When I started smoking a pipe, not long after I exited my Mothers womb I was always amazed at the number of different tinned pipe tobaccos that were available even in your local corner shop or 'newsagent' as we called them in the UK. We had Gold Block, Three Nuns, Condor, Clan, St Bruno as well as the expensive top shelf ones like Balkan Sobranie. Add to that the various Players offerings like Gold Flake, Capstan Blue and Red in natty round tins, Erinmore, Mellow Virginia to name a few. If you journeyed a little further into an old world tobacconist you would find the various black twists, plug tobacco along with such exotics as Warrior Plug, Yachtsman Plug and even red tins of a brand called Bondman. Sadly pretty much most of the interesting stuff seems to have vanished, a victim of rationalization and the ever increasing demands of the anti smoking lobby to banish smokers to corners of pub gardens. Does anyone else have fond memories of these vanishing blends?