Pipe Tobacco Consolidation and Conseqences

[cosmicfolklore]

Yeah sorry, note to self not to have 3 or 4 forum discussions open at once and not to do after long day with dogs jumping all over me and to check what I write before hitting 'reply' as can't edit or delete afterwards easily. Have asked admin to delete.

Hey, it’s not a good day on the forum for me if I haven’t made 25 typos, unintentionally insulted two people, and confused blend names in a hot debate, ha ha.

 

[Doctor Chopper]

Hey, it’s not a good day on the forum for me if I haven’t made 25 typos, unintentionally insulted two people, and confused blend names in a hot debate, ha ha.

When you make an error, you then have a tough decision to make. Do you try and defend what you wrote accidentally, or do you admit your mistake and tuck your tail. If you try to post a correction, there are already 30 replies of which half are defending you and the conversation has went off in 10 different directions.

 

[kcghost]

This is foolishness inspired by youth. Ah, to be young and full of piss and vinegar.

 

[romaso]

STG own MacBaren blends.

OK, looks like STG doesn't own Mac Baren (and that was typo, thank goodness). I believe Mac Baren is still family owned?
Also do you have any rough annual sales info on the major manufacturers? I've always wondered how they compare in market share. Thanks!

 

[vosBghos]

And you can't just grow tobacco in many countries, some are still very much state owned and grown, and of course you need the weather and suitable climate and soil. And then you can't just easily move raw leaf, you need special licenses etc, registered transport. Logistically and regulatory its a nightmare. And if you relied on your own crop in one place or another, what would happen if there was a bad flood, draught, a war and you lost all your crop? This is why you tend to buy from large companies and dealers who have access to many supply routes.

I Love your products, especially the blends that contain tobacco from Malawi. I have read that there are certain NGO's that are trying to convince the tobacco farmers there to give up on tobacco and change crops. I'm wondering if this is a trend elsewhere where you source, I would hate to see some of my favorite blends negatively impacted.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Yeah sorry, note to self not to have 3 or 4 forum discussions open at once and not to do after long day with dogs jumping all over me and to check what I write before hitting 'reply' as can't edit or delete afterwards easily. Have asked admin to delete.

I felt at the time with so many replies in, that deleting a post with a tiny error would be more confusing.

If I am wrong, please send link in PM to the errant post.

 

[jpmcwjr]

When you make an error, you then have a tough decision to make. Do you try and defend what you wrote accidentally, or do you admit your mistake and tuck your tail. If you try to post a correction, there are already 30 replies of which half are defending you and the conversation has gone off in 10 different directions.

No need to tuck any tail! I hope the choice is admit the mistake, and move on.

 

[Sethology12]

I Love your products, especially the blends that contain tobacco from Malawi. I have read that there are certain NGO's that are trying to convince the tobacco farmers there to give up on tobacco and change crops. I'm wondering if this is a trend elsewhere where you source, I would hate to see some of my favorite blends negatively impacted.

Also curious about this. Always some self proclaimed altruist thorn in our side somewhere it seems

 

[BCF]

In Virginia I hardly ever see anyone chew or dip. Gotta wonder where they all are

We're everywhere!

 

[romaso]

I Love your products, especially the blends that contain tobacco from Malawi. I have read that there are certain NGO's that are trying to convince the tobacco farmers there to give up on tobacco and change crops. I'm wondering if this is a trend elsewhere where you source, I would hate to see some of my favorite blends negatively impacted.

Best to stock up now just in case! Things can change quickly. A blend in the hand...

 

[romaso]

We're everywhere!

And always ask before taking a sip from their 'drink', or you may be surprised!

 

[BCF]

And always ask before taking a sip from their 'drink', or you may be surprised!

You said it!

 

[woodsroad]

I take exception to the last statement. Many good farmers don't relay on the Gov't for $$.

Most likely, there will be successful tobacco growing outfits after the shakeup and out is done.

All farmers benefit from the wide variety of government farm/farmer assistance programs. Some directly, some indirectly. However, I'm not implying that the US is alone in this.

 

[Doctor Chopper]

No need to tuck any tail! I hope the choice is admit the mistake, and move on.

Of course! Just joking about the rest - thought that was obvious, but some things just don't come through in the text.

Thanks for making me clarify.

 

[krizzose]

This is why when someone here, in the building phase of pipe smoking, asks whether to spend discretionary funds on pipes or tobacco I always say buy tobacco. Pipes you can always get.

Testify!

 

[Auxsender]

Sutliff+Mac Baren, Laudisi and Cornell and Diehl, k and k and many of our favorite European blends. Pipe tobaccos are plentiful and varied in the current era, but manufactured by a handful of remaining behemoths of the industry. This obviously results in a "dumbing down" of recipes using all of the same sources of constituent tobaccos, maybe takes some of the spirit that was endemic to the original producers tobacco away, and makes it very hard to taste anything truly new. However, could this continued merging actually work to our benefit? Wine-makers, cigar producers, and Marijuana companies often have their own plots of land in which they can cultivate the flowers of their final products. This allows them a tremendous amount of direct control. Pipe tobacco heretofore has not had this luxury. Perhaps as companies continue to consolidate and tobacco becomes increasingly difficult to harvest selectively we will see Sutliff-Macbaren or Cornell and diehl-laudisi expand their purview into growing as well as blending. Cornell and Diehl has already sort of moved towards this with their partnership with 31 Farms and their perique. What do you guys think? Is consolidation a death knell or a potential revival- allowing pipe tobacco companies to be beholden to themselves rather than the prevailing winds of cigarette manufacturers yields?

Here’s the thing: profit. If these large companies’ primary goal was to make the most amazing tobacco in the world, it would make sense for them to spend money to buy or rent land to control the production process from seed to pipe. Sadly, the primary goal is to make profit so my guess is that they will NOT be going into farming as it would require an enormous capital expenditure which would harm the bottom line. I suspect they’ll continue to make their products as inexpensive to bring to market as possible while also maintaining a level of quality that won’t alienate their customers.

 

[Auxsender]

Why take on such a economic model? A recipe for economic suicide.

Correct

 

[anotherbob]

I take exception to the last statement. Many good farmers don't relay on the Gov't for $$.

Most likely, there will be successful tobacco growing outfits after the shakeup and out is done.

Seriously tobacco might not be growing in all ways but it's consistently a big enough money maker and relatively easy to grow (compared to crops that have things like a higher rate of failure.) Also these things are usually more complicated then people want to make them out to be. Or in other words the original statement is certainly partially accurate but it's implication of totality is what is wrong.
Though the fact is that farming is a tough business. Even if you make a lot of money there are even more factors that you can't control. But that might explain why farmers tend to have the we'll find a way to survive mentality.

 

[anotherbob]

Three things, the third being hiring incompetent sociopathic personalities to head the company.

I've heard it said that the most important thing any ceo has done is convince people that they are needed (the ceos not other people, other people are disposable).

 

[rodo]

I'm wondering about tiny "artisan" tobacco growing. Bit like those crazy hippies down the road that started making and bottling their own wine but it isn't quite legal but no one cares b/c they are not trying to sell it anywhere but their farm. So, groups of meandering pipe smokers hear about so-and-so who grows some leaf in a field in rural Arkansas and they head down there, have a good chat with the oddball grower, get bored as he walks them through all the mystical processes, and then walk away with a half-pound of something special. Yeah, yeah, that's how it should work. There. Fixed it.