Outflanked but Not Outdone
-
Kevin Godbee - Mar 7, 2017
- 5 min read
Fred Brown
In the four decades I first discovered the joys of pipe smoking, I have learned that life changes when you aren’t looking. Leave the room and when you return, something is missing. Like your favorite pipe tobacco!
The older I become, the more I understand that getting older is far more desirable than not getting older.
No, really, putting age between the ears provides you with some brain cells you didn’t know you had, especially when you were in the wild flames of youth.
For example, I don’t scorch my tongue with cheap tobaccos any longer. Nor do I puff my pipes like an overworked engine today. In fact, I don’t do many things I once thought important, such as staying out all night in all the wrong places.
Now, back in the day, say, the early 1960s, Dunhill pipes and tobacco blends were the standard of excellence and beyond the personal economics of a poor college student, an English major with Pulitzers dancing in his head.
Those days were also the heyday of "codger" tobacco blends, the Prince Albert, Barking Dog, the Country Doctor, Graingers, Sir Walter Raleigh, Carter Halls, Walnuts, etc.
These were the tobaccos of many of my professors, the tweedy set, who smoked during lectures, as did we students.
In the lexicon of those legendary brands, there was an outlier, Duke’s Mixture, a roll-your-own cigarette leaf, that some old-timers also smoked in their store-shelf pipes.
Envision the image of the bibbed-overall farmer in this picture, pulling open a cloth tobacco bag, stuffing Duke’s Mixture into a cheap pipe, and yanking the bag drawstrings shut with his teeth.
Duke’s Mixture, so the historical record says, was named for James Buchanan Duke, the bazillionare owner of American Tobacco in the early 20th century, and the reason British American Tobacco (BAT) exists today.
History relates that American Tobacco and Britain’s Imperial Tobacco decided not to sue each other out of existence over territorial sales. So, they joined in partnership creating BAT to capture the global tobacco markets outside of America and Great Britain.
Duke, American Tobacco, and BAT are stories for another day, but BAT is known now as one of the largest cigarette manufacturers on the planet and owning the Dunhill pipe tobacco blends, as well as Dunhill cigars.
As pipe smokers have learned, at times the hard way, tobacco blends come and they go. Some blends get sold off, never to appear again, or come out of the shadows in some odd-ball iteration, a witch’s brew.
And, then, some of the remakes are not so bad, as witnessed recently with new/old blends resurfacing to popular review.
Dunhill, for goodness sakes, was launched on Duke Street in London. Alfred Dunhill hand-blended his pipe tobaccos. What could be more solid than this history?
Dunhill cigars have been prized by prime ministers and those who dream of greatness.
Let your imagination fly away for a moment and visualize the blustery image of Sir Winston Churchill walking along Duke Street (I said, let your imagination roam freely), in the St. James’s area of the City of Westminster, and ducking into Dunhill’s tobacconist for his Romeo y Julietas? Alfred is there, smiling.
Alfred Dunhill was a man of his times, a bespoke pipe tobacco blender, who also had deep, personal connections to Cuban cigars. The time was around World War II when if you saw Sir Winston, you saw his cigar.
In fact, it seemed as if he were being led around by his cigar. Sort of bulldoggish, which of course suited the times.
Now fast-forward 70-plus years. Those legendary pipe tobaccos and cigars of Sir Winston Churchill (and, of course, many, many other famous souls of that dear time) is said to be passing into the history books based on a business decision by BAT.
As much as we’d like to think pipe tobaccos and cigars are an important part of the tobacco economy, they represent a tiny fraction of the market.
But just to give you something to chew upon, from January 2016 to December 2016, the sale in pounds of tobacco rose more than 1,000 percent, increasing tsunami-like from 2.8 million pounds to 36.8 million pounds.
These numbers hail from the Department of Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
That’s a lot of leaf. And you must ask yourself, what was driving the monthly increase? Glad you asked.
What the numbers show rather definitively is that from January 2016 to December 2016, there was a steady monthly increase of from 3-to-4 million pounds of pipe tobacco sold in the U.S.
And another thing. . . .
Naturally, I have a couple of ideas of why this beautiful leaf was being purchased in such great amounts: My theory is that in 2016, pipe smokers began to feel the hot breath on their necks from the Food and Drug Administration’s deeming regulations.
Hoarding became the revolution’s mantra. Everyone not only feared the new add-on and unnecessary regulations, but also pipe smokers were also attempting to get in front of the FDA.
In 2018, many of our beloved tobacco brands not being sold on or before February 2007, will disappear, or face steep economic sanctions in order to survive. By any other name, this is a ban on pipe tobacco.
Pipe smokers may be contemplative sorts, but they do know how to hedge their bets.
Plus, more and more young people, shall we call them millennials, are no doubt coming to the hobby. It fits right in with the millennial lifestyle—pondering their hands most of the day, using a smartphone to text with other millennials, and not really giving a hoot what fogeys pushing 50 think.
The pipe fits right in with that self-absorbed lifeform.
What surprises me somewhat is that some of the really big fish in the tobacco manufacturing pond are not looking at this younger demographic and seeing green things sprouting from their pockets
Why should the tobacco world let the FDA completely destroy our way of life? This is worth fighting for.
Surely there are enough of us to make some sort of sound that congress will hear. It will take an act of congress to overrule the FDA.
I know that is a tall order, but pipe smokers vote, too. Maybe a tobacco town hall would work!
Uh, on second thought, the politicians wouldn’t show.
Another notion is to write your congressmen. I’m not a fan of writing letters to congressmen because I think only congressional staffers are stuck with reading them and then printing out an impersonal form letter, if there is to be an answer.
So, hoard, hoard, hoard.
Hoping all this will suddenly go away is not a good tactic.
We have already been outflanked.
|
|
Written by Kevin Godbee
8 Responses
Smokingpipes.com Updates
2 Fresh Wandi Riyadi Pipes |
18 Fresh Estate Pipes |
12 Fresh Radice Pipes |
3 Fresh Bill Shalosky Pipes |
9 Fresh Dunhill Pipes |
Recent Posts
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 641. Our featured interview tonight is with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl and is featured in our recurring series, “Ask the Tobacco Blender”. However, tonight he will be the interviewee as we learn about how he became a pipe smoker and collector, when he got his first pipe and how he progressed from there. At the top of the show, Brian will have a review of the rare German tobacco blend, Tumblin’ Dice.
I remember the first time I heard someone else say it. “How many pipes do I need? Just one more.” It’s glib, sure, a bit of a joke, but it also rings a bell of truth, at least to me. I certainly have “enough” pipes, but pipes are seductive little things. Just when we think we’re all set, we have enough, another will come along that tempts us beyond any sense of reason. I suppose it’s the same way with any sort of collecting. There’s always another white whale we’re in pursuit of. When we finally track that one down, though, another will almost inevitably breach the surface, taking its place as the new object of our desire, enticing us to change course and set sail once again. But, there’s a potential problem with having a lot of pipes. Maybe. The more pipes we may have, the harder it can be to keep them in rotation. It makes sense. We tend to gravitate towards our current faves, the ones that most appeal to us for whatever reason, and sometimes, maybe they stay in rotation longer than they really should. The side-effect of this, of course, is that another favored pipe might end up too-long forgotten. That’s exactly what happened recently. Exhibit A: The Castello pictured is one that has been long overlooked. It’s a Trademark shape #55. It’s a really nice example of the shape. The red pearlized stem is beautifully done. The wood isn’t really anything special to look at, but it’s evenly covered, without any bald spots. When I look at it, I wonder why it wasn’t done in the more typical dark ruby-red finish that adorns most Trademarks. I’ve seen a great deal of variation amongst the grade over the years, including one really nice bent-bulldog that left the factory with a brown sandblasted finish. (For those who don’t know, Trademark has long been the lowest Castello smooth grade, usually finished in a dark red.) Was this a stamping/grading error, or is there just more leeway in the grade than we’ve come to expect? I might never know. This example is from the early 1970s, maybe even the late 1960s, identified by the upper case Ks in the grade designation. (On Sea Rock and Old Antiquari pipes, the Ks reflect the size, while with the smooth finishes, Trademark, Castello and Collection, the Ks represent the relative grade.) It has been living in a different rack than the one housing the majority of my #55s. I don’t recall why I put it there, but as many of us can relate to, rack space is often at a premium. I stumbled upon it while looking for something completely different. “Oh, you? Why are you there? I remember you smoke pretty well.” Yeah, I sometimes talk to my pipes – one of many quirks, I suppose. I won’t begin to worry until they start talking back. I grabbed it from the rack, dusted it off, and decided to give it a fill with a bowl of a slightly aged VA/perique blend, Telegraph Hill, from 2018. What a delightful smoke! At five years, the tobacco is expressing a lot of the complexities of aged Virginias and the perique adds a delightful fruitiness. When young, the composition is a bit brighter, maybe a little spicier, but time has polished any edges, and amplified the sweeter notes. Like the pipe, I’d forgotten about this blend for quite a while, but one evening in March, after chatting with my good friend Nate, who is quite a fan of it, I decided it might be time to revisit it. I got a couple of fresh ones, and excavated a couple older tins from the library. I normally reach for Fillmore when I want a VA/perique thing because of its boldness and depth, but in revisiting this one, I’m finding something soothing and comfortable about it that I’ve really been enjoying, both young and aged. Sticking with the theme of the forgotten, and as a perhaps interesting tidbit to the photographically inclined, I shot the pictures for this month’s column with my old Nikkor-O 35mm/2.0 mounted on my trusty Nikon Df. The last time I used this lens, it was adapted to one of my Fujifilm bodies, and I didn’t care much for the results, so I put it away and pretty much forgot about it. But, I’ve recently been exploring some of my old kit, deciding what to keep, what to pass along, and this one once again came to my attention, kind of like that old Castello. On the Df, there’s something about its vintage rendering that I find truly appealing. Another forgotten treasure, and just like with that old pipe, it seems that, at least today, everything old is new again. If your collection is on the large side, are there pipes or tobaccos that you’ve all but forgotten, only to come back to them one day to find yourself wondering why? Maybe it’s just another fun dimension to this endlessly fascinating journey.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 640. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Ben Rapaport. Ben has been known internationally as an avid pipe smoker, antique pipe collector, and book author. His first book on pipes was published in 1972, and his latest book – his 10th – is out now in very limited quantities. The distribution has already sold out, but you can still get a copy of “The Wide World of Wood Tobacco Pipes. Two Centuries of Craftsmanship and Creativity” by contacting him directly at ben70gray@gmail.com. At the top of the show we’ll be turning the tables on our recurring Ask the Pipemaker segment. This time, Jeff Gracik will ask the questions, which Brian will answer as a pipe collector, and you can give your answers too.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 639. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Per Billhäll. Per is the owner of Scandinavian Pipes, which is an online retailer of high grade pipes. He started smoking pipes in the 1960s. His first high grade pipe was made by Hans “Former” Nielsen, who is one of the living legends from Denmark. That led to Per becoming a huge pipe and tobacco collector, and show attendee where he became well known. Along with pipe book author Jan Andersson, they started The Pipe Club of Sweden in 1991. Then in 1999, Per started “Scan Pipes”. He is now one of the pipe retailing legends from Sweden. At the top of the show Brian will talk about holiday blends, and other special pipe tobacco blends.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 638. Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Fae “The Sassy Pipe Lady” Simmons. Fae is the owner of Tobacco Treasures, which sells new, vintage, & estate pipes, and smoking accessories on Etsy. She has been in business since 2017, and has been surrounded by pipes and tobacco most of her life. Her father and his brother smoked pipes, and so does Fae. Her husband is also a retired tobacconist that worked all over the industry from coast to coast for several different companies in the industry. She has a great story of how her business got started with a great inventory of unsmoked vintage pipes. 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.
Ok, so it’s that time of year, as we all know. Family feasts, houses, yards, and big trees festooned with lights and dangling ornaments, just high enough to keep the cats from reaching a paw into the greenery. It’s also the time of year when your pipe-smoking-significant other makes vast hints about a new pipe. That’s to be expected since he or she was a good boy or girl during the year. Yes, ladies smoke pipes, too. Oh, you want an example? Okay, try Actress Greta Garbo, Millicent Fenwick, Mary Frith, and my late grandmother (who died when she was 93) dipped snuff and smoked a cob occasionally. So now that we have settled that the gentler side of life will puff a pipe too, let’s move on to the upcoming biggest holiday of all. Of course, that huge event is brought to us by the hefty fellow in a red suit, puffing his pipe all the way in a sled filled with presents, being led by a reindeer with a red nose. Or some such. That’s Santa Claus, of course. Becoming a bit more serious, Christmas is such a wonderful time for families and friends. It’s also quite special for pipe puffers. For many of us, this brings up a nostalgic look back to our pipe-smoking or cigar-smoking friends who have died during the current year. A great journalist pal whom I often joined in a local brick-and-mortar pipe and cigar shop. I puffed my pipe, and occasional cigar, as he enjoyed a cigar. He died in October and will be missed. On the happier side of things, Christmas is also a time when mind workers of the world renew their collections with fresh additions. Pundit included. A French passion has overtaken Pundit, from reading more Albert Camus, a heavy cigarette smoker, as were many French intellectuals of a certain time. Instead of cigarettes many of us prefer the more relaxed enjoyment of pipes for that “calm and objective judgment” in the comings and goings of the world. This brings me to French pipes. While visiting France once in the long ago, I happened by a “Tabac” shop in Paris, Tabac Des Vosges. I purchased a beauty of a Chacom bent. I also later bought a Ropp made from ancient briar. To learn more about the dawn of briar pipes and beginnings, take a peek at a well-done piece by Davin Hylton in Pipe Line on April 12, 2023, on Saint-Claude, France, the birthplace of briar. Also in the long back when, on a cold Christmas afternoon, Pundit wandered into an Atlanta bricks and mortar pipe shop to look around. There, resting in an enclosed glass counter was an exquisite Comoy. An older gent, smoking a beautiful bent, asked me if I wanted to look at that pipe. It had a $100 price tag. A college student working for a grocery store chain to help with college tuition at the time, Pundit didn’t have one hundred cents, let alone a C note! I declined and found a $5 basket pipe. A Christmas tradition had just begun. Since that early time, Pundit has made it a holiday ritual to either reward himself, or a special friend, with pipe or tobacco. A Claudio Cavicchi would be nice. Just sayin.’ And now for a couple of December-born Pipe Smokers of the Past: Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born on Dec. 30, 1865, and died on Jan. 18, 1936. I always prefer to believe the best of everybody; it saves so much trouble—Rudyard Kipling. Martin Van Buren, born Dec. 5, 1782, and died July 24, 1862, U.S. President, 1837-1841 As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it—Martin Van Buren. And one more note to recall a deceased World War II veteran who loved William Somerset Maugham, the author. Maugham, a pipe smoker, was born in Paris, France, on Jan. 25, 1874, and died on Dec. 16, 1965. One cool afternoon as the veteran and I talked while sitting in his backyard patio, he looked off into the distance as if studying something. Nothing in particular. Just looking. He turned to me and said if I wanted to learn about life, “read Somerset Maugham.” I did. It wasn’t until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say, ‘I don’t know’ –W. Somerset Maugham And now a Parting Shot: Any day with an old friend with pipes and tobacco is a good day.
I’m from Duke country so have seen the estate and town houses of that dynasty as well as the university they founded and funded. Quite a barony. I’m prone to fits of optimism, so I doubt all the pipe blends will disappear on cue, nor that a steady selling brand like Dunhill is going to evaporate. Okay, I may lay in some Dunhill bulk in big canning jars as a hedge, but sometimes when the sky is falling, that just means a little rain.
Good article.
As I’ve been saying and doing for some time, we need to stock up especially our favorite blends.
They might not be here tomorrow.
A smart piper is one who is planning for tomorrow. If not for the blends he enjoys today, keeping them for personal smoking prosperity, to buy them for tomorrow for when they may not be around. Are your cellars ready for the tobaccocalypse? Start stuffing your cabinets, shelves and coffers now. If it ends up being much ado about nothing, you’re set for a while. If it turns out as bad (or worse) than expected, you’ll be sitting pretty. Provided you can afford to get what you can and you’re storing everything properly, there is no downside.
There is a reason I keep almost 1100 cans of tobacco in my pipe room. If it does remain on the market, the vultures in DC will get around to taxing it until it becomes a luxury item.
Excellent article thanks for sharing! So much truth to this and I’ve been exercising your advice since 2010. I will continue to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. I look forward to reading more articles from you.
Thank’s for the article, I found it very interesting.
Well said. In the 1950s, when I started smoking the very best tobacco available was Balkan Sobranie, not Dunhill. Dunhill’s best was 965. It was a different tobacco from the 965 of today. Much smoother and tastier. Both cost about a dollar an ounce, canned. Dunhill was still mixing tobaccos to order. I forgot the number of my own mixture, but it wasn’t very good. A trip to Dunhill’s was fun. They were on 51st, as I remember, and Fifth Ave, across from the cathedral. The first floor was for pipesmokers, the fourth floor for cigars. Years later I had my own humidor on the fourth floor. The guys who worked there unwrapped the cigars so they would age better, and you stored and aged them at the store, no charge.
As far as the availability and cost of pipe tobacco, I agree it is necessary to have a large stash. I have more than a lifetime of tobacco in cans, dated. About 1100 cans, many double sized. I do expect increased taxes and even possible unavailability.
Well, Fred, you seem to be pretty sure about your math… yet, go on and read again and you will see that your numbers don’t add up at all. Is it not a job of a journalist to double check? I would say, it is. No, I would even say it is what a journalist insist on doing before publishing anything. Anyway, if you’re still not convinced going over the numbers again, why not contact TTB or your math teacher directly?
Now, I am far from being anything like a math genius, but hey, that’s as far from a 1000% increase as is my pay check raise. Unfortunately for me.