A Look at STG Internal Documents Regarding the Mac Baren / Sutliff Buyout

[filmguerilla]

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.

Yeah, I'm with you here. I know that Peretti has been using C&D for a lot of their blends and I'm betting that Boswell's, Country Squire, etc. will probably try to follow suit. If they truly use raw blending tobacco to make their stuff there should be minimal problems. I assume they aren't like my local B&M who just renames Lane blends for their stuff or KBV who takes existing blends and supes them up.

 

[wyfbane]

Yep and the reason I won't touch SPC blends.

I've got what I've got, but will never buy from them.

 

[wyfbane]

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.

Reminds me of Good Morning Vietnam

• Adrian Cronauer: Excuse me, sir. Seeing as how the V.P. is such a V.I.P., shouldn't we keep the P.C. on the Q.T.? 'Cause if it leaks to the V.C. he could end up M.I.A., and then we'd all be put on K.P.

 

[andrew]

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!

KBV is a one man operation. It started aa a hobby for reddit users, it took off, but always extremely limited. He's done

 

[Chasing Embers]

KBV already said he’s probably closing up shop. There’s s message on his website:

If it’s true… – KBV

kbven.com

Sad to see it close. Luckily I've got many pounds of Sakura and Yoshimi's Out Shine.

 

[sablebrush52]

KBV who takes existing blends and supes them up.

KBV hasn't done that in many years. That was only at the very beginning. They blend their own from component leaf, just like the rest of the big boys.

 

[sablebrush52]

KBV is a one man operation. It started aa a hobby for reddit users, it took off, but always extremely limited. He's done

I just read the statement. He's not quite done, he's going to see how many months he can continue to produce his blends based on what he has and what he can get. But, yes, he's going to be done.

 

[sablebrush52]

@sablebrush52 : And another pipe world scandal if my memory serves me correctly!

Are you referring to Gary, the town Shrier?

 

[NookersTheCat]

KBV already said he’s probably closing up shop. There’s s message on his website:

If it’s true… – KBV

kbven.com

Huh wow I thought that was the dude on here (or maybe it was the den where I just lurk) that was saying he was gonna get a press and expand etc... I guess I was thinking of someone else. I did know that KBV put out a release saying most blends would be affected, good info thanks.

 

[NookersTheCat]

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.

Well pin a rose on your nose lol, congrats but many others are going to be affected. And I still think it's part of a trend that's going to lead to more than what many first assume either getting canceled or changed.

Since this happened I've been reading more and more about how hard of a time all these manufacturers are having including GH etc. Just think about how much cheaper this stuff used to be just 5 years ago even. I've only been smoking for a little over a decade but even I remember not only how much more availability there was but better quality for much less $.

Even if it's indirectly it affects us all. Not to mention the hundreds losing their jobs. It's not Armageddon but it's also not wrong to lament it imo.

 

[sablebrush52]

Well pin a rose on your nose lol, congrats but many others are going to be affected. And I still think it's part of a trend that's going to lead to more than what many first assume either getting canceled or changed.

Since this happened I've been reading more and more about how hard of a time all these manufacturers are having including GH etc. Just think about how much cheaper this stuff used to be just 5 years ago even. I've only been smoking for a little over a decade but even I remember not only how much more availability there was but better quality for much less $.

Even if it's indirectly it affects us all. Not to mention the hundreds losing their jobs. It's not Armageddon but it's also not wrong to lament it imo.

Well Nookers, somebody’s got to have standards.
I’ve been smoking pipes for over 50 years and you haven’t any idea of the loss in quality, with a few exceptions.
But people imprint on what they experience so my frame of reference, and yours, aren’t theirs. As long as they like what they smoke, that’s what counts, not what I, or you, think of it.
Prices have gone up on everything forever.
I agree with you that the situation is bad. Complain to the bean counters in Assens.
In 2016 we had close to 7000 blends to choose from. In the 1970’s, when I took up the pipe, we had a fraction of that, but there was more variety because there were more individual manufacturers with their individual takes on blending.
It wasn’t a few conglomerates masquerading as disparate brands.
So any further loss is bad. Yes, it’s bad for the folks losing their jobs. It’s also bad for people who enjoy smoking pipes. There’s no upside except for the bean counters.
But the fact remains that STG couldn’t have bought MB and Sutliff if MB’s owners hadn’t wanted out. For me, the bigger loss is Sutliff by far. But, there it is.
So look around at your options rather than kvetching, which is a waste of time. Take your wins where you can find them. Stock up on what you like because it might be different the next batch, or might disappear altogether.

 

[Elric]

I've got what I've got, but will never buy from them.

What did I miss?

 

[Living Luggage]

Speaking of options, do we have a list of what's left for us after the carnage? I'd like to know a good replacement for Edward G Robinson, which will undoubtedly vanish.

 

[jguss]

The good news is that hundreds of blends will still be for sale after the merger dust settles. The bad news is they’ll all be 1-Q.

 

[telescopes]

What did I miss?

Bravado. Lots and lots of bravado.

 

[Ahi Ka]

Speaking of options, do we have a list of what's left for us after the carnage? I'd like to know a good replacement for Edward G Robinson, which will undoubtedly vanish.

None. But the tubs of EGR will go the distance. This would be what I would be buying if I could.

 

[Sobrbiker]

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

You don’t recommend Cold War era cosmoline as a stem oxidation treatment?

 

[sablebrush52]

The good news is that hundreds of blends will still be for sale after the merger dust settles. The bad news is they’ll all be 1-Q.

That's up from the 32 or so differently labeled tinnings of 1Q currently on the market. See? Things aren't so bad! The 1Q market is exploding!

 

[Skippy B. Coyote]

The good news is that hundreds of blends will still be for sale after the merger dust settles. The bad news is they’ll all be 1-Q.

I predict that 2025 will be the year I hoard an absolutely ungodly amount dark fired Gawith blends, because outside of Peterson's Irish Flake and the likely soon to be extinct War Horse Bar/Green and Mac Baren HH Bold Kentucky, Gawith is really the only company producing blends that contain enough nicotine for my liking. And by "enough" I mean "enough to tranquilize an above average sized rhinoceros".

 

[BlueRidge]

I predict that 2025 will be the year I hoard an absolutely ungodly amount dark fired Gawith blends, because outside of Peterson's Irish Flake and the likely soon to be extinct War Horse Bar/Green and Mac Baren HH Bold Kentucky, Gawith is really the only company producing blends that contain enough nicotine for my liking. And by "enough" I mean "enough to tranquilize an above average sized rhinoceros".

the cut of your jib, I like