Gawith Done In the US?

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americaman

Part of the Furniture Now
May 1, 2019
943
3,098
Los Angeles, CA
I was at my local Tinder Box and they told me that Gawith was having too many shipments sent back by customs, so they are done shipping to the USA, so this is it. I grabbed some Cabbie’s Mixture.

Has anyone else heard anything about this?
 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,435
Could be true. Gawith has had a hard time keeping up with demand for a decade or more, so it could be customs, or just their own preference for small lot production for the hometown crowd. If they can't produce to meet the demand and distribute to willing customers, perhaps they'd better stay on their home ground.
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,678
29,403
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
I was at my local Tinder Box and they told me that Gawith was having too many shipments sent back by customs, so they are done shipping to the USA, so this is it. I grabbed some Cabbie’s Mixture.

Has anyone else heard anything about this?
always skeptical about such things coming from retail outlets. There is just a whole chain of possible bullshit and misunderstanding that come through such place. All it takes is one person somewhere on the chain trying to pass the buck backwards. And it always seems at best that a few key details have been altered somewhere.
 

mingc

Lifer
Jun 20, 2019
3,976
11,066
The Big Rock Candy Mountains
How much is China buying?
Twice the amount that the US is, according to Chris Gawith himself. I find it hard to believe GH & SG would willingly give up the US market. It may be smaller than China but it can't be insubstantial for them. Isn't it up to the importer/distributor i.e. Phillips & King to deal with the feds?
 
Oct 7, 2016
2,451
5,195
Typical sales channel BS. Gawith has decided to change distributors. Nothing has been sent back by customs. To the contrary, the current distributor dumped everything at once when they were told about the change last week. A formal announcement will be made when the parties see fit to do it. With a very few exceptions on the GH side, all FDA filings have been done. The paperwork remaining is ahead of schedule.

There was an interview posted on the Pipes Magazine main page last fall with Chris Gawith. Yes, they now sell more tobacco in China than the US. If you read that interview, he rather clearly says that he would like for that to change. He can produce the product subject to normal lead times.

When he consolidated the two lines with Kretek (Phillips and King is a subsidiary of Kretek) Eric Stokkebye was in charge of things on the pipe side. Shortly after that announcement was made, ES got canned and a number of reps who called on accounts were let go.

Some in the business will be unhappy with the changes, some won’t, but the company wants to sell more tobacco in the US market. I hope the coming changes will be successful in that regard. The company would not have made them if they didn’t have the same expectations.
 
Jan 28, 2018
12,955
134,698
67
Sarasota, FL
Typical sales channel BS. Gawith has decided to change distributors. Nothing has been sent back by customs. To the contrary, the current distributor dumped everything at once when they were told about the change last week. A formal announcement will be made when the parties see fit to do it. With a very few exceptions on the GH side, all FDA filings have been done. The paperwork remaining is ahead of schedule.

There was an interview posted on the Pipes Magazine main page last fall with Chris Gawith. Yes, they now sell more tobacco in China than the US. If you read that interview, he rather clearly says that he would like for that to change. He can produce the product subject to normal lead times.

When he consolidated the two lines with Kretek (Phillips and King is a subsidiary of Kretek) Eric Stokkebye was in charge of things on the pipe side. Shortly after that announcement was made, ES got canned and a number of reps who called on accounts were let go.

Some in the business will be unhappy with the changes, some won’t, but the company wants to sell more tobacco in the US market. I hope the coming changes will be successful in that regard. The company would not have made them if they didn’t have the same expectations.

Thanks for providing the facts.
 

Ryszard

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 5, 2019
190
1,098
Europe
I highly doubt that a company, which is generally able to deliver to the highly complex and restrictive EU market (in terms of legislation and import requirements), is unable to export tobacco to the US. As a company, you are not going to just ship a ton of tobacco to the US hoping it will just slip through customs. You will obviously have customs and legal experts employed, your paperwork in place and leave nothing to chance and risk any financial loss over a mere customs issue. I just don't buy it. Maybe it's just not worth it for them anymore, but US-customs stopping tobacco shipments would make sense for an individual but not for an internationally-operating tobacco manufacturer.

I don't understand why B&M employees always have to shove their "expertise" down everyone's throats in order to feel better about themselves or more important. It doesn't matter if its tobacco availability, legislation or anything else about pipe smoking... I think I've heard more crap at B&Ms than at all my local pubs combined and that really is depressing.
 
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