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

[VDL_Piper]

Firstly welcome back to the forum from Tasmania, Australia. Secondly...........you have mentioned Rattray's, C & D, GLP, pretty sure you'll find something to suit your wheelhouse there. Dunhill blends at least by name are now under the Peterson badge and there are good and varied tobacco's in that line and Gawith Hoggarth and Samuel Gawith put out a nice line of product too, though of late one could be mistaken that the sky was falling on these blends. Outside these I'd say explore the Peter Stokkebye range, MC Connell and Wessex when available. HU now have tobacco's in the U.S. and whilst I haven't tried any yet they seem to be liked by quite a few. Boutique blenders have taken a hit but some of them will be back bigger and stronger I'm sure, so watch that space as well.

 

[Sigmund]

There is a ton of stuff available. You are in the world center for tobacco. No one else has as much available. Jist look on the bright side, you get to have a whole new adventure trying things. Unless you just gotta have a unicorn blend just see what is out there now.

 

[wyfbane]

Welcome back! Not much new advice from me other than to look ahead as you get your new cellar going. If there are some Virginia's or something that you like get some to start the aging process now. I like the PS bullseye and Luxury flakes.

 

[sablebrush52]

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.

You didn't get the tobaccapalypse memo? People on this here forum have been banging on about it since before I joined in 2013. Of course, we all thought that it would be some super restrictive governmental regulation that would cause it, not the tobacco manufacturing food chain, along with a lot of growers quitting tobacco.

Fortunately, you still have good options, depending on what you like to smoke. There's still Kopp (formerly Kolhase and Kopp), Gawith, STD, Germain, Dan, C&D, GL Pease, etc, and a number of smaller blenders as well as sources for whole leaf if you like doing your own blending. You can get HU blends in the states at smokingpipes.com, or buy from Esterval's in Germany, where there are a lot of great blends not currently imported here.

Anyway, welcome back!

 

[paulfg]

There is a ton of stuff available. You are in the world center for tobacco. No one else has as much available. Jist look on the bright side, you get to have a whole new adventure trying things. Unless you just gotta have a unicorn blend just see what is out there now.

and probably as cheap as anywhere

 

[Milleniumsmoker]

G.L. Pease for me, especially the Drucquer and Sons line has been fantastic. I’ve also been looking and will be getting a lot for L.J. Peretti. They are a local shop in Boston that has rave reviews here from a recent thread I asked about regarding how good they are compared to other brand names. I would highly recommend them based off of what people here have said.

 

[badbriar]

On the bright side, HU is now available, as well as those you mentioned.
Start building ones you like that are on sale. At the present time, pipe tins are still affordable, but a lot pricier than you remember from 5 years back.
Don't look back at those that are gone - move on and enjoy new blends. It's a great adventure!
I'm gathering blends that are new to me and finding some real gens that I had no idea about. Personally, I will not miss any of the old favorites because I'm finding new ones that are as good or better. Hit up SP for estates to build your pipe rotation.
Cheers!

 

[Auxsender]

This website has a buy/sell/trade section and it’s awesome. Currently there is tons of great tobacco for sale here. Check it out.