forty years ago. Seek out the fine blending houses mentioned, get a variety of samples from them, and you will definitely find something that you will fall in love with. Do some research and find other blending houses out there that aren't so well known and give them a try. Pipe smoking has declined, but there are still a ton of great blending houses out there and it really is a journey, so best of luck to all else who are traveling down this road!
 
Second that Royal :)

If you haven't tried it yet you have no idea what your missing :)
 
Top