|
|
Post by Dramatwist on Jan 8, 2019 19:18:23 GMT -5
The availability of pipe tobacco right now (I don't know anything about the future) seems to me to be at an all-time high.
I realize some of us lament the lack or scarcity of this or that blend, but when I began smoking a pipe, we had only "drug store" brands, for the most part. Granted, the selection was better in the late 60s/early 70s, but nothing like what is available to us today via the internet.
I enjoy what I can get right now. If this changes in times to come, well... that what the purpose of cellaring is.
To me, things are pretty good these days.
|
|
|
|
Post by sperrytops on Jan 8, 2019 19:31:43 GMT -5
There is an incredible variety of good tobaccos today. Cellaring some, smoking others. We'll see what the future brings. Even with the disappearance of McClelland and Dunhill, and maybe Sam Gawith. Still a lot to choose from.
|
|
|
|
Post by McWiggins on Jan 8, 2019 19:32:35 GMT -5
Its pretty nice out there. Looking for a certain profile? One just has to try different blends and one is sure to fit the bill.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
Location:
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2019 19:39:20 GMT -5
My McClelland cellar is robust. We lived the best of times IMHO.
|
|
|
|
Post by roadsdiverged on Jan 8, 2019 19:49:44 GMT -5
I came to the party a few months too late for McClellend's. Same with Esoterica. I've had the chance to try quite a few and they are all good in their own respects. Hard to beat a McClellends red Virginia though.
Dunhill, I had a couple of months to stock up. I really didnt bother and honestly, I really dont care. I grabbed a few tins of Nightcap and called it good. I've found MANY other readily available tobaccos that I enjoy.
I feel that I entered the pipe world at a great time though. My mind was blown at how many different types of tobacco there are. And then from the types, you have hundreds of different blends that fit the bill. Availability and pricing are great IMO.
My cellar grows wide, and deep, just in case something does happen.
|
|
|
|
Post by kbareit on Jan 8, 2019 20:01:24 GMT -5
When I tried this 23 years ago all that was available in my area was OTC's or whatever you want to call them. Thought the same was true now until I got online and started to look around and found a whole world of tobacco. Then I found this forum and started to build a collection of tobacco from what I read from you guys and gals, some I like and some I scratch my head on but that is what makes this hobby great. I might have missed out some amazing blends that are no longer available but look forward to what is yet to come.
|
|
|
|
Post by LSUTigersFan on Jan 8, 2019 20:03:44 GMT -5
I am stacking high and deep just in case
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
Location:
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2019 20:18:08 GMT -5
With my own meager consumption these days I am good. That is a good thing cause a lot of stuff I do like is getting harder to get.
|
|
|
|
Post by puffy on Jan 8, 2019 20:31:52 GMT -5
I've been at this a long time..In the old days all I knew about was what was in drug stores and smoke shops..Now there's more blends available than I can keep up with.Yet I read that the number of pipe smokers has dwindled.I guess that means more blends for us that are left to explore.That's good but prices are on the rise.That's not so good.
|
|
|
|
Post by Cramptholomew on Jan 8, 2019 20:40:09 GMT -5
There is an incredible variety of good tobaccos today. Cellaring some, smoking others. We'll see what the future brings. Even with the disappearance of McClelland and Dunhill, and maybe Sam Gawith. Still a lot to choose from. whatchoo talkin 'bout Sam Gawith? |
|
|
|
Post by Cramptholomew on Jan 8, 2019 20:40:58 GMT -5
I am stacking high and deep just in case your last order was half a cellar's worth. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
Location:
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2019 20:43:59 GMT -5
In the past 5 years we lost a number of “ fine “ tobacco’s that’s no longer available. But I have no major problem with some of the fine blends that’s readily available. I won’t say this again.....” no better time to stock up now on your favorites “, there is no better time👍👍
|
|
sablebrush52
Full Member
Posts: 903
Favorite Pipe: Barling
Favorite Tobacco: whatever is in it
Location:
|
Post by sablebrush52 on Jan 8, 2019 21:17:54 GMT -5
My cellar is more than complete. While I might buy to replace something that I've used up, I lack for nothing in the pipe tobacco department. The sheer amount of available blends is staggering. Even with the loss of McClelland and the ersatz Dunhill blends, there are likely 10 times as many commercial blends as were available as when I started pipe smoking in the early '70's. So it's a good time, for a few more years at least, to assemble a collection of fine blends.
|
|
|
|
Post by unknownpipesmoker on Jan 8, 2019 21:30:47 GMT -5
The availability of pipe tobacco right now (I don't know anything about the future) seems to me to be at an all-time high. I realize some of us lament the lack or scarcity of this or that blend, but when I began smoking a pipe, we had only "drug store" brands, for the most part. Granted, the selection was better in the late 60s/early 70s, but nothing like what is available to us today via the internet. I enjoy what I can get right now. If this changes in times to come, well... that what the purpose of cellaring is. To me, things are pretty good these days. Yeah but the blenders seem to all be complaining about the lack of quality product as more and more farms go. I don't know. It seems good online and in SOME of the b&ms... But what I am hearing from McClelland and others seems to indicate otherwise. |
|
sablebrush52
Full Member
Posts: 903
Favorite Pipe: Barling
Favorite Tobacco: whatever is in it
Location:
|
Post by sablebrush52 on Jan 8, 2019 23:01:44 GMT -5
The availability of pipe tobacco right now (I don't know anything about the future) seems to me to be at an all-time high. I realize some of us lament the lack or scarcity of this or that blend, but when I began smoking a pipe, we had only "drug store" brands, for the most part. Granted, the selection was better in the late 60s/early 70s, but nothing like what is available to us today via the internet. I enjoy what I can get right now. If this changes in times to come, well... that what the purpose of cellaring is. To me, things are pretty good these days. Yeah but the blenders seem to all be complaining about the lack of quality product as more and more farms go. I don't know. It seems good online and in SOME of the b&ms... But what I am hearing from McClelland and others seems to indicate otherwise. Tobacconists I've spoken with say that the quality of the blending stock they're getting in has declined a bit. That may partly be due to machine harvesting replacing harvesting by hand. The harvested leaf is a mixture of ripe and not quite so much. In any event, buy what you can when you can. |
|
|
|
Post by trailboss on Jan 8, 2019 23:21:41 GMT -5
Solid advice.
|
|
|
|
Post by smellthehatfirst on Jan 9, 2019 0:48:32 GMT -5
That really puts it into perspective.
When I started smoking a pipe, the only (tinned) blends my local shop carried were Mac Baren and a handful of Dan Tobacco products.
Which is, looking back, really a pretty good selection by the standards of the day, in that neck of the woods. I'm just living in a time and place where even rather humble shops carry pretty broad ranges.
|
|
|
|
Post by Legend Lover on Jan 9, 2019 9:11:11 GMT -5
Dramatwist - while I often lament the fact that you guys are smoking stuff that is unobtainable over here (not even because it's no longer produced, but simply because I can't buy it in the UK), I also look at the amazing variety of blends that ARE available in the UK and slap myself on the face (metaphorically) at the fact that there's more than enough for me to try here. I hope that lasts for a long time and that the prices start to drop. 
|
|
|
|
Post by monbla256 on Jan 9, 2019 9:27:35 GMT -5
I feel the primary force in the appearance of "more" availability of blends is the internet. Pre web times what was available to one was what you could find in B&Ms near you or by the few mail order catalogs of the time. As the aquisition and consolidation of the older blending houses products has proceeded over time we will probably see more blends and marque's "go away" due to the diminishing pipe smoking community. This is just a fact of buisness ! Enjoy what we have now and prepare for a different future ! 
|
|
|
|
Post by LSUTigersFan on Jan 9, 2019 9:43:48 GMT -5
I am stacking high and deep just in case your last order was half a cellar's worth. If the laws go sideways, I have the patch's back! |
|
|
|
Post by kxg on Jan 9, 2019 14:31:21 GMT -5
When I came back to pipe smoking after a 30+ hear hiatus, I felt as if I had stumbled into an alternate universe of tobacco. I live a bit in the sticks and my nearest B&M in the '70s was 75 miles away. Now the nearest decent B&M is 240 miles away. But the nearest purveyor of fine tobacco is available from the smart phone in my pocket which allows me to order from most anywhere. The choices used to be quite limited, now they are nearly endless; way more tobaccos than I can smoke in the remainder of my life, even if I significantly up my game. Do I need a deep cellar? Probably not. Do I have one? I'm getting there. At some point, I need to get more realistic about what I need!
|
|
|
|
Post by sperrytops on Jan 9, 2019 14:44:14 GMT -5
There is an incredible variety of good tobaccos today. Cellaring some, smoking others. We'll see what the future brings. Even with the disappearance of McClelland and Dunhill, and maybe Sam Gawith. Still a lot to choose from. whatchoo talkin 'bout Sam Gawith? From what I read a few months back, Sam Gawith (who was originally part of Gawith and Hogarth, split off but still used G&W for blending), is now recombining with G&W. Don't know yet what the full impact of that will be. That's why, I believe, there has become a scarcity of SG blends in recent months. Will G&W release the SG lines? I don't know. |
|
|
|
Post by pepesdad1 on Jan 9, 2019 14:52:05 GMT -5
Back in the 60's I was fortunate in that the smoke shop I worked at in Coral Gables was owned by a fellow who had quite a selection of tobaccos, on top of the blends that he personally blended...so I remember the selection, but since his blend was what I preferred I didn't branch out. Many years passed by, I stopped smoking my pipes for some reason...probably the availability of that other green stuff.
Now I don't indulge in that other green stuff, and the selection of tobaccos is something that I made use of. My friend, AJ, told me to start a cellar of good stuff, cause he felt that it may come to an end, in that internet sales my come to a screeching halt.
So, with 5 years to obtain what I felt was great tobacco, I don't have to worry about the future...I stocked up on McClellands and a few aros that I liked and now with the decrease of available funds for tobacco and pipes, I'm set. While I smoke a fair amount, I feel that I'm covered for the future years when internet sales may come to an end. Nothing feels better than to have a significant stash so that smoking my pipes, which give me immense satisfaction, can continue on without abatement.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
Location:
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2019 14:54:23 GMT -5
At some point, I need to get more realistic about what I need! A lot of us have been down that road. I've thinned my cellar of many on which I turned a profit. Evil trade to purists but necessary, legal and completely ethical in a capitalistic society. It's not as if tobacco hasn't been traded for profit for centuries. I've given some away as well which somehow always gets lost in that mix. If I could do it over again, I'd pick the dozen I liked the most, cellar deep and not look back. The problem with that is I always found a new one to add to the list. My cellar is complete and I'm sure I'll be ridding myself of more as time passes. It was never about profit but just turned out that way sometimes for which I'll make no apologies. Cellar to smoke and see how it goes down the road. |
|
|
|
Post by Wolfman on Jan 14, 2019 12:37:11 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by monbla256 on Jan 14, 2019 16:27:45 GMT -5
Thanks for posting. Interesting history !
|
|
|
|
Post by roadsdiverged on Jan 14, 2019 16:42:11 GMT -5
Maybe this means I wont have to wait much longer to pick some of their blends up? It sure would be nice.
Thanks for the link Sam
|
|
|
|
Post by trailboss on Jan 14, 2019 16:56:28 GMT -5
Quote:Maybe this means I wont have to wait much longer to pick some of their blends up? It sure would be nice.
That article is from 2/2015
|
|
|
|
Post by roadsdiverged on Jan 14, 2019 17:05:51 GMT -5
Son of a .... I read the article, not the date.
|
|
|
|
Post by pepesdad1 on Jan 14, 2019 17:18:16 GMT -5
^^^yeah, Oops.^^^^ I've done that so many times, I have to laugh...it is so familiar...I get all excited about something...and then I see it was years in the past.
|
|
