I was smoking out in a park today, and had to use little sticks that were laying on the ground to clean my pipe, since I didn't think to take any pipe cleaners with me. That's your biodegradable, eco-friendly cleaner.
A Look at STG Internal Documents Regarding the Mac Baren / Sutliff Buyout
- Thread starter Skippy B. Coyote
- Start date
I forget what his reasoning was. Probably to do with saving money. The thread will still be on here somewhere, it was a few years ago. Can't remember why he got banned.
IIRC, the entire thread got deleted.
Ah, that would be why I couldn't find it. Wonder why it got deleted and not locked.
Back then most out of control threads just got deleted.
Tuff Tony made a big thing out of supposedly being the oldest person on here. Iirc he said he was in his 90's.
Part of me hopes it was just some bored 13 year old kid somewhere, who thought he'd troll a load of pipe smokers by arguing with anyone who disagreed that washing pipe cleaners wasn't the best idea ever.
Hahahaha
Astute observation! That one does benefit being mixed 1:1 with a little known blend, Grammar Nazi (renamed "Grammar Knot Z" after the outcry from certain politically correct individuals I shall not name here).
Anyway, being a horse owner, I'm a big fan of the previous Bridge Mixture artwork:
The poo, the stink fumes, the flies, the "CD" branding in a place no one would EVER brand their horse...what's not to love?
Last edited:
Yeah, personally I would 110% definitely not recommend this. Have you ever smelled the inside of an ammo can? They reek of milspec paint and rubber... I'd bet my cellar that any tobacco you'd put in them in a few weeks/months would turn from whatever flavor it was to being "paint and rubber mixture" lol. Don't forget tobacco is basically like a sponge, that's how it's so easily flavoured and infused in the first place.
As an avid milsurp/military firearms collector I absolutely adore the smell of old, dank warehouse, mothballs, ballistol, and cosmoline. As a piper tho I would never want to load that flavour in my bowl and inhale it haha
Seattle Pipe Club blends are owned by Seattle Pipe Club, not Sutliff/Mac Baren.I’m embarrassed by my ignorance as it relates to the business side of all this. Forgive me if I sound really stupid, but the blends that Sutliff manufactures for other companies aren’t necessarily going to be owned by STG, right?
I’m thinking of stuff like SPC. Like in theory, SPC could try to get another manufacturer to produce their stuff, assuming there isn’t some contractual language preventing them from doing so? It would be really cool if Mr. Pease or Mr. Reeves could keep the flame alive. Honestly, Plum Pudding changed in the wrong direction after Sutliff started making it (in my opinion), so there’s definitely room for improvement from someone else.
And speaking of Sirs Pease and Reeves, since they clearly have deep passion for pipe tobacco and do what they do for the right reasons, I see an opportunity for them and others like KBV to potentially release their own homage blends to help fill the void in our hearts.
Just a couple random thoughts from a guy who doesn’t know squat about any of this
@sablebrush52 : And another pipe world scandal if my memory serves me correctly!
True, from what I've seen. But it's just the fact that there's alot up in the air rn. Maybe STG says "we'll continue to manufacture MR and PP in Denmark to relatively the same specs but all other blends must go.. and btw, your royalty will go up due to efficiency." Maybe SPC accepts this, maybe they don't. Maybe instead they end up going to C&D who will continue making all blends, but with differently sourced leaf on different equipment that ends up in a different product.
It's like how many OTC, Lane etc. blends are already made by STG but God only knows if when they close their Svendborg factory and move to Assens if that will affect the quality... not to mention their own desire to cut basically 2/3 of their skus may end up in many of those they've already owned for years being axed.
Bottom line is this hobby is at best maintaining market share if not shrinking, at least from a bean-counter mindset and this is a major signal that our current offerings will suffer for it. Ofc people like KBV will continue to innovate, but for that poor guy who only wants to smoke Voodoo Queen (Or my/my grandpa's beloved Middleton's Cherry) like he has for the last 30 years.. that holds little solace.
I think he got caught in the Condor cross fire when I inquired whether he put the pipe cleaners in with his 'smalls' on a warm cycle or whether he went for a full spin cycle and line dry in the garden.Tuff Tony made a big thing out of supposedly being the oldest person on here. Iirc he said he was in his 90's.
Part of me hopes it was just some bored 13 year old kid somewhere, who thought he'd troll a load of pipe smokers by arguing with anyone who disagreed that washing pipe cleaners wasn't the best idea ever.
Hahahaha
Lol, I've used sticks many times tho usually as tampers/bowl cleaners/matches.
Funny enough i believe pipe cleaners are biodegradable. At least the ones that use cotton instead of plastic bristles... essentially they'd be just cotton and mild steel which would just rust away like the old steel beer cans.
My dad would tell me stories about how him and my grandpa/uncles loved the old steel cans because when fishing in Canada you didn't have to worry about bringing trash back with you. Just fill it with water and let it sink to the bottom of the lake, it would completely rust away to iron dust within a few years. Whereas aluminum is forever haha.
KBV already said he’s probably closing up shop. There’s s message on his website:
If it’s true… – KBV
kbven.com
Just for kicks, let's say that SPC decides to go with STG (lots of alphabet names here) their blends will still be subject to the same conditions as if they decide to go with C&D (more alphabet) different leaf sourcing, different production line. STG didn't make their blends, Sutliff did.
As for KBV, they relied heavily on Sutliff tobaccos, and according to a statement they made, they did this more for the pleasure of it, so they very well might decide to say sayonara baby!
Not much is likely to drastically change in the near term (with the exception of Sutliff itself going poof) since tobaccos are not "just in time" manufacturing and stocks will have been built up by other blenders to keep them going for a bit. After that, who fucking knows.
And Kopp, as well as others, are still in the game. So there are going to be choices. STG probably figures less than 1% of my cellar, simply because I thought their product, with the exception of a couple of the Dunhill clones and Revor Plug, wasn't worth smoking.
EDIT: I forgot about Sir Walter Raleigh Aromatic, which is made by Lane. The 14 oz tins I have are about 11 years old, so technically those were made under STG, before they moved operations overseas.
Last edited:
The majority of my cellar is Lane/Sutliff blending tobaccos - And I have enough blended to take me another 12 years without hitting the breaks. The rest of the cellar is G&H, SG, Germains, Esoterica, and a bit of C&D and GL Pease. STG, except for Lane, never factored much into the equation. Now that Sutliff is gone, the only Lane I will be purchasing is dependent on whether the blending tobaccos they offer still exist and if C&D offers sources for Maryland, Perique, and Latakia blending leaf - which they do. Peter Stokkebye offers a few blends that are close in taste to what Sutliff makes - and I have thought about using those blends in mine from time to time to change things up. So, there are possibilities. KBV changes up its blends all the time. There is no reason they couldn't adjust unless Sutliff blends sell in bulk at a really reduced price and that was something critical to the business model.
I am curious about the component leaf Sutliff provided B&M blenders. Seems like this is a line of business C&D could expand into. Of course each house processes leaf differently so C&D might have to tinker with its process to match what was provided.
The other possibility is that STG will service these accounts via Peter Stokkebye bulk, perhaps adding some base leaf SKUs to fill the gaps.
The other possibility is that STG will service these accounts via Peter Stokkebye bulk, perhaps adding some base leaf SKUs to fill the gaps.