Long Time Pipe Smokers: Do You Notice Tobacco Trends?

[Bowie]

I'm just curious if those of y'all who have been smoking for years or decades notice marketplace trends trends on this forum for tobacco, like certain types of tobacco falling in and out of favor.

I've seen a few people comment that it is a good time to be a pipe smoker because of the quality and quantity of blends available. I'm wondering how tastes have changed over the years.

I suppose I could ask the same about pipes, such as a shift towards larger bowls, smooth vs. finished, etc.

 

[verporchting]

From personal experience everything costs more - shocking I know - but with the Internet there is more selection and more knowledge available.

B&M stores are few and far between and it’s rare to see tobacco in newsstands or convenience stores at all.

Pipe smoking is described as a hobby and that’s just something I never saw before.

Artisan pipes are a thing now and I don’t remember that other than Danish freehands but that might just be me because it never occurred to me to look and there wasn’t any Internet.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

At the Briary, I have noticed the trends sway with the breeze a couple of times. When I started, people who were going there, were all about Italian pipes, as They were all talking about how Danish pipes were in popular decline. Then in the last few years it has been "all things English" in the pipe designs.

On here, what I have noticed is that people are tending to get more offended than when I first came here, driving us to become more PC about what we can and can't have fun with. But, this may just be indicative of how uptight society in general is... or maybe it's a filthy hipster thing (JK). (JK means, Just kidding)

 

[smokiespipesmoker123]

On here, what I have noticed is that people are tending to get more offended than when I first came here,

That offends me! (S-JK)

 

[ray47]

I've been smoking a pipe for 53 yrs and during that time I've seen many changes in regards to tobacco. Not so much in regards to the blends so much but the availability. Once the world wide web got up and running the availability and selection took off like a rocket. To me the old blends, commonly referred to as OTCs, pretty much stayed the same taste wise. There have been exceptions of course, but for the most part the blends I smoked 53 yrs ago taste the same now as they did then. So far as pipes, well they change from year to year, but the standard shapes are very much still around.

 

[sablebrush52]

One big change with this forum is the status of C&D blends. A few years ago they were largely held in contempt as having a bloated line up of inferior blends. Now they're very popular here. Part of that is that they upped their game with the small batch offerings. Part of it is that more highly regarded brands are either dead and gone, like McClelland, or often out of stock, like Samuel Gawith, Gawith & Hoggarth, etc. If you want to dance and the only available partner is a pig, you dance with the pig.
As for trendy blends, it's the addition of dark fired Kentucky to everything. I'm happy that I bought when I did as I prefer my Va/Pers to be Va/Pers without having dark fired substituting for some of the Perique just because it costs less. It's not a substitute for good Perique.
The other trend is going to be less obvious. With federal subsidies for tobacco farmers removed, less tobacco is being grown and less labor intensive methods for harvesting are being used. This means that the quality of the domestic leaf will be compromised.
Lastly, 49 years ago, when I started smoking a pipe, there were only a small fraction of the tinned commercial blends available compared to today. We didn't feel deprived. And, there were a lot more tobacconists who blended, and there were a lot more local blends. and, almost nobody cellared, and nobody even thought about cellaring. Tobacco was already aged when you bought it. There were more pipe smokers around, and the whole business was a hell of a lot more relaxed than it is today with the cellaring, hoarding, chasing, and whining.
Whew! I feel better now!

 

[Bowie]

As for trendy blends, it's the addition of dark fired Kentucky to everything.

I appreciate your entire response, but that quote caught my eye. I was wondering why so many of the blends I'm interested in include DFK.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I was wondering why so many of the blends I'm interested in include DFK.

Some blends have always had it. Three Nuns comes to mind. But, maybe it was people all talking about the DFK in 3N that brought it forward in people's minds, and inspired the blenders to experiment with adding it. Just a guess. And, Russ and many others in the industry were posting lots of videos about how DFK was the new American latakia (or something close to that).

At one time there was more fire cured Virginias available, which added a leathery smoky flavor, but stayed sweet and Virginia-y. DFK adds that, but along with that added strength and more robust flavor.

I'm not one to complain though, as I love the DFK blends.

 

[BROBS]

I appreciate your entire response, but that quote caught my eye. I was wondering why so many of the blends I'm interested in include DFK.

It's because it's cheaper than Perique as stated above.

However I personally love it! I like both... (perique and DFK)

I also love stoved VA's.

I would say there are certainly trends.. over 3 years ago when I started smoking a pipe almost every single G&H blend was available everywhere. Same with SG, Germain, etc.

 

[sablebrush52]

And, Russ and many others in the industry were posting lots of videos about how DFK was the new American latakia (or something close to that).

Yep, but it seems to be more like Ketchup. Everything is better with Ketchup. Burgers are better with ketchup, hotdogs are better with ketchup, chocolate ice cream sundae is better with ketchup, coffee is better with ketchup, breast milk is better with ketchup. I like ketchup, just not in everything.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

One big change with this forum is the status of C&D blends. A few years ago they were largely held in contempt as having a bloated line up of inferior blends. Now they're very popular here. Part of that is that they upped their game with the small batch offerings. Part of it is that more highly regarded brands are either dead and gone, like McClelland, or often out of stock, like Samuel Gawith, Gawith & Hoggarth, etc. If you want to dance and the only available partner is a pig, you dance with the pig.
As for trendy blends, it's the addition of dark fired Kentucky to everything. I'm happy that I bought when I did as I prefer my Va/Pers to be Va/Pers without having dark fired substituting for some of the Perique just because it costs less. It's not a substitute for good Perique.
The other trend is going to be less obvious. With federal subsidies for tobacco farmers removed, less tobacco is being grown and less labor intensive methods for harvesting are being used. This means that the quality of the domestic leaf will be compromised.
Lastly, 49 years ago, when I started smoking a pipe, there were only a small fraction of the tinned commercial blends available compared to today. We didn't feel deprived. And, there were a lot more tobacconists who blended, and there were a lot more local blends. and, almost nobody cellared, and nobody even thought about cellaring. Tobacco was already aged when you bought it. There were more pipe smokers around, and the whole business was a hell of a lot more relaxed than it is today with the cellaring, hoarding, chasing, and whining.
Whew! I feel better now!

This sums it up fairly nicely. I've technically smoked a pipe 50 years. But that is has been on again, off again, with significant gaps in between. The biggest thing to me is it seems a lot more people prefer and hoard Virginia and Virginia Flake blends than they did even 10 years ago. Burley and English/Latakia blends used to be preferred tobacco. I'm guessing the hoarding makes the Va blends seem more popular than they really are. I don't remember people considering or discussing aging Va blends 20 years ago. You also didn't have all the forums and facebook groups to discuss it 20 years ago, at least to the extent you do now.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Yeh, C&D Virginias were pretty much a joke... till they became the only big blender in the US to really work with Virginias (beyond just mixing with them), then it had me go back and explore them again. I found a few in their line that really appeal to me. Plus, I started exploring burleys with a little more of a aficionado attitude towards them. So, maybe the changes in the market had us re-eval them.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Maybe a decline or lack of acknowledgment of other leaf to work with has blenders scrambling to overuse DFK. Russ has played with some new burleys, like mahogany burley, and I've seen some others using different types of cigar leaf. Maybe hedging up new blends that use leaf that they are pretty sure will continue to be produced is a better bet for them. I know that Russ has had to discontinue making a few blends because a component was no longer being produced, like Freight Train (or was it steam roller?). Anyways, I bet some blenders forecasting that many of the components will no longer be available has had them become more creative with a more limited palate of colors.

 

[BROBS]

I agree..
for three nuns (macbaren in Denmark) I am assuming availability/cost of perique was the main problem.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

for three nuns (macbaren in Denmark) I am assuming availability/cost of perique was the main problem.

I think speculation has been going on for decades now. But, I don't think cost would have been the top reason, as DFK is maybe a little more labor intensive and time-weary than perique.

 

[whsergent]

I have only been pipe smoking on and off since about 2000 and i have seen a lot of blends i like either cease production, become scarce to the point of non existence or "evolve" toward mediocrity.

Durbar, Erinmore Flake, Germains Brown Flake, Bracken Flake all either gone, tamed or nearly impossible to find.

Its a disturbing trend away from regional, distinctive tobaccos toward trying to please the widest number of pipe smokers and eliminate niche blends.

I understand the economic forces involved, but i dont like it.

Jeez im getting crotchety

 

[dquisenberry]

Smoking since 83. Syrian is gone. Individual orientals are gone. That being said there are so many great blends available today (both in the US and international) that I don’t miss the old glory blends. I still have enough of my no longer available holy grail blends, but honestly enjoy many new ones just as much.

that was a great question!

 

[mso489]

Going way back to the fifties when I didn't smoke but my dad did, I have noticed a long series of fads, trends, variations, and surprises. Back in the fifties, in the City of Chicago, there was of course no internet nor cell phones, but newsstands were everywhere, in little wooden structures between the buildings and the streets and in the lobbies of many hotels, office buildings, and in drugstores and groceries. Newsstands sold tons of print media, notably newspapers, but a huge array of magazines, books and racing forms as well. A standard part of the inventory were tobacco products of every kind -- pipes, pipe tobacco, innumerable brands of cigarettes, cigars, and chewing tobacco. You could buy an inexpensive or moderately priced pipe, and in some hotels and office buildings, some up-market pipes, and a large array of tobaccos from pouch to tub to tins. Commuter trains had smoking cars, and the public smoking made fashions in pipes evident. Particularly chic in the late fifties were leather wrapped bowls with meerschaum liners. Today you have to travel across Manhattan to pipe shops. Out in the boroughs, when you see a neon sign that says Tobacco, it's a shop that cells cigarettes, folding papers, and some head shop stuff. For pipes and pipe tobacco, from most places, you have a long commute.

 

[bnichols23]

Yep, but it seems to be more like Ketchup. Everything is better with Ketchup. Burgers are better with ketchup, hotdogs are better with ketchup, chocolate ice cream sundae is better with ketchup, coffee is better with ketchup, breast milk is better with ketchup. I like ketchup, just not in everything.

Jesse, I have to admit,I worry about you sometimes.

 

[sablebrush52]

I have only been pipe smoking on and off since about 2000 and i have seen a lot of blends i like either cease production, become scarce to the point of non existence or "evolve" toward mediocrity.

Durbar, Erinmore Flake, Germains Brown Flake, Bracken Flake all either gone, tamed or nearly impossible to find.

Its a disturbing trend away from regional, distinctive tobaccos toward trying to please the widest number of pipe smokers and eliminate niche blends.

I understand the economic forces involved, but i dont like it.

Jeez im getting crotchety

I don't disagree. So many blends that were made by different makers are now brands produced by a single maker. British made blends were wonderfully idiosyncratic. Danish versions lack the personality in too many instances. I've said it before, and I'll probably piss off a few by saying it again, but Denmark is where British blends go to die.