Info: John Cotton's Smyrna (The Original Orlik Blend) 11-02-18
- Thread starter scloyd
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Hi Scott, just FYI John Cotton wasn’t part of Orlik. The John Cotton blends which pre-date the STG were owned by Gallaher; before that it was an independent company for over a century. In the case of Smyrna, which I think dates from the early 1930s, if you want the “original” it’ll either be Gallaher (from about the mid 1950s through the 1990s) or from when John Cotton was independent (1930s-1950s).
scloyd, that is going to be a difficult and potentially very expensive quest. When were working on the reissue of the John Cotton line, we managed to find representative samples of No.1, No.'s 1&2 and Smyrna, but it was quite an adventure getting there. Simon can tell you more about the sealed tin that showed up in a British public library display, and some late-night hijinks that brought us a sample.
Either way, the tobacco in those old tins will be substantially different than it was when fresh. Or five, ten and fifteen years old. In the end, we primarily depended on the memories of experienced pipe smokers like Russ to tell us what direction to go in, even though we had actual samples of the blends. No less a flavormeister than William Serad declared that our recreation of Smyrna was spot-on, and Smyrna was an all-time favorite of his.
Good luck on your search, and please keep us informed!
Either way, the tobacco in those old tins will be substantially different than it was when fresh. Or five, ten and fifteen years old. In the end, we primarily depended on the memories of experienced pipe smokers like Russ to tell us what direction to go in, even though we had actual samples of the blends. No less a flavormeister than William Serad declared that our recreation of Smyrna was spot-on, and Smyrna was an all-time favorite of his.
Good luck on your search, and please keep us informed!
John Cotton Storefront
Princes Street
Edinborough
1933
Princes Street
Edinborough
1933
Woods.
The Smyrna that I remember from 1964 was extremely dark, read black, and smelled to those of us around the smoker like burning tires. The smoker liked it though. What version did you try to match?
:mrgreen:
The Smyrna that I remember from 1964 was extremely dark, read black, and smelled to those of us around the smoker like burning tires. The smoker liked it though. What version did you try to match?
:mrgreen:
Scott, the answer is a bit complicated. The tobaccoreviews attribution is at best misleading, and flat out wrong In terms of its relevance to the particular subject you raised.
Here’s the short(ish) version. Orlik Tobacco is distinct from Orlik pipes. In the 1950s the Orlik pipe company (at that time independent, now part of what is often called Cadogan) licensed their name to a German company which then created and sold Orlik branded pipe tobacco blends (originally primarily in Germany, later throughout Europe, eventually overseas). Fast forwarding a few decades, Orlik pipe tobaccos are now part of the conglomerate Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG). Lane Ltd., which is also owned by STG, makes the John Cotton blends introduced a few years ago by Standard Tobacco of Pennsylvania Ltd.
All of that has no connection with the companies that produced the original blends you want to sample. Those were made in the first place by John Cotton, an Edinburgh snuff manufacturer who also made cigarettes and pipe mixtures. The history of John Cotton and his company, which had roots via his father George in the late 1700s, is very long, involved, and in this case irrelevant. John Cotton Ltd was independent until it was purchased by Abe Wix in 1953, and was later sold to Gallaher, the Irish tobacco manufacturer, at the start of 1962. Gallaher ceased manufacturing John Cotton blends, as I recall, as part of its general retreat from selling pipe tobaccos in the US market the 1990s. John Cotton’s Smyrna pipe tobacco as near as I can tell was introduced in the early 1930s. I gather from RTDA almanacs that the Smyrna blend might have been withdrawn earlier than the 1990s, say in the late 1970s or early 1980s, but that’s just inference. In any case, depending on the age of the tin you found the blend inside would have been made by the original manufacturer John Cotton, by one of Wix’s companies, or by Gallaher. Realistically I think almost all surviving unopened tins are going to date from the 1970s plus or minus a bit and be of Gallaher manufacture.
Here’s the short(ish) version. Orlik Tobacco is distinct from Orlik pipes. In the 1950s the Orlik pipe company (at that time independent, now part of what is often called Cadogan) licensed their name to a German company which then created and sold Orlik branded pipe tobacco blends (originally primarily in Germany, later throughout Europe, eventually overseas). Fast forwarding a few decades, Orlik pipe tobaccos are now part of the conglomerate Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG). Lane Ltd., which is also owned by STG, makes the John Cotton blends introduced a few years ago by Standard Tobacco of Pennsylvania Ltd.
All of that has no connection with the companies that produced the original blends you want to sample. Those were made in the first place by John Cotton, an Edinburgh snuff manufacturer who also made cigarettes and pipe mixtures. The history of John Cotton and his company, which had roots via his father George in the late 1700s, is very long, involved, and in this case irrelevant. John Cotton Ltd was independent until it was purchased by Abe Wix in 1953, and was later sold to Gallaher, the Irish tobacco manufacturer, at the start of 1962. Gallaher ceased manufacturing John Cotton blends, as I recall, as part of its general retreat from selling pipe tobaccos in the US market the 1990s. John Cotton’s Smyrna pipe tobacco as near as I can tell was introduced in the early 1930s. I gather from RTDA almanacs that the Smyrna blend might have been withdrawn earlier than the 1990s, say in the late 1970s or early 1980s, but that’s just inference. In any case, depending on the age of the tin you found the blend inside would have been made by the original manufacturer John Cotton, by one of Wix’s companies, or by Gallaher. Realistically I think almost all surviving unopened tins are going to date from the 1970s plus or minus a bit and be of Gallaher manufacture.
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