Jim's STG Versions of Mac Baren Blends Reviews.

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
22,958
58,312
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Swimming blindly so apologies if I’m not up to speed. All these blends are already released by STG and tins have arrived in the US? Does that mean they were made by the previously operating Sutliff plant before? I was thinking the transition, in the over the pond shops, would take another year to smooth out. This is what my uneducated fingers tell me:View attachment 414923
At this point in time, I doubt that there's a lot of Sutliff branded product left. Before the public announcement regarding the closing of Sutliff, a lot of their stocks were sold to independent blenders who used them, and a lot of SPC blends were made and tinned as well, so that there would be SPC blends available for months following the closure.

But, it's now 6+ months since Sutliff went poof gone. There's likely more Sutliff tobaccos still in independent hands, but not a lot of SPC.
 

zercules

Might Stick Around
Dec 28, 2024
91
964
NorCal
Is Capstan Gold discontinued? These are not very favorable reviews, I thought that STG had made Capstan in the past and it was solid so there would be not much change, looks like I was wrong.
STG did make Capstan in the past, and MacBaren’s version was basically a carbon copy according to this fella:
 
  • Like
Reactions: pipenschmoeker123

Dixie Piper

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 31, 2025
102
179
The heart of Dixie
I stocked up on Plumcake and Golden Extra. I never made it to my other favorite, Scottish Mixture because it was “safe”. I wish I would have now.
There were so many blends going away I doubt many of us were able to acquire everything we wanted.

I know I could not. I'm happy to have what I was able to get at the time.
 

NookersTheCat

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 10, 2020
746
3,686
NEPA
Yea thats why its wild to me its so much different this time, what are they doing 🤪
Probably what everyone else today is... shrinking quality/quantity to the bare minimum while raising price to the absolute maximum that the least common denominator consumer will tolerate and not caring about any of the 2nd order consequences... lol

There were so many blends going away I doubt many of us were able to acquire everything we wanted.

I know I could not. I'm happy to have what I was able to get at the time.
Same... I know it sounds crazy but some of the Sutliff blends I bought were ones that I hadn't even tried yet. Generally ones I'd been meaning to or are types of others I already do like. I've always had an extremely eclectic nature to my pipe smoking though. I'll rarely smoke the same blend twice in a row... sometimes even twice in a month. I figured that if there's anything I find I truly don't care for enough and/or things I wish I had more of... well, that's the miracle of the bartering side of this hobby/community.

Lends that age old question, I believe it was a famous old Englishman once opined... "Tis better to smoke and lose than to never have smoked at all..?" 😂
 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
70,138
801,871
Are these five blends currently produced at STG’s facility, or are they still being made in Svendborg,? Is there any way to tell (for example, from the sticker or barcode)?
Written on the sticker on the back of Vanilla Cream:
Made in Denmark
Imported by Scandinavian Tobacco Group Lane Ltd. Richmond, Va. 23223 USA

Below that is the STG insignia with Scandinavian Tobacco Group written under it.

These words in the tin description of the blend ingredients are interesting: "modern Mac Baren Black Cavendish."

All five tins have the same STG descriptives.

I didn't notice this before, but the Capstan Blue description on the back of the tin claims it's Capstan Gold Flake. I can believe that it is.