I’m an old guy who has been a pipe smoker for well over fifty years. I can remember when Granger was a broken flake, Sir Walter Raleigh a true Cubed Burley, and Balkan Sobrannie was less than two bucks a tin. In my time, I’ve smoked or at least tried a load of tobaccos, just as I’ve smoked or tried most of the newer blends (or remakes) that have appeared in recent years. And that’s what I’d like to say a few words about: tobaccos that are currently available.
In the past couple of years, I’ve begun to hear many complaints about tobaccos that are blended by some of the well known blenders, particularly American blenders. Those complaints fall into two categories for today‘s blenders: Consistency, and what is perceived as replacing high grade tobaccos with low grade rubbish from unknown sources. The first seems relatively easy to address: One of the major reasons blends are inconsistent is that manufacturers are in such a hurry to get the product out the door, they figure “close” is good enough. Time is money. They shortcut the process and turn out crap not fit for mice on the warehouse floor.
The second problem, replacing high grade tobacco with cheap tobaccos results from the same cause: The bottom line on the balance sheet. One-third of all tobaccos produced today are produced in China. Brazil and India are the 2nd and 3rd largest producers. I understand Korea is now producing Burley. The soil and growing conditions are different than Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, the Carolinas, and Ohio in these countries. And of course, all these countries outside the US use “honey wagons” of human excrement to fertilize their crops. I’m not sure that has bearing on flavor but it seems as though it would. Certainly, quality control is not what it is in the US. But again, the bottom line is cost. If I can buy tobacco imported from China at half the cost of US grown tobacco, I can stuff more money in my pocket.
As it happens, I’m one of the complainers. For cigarettes, (No, I don’t smoke them.) half or more mixed with tobacco flavored paper anyway, it might not make a difference, but for pipe tobacco, the difference is enormous. Sadly, and in my opinion from smoking many of the current blends, some of the best known American pipe tobacco blenders are guilty of both inconsistent blends and using the cheapest tobacco they can buy. And they have a lot of excuses. One of the most prominent is, “Our sources for tobacco have changed.” Of course it has. They’ve begun buying from the cheapest source they can find. As a result, that pride in their blends that was so evident, even in the “drugstore” tobaccos of fifty years ago, has gone out the window. They may as well be turning out garbage bags. It would be fitting.
One final note: I’m speaking primarily of American blenders. For whatever reason, some Danish and English tobacco blenders seem to produce tobaccos that are both consistent and of high quality.
In the past couple of years, I’ve begun to hear many complaints about tobaccos that are blended by some of the well known blenders, particularly American blenders. Those complaints fall into two categories for today‘s blenders: Consistency, and what is perceived as replacing high grade tobaccos with low grade rubbish from unknown sources. The first seems relatively easy to address: One of the major reasons blends are inconsistent is that manufacturers are in such a hurry to get the product out the door, they figure “close” is good enough. Time is money. They shortcut the process and turn out crap not fit for mice on the warehouse floor.
The second problem, replacing high grade tobacco with cheap tobaccos results from the same cause: The bottom line on the balance sheet. One-third of all tobaccos produced today are produced in China. Brazil and India are the 2nd and 3rd largest producers. I understand Korea is now producing Burley. The soil and growing conditions are different than Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, the Carolinas, and Ohio in these countries. And of course, all these countries outside the US use “honey wagons” of human excrement to fertilize their crops. I’m not sure that has bearing on flavor but it seems as though it would. Certainly, quality control is not what it is in the US. But again, the bottom line is cost. If I can buy tobacco imported from China at half the cost of US grown tobacco, I can stuff more money in my pocket.
As it happens, I’m one of the complainers. For cigarettes, (No, I don’t smoke them.) half or more mixed with tobacco flavored paper anyway, it might not make a difference, but for pipe tobacco, the difference is enormous. Sadly, and in my opinion from smoking many of the current blends, some of the best known American pipe tobacco blenders are guilty of both inconsistent blends and using the cheapest tobacco they can buy. And they have a lot of excuses. One of the most prominent is, “Our sources for tobacco have changed.” Of course it has. They’ve begun buying from the cheapest source they can find. As a result, that pride in their blends that was so evident, even in the “drugstore” tobaccos of fifty years ago, has gone out the window. They may as well be turning out garbage bags. It would be fitting.
One final note: I’m speaking primarily of American blenders. For whatever reason, some Danish and English tobacco blenders seem to produce tobaccos that are both consistent and of high quality.
