I think the problem with Drew Estates pipe tobacco is that people probably thought it was a rehash of the flavors they used in their cigar lines. Not that it would be a bad thing if they did that. That might have been bad for them in two ways. One that people expecting that and then smoking something not what they expected could have been a disappointment, and then also people thinking well that is going to ghost the heck out of my pipe and not so much of a must try since I already have had the cigars. That's my theory at least based on nothing but straight up guesswork.
Having never tried their cigars, I can't opine on that, but from the little bit I do know about DE in general, your hypothesis sounds pretty solid. Grand Central and GLF were two blends I tried right at the very beginning. My thoughts were "Wow, nice taste, no bite, and doesn't leave my shank sopping wet," and "Wow, smooth taste, no ashy nastiness in the bottom 3rd of the bowl, and doesn't leave my bowl hotter than a branding iron," respectively. I dunno, I just liked their blends right from the get-go, and snagged what I was able to snag (many thanks to this forum for that). I remember reading a long-since-locked thread on here from back in 2018, a good six months after they threw in the towel, about how their pipe tobacco market was such a anemically thin slice of the pie compared to their cigar market. I think I even recall Russ O. himself chiming in at one point, but please don't quote me on that. Anyway, it's not like they had a rich historical background of many decades with their pipe tobacco, like Dunhill or McC did. Five production years, that's all. I suppose the decision made all the sense in the world from a strictly business standpoint, but that doesn't ease my disappointment one iota. Whatever, life goes on...I'm lucky to have the dozen or so tins of theirs I do have.
