GQ Tobacco

[peckinpahhombre]

Recently, Glynn posted on his facebook page about the demise of his much-loved house blends because of changes to UK tobacco laws:

It looks like all the GQ Blends tobaccos will have to be pulled as a result of the changes in EU/UK tobacco legislation. All altered names and shop blended tobaccos need registering with the UK GOV. With a complete break down of all ingredients used in each constituent tobacco, which will be almost impossible to get out of the suppliers I get my base tobaccos from.

So max of 2 more months of GQ Blends
http://ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_937.pdf
requires manufacturers to inform Member States before placing new or modified products on the

market and notify a range of product information concerning composition, emissions and sales/

marketing data.
I will basically be classed as manufacture (not a retailer who blends) and the hoops you need to jump through for that are insane
When I first started GQ, I wanted to only make tobacco but to do it legally (HMRC approved) you need a lot of money and its just not feasible for a small guy like me.
The fees might only be £250 per blend (plus all the testing costs), then I would need to sell a LOT to make that money back, before I make profit.
But I dunno, I need to have a long think and see what I am going to do

And then yesterday he replied to a thread on another forum, indicating that things in the UK are even more dire than suggested above:

Sadly it's not only GQ Blends which are going, GQ Tobaccos is closing down all together. Between the ban on cross boarder sales with the EU, slowdown experienced after the referendum, increased buying prices, implementation of digital age verification (which I have not done, due to costs) and loosing GQ Blends is too much for my small business to take in a 10 week period.
I could carry on in a smaller capacity by cutting my range in half, but this would result in loosing all the unique & unusual blends I carry. Then put my prices up to allow me to comply with the new age checks (around £3 per transaction) and that's all before the FDA rules kick in and I loose even more of my customers/trade.
So while I am the first to fall with this last batch of regulation (might be EU level, but the UK was the biggest cheerleader and added on a lot more UK Regs on top after not getting what we wanted from EU Regs), I don't think I will be the last.
Sadly I and others in the trade see the next step as banning mail-order/online sales. France, Spain & Belgium have done so already and the ground work is being done by anti smoking groups and TS. A few shops have already been caught by Trading Standards stings (getting underage kids to buy baccy online using pre paid MasterCard).
Needless to say the futures grim and sadly I don't think I will be around when it happens.
Those of you who are my customers and friends, I thank you for your custom & support over the years. GQ Tobaccos will still be around for a few months as I have a lot of stock to sell off, but after September I won't have a warehouse/office or staff.
Thank you all

Governments around the globe are lining up against us, my brothers, and are suffocating our beloved hobby. Sad times indeed.

 

[ashdigger]

Definitely dark days.

 

[JimInks]

I've been talking with Glynn about this for a while, and he was hoping to avoid this, but he realized he can't stay in business because the new UK rules have made it financially impossible for him. Glynn is one of best blenders in the world and one of the nicest, too. It's a damn shame this has happened to such a good person.

 

[weezell]

Best to buy now or never I guess...

 

[jvnshr]

Damn it, this kind of news just make me angry. I have so many things to say, but I think I am going to be quiet and smoke my tobacco.

 

[sablebrush52]

It's a shame, really. But Glynn wasn't making enough of a profit off of the tobacco to be able to absorb the increased costs associated with the new UK and EU rules.

 

[iamn8]

Wow... brutal news. The prevailing opinions are all over the board on exactly how laws will effect us, but it's going effect us all it seems, sooner rather than later.

 

[mawnansmiff]

The British government is shooting itself in the foot here when one considers how much tax revenue they will be losing out on.
Smokers & drinkers in this country, always the biggest tax payers, are always the ones to suffer with new legislation.
A sad story if ever there was one.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[oldreddog]

"Lights going out and a kick in the balls"

The Jam

 

[jazz]

As a customer of Glynn's this makes me sick to the pit of my stomach and anger has become rage frankly.

 

[gsmunoz]

Sad, sad deal. So many people have had such great things to say about Glynn. I haven't had the opportunity to order from him, but i have watched his YouTube videos and thoroughly enjoyed them.
It's not hard to tell that the man has a passion for what he does and to hear JimInks say that he's one of best blenders in the world only makes it all the worse.

 

[crashthegrey]

Yet another sad and awful consequence. Losing Glynn is devastating.

 

[lawdawg]

It's time to start practicing growing, curing, and blending our own. I am convinced it can be done. I've had good beer and good wine made at home. No reason we can't learn to do the same with tobacco.

 

[beastinview]

These are indeed dark days for Europe.

“Obesity is killing more people than smoking, you could ban chip shops, you could ban doughnuts. The point is we are big enough and ugly enough to make our own decisions.” - [redacted]
(Can't attribute the quotation without turning the thread political.)

 

[pilotage16]

I guess I'm a former customer of GQ now. Another small business is taken down.

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

Sad news indeed and very unfortunate. Glynn is a great guy and very informative and helpful when it comes to pipes and cigars. This news sucks.