Cloth Tobacco Pouches

[JoburgB2]

In another thread “Didn’t Worry About Packing and Guess What?”, one of the posters reminisced about a work colleague who rolled his own ciggies pouring tobacco from a cloth pouch. Another posterinserted a link to a Pioneer brand cloth tobacco pouch. The mention of the cloth pouch brought back memories.

Years ago, vacationing in Southbroom, KwaZulu/Natal south coast on the Indian Ocean (excellent golf course!). Early one afternoon, my friend Brian and I were concocting a chicken curry and we decided we needed fresh coriander leaves (cilantro). We set out on an afternoon quest, all along the South Coast, from Marina Beach, Southbroom, Ramsgate, and Margate, stopping in every corner shop, grocery store, and pub and hotel we could find. Many pints and a few games of snooker later, eventually we found the coriander, but along the way I picked up a cloth pouch of Springbok brand tobacco (made for the pipe or roll your own). It was a bone dry blend, somewhat harsh, zero casing, no added anything. It wasn’t particularly enticing but it was certainly authentic. I kept that cloth pouch for decades, but no longer have it. I was delighted to find these images of it online. Mine was exactly the same, except the reverse side of my pouch was written in Afrikaans only, not English as in this image below.

Has anyone else had Springbok or other pipe tobacco from a cloth pouch, or any thoughts?

 

[Briarcutter]

Just Bull Durham. Years ago I don't believe tobacco was viewed as something that needed to be kept "fresh".

 

[PaulRVA]

My grandfather had a few pouches , rolling machines and related paraphernalia on a shelf in his office.
Needless to say 7-8 year old me gave it a try The pouch was actually identical to this one!

 

[Woobijube]

My grandfather had a few pouches , rolling machines and related paraphernalia on a shelf in his office.
Needless to say 7-8 year old me gave it a try The pouch was actually identical to this one!
View attachment 363842

As an aside, I actually remember that episode of Tom & Jerry. Don’t make ‘em like they used to.

 

[Snook]

I didn't know tobacco came in pouches like that. No wonder it was dry!

Also: cilantro is the devil's herb. It has ruined many a meal for me... but I'm glad you and your friend were able to find some after a long journey.

 

[LeafErikson]

I've personally never had any tobacco from a cloth pouch like that. It makes me think of reading the Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade chain smoking Bull Durham tobacco from a cloth pouch. That's a super fun book.

 

[JoburgB2]

I didn't know tobacco came in pouches like that. No wonder it was dry!

Also: cilantro is the devil's herb. It has ruined many a meal for me... but I'm glad you and your friend were able to find some after a long journey.

It was a long afternoon out, yes, and we had a difficult time when we returned trying to convince our wives that our beery afternoon was actually in pursuit of a finishing touch for our dinner. Also, an aside, thinking about the region again, the town names are not very inventive and cribbed from England, but are perhaps easier to remember and pronounce than the Natal rivers and streams that create the ocean inlets on which these resort towns and beaches sit astride; the Kaba, the Mbizane, the Bilanhlolo, and the Nkhongweni. Know what I mean?

 

[Briar Lee]

My grandfather started smoking his father’s home grown tobacco about 1886 when he started school, and we watched my grandmother light his last Camel in 1972 when he was 92 and died of old age, and infection from an ingrown toenail.

He was an extreme tobacco user. His own investments and his wife’s income as a writer allowed him about every brand of cigarette, pipe tobacco, cigar, loose leaf, plug, dip, snuff, and twist he wanted and he wanted a lot. He used tobacco from waking until sleep and sometimes went to sleep with a chaw.

Of sack tobacco he kept Bull Durham, Our Advertiser, and Country Gentleman on hand constantly.

It was all North Carolina bright leaf, but all three tasted different to me.

Country Gentleman died first, Bull Durham in 1986, and Our Advertiser might still be made in a foil pouch.

When you see authentic Westerns they are rolling Bull Durham, or some other brand of cloth sack packaged tobacco.

(From the only John Wayne movie sequel better than the original. )

The tobacco, packaged moist, soon assumed the same humidity as the smoker’s poke or pocket. It would practically never spoil.

 

[JoburgB2]

My grandfather started smoking his father’s home grown tobacco about 1886 when he started school, and we watched my grandmother light his last Camel in 1972 when he was 92 and died of old age, and infection from an ingrown toenail.

He was an extreme tobacco user. His own investments and his wife’s income as a writer allowed him about every brand of cigarette, pipe tobacco, cigar, loose leaf, plug, dip, snuff, and twist he wanted and he wanted a lot. He used tobacco from waking until sleep and sometimes went to sleep with a chaw.

Of sack tobacco he kept Bull Durham, Our Advertiser, and Country Gentleman on hand constantly.

It was all North Carolina bright leaf, but all three tasted different to me.

Country Gentleman died first, Bull Durham in 1986, and Our Advertiser might still be made in a foil pouch.

When you see authentic Westerns they are rolling Bull Durham, or some other brand of cloth sack packaged tobacco.

(From the only John Wayne movie sequel better than the original. )

The tobacco, packaged moist, soon assumed the same humidity as the smoker’s poke or pocket. It would practically never spoil.

Excellent memory, well written. Thanks!

 

[Briar Lee]

Excellent memory, well written. Thanks!

When he was placed in the Humansville Hospital to die he was allowed to smoke, but not chew. It was thought too messy.

So he pinched and fondled the nurse, and when the doctor came he slugged him.

My mother and aunt and grandmother were horrified and took him home to die.

As they gathered around his casket my cousin Pamela whispered isn’t that the nurse over there in her car by the cemetery gate?

Sure was.

I looked at Pammy and whispered I hope me too, when I’m 92.