Directly or indirectly, the FDA changes could impact shops ability to offer their own blends. Just spoke with a well regarded blender today who was bemoaning the increasing difficulty of sourcing tobaccos. Shops such as Peretti do not process their own leaf. They are dependent on primary leaf processors. With the exception of Mark Ryan, every licensed primary processor I know of in the US is owned by a multi national for whom base ingredient pipe tobacco sales total up to a rounding error. At the very least, how much more added paperwork will these companies choose to put up with?
Moral: If you like a shop blend, don't count on it always being available despite the best wishes of the shop. Or the intentions (and hopes, since the ones I have met over the years at shows like their jobs and want to keep them) of the managers of these divisions of the multi national companies that are in control. These are fine people, but they are pretty far down the food chain when it comes to making financial decisions as to what lines of business to continue.
