Exclusive Breaking News: Mac Baren to Acquire Altadis Pipe Tobacco Division

Wow. From what I read this a really good thing. I hope this means the supply of MB blends will be greater as well and maybe we get to see a bunch of the blends not typically offered in the US.

Fantastic news!

This is very good news indeed. By removing a division that is an afterthought from a huge Corporation, and combining it with a "Pipe Tobacco" company will be a big plus for our industry. No one is more in tune with what is going on, and Paul Creasy is a stand up guy who will now have the opportunity to "run with it".
Congrats to Paul, and I only wish him the best of luck.
Rich Gottlieb

4noggins.com

Great news. Good to see it happening. I hope they bring back some of the old blends and maybe start bringing more blends to North America that are typically only found in Europe.

I may be confusing things, but wasn't/isn't Altadis the importer of the Esoterica/Germain lines? If MacBaren is taking over the entire pipe tobacco line from Altadis, I'm curious what that means for all of the other lines that Altadis was distributing in the U.S.
Bob

Bob,
Arango Cigar in Chicago is the importer for Esoterica and Germain.
Rich

4noggins.com

Aah, thanks Rich! Good to know. . . although I got a little excited about the possibilities, should Altadis have been the distributor.
Bob

I get excited about the possibilities all the time.......and then my wife tells me to go back to sleep!!
Rich

:rofl:

I've smoked about 10 of the Sutliff blends and found them all to have quality tobacco, though some of the candy blends it's hard to tell through the topping. They do have awesome artwork fitting the blend. They use a rolled tin with a thin sprayed plastic (and crimped)which is a shame as the tin size could easily been made out of single pressed tin, joining the ranks of no fear in packaged ageing.

They use a rolled tin with a thin sprayed plastic (and crimped)which is a shame as the tin size could easily been made out of single pressed tin, joining the ranks of no fear in packaged ageing.

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I'm sorry, but could someone translate this for me. I don't think I understand one thing written here.

I believe he meant that due to the rolled and crimped construction of the tin, the structural integrity of said tin, in the long run, is no guarantee. Unlike the one piece, stamped tins design most competitors use. Making their blends a bit "risky" to cellar in the tins for too long.

I don't know squat as much as all of you, but if I were MB & bought Altadis in an aquisition, I would not retool to package differently, only relabel with the new brand.

Mr. Creasy's excitement is refreshing and contagious.

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I agree with you 100%, this might really shake things up for the pipe tobacco community. There is nothing worst than conglomerates when a niche product is concerned, and having people who know, and care, about said niche product in charge again is really exiting!

You’re right on the bottom line being choice and what lets you sleep at night without a thought of tobacco storage. I just take the number of people who actually are on forums and report problems and multiply that by a reasonable number. Whole shipments have been repackaged because of quality control. The FDA has only approved the product for sale, not storage. There just too many unknowns for me. I think the single pressed is the safest storage, though not the finest of ageing packages and the rolled tin the least reliable or proven. When the bottom line is pennies on the dollar for anything 5 or 10+ years down the line, for me it's worth it. It's what lets me sleep without a thought about my tobacco's safety and knowing all the VA's have the premium ageing conditions we have at this time.
You do get to stack up all the nice containers to look at. The tobacco that will be smoked in the next year or so, I could care less. I stack them on the shelf to look over for what to throw on the drying plates. But the true cellared tobacco, tin or jarred gets coded, sometimes I’ll tape the label or gleaned photo on the jar, wrap the tops with packing tape then into plastic lined, tightly sealed boxes not to be seen for maybe a decade or more.
It also helps with the out of mind thinking on pulling something out, I’m hurting for some SJF but won’t bust the seal on a box I know has three pounds in it. A good friend snagged two pounds for me so when my monthly TAD ability returns in May, I’ll be scooping that up and restock the rest of the rotation.
Just as a side note, especially if you’re older. Make sure your family knows what you have concerning tobacco and pipes, and what they should do with them. We tend to talk more to each other about tobacco and pipes than our family. My sons know the database and my projections, I feel very confident if I’m not here to smoke it, that they’ll know what to do with it.
Hmmm the wife though may load me on a wooden boat, dump it all on top of me, set it ablaze and push me out on the lake…

I wouldn't even bother with that. Pipe smokers are a bitchy lot, and even if you change a single word or color on the label, they'll swear to God and Heaven above that the recipe has been altered, and complain non-stop until it's "corrected".
In the pipe tobacco world, you can add all you like, but never take away (or change) unless you want to listen to 2 years of bellyaching.

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ROFLMAO! SO TRUE !!!

I'll be go to hell, Craig.
You've really got me thinking tonight.
I've collected Boy Scout patches for over forty years and have left detailed instructions of who gets what after I punch out. Also, Scouting widows have a couple of solid eBay strong performers who disperse numerous collections every year but the sellers share of the spoils are usury at best.
On the other, pipe smoking is usually a solitary activity and my family, non-pipers all, don't know squat about what I own or the tobaccos I have cached away.
As much as I love killer estate finds, I want my burners to pay my family and not be a 25 buck tax write-off in the Goodwill or Salvation Army drop off area. (My estate find, three buck 1927 Patent Dunhill should buy groceries for a few weeks, right?)
My sons love cigars and that's great. They'll divvy up my my sticks, but neither share my enjoyment of the pipe. Several of their pipe smoking buddies will get a couple of mega cool, dead guy pipes, but other than have Mrs. Fnord call PipeStud, where do I go?
Fnord

I found it funny that I didn't see an ad for either one... then I got to the bottom of the page and saw a Sutliff ad.