Legendary Tobaccos Availability?

[wernerat]

Title edited, and brands capitalized.

So I read about the famous Balkan Sobranie, Esoterica, f
Frog Morton and I m sure there are more "legendary" brands.
Were they really that amazing and I just missed out or is it just because they are not anymore possible to purchase for a normal price.
To which tobacco did u change to get kinda the same taste?

 

[Chasing Embers]

is it just because they are not anymore possible to purchase for a normal price.

This

Not much noise was made about the blends in question prior to their availability waning.

To which tobacco did u change to get kinda the same taste?

None exist unless you have a cellar full of the originals.

 

[Buffalo]

So I read about the famous balkan sobranie, esoterica, frog morton and I m sure there are more "legendary" brands.
Were they really that amazing and I just missed out or is it just because they are not anymore possible to purchase for a normal price.
To which tobacco did u change to get kinda the same taste?

All of those blends were and are good blends, but at the same point in time, you've got to realize that there are thousands of other blends out there that are available now that are also good. For the price you pay for a tin of Cellar or a bag of Penzance on the secondary market, you could have 8 to 10 tins of a still in production blend.

 

[Dave760]

I've never had Balkan Sobranie. For me many of the Esoteric blends are good to very good, and Frog Morton was very good too.

But there was a time in the not too distant past where you could walk into a tobacconist and buy these blends every day. I've been smoking a pipe for decades, and started cellaring 18 years ago. And I stockpiled none of these. I do happen to have a few random tins that I just haven't gotten to, but that's just happenstance.

There are a large number of blends that you can buy right now, many of them excellent. That's where I focus my interest and I humbly suggest you do the same. Don't fret about what you never had...that way lies madness.

 

[warren]

So I read about the famous balkan sobranie, esoterica, frog morton and I m sure there are more "legendary" brands.

Some liked 'em. Others? Probably wouldn't trade their SWR or other "drug store" blend for a dozen of what some here consider a legendary blend. Legendary" is in the mind of the beholder. I prefer to smoke what I like and let others chase "legendary."

 

[TheWhale13]

Really the only blends being raved about and called legendary are the ones that you can't really buy, which should tell you something.

 

[Lumbridge]

Really the only blends being raved about and called legendary are the ones that you can't really buy, which should tell you something.

I'm inclined to think that this is primarily because of hoarders and flippers buying up every last speck of Esoterica or Germain's as soon as it becomes available. Consumers jump on a hype train and create shortages - and therefore absurdly high prices - themselves by overbuying.

 

[Lumbridge]

Hype is usually just hype. Not that those aren't quality tobaccos, mind, but I think it gets blown out of proportion. I figure out for myself what I like and what I don't like.

 

[anotherbob]

to me it seems like these are less the bestest greatest blends but ones that are unique enough (like plenty on the market now) that you can't replace them.

 

[OzPiper]

I have not been back smoking pipes long enough to build up a significant cellar of tobacco

But I’ve been drinking wine long enough to have drunk or tasted some fabulous drops

Some years ago I attended a lunch put on by a most generous host. The piece de resistance was a jeroboam (8 bottles) of Romanee Conti.
12 of us sat down to a main course with a decanter of this expensive wine in front of each of us.

A couple of years later he repeated the exercise with another jeroboam - Ch Petrus.

Two of the world’s most expensive wines
He did, because he could.

Were these the best wines I’d drunk or tasted ?
They were both good (very good, truth be told)
Just not THE best - not by a long shot

I’m very grateful to have shared in the experience.
But price and rarity does not equate to the best

 

[verporchting]

I’d trade a boatload of legendary tobaccos and the world’s most expensive pipe for whatever pipe and tobacco I was enjoying at the moment in the company of a few good friends. Some things are priceless, the rest is just overpriced.

 

[kcghost]

To me the only one that is truly legendary was the Balkan Sobranie. I had some after it being no longer being made for 30 year and my God it was truly magnificent. The while good tobaccos that I enjoyed while they were on the market don't hit me as a truly exceptional tobacco.

Once there gone there gone. You can spend time looking something that is supposedly a match, but I have never found any that really measures up.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I'm inclined to think that this is primarily because of hoarders and flippers buying up every last speck of Esoterica or Germain's as soon as it becomes available.

The online stock is just a drop in the bucket. B&M stock gathers dust while their house blends sell.

 

[cafeartin]

Welcome!! Thank your for posting an on-topic article that's not selling anything. Please introduce yourself! ​

​

"The Art of Blending Tobacco in the Pipe Tobacco Industry"​

this is new article, please share your experience and idea.
original article ...

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

I'm in the UK and they never sold Mcclelland over here. I managed to buy a few tins from Smokingpipes but I didn't get any Christmas Cheer. Forum member Larrysson sold me a few different vintages of the CC for £80 a tin. That was a price well worth paying as far as I was concerned. There really is nothing like it available in the UK. Nothing that i've tried, anyway.

Germain's sells for £30+ a 50g tin now, so £40 for 50g of CC doesn't seem so bad. Larrysson also sold me some other stuff including some tins of 13 year old Mcclelland 1776 at £30 a tin, to me that's a bargain. A brand new tin of Gawith costs £19, so a bit extra for an amazing tobacco with 13 years on it that will never be available again is a no brainer.

I only smoke these blends occasionally as a treat, so they last a long time. If there was something similar that was readily available then I wouldn't have bothered. But in the UK there isn't.

 

[RookieGuy80]

Ah, the old guard! I often wonder how much of the fairy dust sprinkled in those legacy blends is actually rose tinted nostalgia. My suggestion is to not worry about it. Leave the unicorns to those who have played with them before. Develop your tastes based on blends available now so in 20 or 30 years we can sit around grumbling about how much we miss Haunted Bookshop or LTF and the next crop of kids has no idea.

 

[Sigmund]

There are so many good blends made. Dont mourn what you didnt know. My first round with pipes was in the US and I smoked a lot of those. They were good. This round Im in Europe and lately Ive been exploring the HU line of tobacco which is every bit as good or better than what I smoked before. Save your cash and invest in what you can get now and enjoy.

I sat around being bummed I cound not get stuff easily from the US. Then I found there was plenty over here. Half the fun is exploring, not smoking what someone else says is/was good.

 

[Cloozoe]

So I read about the famous balkan sobranie, esoterica, frog morton and I m sure there are more "legendary" brands.
Were they really that amazing and I just missed out or is it just because they are not anymore possible to purchase for a normal price.
To which tobacco did u change to get kinda the same taste?

Good tobaccos that are legendary because they are unobtainable. Countless blends today that would be viewed the same way should they disappear. I smoked Esoterica Dorchester & Dunbar as my primary, always on hand tobaccos for years back when they were readily available. Still have some of each and enjoy them no more and no less than my currently available favorites. Just different, that's all.

 

[jaingorenard]

I'm in the UK and they never sold Mcclelland over here. I managed to buy a few tins from Smokingpipes but I didn't get any Christmas Cheer. Forum member Larrysson sold me a few different vintages of the CC for £80 a tin. That was a price well worth paying as far as I was concerned. There really is nothing like it available in the UK. Nothing that i've tried, anyway.

Germain's sells for £30+ a 50g tin now, so £40 for 50g of CC doesn't seem so bad. Larrysson also sold me some other stuff including some tins of 13 year old Mcclelland 1776 at £30 a tin, to me that's a bargain. A brand new tin of Gawith costs £19, so a bit extra for an amazing tobacco with 13 years on it that will never be available again is a no brainer.

I only smoke these blends occasionally as a treat, so they last a long time. If there was something similar that was readily available then I wouldn't have bothered. But in the UK there isn't.

Where are you buying your Germains? I get it for £20 or £22, thereabouts. Someone was kind enough to trade some McClelland with me (40th Anniversary) and it is great stuff. No better or worse than a lot of other top-tier Virginia blends, but different enough that I was really glad to get the opportunity to try it.

Not sure what it's like in the US, but if you look hard enough in the UK rare and vintage stuff still comes up - online and in antique shops. And not always for a King's ransom!

 

[Auxsender]

YOBACCO > TOBACCO