Post from Jeremy McKenna on Mac Baren closure

[Pipke]

I would agree that if the company had been handed down to someone passionate about tobacco, there would have been a chance at continued profitability.

Seems to me that after the old man died, no one in the family had the passion he did.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

Just that it's now run by non-tobacco smokers who see it as a payday and not a passion project. I read through all of those responses gaslighting us about the crappy tins that wouldn't seal, the lack of sauce, etc and the combative attitude from the lawyer running their account. The writing is on the wall - just watch.

Maybe read the post you skipped over and the one that followed the one quoted above? The guy running the family business is trying to help with the answers!

 

[woodsroad]

No, the reality that smoking is unhealthy and costs society is what killed it. Eventually, all tobacco manufacturing will be banned, one way or the other.

Can we make a list of all of the things that are unhealthy but perfectly legal and socially acceptable? Fast food, candy, soft drinks, alcohol, overprescription of pharmaceuticals. In recent years sports gambling and cannabis have become legal in many jurisdictions, while we continue to vilify tobacco. In Canada the same government that sells you cannabis (and teaches you how to use it!) thinks that nicotine pouches are dangerous and has made them illegal.

Maybe people who enjoy tobacco should fight back against these unrelenting infringements of our freedom. Lord knows, nobody else will.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.
None of that matters.
Tobacco is a whipping boy.
Politicians cater to the emotional.
Get used to it.

 

[Terry Lennox]

Quick, before this thread devolves into politics (dread)...Does anyone know if Capstan was grandfathered in under the SE rules or was Mac Baren flying under the FDA radar on that one?

I feel like this is an important qustion and one we should get a truly informed answer on (ie from Jeremy McKenna).

 

[LeafErikson]

Politicians cater to the emotional.

Are you sure about this? I’ve only ever seen calm, rational discussions on the internet between people with opposing political views.

 

[Pipeh]

Maybe read the post you skipped over and the one that followed the one quoted above? The guy running the family business is trying to help with the answers!

* The Lady, actually, not a guy.

 

[Deano]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.
None of that matters.
Tobacco is a whipping boy.
Politicians cater to the emotional.
Get used to it.

When they tax "big oil" and "big tobacco"out of business what will be the next "big" product they come after? They have to feed the hog with tax dollars somehow.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

* The Lady, actually, not a guy.

She is trying to help!

 

[Living Luggage]

We're in a transitional period. Pipe smoking and pipe tobacco are buggy whips. At least STG was willing to go long buggy whips.

 

[ThermionicScott]

Quick, before this thread devolves into politics (dread)...Does anyone know if Capstan was grandfathered in under the SE rules or was Mac Baren flying under the FDA radar on that one?

I feel like this is an important qustion and one we should get a truly informed answer on (ie from Jeremy McKenna).

Capstan Blue was on that short list of blends they will continue to make (for now.) Since it had been on the American market before Mac Baren picked it up, hopefully it’s grandfathered in! I welcome correction, of course.

 

[bullet08]

Government can come up with a law to ban tobacco. LE can enforce it. But neither of 'em can stop the black market. People will keep on smoking, south of border will surply the goods, border guards will try to stop the goods moving across the line.. You know how it will end. The government will bring back the tobacco to suppress the ever increasing crime related to tobacco trade sub rosa. History repeats itself because people are stupid.

 

[spearheadbill]

God knows. Clearly he does not have a clue. Especially as Gawith's remains in the family ownership, as it has been for 200+ years. After John Gawith died and there was non family management running it for a short while, there was some serious concerns but luckily family stepped back in at the helm and now all is good and going well. Awful lot of investment in the company and trying to ensure compliant and around for the foreseeable.

Not similar situation at all. Gawith's [unfortunately] do not own shipping lines and hotels or many of the other profitable businesses that the family that owned MacBaren owned. Tobacco was just one part of their business portfolio. Why would you not sell out if you had many other profitable streams in much easier business areas? The tobacco business is a constant battle, governments constantly regulating against you, taxing you, always seen as the 'bad' guy for the product you produce.

Yes you have to be passionate about it, especially as a small company, as you just would not bother otherwise. But companies have to make a profit to survive. Otherwise you cannot pay your staff, you cannot repair your machinery, you cannot buy the raw products, you cannot invest in needed technology, pay for registrations etc.....that is just common sense. No one runs a business to make a loss.

There is always 1 or 100 hundred in the crowd... Most appreciate your products and those who don't just don't realize YET what you offer. Keep the Bosun coming! Thanx

 

[Briar Lee]

In my bass-ackwards state, it’s easier, cheaper, and more socially acceptable to smoke weed than pipe tobacco. ‘Splain that one.

I’ll bet Missouri has the cheapest (and best) quasi legal cannabis in the world, at $10 per gram ($280 per ounce-$4,500 per pound ) tax paid.

Gawath sells two ounces for $20.

My Buoy Gold is ten dollars a pound.

I own a twenty acre field where I could raise all the 10 cents a pound alfalfa you could bale.

Xxxx

The U.S. average price for all alfalfa hay dipped $2 in December to $205 per ton, the lowest average price since July 2021.

Xxxx

One answer is to raise our own for $3.50 for 20 pounds.




It’s as hard to outright ban tobacco as it is cannabis.

And cured alfalfa has been sold as counterfeit cannabis, and if cannabis was as completely legal and untaxed could be sold at 10 cents a pound, $8 for an 80 pound bale.

 

[DesertDan]

Any company implementing SAP is in for trouble.

 

[VDL_Piper]

I’ll bet Missouri has the cheapest (and best) quasi legal cannabis in the world, at $10 per gram ($280 per ounce-$4,500 per pound ) tax paid.

Gawath sells two ounces for $20.

My Buoy Gold is ten dollars a pound.

I own a twenty acre field where I could raise all the 10 cents a pound alfalfa you could bale.

Xxxx

The U.S. average price for all alfalfa hay dipped $2 in December to $205 per ton, the lowest average price since July 2021.

Xxxx

One answer is to raise our own for $3.50 for 20 pounds.

View attachment 364604


It’s as hard to outright ban tobacco as it is cannabis.

And cured alfalfa has been sold as counterfeit cannabis, and if cannabis was as completely legal and untaxed could be sold at 10 cents a pound, $8 for an 80 pound bale.

When you do this I’ll take a bale of Virginia Gold thanks.

 

[Briar Lee]

When you do this I’ll take a bale of Virginia Gold thanks.

Alfalfa is the ultimate forage for dairy cattle, and horses. The smell of a barn full is just indescribably good.

Fifty years ago during the summers it might sell for fifty cents a bale and this time in January $3.50, depending on the cutting.

My pot head friends claimed their weed sometimes was cut with alfalfa, or if they weren’t careful it might be all alfalfa.

I’ve tried smoking it, and if cured it’s delicious and sweet. The old timers claimed the pioneer farmers smoked sage brush when they ran out of real tobacco. Aged and dried corn silk is an excellent tobacco substitute, as are grape vines, even coffee grounds.

Until about 25 years ago, to home grow tobacco required an allotment from the county office, but no more.

I understand without chemicals there’s a lot of bugs that will eat tobacco as badly as they eat alfalfa.

When alfalfa was raised in the Four County area, some farmers paid kids to shoot deer on the fields, which was the worst predator of it.

Wonder if deer love tobacco?

 

[woodsroad]

When they tax "big oil" and "big tobacco"out of business what will be the next "big" product they come after? They have to feed the hog with tax dollars somehow.

Politicians don’t give a rat’s ass about tax dollars, as long as they get theirs. They are perfectly happy to spend trillions that don’t exist.

 

[newbroom]

Aged and dried corn silk is an excellent tobacco substitute,

Lee, your posts resonate with me. We must be about the same age. I find that age determines compatibility more and more as time wears on.
Some things never get old. Change is constant. Consciousness isn't.
My experience with dried corn silk was exciting but not really a gateway to tobacco. Maybe it was the husks?

 

[Deano]

Politicians don’t give a rat’s ass about tax dollars, as long as they get theirs. They are perfectly happy to spend trillions that don’t exist.

Sure they do. What are they lining their pockets with? Green energy is what they are invested in. Kill big oil with taxes, while making a killing in the markets. If green energy investments go south, thats fine, they sold yeseterday. Dont kid yourself, they love our cash. Its all about control.

 

[Briar Lee]

Lee, your posts resonate with me. We must be about the same age. I find that age determines compatibility more and more as time wears on.
Some things never get old. Change is constant. Consciousness isn't.
My experience with dried corn silk was exciting but not really a gateway to tobacco. Maybe it was the husks?

Other wild herbs were sometimes smoked as medicine, not for recreation.

One I remember was mullein.

You can buy it, but why you would instead of picking it for free is a mystery.

Mullein — Smokable Herbs - Bear Blend

Each tin comes with 7 grams of Mullein. The fuzzy Mullein leaf is a well-known herbal medicine. This gentle herb has a long history of use in European and North American folk medicine and has a plethora of folk tales to go with it. This is such a soft and gentle herb. Light, fluffy and...

bearblend.com

Another I was cautioned against using was Indian Tobacco.

Lobelia inflata - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Another thing about growing up in the Ozarks fifty and sixty years ago was every old timer had a story about home grown “long green” tobacco and it always ended with them getting sick.

I never saw one tobacco plant in the Ozarks. The old timers claimed the worst store bought was milder than the best “long green”.

What “long green” actually was is kind of a mystery, but they said their parents or grandparents all bought it from seed catalogs. It was potent, whatever strain it was.