I am in the UK for a short trip and of course will visit a pipe shop as long as I find some time off. There are a few discoveries:
First of all, the specialty pipe shop I visited (http://www.yell.com/biz/herbert-love-aberdeen-aberdeen-7185763/) that has even its own blends do not have any Condor or St. Bruno tobaccos. The tobacconist there said those are OTC blends that they cannot compete with the supermarkets in terms of pricing.
Then I asked him to pick one out of two plug tobaccos for me - "Murray's" Warrior Plug vs Mick McQuaid (http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/pj-carroll-dundalk-ireland-tobacco-co-mick-mcquaid-gtimage-heavy). And he recommended Mick McQuaid as a quite good tobacco. While he didn't say anything bad about the Warrior Plug, he did evaluate positively about a few other tobaccos. Out of many brands, he seems to have a lot of faith for Samuel Gawith and J. F. Germain.
Of course, I still got the St. Bruno Flake and the Condor Long Cut in the grocery store. And it reminds me that I am relatively lucky to be a pipe smoker living in Germany, in terms of the cost of tobaccos
- 12-14£ / 50g in the UK
- 8-14€ / 50g in Germany
- $8-11 / 2 oz in the US (I hope it is still true as of today)
All I can say is those 'deterring level of tax' are already in effect in the UK and in EU. However, as long as the passion of pipe smokers last, there is still one way or another to get our hands on nice tobaccos.
:puffpipe:
First of all, the specialty pipe shop I visited (http://www.yell.com/biz/herbert-love-aberdeen-aberdeen-7185763/) that has even its own blends do not have any Condor or St. Bruno tobaccos. The tobacconist there said those are OTC blends that they cannot compete with the supermarkets in terms of pricing.
Then I asked him to pick one out of two plug tobaccos for me - "Murray's" Warrior Plug vs Mick McQuaid (http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/pj-carroll-dundalk-ireland-tobacco-co-mick-mcquaid-gtimage-heavy). And he recommended Mick McQuaid as a quite good tobacco. While he didn't say anything bad about the Warrior Plug, he did evaluate positively about a few other tobaccos. Out of many brands, he seems to have a lot of faith for Samuel Gawith and J. F. Germain.
Of course, I still got the St. Bruno Flake and the Condor Long Cut in the grocery store. And it reminds me that I am relatively lucky to be a pipe smoker living in Germany, in terms of the cost of tobaccos
- 12-14£ / 50g in the UK
- 8-14€ / 50g in Germany
- $8-11 / 2 oz in the US (I hope it is still true as of today)
All I can say is those 'deterring level of tax' are already in effect in the UK and in EU. However, as long as the passion of pipe smokers last, there is still one way or another to get our hands on nice tobaccos.
:puffpipe:
