Dan Tobacco Re-Introduces Old CAO Blends

By Bob Tate

I have just found out that Dan Tobacco Manufacturing (DTM) has re-introduced the old CAO “U.S. Revolutionary Themed” pipe tobacco blends.

After speaking with Russ Ouellette from Pipesandcigars.com and Rich Gottlieb of 4noggins.com, I have received this information about the blends available from Dan Tobacco.

These are not old stock tins; they are new stock tins that are being manufactured and are now available for purchase. From what I have been told, they are the original tobacco blend recipes with the original tin art. The only thing that has changed is that they are no longer produced by Dan Tobacco for CAO International. They are produced by Dan Tobacco for Dan Tobacco. The blends became available about two weeks ago.
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Interview with Tim Ozgener, President of CAO International

By Bob Tate

We’ve been intrigued with rumors circulating around the pipe community that CAO might become the new distributor of Dunhill pipe tobaccos in the USA. There have been comments that CAO would increase its presence in the pipe tobacco business in 2010, rumors of new tobaccos, possibly bringing back the old CAO tobaccos, CAO meerschaum pipes and possible Dunhill distribution.

We had a great conversation with Tim Ozenger, President of CAO International (he’s a very friendly and accommodating chap). We talked about the aforementioned rumors and a few other things. Find out which rumors are true and which are not. So without further ado, here is our conversation with Tim:

PipesMagazine (PM): Tim, at the beginning of 2009, there were a lot of rumors that CAO was getting out of the tobacco pipe industry. Is it true that CAO made the decision to no longer be involved in the pipe industry or was it more related to Scandinavian Tobacco Group merging with CAO and there being a switch from Dan Tobacco to Scandinavian Tobacco Group?

Tim Ozgener: Well, Scandinavian Tobacco Group acquired CAO and in the acquisition they stated that they were in the cigar business and were not interested in pipes, although they are the largest producer of pipe tobacco in the world. So pipe smoking is still of interest to them, but they wanted us to focus more on cigars and pipe tobacco in the future instead of pipes. My father retired from the business, but still has some pretty tight relationships with some of the more important carvers in Turkey and he continues to purchase pipes from these carvers in Turkey. It was just made clear that that was not a part of CAO and more of, a kind of, personal decision. So my father has continued to receive pipes from these carvers. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Tobacco Milonga - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

The tin aroma of this blend is a heavy caramel and vanilla aroma, caramel being a little more prominent than the vanilla. It smells almost like a caramel-vanilla flavored cup of coffee. The moisture was good for smoking right away, but a little drying time might not hurt. The tobacco is more of a ready rubbed and a little chunky. I didn’t rub it out any, I left it the way it was, loaded my pipe, and proceeded to the charring light.

On the charring light I was greeted by a lovely vanilla aroma with a hint of caramel to it. The vanilla also was more prominent in the taste as well. This surprised me a little as the caramel was more noticeable in the tin aroma. I finished lighting the pipe and settled in for the smoke. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Tobacco Sweet Vanilla Honeydew - Pipe Tobacco Reviews

By Bob Tate

This is a blend that I have smoked in both the tinned and bulk versions. Both of them are exactly the same. The moisture content is perfect for smoking right out of the tin or pouch. The tin aroma is very nice. There is a nice sweet real vanilla smell and I think I picked up on a hint of chocolate as well. I do not pick up on any honeydew in the aroma. What I mean by a real vanilla smell is; the vanilla is like vanilla bean or a high quality vanilla extract, not a chemical vanilla smell that is associated with the cheaper tobacco blends.
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