^^^ Yes, tobacco will live on. At least through most of our lifetimes. Someone, somewhere will pick up the slack. Telescopes has posted about this.
Just in from STG/MacBaren/Sutliff
- Thread starter pappymac
- Start date
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Just have to wait this out and see what happens over the next few years.Maybe a special release now and then.There's not much else for it.
On the other hand...I just looked at their stock reports. From an investment standpoint this looks like a move of desperation. Its possibly an attempt to boost their dying profits. Basically, to me it looks like they made this purchase and killed things off to hang on a little longer.
Sadly for us they have chosen the low road.
All of us know (and they do too) that tobacco is dying. I dont think it will help their share value at all. They simply dont have the capital to kill the competition while at the same time increase profits on trash.
It would have been a lot more noble to kill the trash, increase prices, and increase quality. Of course they didnt. Either way they will continue to drop in market value. I guess some bean counter told them to do this.
I invest. I do not own STG and will not...regardless of their nonsustainable dividends. Looking at their graphs the market agrees.
Sadly for us they have chosen the low road.
All of us know (and they do too) that tobacco is dying. I dont think it will help their share value at all. They simply dont have the capital to kill the competition while at the same time increase profits on trash.
It would have been a lot more noble to kill the trash, increase prices, and increase quality. Of course they didnt. Either way they will continue to drop in market value. I guess some bean counter told them to do this.
I invest. I do not own STG and will not...regardless of their nonsustainable dividends. Looking at their graphs the market agrees.
I just wanna take a minute here to say thank Bob Almighty for this forum. I was able to (the temporary chagrin of my credit score, lol) at least stock up on most of what's important to me. Between this board and just being lucky enough to have happened upon the info far more timely than when McClelland happened I'm pretty set.. again, thanks be to the Great Magnet.
But I belong to a couple Facebook pipe groups. There are a significant amount of people waking up to this information for the first time TODAY. Hence the previous 24hr wake of destruction. A moment of silence for those poor slobs. Or the pensioner who's last pleasure in this world is walking into his local B&M and picking up a couple of tins to get him through the month every SS check day.
And as far as those (mostly on reddit ime) who knew but chose to play it "too cool for school" anyway.. well:
But I belong to a couple Facebook pipe groups. There are a significant amount of people waking up to this information for the first time TODAY. Hence the previous 24hr wake of destruction. A moment of silence for those poor slobs. Or the pensioner who's last pleasure in this world is walking into his local B&M and picking up a couple of tins to get him through the month every SS check day.
And as far as those (mostly on reddit ime) who knew but chose to play it "too cool for school" anyway.. well:
I don't know, I wouldn't call most of what they're keeping "garbage". Capstan Blue is beloved by pretty much everyone who likes pure Virginias, and I'm quite fond of the current dark fired Kentucky infused version of Three Nuns. Presbyterian Mixture is a great one too in my book, and while I've never tried it myself I know St. Bruno is a classic European favorite right up there with Condor.
Yes, almost the entire catalog of blends from two of the most prominent pipe tobacco manufacturers over the past century are going away, but most of what's sticking around is pretty dang good and there are still hundreds upon hundreds of blends from other manufacturers to choose from.
There are definitely some Sutliff and Mac Baren blends that I'll miss, but I am thankful for those that are sticking around and will just use this occasion to further explore the Gawith Hoggarth and Cornell & Diehl blend catalogs. The pipe smoking world isn't ending, it's just changing a bit.
It's possible their motivation is simply to remove competition from the market. No, I'm not saying that this is the case, but it's one possible explanation. As the market contracts, being one of the few remaining suppliers gives them a chance to to generate ongoing profits.
Whatever their reasons for taking these decisions, they were made in an attempt to generate profits. Publicly owned businesses, by their very nature, have no empathy. Their only motivation is money. And that's just how the market works.
If pipe tobacco was a significant part of STG's portfolio, consumers would have some power to influence their decision making by bringing pressure through mechanisms like boycotts. But pipe tobacco is just a blip on their radar. We are incidental customers in the tobacco market. Without the cigarette and cigar markets there would be no commercially produced pipe tobacco.
My suggestion: Make sure you're wearing a life vest, because the waters are only going to get choppier. If there's a blend you can't live without, assume it won't be around forever and prepare accordingly.
Three Nuns has also multipled, how many are they? Idk but did we really need Three Nuns “Baja Blast” .
Howdy folks. I stayed off line over the holidays, but am back now.
FYI I'll do my replies on the "Questions for LeaonrdW" thread just so I have a hope of keeping track.
A couple of notes before I bounce to the other thread:
FYI I'll do my replies on the "Questions for LeaonrdW" thread just so I have a hope of keeping track.
A couple of notes before I bounce to the other thread:
- The letter from the beginning of this thread is real
- It is for U.S.A. Sutliff retailers and wholesalers (which is to say that just because Mac Baren blend is being discontinued in the U.S. doesn't mean it's being discontinued globally)
- No private label products produced by Sutliff for sale in the U.S are being continued.
What is the logic in ceasing distribution of blends in the U.S. if they are still going to be produced for other regions?
This is actually an extremely astute point that I believe has been a major cause for all this nonsense.
Like as a microcosm, they come out with the John cotton line.. resurrecting a great old blend. Not good enough, gotta do a whole line of crumble kakes under the same banner. Ends up killing the original blends.. and now the whole brand again. Or 17 dif versions of Balkan sobranie matches, etc etc etc.
After a certain point you have 10,000 blends that like literally only sell to like 3 people each 8,000 of which are basically duplicates of the other 2,000. The supposed "golden age" has really been just a race to the bottom with mediocre tin art and bi-weekly limited editions...
after he closed the factory in Dk where these have been made and keep selling them to much smaller markets than the US from a nonexistent factory anymore....I think we all need a cooling off period here.
They likely don't sell enough here. I've seen Mac Baren tins at a local B&M that are about to have their third birthday sitting on a shelf. What business would want to carry a product that hasn't moved in nearly three years?
Hey idiot. That man is on a sinking ship he has no control over and is also losing his job at the end of this. Show some G-d Damn respect. If you have a problem with this statement I have no problem repeating it to your face at any pipe show I go to.
Same. Many of the tins I've been panic buying online even this past month (while others were also panic buying) still consistently had dates from mid 2023.
This last month was basically supermarket sweep for me lol. Going forward beyond the odd C&D limited edition and my good ole TK-6 I doubt i will have the need or desire to buy more tobacco for the rest of my days.
The writing is on the wall. Laudisi is still a private company. How long you think any of this is really gonna last? After Reeves and whatever private owners there are reach retirement age and see an offer from Denmark with oodles of zeros behind it.. after watching their margins shrink year after year. Esp if they end up taking over sutliffs wholesale and B&M distribution. More work for less money.
The big picture is we are all on a sinking ship. Each company that gets bought out , inventory delisted and done away with, adds to cellars being deepened due to the unavailability of products. Deep cellars will eventually lead to less buys in the future. I’ve seen it stated on multiple forums. “I’ve already got enough to last me a lifetime “. Another purchase gone from your favorite blender. The market will continue to shrink one retailer at a time.
Just my thoughts, which really don’t amount to a hill of beans. The logic seems legitimate though.
.02
Just my thoughts, which really don’t amount to a hill of beans. The logic seems legitimate though.
.02
Wow… we are losing 4th Generation? I haven’t heard that one yet.
If so, what a catastrophe. Their 1931 flake is one of the only aromatic blends that I enjoy.
All the more reason to avoid STG going forward. How can they screw over Stokkebye?
Also, has anyone heard a response from Russ Ouelette on Hearth & Home and his other projects? His blends are some of my favorites.
There will come a day when STG blends will vanish. And then what? A wild longing for how much some of those blends are missed. Yeh, boycotting a major player in the hopes of giving us even fewer selections. That works.
Frankly, to all you who need to vent by ranting... venting is over rated. Please do so and excuse some of us who will quietly find other ways to solve our issues that are not just more productive, but actually smart.
Leonard has made it clear what a small percentage of the market we are. They can afford to lose the entire online pipe community and not bat an eye.