Will 2012 Flash Drought & Heat Wave Affect Pipe Smokers?
-
Kevin Godbee - Jul 20, 2012
- 6 min read
Kevin Godbee
It’s been all over the news that the U.S. is experiencing the worst drought and most extreme heat in decades. It’s actually a "Flash Drought" because it happened so fast. The Mississippi River is drying up. Shipping Barges are nearly at a standstill, and it’s expected to get worse before it gets better. "The unusually hot, dry weather that has gripped the nation will not let up its stranglehold in the next few months, federal weather forecasters said Thursday. And that means the heartland’s "flash drought" will linger at least until around Halloween and spread farther north and east." This is according to The Tampa Bay Times / Associated Press.
As reported by The New York Times; "The drought that has settled over more than half of the continental United States this summer is the most widespread in more than half a century. And it is likely to grow worse. The latest outlook released by the National Weather Service on Thursday forecasts increasingly dry conditions over much of the nation’s breadbasket, a development that could lead to higher food prices and shipping costs as well as reduced revenues in areas that count on summer tourism. Already some farmers are watching their cash crops burn to the point of no return. Others have been cutting their corn early to use for feed, a much less profitable venture. The government has declared one-third of the nation’s counties—1,297 of them across 29 states—federal disaster areas as a result of the drought, which will allow farmers to apply for low-interest loans to get them through the disappointing growing season." Here’s the full article in the NY Times: Widespread Drought Is Likely to Worsen
PipesMagazine.com was curious as to how this may affect pipe smokers. Will there be a shortage of tobacco? Will prices increase? What about the special breed of corn used for corn cob pipes?
Bottom Line: Buy tobacco now as prices will never be lower than they currently are.
That said, the above statement is not solely attributable to the current weather problems. It is also related to anticipated tax increases. Tobacco taxes never go down. There are also possibilities that overseas tobacco growing areas will switch to corn because of the growing demand for ethanol, thus decreasing tobacco supplies from international growers.
Here in the U.S., we spoke to Chris Tarler of Cornell & Diehl, and Paul Creasy from Altadis USA. They both stated that their current supplies were in good shape because they order far in advance and maintain sufficient reserves.
However, there are no guarantees for what the future trickle down effects will be.
According to Richmond Virginia Extension Agent Brandon Sears, "Hot, dry weather could have some insects feeding in greater-than-normal numbers on crops like alfalfa, tobacco, and some vegetables. Irrigated tobacco and vegetables will be very attractive to insects like grasshoppers and stink bugs under these dry conditions. Grasshoppers feed on alfalfa stems and leaves, as well as on tobacco and vegetables. Faced with a limited food supply, adults can fly a good distance to feed. Feeding usually starts along the edges of a field. In addition, stink bugs are common pests of tobacco and tomatoes. They feed on the middle of the tobacco leaf, which can collapse the plant leaf tissue starting from that point and turn the leaf yellow, especially in hot weather. Because it takes a day or two for the leaf to turn yellow, the bugs will have moved on before producers can make an insecticide application."
More bad news comes from Katie Pratt, University of Kentucky, "In the past few weeks, plant pathologists at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture have seen numerous cases of black shank. Hot, dry conditions this summer likely are to blame. Black shank is the biggest annual disease threat to Kentucky tobacco. The black shank pathogen attacks a plant’s roots and stem and causes dark-brown to black lesions. While the black shank pathogen is most active during wet, warm weather, dry weather can exacerbate the disease. Plants infected with black shank can’t pull water from the ground as effectively as healthy plants, so they just die when it gets hot or dry. Wilting and death can be so sudden that plants remain green when they die, not showing the yellowing that is characteristic of black shank. The classic blackening of the stem from which black shank takes its name can be less pronounced as well during a drought because of the quick disease cycle."
And that’s not all the grief. In line with other concerns, Chuck Deputy, of the Switzerland County (Indiana) Farm Service Agency said, "The losses are going to be across all yields," he continued. "We’re probably looking at a 50- to 60-percent loss on the soybeans. And it’s probably one of the worst tobacco crops I’ve ever seen in the county." He said that, "excluding the producers who are able to irrigate their tobacco crop, burley producers here in the county are looking at a 60- to 70-percent loss in their crop this year."
Phil Morgan, the General Manager of Missouri Meerschaum (maker of Corn Cob Pipes) was traveling and not available for comment at press time. However, we were informed that while they desperately need rain, one saving grace is that their fields are irrigated. We will update the article if there is additional information when we hear back from Mr. Morgan next week.
While American pipe tobacco manufacturers remain calm, cool, and collected with the current stockpiles, the 2012 flash drought and heat wave is definitely having devastating effects in some areas. How this will trickle down to create shortages and potential price increases in the future remains to be seen.
UPDATE: August 7, 2012: Here is an update on the effects of the drought on Corn Cob Pipe production: Worst Drought in 50-Years Affects Corn Cob Pipe Production
|
Kevin Godbee is the Publisher & Editor in Chief of Pipes Magazine. Kevin started smoking pipes and cigars in 1998 and started an online cigar magazine & community site in 2005. (The site was acquired in 2008 and no longer exists.) He launched PipesMagazine.com in 2009, and in less than three years the site has become the largest trafficked pipe smoking related site, and the #1 Source for Pipes and Pipe Tobacco Information. In the beginning of his career, Kevin worked in the hobby and specialty toy business for 16 years in sales, marketing, advertising and product development for three different manufacturers, and with his own company. Over the last 10 years working in the online business, he has become an expert in Internet Marketing and SEO. Kevin is a Certified Master Tobacconist (CMT) through Tobacconist University, a member of Cigar Rights of America and is a "Media Member" of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association. In his spare time he sings, plays guitar, cooks, and enjoys all the wonderful places to go and things to do in beautiful downtown St. Petersburg, Florida where he lives in his penthouse bachelor pad. Kevin has been smoking pipes and cigars for 14 years. |
Written by Kevin Godbee
9 Responses
Recent Posts
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 635. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with James Ravenwood. James is the boutique tobacco blender of Ravenwood Blends. His blending started out as a fun hobby, and he now has professionally packaged commercially available products with some great tin art. Part of his interest in pipe smoking goes back to fond memories of a retired Navy Veteran that lived on his street while he was growing up that would sit in his driveway smoking a pipe all day. Later, in 2011 he began smoking pipes and soon after started experimenting with mixing different tobaccos. His other hobby, that he has been doing for 30 years, is photography. He takes wonderful photos of outdoor spaces, and still life pictures of pipes and tobacco. You can see them on his Instagram @thebriarfellowship. At the top of the show we’ll have an Ask the Pipemaker segment with renowned pipe artisan Jeff Gracik.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 634! Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Warren Ertle. Warren is an extremely accomplished musician with a PhD in music. He started early as a percussionist in sixth grade. Later his grandmother got him a cheap Casio keyboard which he taught himself to play. He started playing in blues bands in high school, and has been a pianist with jazz big bands for years. Even though he was already a professional musician, he took his first real piano lesson when he enrolled in college with his studies in classical music. He is of course a pipe smoker. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.
Soon now, supposedly, our neighborhoods will shift from grinning pumpkins, skeletons in various assortments, and zombies dashing about to pretty reindeer, angels, and flashing lights illuminating homes with sparkling stars and laughing, scurrying Santas. But, lest we forget, there is the turkey season, fancy pie aromas wafting from kitchens, and a national pardon of a big Tom Turkey. Remember, now, that only one of these holiday personalities is a pipe smoker. And that is the hefty, bearded fellow in a bright red suit sitting in a sleigh with a herd of deer hitched up and ready to streak across the globe, bringing tidings of joy and many presents. Ok, the scene is set for the next couple of months, right? So, before we get too far off the beaten path, let’s just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. That’s better, isn’t it? What’s got the Pundit in a snit is not all the Halloween spooks who came a-jostling for candy. Or the wild turkeys gobbling in the backwoods or all the fuss and feathers over the big one—Christmas. No, it is that we might need to take note of all the little things that mean so much to us. Like a good sunrise (seriously, Pundit has not gone all Pollyanna.) Mayhaps we need to appreciate more of what we have than what we have not. Or something like that. Like, a good pipe in the morning with coffee as the dawn brings us coolish weather now that we have flipped the calendar to autumn. But it also brings beautiful leaves that have become a spectacle of technicolor in the wind. It is the little things. The rereading of an enjoyable book and finding something you did not see or learn in the first go-round. Or a stunning phrase you commit to memory with the re-read, while smoking that favorite pipe. And you notice a superior puff that just seems to be different. It’s in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. It’s aromatic! Or perhaps it is that sense of satisfaction knowing and appreciating you made it to another day. With the world in a kind of rinse-and-repeat history, reminiscent of a Shakespearean play, it is perhaps a good moment to remember some of Pipedom’s philosophers whose cogent thoughts brought light to clear a path in the mists of confusion and confounding opinions. Ok. No gloom and doom. Just some down-home thoughts. Think of times in the past when history was running off the rails. It took our pipe-smoking thinkers (the mind workers of the world) to speak of better pathways to more light. Think for a moment, with a pipe in hand, these wizards of the world and word: Albert Einstein, J. R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edwin Hubble, Bertrand Russell, C. S. Lewis, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All learned and enlightened. They offered wisdom instead of storms of meaningless roads to nowhere. All while smoking their pipes! Maybe especially with the help of their pipes in the art of thinking and philosophy. Recall the words of Mr. E=MC2 when he said, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” Amen and amen! Dealing with world-rattling events takes a calm and objective view of things, to the Pundit’s way of summing it up. You just don’t go messing around with quantum physics without a calm and objective approach, methinks. Or as the extraordinary physicist Robert Oppenheimer said after he and a team in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Labs developed a way to split atoms into bombs during World War II. “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” said Oppenheimer referring to the development of the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. It must be pointed out that Oppenheimer was more of a cigarette smoker than a pipe smoker. Nonetheless, pipes were part of his personality. Now, if you have read some of the great authors of the past and present, their pipes were always nearby. Reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be a three-pipe problem at times. S. Lewis and Jean-Paul Sartre require time with your pipes to reflect on the existential problems and solutions these authors provide in learned novels and other narratives. Or take Edwin Hubble and Bertrand Russell, philosophers of another world. Pipes are required for reading. The quantum lode of ideas Pundit is attempting to sort out is that our pipes are relaxing and stimulate our thoughts and creativity. Especially in these last months of the year. Many times Pundit has had that light bulb flick on while smoking my beloved pipes. And friends in Pipedom, it ain’t easy to turn on the lights in Pundit’s rock pit head. Now it’s time for a quote from a Pipe Smoker of the Past. Shelby Foote was born Nov. 17, 1916, in Greenville, Miss., and died June 27, 2005, in Memphis, Tenn. A fact is not a truth until you love it—Shelby Foote. A parting thought: It is said that famed Southern author William Faulkner carried a packed pipe in a coat pocket wherever he went. That’s one effective way to deal with workday conflicts and confusion. A calm and objective judgment in our everyday human affairs, as the quantum man said.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 633. Our featured guest tonight is Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and the accompanying online store. We’ll have JD and Brian talking about what’s new at the store and in the business in general. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss tobacco growing, what happens to the leaf, and provide updated information on where tobacco is being gown today. Tobacco production originated in the United States and we were once the #1 producer. It’s quite different now.
Well there’s nothing like a touch of the plague to usher in the changing season. Leaving the airport just when the first advertisements for all things pumpkin spice began to appear—lattes, muffins, shampoos, trash bags, and myriad other concoctions—so, too, my ability to breathe freely disappeared. The unfortunate side effect of losing one’s sense of taste and smell for weeks is the utter inability to enjoy tobacco. Not that I consider myself an expert on anything but my own tastes, but be forewarned that this review was made with mildly impugned sensory equipment. Just when a comforting pipe was most needed, its comfort was denied. Be that as it may, the road to recovery found me limping along on one lung this past month, trying to wrest the particulars of two blends on offer from Sutliff: the latest 175th Anniversary blend, Silver Quarter, as well as their spooky seasonal Maple Shadows II. Silver Quarter is a new style on offer from Sutliff, their first coin-cut blend. Naturally a Virginia-Perique, it is enhanced with a traditional core of black Cavendish. In the tin it holds much promise, with a lightly bready and very woody, if ever-so-slightly sour, aroma. After some time acclimating to air, the bouquet softens further and offers hints of the burley with some chocolaty notes wafting through the more dominant dry grassy aspect. The tin art is of a coin-style bas-relief bust, presumably of a founding Sutliff brother, à la The Old Boss On the reverse of the tin we find the blend’s description: Reflecting on Sutliffs 175 years of tobacco excellence, we came across a brand that embodies true value, SILVER QUARTER. This name pays homage to Sutliffs roots, the legacy of two brothers who popularized pipe smoking in the burgeoning mining society of San Francisco. We celebrate this heritage with a coin cut composed of the finest African Virginias, complemented by a core of Perique and Black Cavendish. The tin notes are, forgive the pun, on the nose for a good VaPer blend: mild tart sweetness peeking out from behind dried hay and slight chocolate undertones, with a lightly tannic finish of weathered oak. It is always a joy to prepare a coin cut, my preference being to put a few in my palm and vigorously warm my hands together to fully break them apart. These well-formed discs pack and light easily, and smoke with little prodding to the end of the bowl. For technical points it scores well—it smokes light, and it’s easy to tend the ember. While it gets sharp after a few quick bowls, pacing should be heeded to easily smoke down to the heel without inviting bite. Of the flavor, though, I am left a bit wanting. There are tart and high notes aplenty, but very little of the lemony citrus I would anticipate, as well as scant midtones; they tend more toward the red wine-vinegary and sour. The flavors are muted, also, lacking the sweetness and piquancy of other marques—the small measure of Perique tickles the nose now and again with peppery hints, and there is a smidge of a deeper sweetness to be found in the Cavendish from puff to puff, but overall it lacks some dynamism. The Virginias, to my palate, come off a bit on the dry side, and here they dominate the blend. The aftertaste and mouthfeel are neutral, again evincing more of the dry, woody, tartly tannic end of the spectrum. The blend has plenty of polish, but not enough depth or richness (*yet) to make it a standout. Here, comparisons are inevitable: Luxury Bullseye Flake has more sweetness, both from its Virginia as well as its Cavendish, and a better finish; Davidoff is similar but with a pronounced umami that is absent here; as for Escudo, I haven’t had any fresh tins lately so it would be unfair to compare. While it rates as a solid, fairly mild smoke, particularly to lovers of the genre, it does not surprise with any exceptional flavors. To be fair, all the boxes have been checked for the blend to benefit from some real aging, and it would be worth checking in on this after a couple of years sealed away. I’ve set half my tin aside to sample again in a month or two, in case I’m merely suffering from the lingering effects of parosmia, and will amend this review in that case. Maple Shadows II, on the other hand, made up for the weeks of sniffling and sneezing I’d endured. Offered in a full 8 ounce tin with delightfully spooky Halloween art, it’s (hopefully) enough to last through the season. Somehow I had missed this last year, so it’s a real pleasure to get some in my candy bucket this year. As the chilling winds of autumn draw eerie prattle from contorted, deciduous limbs, we find ourselves possessed by the spirit of the season. Bewitched by a dissonant charm, we’ve created Maple Shadows. In a season that is defined by the unlikely harmony of treats and frights, we’ve joined the enchanting sweetness of maple with the earthy spice of Dark Fired Kentucky for a smoking experience that captures the senses with an otherworldly fusion of flavor. This may be the best aromatic blend Sutliff’s ever made—and they make a ton of them. First off, it’s not overbearing in the least—quite the opposite, it is also one of the more restrained aromatics they’ve ever made, with a clear but very light topping that melds oh-so-well with their choice Kentucky added to the mix. Opening the tin, the sweet maple is up front and center, but so too is the must of fallen leaves, bready pie crusts, and a crackling fire in the hearth—a perfect invocation of Herbstdüfte in a can. Packing best in an open and capacious bowl, the flavoring is subtle, and recedes to the background while puffing. With a sweet coffee or tea to accompany, the aftertaste of the maple is reinvigorated on the palate […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 632. Our featured guest on tonight’s show is the host of the Pipe & Tamper Podcast, Mike Murphy. Brian and Mike will have an extended chat revolving around the days before, during and after the Las Vegas International Pipe Show. We will hear about their travels to the show and the anxiety of Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida at the same time while running a show and not knowing if your house is going to be there when you get home. In the end, the show went great and our homes survived, although many others in Florida were not so lucky. We’ll have clips from the show, and shoutouts to other podcasts and vlogs that were broadcasting from the pipe show.
Glad to hear it isn’t immediately effecting the tobacco industry. I wish the best to all the growers both here and overseas. The rain will come. Just not anytime soon. Hurry up with the clean energy allready. We need it now more than ever. And Missouri Meerschaum is thinking ahead with the irrigation! Cool Beans. Thanks for the informative article Kevin. A true journalist. 🙂
Is there a chance that the tobacco industry will be more affected in a year or so because tobacco is aged? I’m sure there is current stock in that process of aging.
I am pleased and surprised that Pipesmagazine thought to investigate the affect of the drought on tobacco.
Sounds like we should take cellaring more seriously with this new information.
Interesting article Kevin, In my local area I wonder how climate change will effect northern Ohio grape growers and also to the east in PA and NY. Will the prime grape growing regions expand with more heat and dryer conditions? Same with tobacco, If the Ohio Valley becomes hotter might that allow for tobacco crops farther north than in the past. It seems to me that agriculture will adapt just like it always has.
Here in north-central Ohio we have had some recent rains and the corn is high. It has been very dry and more rain is needed but crops look good in my area.
That could effect my favorite pipe source. I’ve got to have my corncobs, darnnit. And they were hoping to reintroduce the Bulldog this year.
🙁
Interesting read… Having spent time in North Carolina during my active duty days I had some tobacco farmer friends. I know
that N.C. tobacco goes mostly towards cigarettes, but I’ve seen how a little unexpected weather can affect a crop. I liked
the term “Flash Drought”, I never heard it before but a great analogy for whats going on around the country and other tobacco
growing countries. We can only hope that if bad in one area, better in another. The tobacco growers are spread out pretty good
and should be able to make up for each other. But this won’t work for every product. Just imagine if Saint James Parish had a couple of bad years… We could be without Parique for quit a while in a couple of years.
Good article. I wonder if tobacco differs from other row crops in that stocks on hand for soybeans and corn are almost depleted by the end of the current growing season, so when the USDA starts to estimate lower than average annual yield data, processors and manufacturers are already starting to drive up the futures markets.
It will be lean times ahead for anyone that eats food.
My wife and I recently returned from a visit to Lilbourn, MO, which is near to New Madrid. They’ve had very little rain and the conditions are so dry that the soil is literally shrinking away from the foundations of homes causing cracks and such in the buildings. Thankfully many of the farmers in the area have been using irrigation for many years to save crops. Around here in Northern Middle TN, Conditions have not been that bad but crops of all kinds have been severely hurt. The hot, dry weather we experienced in June and the lack of rain has hurt all around. I don’t know how bad but it has been difficult for sure. It reminds me of 1988 when conditions were just as bad.
Stock up. Cost are going to go up.