Questions for Leonardw: Part Deux

[MavErik]

I am going to attempt to open this up for questions for @leonardw...and nothing else. No discussion, no banter, no discourse. I know I am nobody on this forum amongst the legends. However, Leonard's honest and forthright answers to our questions were some of the best dialogue I have ever gotten from a corporate entity...probably ever.

PLEASE respect him and each other so we can continue to have an open line of communication with him. Kindly take the extraneous discussions to another thread.

 

[MavErik]

@leonardw I'll throw the first set of questions at you.

If STG sees no value in the physical assets of Sutliff (equipment, tooling, etc) why not sell it off instead of scraping it? According to some of your comments, this boutique level of production is no threat to STG. In fact, the new owners would most likely be buying raw products through STG.

OR

Create a new division for small batch only blends. Production that doesn't reach the minimums for Assens could be handled here. To some degree how STG created Forged to handle the more boutique lines of cigars.

 

[ArtSchoolMaintenance]

Taking a note from @MavErik, and thinking about another company’s solution to small-batch demand, I offer this thought to @leonardw:

Some years ago, Ilford film went through a rough financial time, but stayed committed to serving the photographic hobby. They dealt with by seriously cutting their product line and focusing on quality, which made sense. How they dealt with people using oddball formats was most impressive: a yearly ordering window, all pre-paid, open to both hobbyists and retailers. They set the price, they set the order minimums, and a few months later, shipped the product.

I wonder if something similar might be a viable avenue to bring a selection of now-discontinued tobaccos back to market on occasion. A yearly window to order 1kg lots of…whatever STG thinks it can make well, and then they do it, knowing all of it is already bought and paid for.

Perhaps there’s room for something like that.

 

[lazar]

Good idea. @leonardw has taken the time and initiative to come and answer questions, so it's a lot to ask for him to have to weed through 17 pages of general discussion to find the actual questions. I'll paste mine from the other thread here:

1. Am I correct that the MacBaren/Sutliff bloodbath is only the first phase of this blend cull? Meaning many STG-made blends are also heading for the chopping block? Any idea when we'll know what they are?

2. Yesterday someone posted an email from Mac Baren confirming that they make the John Aylesbury blends for Kopp. Do they make others, or does STG, and does this mean that Kopp's portfolio of blends is also about to crash and burn?

 

[Shore]

I'm in:

Is Sutliff going to keep making things like 515 red & other bulk until the end of March so there will still be stock coming until then? Same question for the SPC blends.

Or have they already finished the runs and what is out there is out there...

Thx!

 

[Hillcrest]

@leonardw I missed out on stocking some Sutliff 507-C --- will anymore be made ? Will it be discontinued ? if so, What do you recommend as a replacement ? Thank you very much for any information you can provide.

 

[Mike N]

Leonard- can you clarify which website STG will be using going forward in North America for internet sales, and if it is P&C, what steps will be taken, if any, to modernize that site akin to the much sleeker design seen at SmokingPipes.com? Thanks.

 

[Hillcrest]

@leonardw I missed out on stocking some Sutliff 507-C --- will anymore be made ? Will it be discontinued ? if so, What do you recommend as a replacement ? Thank you very much for any information you can provide.

@leonardw - Nevermind ... you answered my question on page one of the first thread.

"Let me give an example. (I can't believe I'm about to put this on public forum, but what the hell...) One of the best selling items in the Sutliff portfolio, by any metric, is 507C Virginia Slices. But Sutliff doesn't actually make 507C. Neither does Mac Baren. STG makes it. We sell it to Sutliff in bulk quantities. We also sell it under another name: Peter Stokkeybe Luxury Navy Flake.

So do I keep 507C even though it is literally the exact same product? Will consumers even believe me when I tell them they are the same product? That Sutliff doesn't have the capability to make that style flake, and that STG was selling it to them prior to Mac Baren purchasing Sutliff, and that we kept selling to them after Mac Baren purchased them? I have chains of emails where we discussed (mostly argued) over this very topic."

But as I smoke both PS400 Luxury Navy Flake and Sutliffe 507-C I can assure you they are NOT the same ... did you perhaps mean Luxury Twist Flake ??? Either way the Stockebye versions are about $15.00 a pound more money.

 

[DedHed Piper]

I'm in:

Is Sutliff going to keep making things like 515 red & other bulk until the end of March so there will still be stock coming until then? Same question for the SPC blends.

Or have they already finished the runs and what is out there is out there...

Thx!

I do think Leonard has stated that 507-c VS is the exact same product as Stokkebye LNF. Though more expensive.

 

[judcole]

@leonardw I missed out on stocking some Sutliff 507-C --- will anymore be made ? Will it be discontinued ? if so, What do you recommend as a replacement ? Thank you very much for any information you can provide.

It's still around. I just ordered a pound from West Virginia Smoke Shop.