To answer the original post, yes and no.
No in the sense that their are is a vast variety of tobacco's still available to pipe smokers. Even though it seems like we've lost hundreds of blends, there are some blends that were duplicates. For example Mac Baren brand x may be the exact same blend as STG brand y, so there is no point in packaging the same tobacco in two different tins with two different labels. Eliminating duplicate packaging can save a company a lot of money, so while it seems like we're losing a lot of blends, some of them will still exist under a different label. It sucks losing a favorite blend, but with all the tobacco's on the market their is an opportunity to find a new favorite.
Yes, as we're losing a long standing American company, with employees losing their job, and a community losing an iconic business. Same goes for Mac Baren. Besides employees losing their jobs, a major loss is the machines that made these tobacco's at both factories. I don't like the idea of these machines being scrapped, as someone that loves history, and antiques; I think these machines/equipment should be saved and put in a museum or on display somewhere to show case the history of the industry. I understand that STG may not have the space to store this equipment, but in my opinion it needs to be save and displayed somehow. It would be a shame to lose such history.
Yes, as a lot of B&M shops rely on the Sutliff bulk and blending tobacco's. It will definitely hurt some of our favorite B&M shops tobacco sales as I would bet that most pipe shops sell more bulk blends than blends in tins. While there is still an opportunity for these B&M shops to acquire bulk and blending tobacco's from other manufacturer's; a lot of regulars (codgers) that smoke only a handful of B&M shop blends won't like the change.
