Has Cringle Lost its Luster?

[sablebrush52]

Did any of you really think tobacco was immune to inflation or market manipulation? Really? Ever heard of free markets? There are none. Get back on your meds.

The US has enjoyed MUCH lower costs for indulging in tobacco than much of the rest of the planet. Some of the comments suggest that some of you feel a sense of tobacco related entitlement, like you're owed compensation of some sort. You're not owed squat and you're entitled to squat. Wake. Up.

Some of you, who have been smoking pipes for longer than 15 minutes, might remember that McClelland, of recently manufactured sainted memory, used to be readily available on the shelf, including each year's Christmas Cheer. Up until people got wind that McClelland was closing, a production run would be available for anywhere from weeks to months to years. Then FOMO and greed took over and the stuff ran off the shelves. An now, FOMO is a MUCH used marketing tool, with all of these "small" batch releases. Effective way to panic the herd, ain't it? Like being thought of as cattle to be panicked?

This year's Cringle Flake was tinned in amounts similar to a smaller McClelland run. Why wouldn't it last for weeks? Sutliff isn't closing up operations.

Perhaps FOMO conditioning is influencing your perceptions. Moooooooooo.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Sutliff isn't closing up operations.

Oh hell, this is what all of you guys kept saying over and over and over up till Pipestud made his McClelland post. So, what you’re saying is that Sutliff is about to go put of business? Crap!!

Why the long diatribe? No one was losing their shit over prices or sizes, just talking about it. I appreciate your standing up for poor GH&co, but no one was bullying them on the playground. Twas a bit of over reaction me thinks.

 

[sablebrush52]

Oh hell, this is what all of you guys kept saying over and over and over up till Pipestud made his McClelland post. So, what you’re saying is that Sutliff is about to go put of business? Crap!!

Why the long diatribe? No one was losing their shit over prices or sizes, just talking about it. I appreciate your standing up for poor GH&co, but no one was bullying them on the playground. Twas a bit of over reaction me thinks.

Perhaps I was a tad grumpy, but not untruthful. Maybe it's because people spend a lot of time whining and complaining instead of expressing some positives, like the fact that they have available to them a wide array of choices. After a while, all the whining and complaining gets old, really, really old. And if someone doesn't like the price they have the choice to not pay it. Buyers set markets, not sellers.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It's Christmas time... go to a mall if you want happy and loving spirits, ha ha. There's nothing like the commercialization of a spiritual holiday to turn us all into raving maniacs, ha ha.

Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays... which ever pisses you off, ha ha.

 

[cohibajoe]

Did any of you really think tobacco was immune to inflation or market manipulation? Really? Ever heard of free markets? There are none. Get back on your meds.

The US has enjoyed MUCH lower costs for indulging in tobacco than much of the rest of the planet. Some of the comments suggest that some of you feel a sense of tobacco related entitlement, like you're owed compensation of some sort. You're not owed squat and you're entitled to squat. Wake. Up.

Some of you, who have been smoking pipes for longer than 15 minutes, might remember that McClelland, of recently manufactured sainted memory, used to be readily available on the shelf, including each year's Christmas Cheer. Up until people got wind that McClelland was closing, a production run would be available for anywhere from weeks to months to years. Then FOMO and greed took over and the stuff ran off the shelves. An now, FOMO is a MUCH used marketing tool, with all of these "small" batch releases. Effective way to panic the herd, ain't it? Like being thought of as cattle to be panicked?

This year's Cringle Flake was tinned in amounts similar to a smaller McClelland run. Why wouldn't it last for weeks? Sutliff isn't closing up operations.

Perhaps FOMO conditioning is influencing your perceptions. Moooooooooo.

Oh hell, this is what all of you guys kept saying over and over and over up till Pipestud made his McClelland post. So, what you’re saying is that Sutliff is about to go put of business? Crap!!

Why the long diatribe? No one was losing their shit over prices or sizes, just talking about it. I appreciate your standing up for poor GH&co, but no one was bullying them on the playground. Twas a bit of over reaction me thinks.

I had to chime in about "Marketing Tools", Pricing and Panic Buying as we are in Bourbon Limited season drops ...I did get caught up in the McClelland craze to their closing and like many "Called shops, Web Site drops, etc". But there is no other than the one and only Buffalo Trace insanity that happened 9yrs ago to what we have now. Just a small tip of my 12yrs of collecting Buffalo Trace and many other Finer Brands. And yes, that is a signed bottle bag of 20Yr Pappy by Julian Van Winkle III.

 

[dobbs]

Limited edition/seasonal release just means they aren't planning to make that particular tobacco a permanent fixture in their catalog. Is it hype marketing? Maybe, but it's also honest.

I'm not a manufacturer, but part of the point is that variety can be offered without committing an entire business plan to a new tobacco blend. I personally really like the crazy amounts of tobacco types available whether or not they're "permanent."

I love VaPers and only snagged two tins of the Sutliff Whimsical, ces't la vie. There are still a ton of great VaPers out there that I'm not sad I don't have enough Whimsical to last the rest of my life.

-dobbs

 

[Worknman]

Did any of you really think tobacco was immune to inflation or market manipulation? Really? Ever heard of free markets? There are none. Get back on your meds.

The US has enjoyed MUCH lower costs for indulging in tobacco than much of the rest of the planet. Some of the comments suggest that some of you feel a sense of tobacco related entitlement, like you're owed compensation of some sort. You're not owed squat and you're entitled to squat. Wake. Up.

Some of you, who have been smoking pipes for longer than 15 minutes, might remember that McClelland, of recently manufactured sainted memory, used to be readily available on the shelf, including each year's Christmas Cheer. Up until people got wind that McClelland was closing, a production run would be available for anywhere from weeks to months to years. Then FOMO and greed took over and the stuff ran off the shelves. An now, FOMO is a MUCH used marketing tool, with all of these "small" batch releases. Effective way to panic the herd, ain't it? Like being thought of as cattle to be panicked?

This year's Cringle Flake was tinned in amounts similar to a smaller McClelland run. Why wouldn't it last for weeks? Sutliff isn't closing up operations.

Perhaps FOMO conditioning is influencing your perceptions. Moooooooooo.

Very well said. People using the term greed when talking about a company changing from grams to ounces is just absurd considering how cheap pipe tobacco is in the US. Ever heard of inflation or its cousin shrinkflation? Its affecting the entire planet right now.

 

[originalnutcracker]

So, back to the original question: Has Cringle Flake lost its lustre?:

Well, I’m halfway through the first tin of the 2022 release. I acknowledge the inherent bias and cognitive dissonance of someone who has bought this stuff since the first release.

Today’s bowl was in an XL90 spigot (not exactly a vaper pipe) and would say “hell no, this stuff is quite excellent!!”. One has to remember there is some lovely aged leaf in this blend - it wouldn’t bite, even a big dose in a big bowl. It has a gorgeous Graham Cracker like taste midway in, especially on a retrohale.

If you like aged Virginia leaf, then you need this!

I am pleased it hasn’t sold out - I’m placing another order - can’t wait to see how this stuff ages.

 

[grimpuffer]

I had to chime in about "Marketing Tools", Pricing and Panic Buying as we are in Bourbon Limited season drops ...I did get caught up in the McClelland craze to their closing and like many "Called shops, Web Site drops, etc". But there is no other than the one and only Buffalo Trace insanity that happened 9yrs ago to what we have now. Just a small tip of my 12yrs of collecting Buffalo Trace and many other Finer Brands. And yes, that is a signed bottle bag of 20Yr Pappy by Julian Van Winkle III.

View attachment 187096

Nice!


However, I still will not buy any BT bourbons anymore.


As much as I like Blantons and a few others, they themselves are fueling their own "allocated" nonsense and then lying to consumers about it. You cant blame their business model because it makes everyone think there is something special about Pappy, Blantons, Weller or the rest of their lineup, but to have them lie to consumers and then purposefully create the current mark ups you see was enough for me to stop supporting them. I still laugh at the people paying $500+ for Weller Antique.

Give me Heaven Hill or Garrison Bros any day over BT but I am glad I stocked up on the bourbons I liked of theirs years ago. Not paying 4-10x the retail on bottle of mid-tier alcohol.

 

[Chasing Embers]

you need this!

None for me, but the fewer of us that buy it means the more of it you can.

 

[hawky454]

I didn’t buy it this year but I do enjoy it. Just not enough to go but every release. It was the same with Christmas Cheer for me, I didn’t buy every year.

 

[beefeater33]

I'd say, yes, the luster is gone................. SP still has it in stock. (I know they made more of it this year, but still)

 

[Worknman]

I had to chime in about "Marketing Tools", Pricing and Panic Buying as we are in Bourbon Limited season drops ...I did get caught up in the McClelland craze to their closing and like many "Called shops, Web Site drops, etc". But there is no other than the one and only Buffalo Trace insanity that happened 9yrs ago to what we have now. Just a small tip of my 12yrs of collecting Buffalo Trace and many other Finer Brands. And yes, that is a signed bottle bag of 20Yr Pappy by Julian Van Winkle III.

View attachment 187096

There's a show on netflix, I cant think which one off the top of my head, that features a guy that was stealing those expensive Bourbons from his employer (the factory) and selling them for a pretty penny. You might find it amusing .

 

[renfield]

On the plus side more people will have a chance to try Cringle for themselves and not have to pay more than retail.

Cringle was the only tobacco I bought in 2022. I know it’ll get smoked. Good stuff. The only thing I can see buying this year is Cob Plug and probably 2023 Cringle.

 

[Honkytonk Man]

I havent had the others, but I am more than happy with this release and I enjoyed it so much I ordered more.

The whole "limited" stuff honestly needs to stop because there have been so many this year, that you are now seeing them sitting for days now instead of the mad rush it usually is.

Im all for a limited edition just meaning for that time of year with a lot of available tins for anyone to have a chance to get.

I too enjoy a good aged virginia, but I like perique so having that aged in there is well makes this years a very sublime smoke for me. Going to load up a bowl of it again soon as I get off work.

Yup, sound's about right to me.

I just finished my first tin of it and thought that it was fantastic.

 

[Honkytonk Man]

No joke I was having a bowl last night and was wondering what this would taste like without the perique. I reckon it’d be a touch better IMHO but it’s still good as is. Took me a
minute to figure out how to break apart those freakin 2x4 flakes.

Took me a minute to figure out how to break apart those freakin 2x4 flakes.

Haha! Yeah, they're big, right? I used the fold & stuff method for the most part of the tin, the more I used of it, it started to separate out, so then I'd rub those flakes out.
Both methods worked well and resulted in great smokes.

 

[Honkytonk Man]

It is among the things they should have access to. Some people half-ass it just feeding them junky store bought grain which results in eggs that quite frankly I won’t take for free, even though my neighbor is always trying to give them to me free. They taste so bad. They’re supposed to have a variety of things to eat…protein like bugs, veg scraps, etc.

Good to know.
Completely off topic, I know, but my sig' other mentioned to me yesterday, that we should keep chickens.

Not sure what the boisterous Boston Terrible would make of them though!

 

[renfield]

As of January 11 Cringle Flake 2022 is out of stock at SP. Took longer than I expected but it was a much larger production run.

It was in their top 5 tinned tobaccos since it’s release. I get the impression more people bought fewer tins per order.

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

The FOMO aspect has ruined releases for me. I don't try for most anymore. I'll just buy if there's leftovers the next day and it seems interesting.
The idea of buying hoards of a blend you've never tried baffles me. And if it's for resale reasons, well that's just kinda lame.

This exact trend is found in all hobbies though. Art collecting, record collecting, etc.
I enjoy the hobby far more now that I've found what I like and don't really care what's released as long as I can keep buying what I like each year.

As far as Cringle, I think perique threw many people off. I love perique, but really have enough VaPer blends. I wouldve preferred a straight VA.

 

[ThermionicScott]

Still in stock at P&C. Hard to tell how much they actually have left, but thought it might be of interest. Maybe that one lukewarm customer review (fruitcake? rum?) isn't helping...