Thanks, STG, for shutting down the oldest pipe tobacco producer in America that was still profitable and just celebrated its 175th Anniversary, costing 40 Americans their jobs (and notifying them just before Christmas); apparently not selling or auctioning the plant equipment; and discontinuing blends and moving what little production was left to your native Denmark.This Monday 3/4 will be the end of Sutliff's operations.
Factory equipment will disassembled and destroyed
Both TP and CoJ websites will be turned off. Their phone lines disconnected.
Big thanks to all the Sutliff employees. Many memories of touring the factory in Richmond, VA for the CORPS pipe show.
Hope the staff had a farewell party. I am sure this is an emotional weekend for everyone.
It was constant there for a while, until people realized how many of their beloved blends were private label products from Sutliff.
I'm fairly new to the forums as y'all can see, but my guess is Sutliff had a superficially bad rep because Sutliff's name itself was mainly attached to "goopy aromatics"? That was my impression just from browsing their products (though I did enjoy Count Pulaski and Eastfarthing) until I discovered that they produced many other tobaccos under different names.
In the early 2010’s, Sutliff repackaged a lot of their bulk aromatics into 1.5oz tins with fabulous label art. They called it “Private Stock”. Some may have been original, singular products. “Taste of Autumn” was the first tin of tobacco I ever bought, and I liked it a lot. But apparently Sutliff had no idea how to market the line, so they started sending out samples to pipe clubs. Brilliant idea, except they didn’t send one or two tins, they sent dozens. Flooded the market with free tobacco. So much so that two things happened: 1)Nobody needed to actually buy the stuff and b)They devalued their products to the point that it was ridiculed by the self-appointed tastemakers.
No wonder Eastfarthing was so affordable despite its popular rep. And now it's gone forever...sic transit gloria mundi.
There wouldn’t be enough room on the page.
You can pretty much always say "yes" to that question.
Altadis couldn’t give their pipe tobacco away. Guys would laugh and turn up their noses at free tobacco. I was one of the few who took some home.
Good thread idea. "Name A Blend That Has IMPROVED After The Manufacturer Changed It"
You mean 80-90% of Sutliff posts on hee for the past sixteen years up until it was announced that STG was buying them? No thank you. For several years I was convinced that i was the only member here buying their products The same went for McClelland and Gawith products as well.
That makes me a little mad at myself. I bought a tin of that back in 2020 and never opened or tried it. I meant to, but just never got around to it so I never ordered more of it. When I ever do decide to crack it, I'll probably enjoy it a little more than I would have had I done so years ago.
Oh, could be. I stocked up on both Doblone and Brunello. Maybe @sablebrush52 has insights on how they’ve changed.
There were a few Sutliff advocates, myself included, who appreciated what they really did, as opposed to the largely ignorant detractors, who thought Sutliff only made over the top goopers.
