St. Bruno - The Patron Saint Of Pipesmokers - (image heavy)

What can I say about St. Bruno? It's one of the most popular tobaccos ever and it has been in production for a very long time. I've loved it ever since Jimbo from North Yorkshire so kindly sent me a pouch - it had a deep meditative effect, unique flavor, intriguing taste, dark tones both sour and sweet, somewhat strong but not really stout, and it is fully satisfying.
For a while I became obsessed with it, a mania enhanced by the fact that it's so difficult to get a hold of in USA, which is ironic because in the UK St. Bruno is available almost everywhere from the local grocer to the corner newsagent, a true OTC --- I began looking around n' all that, trying to learn more about it, even as far as decoding the casing formula from old Imperial documents at the Legacy Library but even when one knows what the constitutive indgredients are, one still can't really pin down an accurate discernable description of the flavor into words, it's a very distinct yet elusive taste.
Seeing all the old advertisements and such also really did a trick on me, like the romance of that imagery lended a sort of holy aura and lifted its concept even further heavenward in my head as a legendary icon.
As of now, I'm more of a Condor man, a recent development, but I prefer Condor over St. Bruno at this point. For years this has been the case in the UK market as well, with both tobaccos continually swapping places as the best selling pipe tobacco.
Well, not much I can add really, so here's a short miscellany of found text --- but most importantly, this serves as a pictorial survey, of all the images I've collected the last couple of years. I love seeing stuff like this all compiled in one cohesive concrete block and I do hope you enjoy it as well!
St Bruno Flake was introduced in1896.
A good quick read talking the the name St. Bruno, amongst other stuff, here:

http://www.johnbarber.com/stbruno.html
"There are few tobaccos with as much 'spine' as St Bruno's. Once the pouch note dissipates a bit, there is a substantial VA base to the smoke, and a most pleasant smoke it is. For my taste preferences, I would rank St Bruno's just above Condor, and I enjoy Condor flake more than the RRd, and just below Walnut Flake, which I consider to be a superior tobacco, slightly scented but substantial and flavorful as well. None, however, can compare with the beloved Bulwark flake, which has not been manufactured en masse since the mid '80s. That was a blend of substance and taste, and all others pale in comparison."

-Bob Runowski
"Over the years I personally have noted changes to the flavour - but I accept this could be me rather than the tobacco - most notably when Rhodesian tobacco became unavailable following the declaration of UDI -Unilateral Declaration of Independence (1965)-and the embargo imposed on that country. Cheaper Malawi tobacco began to be featured and for a while Ogdens overdid the topping to mask this and the tobacco could have a taste like disinfectant."

-Falconeer
Here's some very interesting audio from former Ogden's workers:

http://voicesofpostwarengland.wordpress.com/employment/ogdens/
Mr Renshaw said: "There were around 3,000 people working here at the peak around the 1920s.
"In 1944 pipe tobacco, St.Bruno Flake, was 25p for two ozs Its now £10.10p and no doubt going up still higher in line with cigarettes. The labour party at one time omitted tax increases on pipe tobacco because it mainly affected the elderly (old boys) No longer, after a lifetime of hard work and two wars can he sit back and enjoy a pint and a puff occasionly. The nanny greedy state has passed him by."

dailymail.co.uk

BUDGET-2012-Cigarettes-37p-alcohol-cost-increases-
"Today pipe smokers generally approach tobaccos bare-handed. By that I mean they often don't have a deep notion of their history. Ostensibly it's all about the flavour so it's not a big leap to decide that flavour can be used to indicate style. It's only partially true. McCl has a signature style but could that only have come from Kansas City? We recognize a McCl Va very easily but I doubt that there is anything compelling about Kansas City. The flavour is in their processing. And their style is immediately recognizable. But I do remember smoking British blends that had something like McCl acetic acid nose; maybe not so pronounced. But we wouldn't generally think McCl made British style products. But that might really be the best analogy. They certainly seem to have broken new ground for an American manufacturer. Their style is not traditionally American.
To insist that flavour is everything might seem natural. But, let me point out that we don't do that with pipes. The tobacco makers borrowed from each other over time esp in England but their blends were uniquely theirs. That is part of what toppings were about.
The flavours are foreign to you so it's not surprising that it's difficult to separate them that way. Let me suggest a fairly accurate analogy - the multiplication tables, too, were foreign to you when you were 7 or 8. Yet we learned them and they're ours now.
I'm trying to think of a good objective reason why St. Bruno's flavour could only come from Liverpool (vs. Nottingham, Bristol, Glasgow, London, or Belfast) and I don't think there is one. St Bruno is unique but there are others in its class and they came from the other cities. In the aggregate Ogden's probably had a signature style that made them recognizably different from Players, WD & HO Wills etc but it's probably not recognizable today. Nevertheless, St Bruno has a flavour that is unique to St. Bruno. If we had a larger line up of Ogden's blends we might recognize their style."

-Rusty CPS
And now, off to the picture show.

Jason - many thanks for the kind words, and many many many many many mucho massive heartfelt thanks for you turning me on to the mighty flights of Condor, windswept under those wings I've been soaring to ecstatic heights. Your intense generosity is highly appreciated and I don't think I'll ever be able to fully repay you for it all.
Flakey - I wax the craft of dusty books whose bindings squeeze the spine right up to my skull, crinkled yellowing pages pounding in the silence of a million words and working ways toward that which is beyond all language.
And wow, that "strangely strange but oddly normal" track is a stunner, thanks mang, freakfolk right up my alley, I'm an aquarius after all, born in 1970 so I have summa that spirit 'o the times in my bones!
()
DrWatson - yep they still make it, although it's made in Denmark for Imperial it's still really good, sold in 50g pouches. Unfortunately, UK tobacconists aren't allowed to sell overseas so it's difficult to get, I've been fortunate with the kindness of UK forum friends and I will at times order from Mr Snuff who is one of the several that'll actually ship over here, you'll be shocked at the UK prices though, quite steep!

At the moment Mr.Snuff has only rr'd and no flake, he lists them under Orlik because that's who is contracted to make it...

https://mrsnuff.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=66

For quite some time it was sold over here in 2oz or 4oz tins, imported by James B. Russell and sold at normal US prices, I'm unsure exactly when it stopped being imported, but I sure wish that all the classic UK OTC's were available over here, there ain't really nothin' else like 'em...

StBruno70 -

any tasting notes on changes over the years or anything like that? You've been smoking this saintly stuff for a good long while! What was your first encounter with it like, love at first puff? Were you in England or the USA at the time? I've read that St. Bruno was amongst William Faulkner's faves and he'd have it special ordered via his local Rexall drugstore in Oxford Mississippi, so along with Balkan Sobranie, it was sitting on US drugstore shelves back then I think?
Arno -

I'm jealous of the cutter-top, but very nice of you to gift it to some well-deserving briarbrothers in the "home country"...I wish I could find some St. Bruno brand bars of soap, I'd shower every day with it! I like the flavor and find it robust, especially while drinking Earl Grey.
12pups -

indeed, we do really need to start a smuggling ring!
condorlover1 -

yeah, they call that plastic thingy a "thermo tray" and talked it up as a major innovation for maintaining freshness when they first started using it, I think they're odd too.
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Here's a great mid-60's era St. Bruno telly advert, complete with catchy jingle,

it starts at 2:05

:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcKuOMVcqfI

:

and one of the 80's one, there's several more from this era on the yootoob...

:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj47WYFADnw

:

:
Here's the leaf composition for St. Bruno:
(circa 70's)
35.0% semi-bright, medium-heavy bodied, flue-cured, USA

27.5% semi-bright, heavy bodied, flue-cured, USA

15.0% dark-fired Virginia

15.0% heavy-bodied, dark-fired, Malawi

7.5% heavy-bodied, flue-cured, Canada

:

And,

here's another quote from Rusty, when asked if he thought St. Bruno would ever come back to N. America:

We really wish for peace on Earth too. I think it may be more likely than any Imperial Tobacco brands being distributed in the US...
The interesting part is that Imperial now owns Altadis and Altadis have an active US division. But you're more likely to get a bunch more American Aro's from them.
The following is copied from the US Trademark Office. I think it indicates a TM that is being defended from any other use but not used itself in the US.
Word Mark ST. BRUNO

Goods and Services IC 034. US 017. G & S: SMOKING TOBACCO. FIRST USE: 19110000. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19110000

Mark Drawing Code (5) WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS IN STYLIZED FORM

Serial Number 72461170

Filing Date June 25, 1973

Current Filing Basis 1A

Original Filing Basis 1A

Registration Number 0987216

Registration Date July 2, 1974

Owner (REGISTRANT) AMERICANS BRANDS, INC. CORPORATION NEW JERSEY 245 PARK AVE. 10017 NEW YORK NEW YORK 10017
(LAST LISTED OWNER) IMPERIAL TOBACCO LIMITED CORPORATION ASSIGNEE OF UNITED KINGDOM P.O. BOX 244 SOUTHVILLE, BRISTOL BS99 7UJ ENGLAND

Assignment Recorded ASSIGNMENT RECORDED

Attorney of Record BREWSTER TAYLOR

Type of Mark TRADEMARK

Register PRINCIPAL

Affidavit Text SECT 15. SECT 8 (6-YR). SECTION 8(10-YR) 20050319.

Renewal 1ST RENEWAL 20050319

Live/Dead Indicator LIVE
American Brands was the descendant of the old ATC which started doing battle to acquire (what became) the Imperial family companies in 1901. American Brands was the TM owner in the US and they also owned Gallaher and all their brands (Sobranie, Cope's). In 1996 American Brands exited the tobacco biz altogether and renamed themselves Fortune Brands. That was the last time that any Imperial or Gallaher PT products were imported into the US. They also spun off Gallaher in '96 to become a publicly traded company until Japan Tobacco acquired them very recently. I think Fortune did not sell their Imperial TM's but instead let them lapse. Somebody renewed them in 2005 but who?
It is confusing.
At the turn of the 19th to 20th C. the owner of the American Tobacco Company, for whom Duke University is named, visited England and tried to buy up a number of the British family owned tobacco firms. He did buy Ogden's so the rest of them freaked - literally! They formed Imperial as a defense. That event has had an influence on many British tobaccos all the way down to modern times and it (along with other losses) is responsible for the Imperial brands not being marketed in the US for over a decade.
In 1902 The Imperial Tobacco Company of Britain & Ireland was formed out of slightly over a dozen family companies (plus they got Ogden's back from the Duke). They did it primarily for defense from acquisition which they had just experienced - thank you Duke. Also formed that year was a joint venture of both the American Tobacco company and Imperial. The joint venture is still called (not surprisingly) British American Tobacco (BAT). BAT's mission was to market ITC & ATC tobaccos OUTSIDE both of ITC's and ATC's domestic markets (ie outside the UK and the US). So BAT owned OTC & ATC TM's outside the US & UK.
BAT manufactured and sold the Imperial brands in Europe and for the most part Euro's never experienced the Imperial versions of the products unless they visited the UK. This was not licensing. The TM ownership was actually split geographically (which occurs a lot today with tobacco).
The situation in the US went bad. The ATC was broken up in 1911. A number of well known US tobacco companies emerged from the remains. American Brands was the remaining piece of ATC that still owned the Imperial TM's in the US (and they went on to acquire Gallaher as well). When American Brands exited the tobacco biz in 1996 America lost the Imperial brands as well as Gallahers (included Sobranie too). None have ever returned and it's unlikely now. In fact the TM ownership became a barrier and the situation certainly wasn't helped by US anti-tobacco litigation. Nobody who wasn't already staying the US was willing to pay the States for the privilege of marketing PT to a shrinking market. If BAT had been marketing them you'd probably still have them. The situation wouldn't be any worse than with the Dunhill's.
In 1973 BAT & Imperial sorted out TM (brand) ownership for Europe (they reverted to Imperial ownership with BAT as a licensee). But AFAIK nothing changed with the US so you lost them when the TM owner exited the biz. BAT had manufactured in Liverpool for export. Then in 1990 BAT outsourced manufacturing of the Imperial brands for Europe to Orlik. Yes, the blends changed! We had them in Canada until 2002 and I think they were only discontinued because the market was too small or we'd still have them.
The battle between ATC & (what became) ITC was probably one of the most influential events in tobacco history.

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