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Not Good News for Gawith Customers in the US

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oldgeezersmoker

Lifer
Oct 7, 2016
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halfwheel.com

Kretek International Restructures, Ventura Cigar Co. Staff Reduced (Update)

Kretek International, the parent company of Phillips & King International, Tobacco Media Group and Ventura Cigar Co. is undergoing a major
halfwheel.com halfwheel.com

Kretek and the various subsidiaries mentioned in this article are the importers for Samuel Gawith and Gawith and Hoggarth. Eric Stokkebye,who has lost his job in this restructuring, knew a lot about pipe tobacco. GH and SG make many fine tobaccos, but they can only ship what an importer orders. I would imagine Kretek will now be focused on stopping the bleeding from their over extension into vapes (the back story I heard from two different Las Vegas show attendees.

Edit: Fixed Capitalization in Title
 
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mso489

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
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As if SG and GH aren't rare enough commodities already. I hope there are work-arounds and circumstances that keep some supply coming, but this doesn't bode well.
 
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oldgeezersmoker

Lifer
Oct 7, 2016
2,451
5,213
mso489 said:
As if SG and GH aren't rare enough commodities already. I hope there are work-arounds and circumstances that keep some supply coming, but this doesn't bode well.
Click to expand...
Most likely they will just keep ordering what they have been ordering, when they get around to it. As before. But some with more inside knowledge than I have had hoped that the distribution would improve when they took on GH from Arango.
 
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oldgeezersmoker

Lifer
Oct 7, 2016
2,451
5,213
hoosierpipeguy said:
How big of a staff is needed to distribute 2 to 3 shipments per year that are sold out before they're received? I wouldn't expect any appreciable changes as far as Gawith is concerned.
Click to expand...
There was hope that the situation was going to change for the better re:availability. Reps weren’t as important as Eric Stokkebye. The GH line in particular needed a lot of work to bring it into line with US preferences. ES was working on those changes. GH can send more product to the US, but an importer has to order it first. And they have to pay for it.
 
hoosierpipeguy

hoosierpipeguy

Lifer
Jan 28, 2018
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oldgeezersmoker said:
There was hope that the situation was going to change for the better re:availability. Reps weren’t as important as Eric Stokkebye. The GH line in particular needed a lot of work to bring it into line with US preferences. ES was working on those changes. GH can send more product to the US, but an importer has to order it first. And they have to pay for it.
Click to expand...

I don't necessarily believe it will get any better. If handling the small volume of Gawith product is overwhelming for an importer/distributor, they may as well close their doors. I'd also think Gawith isn't ready to walk away from the US market and will take steps to protect their interests if necessary.

Doesn't really matter to me. I'd like to pick up a couple of pounds of Sam's Flake but am more than set on everything else.
 
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oldgeezersmoker

Lifer
Oct 7, 2016
2,451
5,213
hoosierpipeguy said:
I don't necessarily believe it will get any better. If handling the small volume of Gawith product is overwhelming for an importer/distributor, they may as well close their doors. I'd also think Gawith isn't ready to walk away from the US market and will take steps to protect their interests if necessary.

Doesn't really matter to me. I'd like to pick up a couple of pounds of Sam's Flake but am more than set on everything else.
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Not sure what steps can be taken. Both SG and GH have been ill served in the US by distributors, but there aren’t many choices anymore. Laudisi (Smoking Pipes) comes to mind, but I don’t know how that would fit into their using their marketing resources with the existing products they have.

You really don’t need any more Sam’s Flake. ?
 
hoosierpipeguy

hoosierpipeguy

Lifer
Jan 28, 2018
15,824
198,057
68
Sarasota, FL
oldgeezersmoker said:
Not sure what steps can be taken. Both SG and GH have been ill served in the US by distributors, but there aren’t many choices anymore. Laudisi (Smoking Pipes) comes to mind, but I don’t know how that would fit into their using their marketing resources with the existing products they have.

You really don’t need any more Sam’s Flake. ?
Click to expand...

Do you think the short supply problem is with Gawith supplying too little or the US side importer ordering too little?

If worse comes to worse, I can pay a tad more and get the Sam's from Estervals. :)
 
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oldgeezersmoker

Lifer
Oct 7, 2016
2,451
5,213
craig61a said:
There was just an article on this board about GH & SG...

Gawith article

And I don’t see how restructuring translates to less of this being imported.
Click to expand...
hoosierpipeguy said:
Do you think the short supply problem is with Gawith supplying too little or the US side importer ordering too little?

If worse comes to worse, I can pay a tad more and get the Sam's from Estervals. :)
Click to expand...
Too little, plus not ordering consistent with market demands.
 
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oldgeezersmoker

Lifer
Oct 7, 2016
2,451
5,213
craig61a said:
There was just an article on this board about GH & SG...

Gawith article

And I don’t see how restructuring translates to less of this being imported.
Click to expand...

Less? Maybe, maybe not. My bet is it is less than was planned by Chris Gawith when Kretek took over. Will other efforts to better serve what the market demands be implemented? Likely not. Want Kendal Blueberry? Have your shop order it, in stock at the distributor, hardly ever out of stock. Louisiana Flake? Gee, that one is out of stock. But it always is, yet every distributor order is for the same amount. Wouldn’t it be nice to have more of the GH line in 50g tins in the US? GH tins virtually everything they make for one market or another, no reason for smokers to search out the few on line etailers that sell by the ounce or else spring for a 500g box. They are available in tins in other countries. Why isn’t Cabbies available in 250 g boxes as in other markets? Why do people do group orders to Synjeco to get ropes, twists and plugs?
 
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