Have We Seen The Last Of Gawith Blends In The USA?

[papipeguy]

I was at my favorite haunt ( in Whitehall, Pa)the other day and the owner got a call from a gentleman in California who bought the last 2+ lb of 1792 in the store. The owner told him that it may be the last of it.

The FDA insists that exporters to the US disclose the ingredients of tobacco products before they can come into the country.

Gawith has already decidied to cease exporting nasal snuff to the US and I wonder if this will impact their pipe tobaccos as well other Europen manufacturers.

Your thoughts?

 

[chuckw]

If I can run down a telephone number, I'll call them tomorrow and ask.
Got the number.

 

[papipeguy]

From the Samuel Gawith web site the phone number is 44 (0) 1538-720117. Good luck and let me know. Thanks for your help.

 

[fred]

Yes, I was not aware of a problem with this... I've sent inquiry as follows:

I have read that the FDA insists that exporters to the US disclose the ingredients of tobacco products before they can come into the country. As I enjoy smoking a good number of your blends, I'm concerned that this may be a problem in relation to future distribution to the United States. Please advise on this matter.

The web site is http://www.samuelgawith.co.uk/default.asp I'll get back with

what the response is.

 

[krgulick]

Emailed them a week or so ago about this and have not received any response as of yet. Will post any response I get here as well.

 

[papipeguy]

I also emailed them todayt. It'll be interesting to compare responses. I've emailed them before and always received a response. Til then.

 

[strongirish]

Gosh I hope not and await your answer! They make so many good blends I like to smoke. The FDA is going to be a Royal pain in the butt I am afraid!

 

[juni]

I guess one advantage of not living in the US. I just discovered Sam's Flake and Celtic Talisman. (If I like Sam's Flake - will I also like 1792? I've read it is a love or hate it blend. They both have the mysterious Tonquin Bean ingredient.)

 

[chuckw]

No, you have not seen the last of Gawith! I just got off the phone with Bob Gregory of S. Gawith and they are getting ready to ship a "massive" order of bulk blends to the USA. He said, "If they decide to use air freight, it should be here in 5 or 6 days."

They are preparing to start work on tinned tobacco "shortly."
RUMOR QUASHED!!!
The FDA demand for an ingredients applies to snuff only at this time. He has the list already compiled for pipe tobacco if and when they demand it.

 

[fred]

ChuckW, you are the rumor terminator!
Here's what Premal Chedda had to say on the issue...

On Friday, I spoke to the importer "Phillips & King" and the only information so far on SG blends is that SG had a packaging problem which has delayed shipments, and they cannot produce enough for the growing demand. As far as I know, FDA has not yet put restrictions on pipe tobacco, but that could change at any time. Many of you have asked about Esoterica & SH Imported blends. I am awaiting a response from J.F. Germain & Son to find out when an order will be shipped to us for the SH imported blends. I believe Mr. Germain is currently busy with production of Estoterica blends. I will try to find out more information this week.
Best Regards,

Premal Chheda

Smokers Haven

 

[papipeguy]

Sounds like good news all around, for now. Thanks everyone.

I understand that the pipe tobacco blenders have been asked to define and differentiate their products from the roll-your-own products that are labeled "pipe tobacco" in order to get around the prohibitive taxes on cigarettes.

There is no end to this nonsense. I can't imagine the legal costs being racked up over this issue.

 

[papipeguy]

Happy Labor Day all,

Here's the response I just got from Samuel Gawith's office in the UK.
Dear Mr Fruhmann, thank you for taking the time to send us a mail.
In answer to your question re availability of SG tobaccos, yes we are still

exporting to the US and, in fact, are in the final throws of finishing off a

large bulk order for you. Hopefully this will be shipped end this week and

should soon be available to you.
Whatever the FDA put in our way we would hope to keep sending tobacco to

you, our loyal fans. You are all very important to us as a manufacturer and

we have absolutely no intention of letting any one of you down. We are

experiencing similar restrictions in all of our markets and have to take the

time to apply the requested information if we are to keep active.
Again, thank you for your enquiry and above all, thank you for your loyalty

to Samuel Gawith tobaccos.
Regards
Bob Gregory

 

[unclearthur]

OH HAPPY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[krgulick]

Got a very similar response today from The very nice bloke from Gawith:
Dear Mr Gulick, first let me apologise for the long delay in sending product

to the US. We had problems early on in the year and are trying hard to get

up to date.

Product is currently being prepared for shipment to the US and should leave

here end of the week.

Thank you for your patience

Regards

Bob Gregory

"May your smoke continue to rise"

 

[papipeguy]

Well at least they responded to our concerns. Nice of them to do so in this era of ennui. A class outfit.

 

[cortezattic]

I wish to extend my personal thanks to Chuckw, Papipeguy, Fred, and Krgulick for reaching out for an answer, and sharing with all of us.

 

[krgulick]

I believe I speak for all of us who reached out that it is something that each of us would have done anyway, and it seems to have turned out that way.
Agreed papipeguy that they seem a real class act in an age where it is so nonexistant anymore. All too often I see companies just ignore the customer concerns and questions. Sometimes the Brits still get it right.

 

[admin]

That was outstanding of them to respond to all those emails.
Next time a bunch of you guys email a tobacco (or pipe) manufacturer, tell them you're a member of PipesMagazine.com.
By the way, Sykes Wilford and I had a conversation about this:

As far as Samuel Gawith goes, they’ve become enormously popular. The popularity of Samuel Gawith has just exploded in the last few years worldwide and they have a really small factory with really old machinery and they can’t grow production without destroying what makes it special. A container comes into the United States (I don’t know when the next one’s coming) and we buy as much as we can out of the container. It gets put on pallets and then we turn around and put it in little tiny boxes and it’s all gone in about five days, sometimes only three days. There’s all this pent up demand for it and there’s no way Samuel Gawith can make enough and that’s what happens.

Excerpted from: Sykes Wilford Interview Part III (Conclusion)

 

[papipeguy]

Kevin,

Thaks for sharing the interview with Mr. Wilford ( he's only 30! I have underwear that old....I know because I change the duct tape around the elastic every September).

I for one would rather wait for the Gawith products than have them "improve" operations at their facility; no good would come from that in my experience.