I sincerely believe few, if any, of those old timers bought "custom mixed" blends. They weren't fussy, and bought whatever the stores had available. Cheap, OTC mixtures suited them just fine. Velvet, Revelation, Amphora, Troost, Grainger, CH, H&H, SWR, PA, Cherry Blend, Walnut, are but a few that I remember being sold at any well stocked drug store, or, in the smoking sections in most big stores. As a kid I loved looking at all the can art, and the fancy, calligraphic lettering, but especially loved to sniff all the pipe tobacco blends, sold in pouches.
Funny, how evoking the names of all these OTC pipe tobaccos takes me right back to when I was just a skinny boy, a young teen, out Christmas shopping, buying presents for my mom, dad, and sister. I bought my dad a can of "Troost", for Christmas that year, back in 1964,mom got some perfume...... Gotta go. My eyes are getting misty.