I've been away a while - help me catch up!

[Chasing Embers]

This is all anyone needs to know about dunhill...
They don't want to be associated with tobacco, and they sell these for $400
View attachment 113048

Yep.

 

[Geronimo_Von]

Oh, and Pipes and Cigars are no longer site sponsors. It's funny, when they were sponsors, everyone felt obligated to post and post and post about what sorry ass box bashers they were. Now that we can indiscriminately badmouth them... no one ever says anything about them... or Hearth and Home anymore.

They were king of the hill not long ago. I am still a huge fan of BlackHouse, Magnum Opus, Old Tartan and a coupla others. Russ was reaching celebrity status at the time. Sad to hear they've dropped off.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

They were king of the hill not long ago. I am still a huge fan of BlackHouse, Magnum Opus, Old Tartan and a coupla others. Russ was reaching celebrity status at the time. Sad to hear they've dropped off.

A lot of it was the way that H&H became submissive and timid to these FDA regs, while other companies were still releasing new blends left and right. They just looked like bitches, while so many new blends have hit the shelves by other companies.

 

[Geronimo_Von]

A lot of it was the way that H&H became submissive and timid to these FDA regs, while other companies were still releasing new blends left and right. They just looked like bitches, while so many new blends have hit the shelves by other companies.

talk me through that if you have a minute, would you? It got mentioned earlier. I tried to buy some scotty's butternut and they ship you the ingredients to self mix. What the.........

I'd no idea there were new regs

 

[solideogloria86]

talk me through that if you have a minute, would you? It got mentioned earlier. I tried to buy some scotty's butternut and they ship you the ingredients to self mix. What the.........

I'd no idea there were new regs

The fda issued new regulations that every blend produced after a certain date in 2007 would have to go through a lengthy application process to keep blends on the shelves produced after that date or to create new ones. Each application was rumored to cost millions per blend. That was the threat. Deeming day (the deadline) has come and gone with no effect. If you check out the "Tobacco Legislation" thread, you'll find plenty of information on the subject.

 

[Geronimo_Von]

Thanks.

Bizarre!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

talk me through that if you have a minute, would you? It got mentioned earlier. I tried to buy some scotty's butternut and they ship you the ingredients to self mix. What the.........

I'd no idea there were new regs

I’ve never bought one of these DIY kits. Sorry. I have no clue.

 

[Grangerous]

Dear Geronimo,
All of those blends you’ve mentioned have fallen by the wayside. — Everyone smokes Granger now.

 

[Servant King]

^^^^ This. And everyone mooches off of @Grangerous since he is hoarding most of it. We're still working on trying to get him to share the Pegasus. So far, no luck...

 

[Geronimo_Von]

HAHA.

Awesome.

Seems I should offload my stash. I have multiple unopened tins of McClelland Navy Cavendish, Dark Star, British Woods and Frogmorton. Most from the 2010 to 2014 era. Seems these need to be swapped for Granger, Borkum Riff and Prince Albert.

 

[gamzultovah]

HAHA.

Awesome.

Seems I should offload my stash. I have multiple unopened tins of McClelland Navy Cavendish, Dark Star, British Woods and Frogmorton. Most from the 2010 to 2014 era. Seems these need to be swapped for Granger, Borkum Riff and Prince Albert.

Or sold for $100 plus per tin…

 

[fireground_piper]

The DIY stuff is more state legislation driven, not FDA. You can’t send flavored tobacco to some states but you can sell the blend and add the provided topping at home. It’s a way around a state issued problem.

 

[Geronimo_Von]

Or sold for $100 plus per tin…

2 sealed 8oz bags of penzance and stonehaven too, and a ton of various others in the stash. Have about 50lbs of jarred ones to get through first. Most of them I got about 10 years ago and forgot about until recently.

 

[Rob NC]

I liked University Flake too. I didn't even know it was gone. I've been out of the loop myself.

 

[romaso]

Well.. There was a big bang and all dinosaurs died of lung cancer...

 

[Servant King]

I liked University Flake too. I didn't even know it was gone. I've been out of the loop myself.

It's still in production. One of my favorite VaBurs.

 

[anotherbob]

Oh the hot blend of the moment is going to always fluctuate

talk me through that if you have a minute, would you? It got mentioned earlier. I tried to buy some scotty's butternut and they ship you the ingredients to self mix. What the.........

I'd no idea there were new regs

To put it simply they're just regulating pipe tobacco. Well what else is added to it. Which as far as what it means not much really. Well otherwise then a company can now stop selling a blend and blame the regs not their bottom line.

 

[anotherbob]

It's still in production. One of my favorite VaBurs.

yeah it's a great one. Second blend that hit always gotta have status.

 

[Geronimo_Von]

Great to hear on university flake. I remember it getting panned back in the day for tasting artificial. I enjoyed it. Reminds me of a more refined Canadian Plug from IR.

 

[sablebrush52]

Hey there,

I haven't been regularly in my garage with a pipe for a few years as I have young kids. I just got out all my sealed stash tins and am getting ready to get back in.

When I was involved a few years ago, there was the Esoterica craze, people were still going crazy over sobranie and 759, eBay still let you list if you put in that obligatory spiel about the value being in the tin, McClelland VA were the bomb and everyone sought that ketchup goodness, the world pipe thing still took place at Pheasant Run, St. Charles IL.

Seems like its moved on.

Few things I can't find out - is Esoterica still making stuff? I see McClelland closed up. Makes me even less likely to open to sealed tins.
Peterson bought out Dunhill. Wow. Have a tin of Dunhill Nightcap but don't know what the Peterson versions of these blends will be like.
I went to order a bunch of H&H blends, and half of them were either no longer available for purchase, or, they ship you the blend in separate bags and you mix it yourself. Strange.
Hackert doesn't seem to be making many pipes any more. Oh well.

Anyway, would love you guys to fill me in on this and anything else that has taken place over the last few years.

Peace.

It's a whole different landscape.

2016 - The FDA Deeming Rules were announced, which spelled potential death for blends not continuously in the US market before Feb 15th 2007. Since then, the rules have mutated a bit, become slightly more flexible, but a lot of blends went away.

2018 - McClelland did close its doors in January of that year. Prices for their blends have gone through the roof on the secondary market.

2018 - BAT, which holds the manufacturing rights to the Dunhill blends, announced that they would be ceasing production of said blends in 18 months. The company was returning to it's roots, making overpriced "luxury" goods and engaging in other dubious luxury services. STG, which made the blends for BAT, eventually secured the rights to continue making the blends, using their Peterson brand name in place of the Dunhill name. Blends have not changed but less of them are in production.

Germain's continues to produce the Esoterica line and make erratic shipments, which has been the norm since 2006.

Blends that weren't huge sellers got the axe.

C&D has upped its game quite a bit and isn't the laughing stock it was 6 or so years ago.

Smokers have become aware of foreign blends not distributed in the US, like HU, and are ordering them from Estervals and other exporters.

You can no longer buy tobacco from Britain or Denmark, but you can buy through a few foreign exporters.

Pheasant Run was sold and is being bulldozed to create a multi purpose real estate project. The Chicago Pipe Club got clubbed, first by the sale of Pheasant Run and then by Covid.

Virtual pipe clubs and zoom pipe get togethers have become a "thing".

The thing about buying the components rather than finished blends is a workaround necessitated by the FDA Deeming Rules. The rules apply to finished blends, not to components.

The secondary market for "vintage" tobaccos has grown rapidly. You can now buy a discontinued $16 tin for $280, and feel grateful.

Asia is getting a lot of pipe tobacco as it's popularity has grown there and they don't bitch about prices.