I've Been Gone 5 Years...What the Hell Happened?

[steelman]

OK I didn't serve time...but I gave up pipe smoking over 5 years ago in favor of cigars. While I still enjoy cigars, I kinda miss pipe smoking a bit and found an old Peterson and figured I'd grab some tobacco and give it a go...

I gave away all the tobacco in my cellar to friends and neighbors....sold a bit of the pricier stuff. Wish I didn't.

The Esoterica I enjoyed that was hard to get is now nonexistent...
Ditto Solani 660, McClelland & others.

Reformulations for staples like SG and Three Nuns, etc

ok no problems...there's so much tobacco to sample...

Then I find out that a big conglomerate bought out most of the tobacco brands and now they are "hard to get" or gone and will be discontinued...

so what's a guy to do? I know the answer. Like a tree, the best time to acquire tobacco is 20 years ago. ...

So now I have an empty cellar and I can no longer get tins that I enjoyed on ebay.....so I'm asking the forum...which premium brands can I get now ... and not have to wait years to "peak"?

Glad to see Rattray's, GL Pease and C&D still around, so I'll start there and I'm also glad to see Claudio Cavicchi is still making pipes!

Thank you all in advance.

 

[BriarBrook]

Buy some Plum Pudding Special Reserve, MM Partyline, Haunted Bookshop Cake, Freja and Loki and smoke those dudes right out of the tin... snag a tin of Palmetto Balkan, if you can find it.

 

[Streeper541]

Welcome back from the dark side.

I suppose the first question is, what premium brands do you want? What blends are you looking for?

 

[dd57chevy]

Aged tobacco frequently appear in the for sale forum .

 

[cosmicfolklore]

but I gave up pipe smoking over 5 years ago in favor of cigars.

Quitter! HA HA, jk. Welcome back.

 

[brian64]

You picked the wrong 5 years to be gone.

Welcome back.

 

[Christos D. Tsatsaronis]

Kind like Rip Van Winkle... Welcome back!

 

[Brad H]

welcome back, to the tough times of tobacco procurement.
might be a few tail end items on some sites you could still pick up.

 

[anotherbob]

I don't really think of any pipe tobacco as premium. It's all pretty quality. It's more a matter of taste then anything else. The closest thing to high end, top shelf would be aged tobacco on the secondary market. Which can also be a huge disappointment.

 

[steelman]

"Buy some Plum Pudding Special Reserve, MM Partyline, Haunted Bookshop Cake, Freja and Loki and smoke those dudes right out of the tin... snag a tin of Palmetto Balkan, if you can find it."

Thank you I'll start here. Looking for the classic VaPers; VaBurs, maybe light Latakia. My most smoked were Esoterica Dunbar & Tilbury; old 3 Nuns.....I don't mind light flavoring but I shy away from aromatics.

Yes...this was the wrong 5 years to stop sniffing glue....I mean....stop buying tobacco....

 

[NookersTheCat]

You picked the wrong 5 years to be gone.

Welcome back.

It's always the wrong time lol... my 5 years was from 2014-2019... Imagine my face hopping back in and finding out that my Holiday Spirit has been dead for the past 2 years haha

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Then I find out that a big conglomerate bought out most of the tobacco brands and now they are "hard to get" or gone and will be discontinued...

so what's a guy to do?

No problem. Just get you some HH Old Dar.......................oh wait, nevermind.

Seriously while it is sad that a lot is going away there is no shortage of good pipe tobacco.

Rattray's is still a great option. The Peterson blends (previously Dunhill) are still here for now. Fribourg and Treyer is a great option if you like Virginias, though can be hard to find. Tons of people love C&D and GL Pease.

Like a tree, the best time to acquire tobacco is 20 years ago. ...

Exactly right. That's why I try to buy twice what I smoke. It doesn't always get to happen, but that's the goal.

 

[NookersTheCat]

Thank you I'll start here. Looking for the classic VaPers; VaBurs, maybe light Latakia. My most smoked were Esoterica Dunbar & Tilbury; old 3 Nuns.....I don't mind light flavoring but I shy away from aromatics.

Definitely browse through C&D some more... and Pease/Drucquers for some more Latakia blends. One can make a semi-convincing argument that if you enjoy those types of blends that you're not gonna actually be missing much from this other than Sutliff's Match blends. Def try to keep an eye on/sign up for stock notifications on things like their Match Victorian and such that you may still be able to secure a few pounds of here and there.

 

[gervais]

No shortage of awesome tobacco out there. Grab some samples and get to it!

 

[gord]

You still have it not too bad. Canada? Don't ask.

 

[steelman]

"You still have it not too bad. Canada? Don't ask."

Ahhhh>>>>> one benefit of becoming our 51st state.....!

It's just humor people...not politics. ;-)

 

[Chasing Embers]

The sky finally fell like was talked about and ridiculed only a few years ago. The greats are gone and you have to pick through the remains to find the good ones now.

 

[tirefire]

Welcome back . . . I did the cigar thing for 30+ years until I found the briar three years ago. Rattray's Old Gowrie is great fresh out the tin and LJ Peretti still sells in bulk and the 8- and 16-oz paint cans!

 

[dottlejockey]

Well, there's also good news: you can now legally explore HU tobaccos sold in the good ole US of A.
Other than that, plenty of good C&D blends out there that fit what you describe as your profile(s) of choice.
Might as well grab a bag of Winchester and Ryback while you're at it. Keep you stocked up while you're exploring.
Enjoy the journey in the new landscape and welcome back.

 

[crashthegrey]

TinBids is around now if you want to restock, but yeah, a lot has changed.