Dunhill in the UK
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Jazz, that is totally against what the reports have been saying. Could it be that Dunhill only plans stopping their U.S business? Or is your source wrong? Wasn't it PC who confirmed the demise of Dunhill pipes and tobacco? I am confused and damn glad I didn't go buying 1000 tins on spec.
Maybe BAT, the owners of the Dunhill blends, were just pulling everyone's legs when they made the statement that they were discontinuing these blends. Yeah, that's it. It was all a dream.
Well, Harris, it could very well be bad information and at the present, I'm inclined to believe it may be but that email came from the online retailer GQ tobaccos and you would think both them and their supplier would know, right? I heard another slightly vague report that others in the business here had heard nothing about them disappearing from the market here.
It's all very bizarre. Has Dunhill just failed to convey the fact that production has ceased to all the relevant retailers and traders in the UK? I'd find that surprising. Or, will they still be produced for the UK market with the exception of the ready rubbed as stated in the email.
I just want to know if I will be able to continue to buy my beloved Dark Flake, Navy Rolls and Elizabethan.
Whatever the truth is I can't help think it's been poorly handled.
It's all very bizarre. Has Dunhill just failed to convey the fact that production has ceased to all the relevant retailers and traders in the UK? I'd find that surprising. Or, will they still be produced for the UK market with the exception of the ready rubbed as stated in the email.
I just want to know if I will be able to continue to buy my beloved Dark Flake, Navy Rolls and Elizabethan.
Whatever the truth is I can't help think it's been poorly handled.
I have it on a good authority that Dunhill is going to sell their pipes and tobacco business to Greg Pease. He has been pining to own Dunhill for many a year. When he gets his hands on it, he will bring Dunhill tobacco to their former glory before the Murray days. As for the pipes, he is planning on bringing Rad Davis out of retirement to make all of the Dunhill pipes.
That's right, you heard it here first.
That's right, you heard it here first.
I would tend to believe BAT rather than a vendor and a supplier. A little closer to the horse's mouth as it were.
The collective misery over this bizarre decision by B.A.T. is reason enough for them to rethink it, so I'll just say that GQ tobax has suggested what many of us are thinking.
If one of us were creative enough to show BAT how to profit from the blends, I suspect that person would realize good moneys and the blends would stay available.
I'm pretty much a Dunhill blend and IRC guy, almost exclusively. I doubt many here smoke Dunhill exclusively or nearly so. Too many blends, too many small blenders with boutique type sales, way too many OTC pipe smokers, etc. eat into Dunhill's sales. We here do not represent the general tobacco market, most likely accounting for less than one percent of one percent of tobacco sales, if that much.
I wonder how many members smoke no more than three different blends as a matter of routine?
I'm pretty much a Dunhill blend and IRC guy, almost exclusively. I doubt many here smoke Dunhill exclusively or nearly so. Too many blends, too many small blenders with boutique type sales, way too many OTC pipe smokers, etc. eat into Dunhill's sales. We here do not represent the general tobacco market, most likely accounting for less than one percent of one percent of tobacco sales, if that much.
I wonder how many members smoke no more than three different blends as a matter of routine?
I wonder though, if it's not an issue of profit, because I would think they make a profit. Or, if it's just that Dunhill wanted to separate their luxury brand from a tobacco image, which isn't popular nowadays.
My understanding is BAT owns the marque with respect to blends, cigars and cigarettes. Alfred Dunhill Ltd. divested itself of those products.
edit: I should have written "profit sufficiently".
edit: I should have written "profit sufficiently".
Dunhill started distancing themselves from the pipes and tobacco business decades ago. People tend to forget that Dunhill was involved in a variety of luxury products of which smoking products were a major part, but only part. If you follow the various permutations of companies and marketing decisions it's a constantly diverging path. The pipes still make enough to be continued. The tobaccos weren't a significant income stream. Pipe tobacco is a niche market and even within this niche market, the Dunhill branded tobacco were no longer major sellers. With the increased costs of continuing to produce them, BAT made a decision stop production.
If I were s huge Dunhill fanatic, I'd be assuming their imminent closure is fact and be buying product accordingly. Who knows what is driving the decision at the levels it is coming from? Perhaps the UK government is pressuring them. It could be any number of things. My speculation is they're seriously hoping for a buyer. It would be senseless from a corporate financial point of view to simply cease production and get nothing. I'm guessing early prospective buyers are wanting permission to continue using the Dunhill name. If the rumor of Dunhill wanting to distance themselves from tobacco is true, that isn't going to happen.
I would think the thing that makes the most sense is for senior managers and employees would be looking for an investor to continue the products and their careers. It's not hard to imagine there being one or more wealthy Dunhill fanboys who could throw enough enough money in to keep operations going so they would have a source for their pipes and tobacco.
I would think the thing that makes the most sense is for senior managers and employees would be looking for an investor to continue the products and their careers. It's not hard to imagine there being one or more wealthy Dunhill fanboys who could throw enough enough money in to keep operations going so they would have a source for their pipes and tobacco.
They can't part with the name as they are still going to manufacture and sell cigarettes as those are profitable in the luxury cigarette market.
You are late to the party so, Alfred Dunhill Ltd does not sell tobacco products, they vend luxury products (dunhill, yes a lower case d) and are owned by a Swiss company, Richemont SA, founded by a South African, Johan Rupert. Dunhill tobacco products are the exclusive property of BAT. White Spot pipes are owned by some of the Dunhill family which no longer owns the marque and so cannot sell pipes under the Dunhill name.
BAT will cease producing a product which obviously does not pay it's way. By doing so profits increase. It would be senseless to keep manufacturing a product which bleeds profits from other lines or, contributes too little to the bottom line. BAT isn't going to sell off the tobacco blends/recipes and then compete with yet another Dunhill marque. Too many people today still think Dunhill is Dunhill as back in the 60s.
You are late to the party so, Alfred Dunhill Ltd does not sell tobacco products, they vend luxury products (dunhill, yes a lower case d) and are owned by a Swiss company, Richemont SA, founded by a South African, Johan Rupert. Dunhill tobacco products are the exclusive property of BAT. White Spot pipes are owned by some of the Dunhill family which no longer owns the marque and so cannot sell pipes under the Dunhill name.
BAT will cease producing a product which obviously does not pay it's way. By doing so profits increase. It would be senseless to keep manufacturing a product which bleeds profits from other lines or, contributes too little to the bottom line. BAT isn't going to sell off the tobacco blends/recipes and then compete with yet another Dunhill marque. Too many people today still think Dunhill is Dunhill as back in the 60s.
Warren has summed it up pretty well. The move by the Dunhill family to go into other products dates as far back as the early 1970's.
I do not know about all the scuddle butt regarding Dunhill . But i did hear that they are no longer going to be making the Elizabethan blend.
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