Even blends as early as 30 years ago were a different animal compared to what they're offering today.
Yep, but even in the '90's, smokers were commenting on a drop in quality from blends even a few years earlier.
First... I'm what you would call an "old timer" and I remember what blends used to be like, say 50 or even 60 years ago. Trust me, they were better than today.
I've been smoking pipes since 1971 and I would tend to agree with you. Blends had a rich smoothness that's simply not much in evidence today. The style of processing and aging before release is gone.
But, I think that it's more accurate to say that blends today are different than blends of 50, 60 years ago. I think the older blends were "better" because that's what I imprinted on. Today's smoker is imprinting on what's available today and probably enjoying today's product as much a I did with those blends of yesteryear.
As for Balkan Sobranie, I've made it no secret that I do not think what's in the tin is anything like the Balkan Sobranie I smoked in the '70's and '80's. And how could it be? The components that Sobranie Ltd, and later Gallaher, used aren't available. It's just a famous name on a tin of "whatsis". But if someone really enjoys that "whatsis" that's ultimately all that matters. I find Germain's Balkan Sobranie completely unsmokeable.
Same with today's "Escudo". It's not Escudo. The Perique used is a bore compared to the Perique used in the Copes and A&C versions, and the Virginias are, for me, a faint bland proxy. But someone who never smoked what I call Real Escudo may love the current product, and again, that's all that matters.
I just wish the tobacco business would just stop sticking famous names on their "whatsis" product. It feels dishonest to me. But that's just me.
All this said, I do find many blends highly enjoyable on their own terms, like some of the HU, KBV, G&H, Watch City, and Sutliff blends. And there have been some really wonderful special releases, like the RO Perique Series.
When you and I were smoking all those decades ago, the blends were the product of many individual makers. Rattray was made by Rattray and McConnell, Dunhill was made by Dunhill, St Bruno was made by Ogden, etc. They rentained the individual character of their creators, sourcing their own components. Today these are reduced to IP's bought and hanging on the belt of one or another of a few conglomerates and have lost that individuality. Personally, I feel that Denmark and Germany are the places where British blends go to die.
But if people like those current blends, that's all that matters.
A lot of growers have left the business, turning to growing other, less labor intensive, and more profitable crops. That leaves fewer suppliers, some of whom are using more cost efficient methods to get their crops to market.
So it is you, and it is the tobacco, both.
As for reviews, I wouldn't go so far as to say that they are "pointless". Yes a lot of reviewers are semi-literate, incapable of providing a coherent, much less cogent, statement, not surprising as they are enthusiasts and not particularly expert writers.
But there are a few who do a pretty good job of conveying their experiences and that can be of some benefit, in fact has been of great benefit, to others curious to try out something new. None of it is fact, nor should it be conceived of as such. They are opinions, the same as most reviews, one person's "take" on their experience.
