Rattray’s Pipe Tobacco Discontinued?
- Thread starter Omlash
- Start date
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Well I for one am pretty miffed that whatever it is we're talking about is or isn't happening. How dare they?
Saw that it was just Rattrays and MCconnell not being available/distributed in the UK anymore, I think everyone else is good.
Rattrays is people! ?
If it’s all gratuitous rumor anyway then let’s dial it up a notch folks, no slacking!
If it’s all gratuitous rumor anyway then let’s dial it up a notch folks, no slacking!
Thank heavens for Estervals! That's what I & many other British pipesmokers say.
I was planning a new post about this but I've been lame, so I'll post it here. I've talked to a couple of the larger online tobacconists, a Mac Baren representative, & an incredibly helpful woman from STG.
So far as I can tell the following only applies to the UK & is related to Brexit.
McConell is the least clear, that appears to be more of a we can't get hold of it. Rattrays looks like it's a gonner for sure. I've heard that independently from two tobacconists.
I looked into Mac Baren much harder because they make my favourite, Bold Kentucky. & they're gone apart from the stuff distributed by STG (St Bruno ready Rubbed, St Bruno Flake, Gold Block, Original Flake, Highland Mixture, Capstan, Three Nuns). One tobacconist thought it might get reintroduced later in limited editions at a much higher price point. That's not the impression I got from Mac Baren or STG (who reached out to Mac Baren as well).
So far as I can tell the following only applies to the UK & is related to Brexit.
McConell is the least clear, that appears to be more of a we can't get hold of it. Rattrays looks like it's a gonner for sure. I've heard that independently from two tobacconists.
I looked into Mac Baren much harder because they make my favourite, Bold Kentucky. & they're gone apart from the stuff distributed by STG (St Bruno ready Rubbed, St Bruno Flake, Gold Block, Original Flake, Highland Mixture, Capstan, Three Nuns). One tobacconist thought it might get reintroduced later in limited editions at a much higher price point. That's not the impression I got from Mac Baren or STG (who reached out to Mac Baren as well).
Wonder if this effects other K&K brands like Solani, Ashton, Astley's and Sillem's ?
I really really hope not. Losing Mac Baren & Solani would be very hard to take.
Based on what I'm seeing it's a distributor thing, so I'm not panicking yet on that front.
As the old saying goes, it is an ill wind that doesn't blow someone good. In this case, the vague information and the ensuing panic will sell a quantity of tins for K&K before the dust settles. It sounds like a nothing burger, so far.
Unless you live in the UK there's no point in crying about this? K&K's blends will most definitely not be discontinued unless the company itself shuts down. You can all pretty much take my word for it that Rattray's and the like will continue to sell in the US and EU. They are after all the blenders most popular names.
I saw something about Rattray's stopping in the UK a month or so ago. I thought Robert McConnell had stopped already to be honest. Mac Baren seems to have dried up as well. I suspect it's a Brexit thing, and no one is going to be going to bat for the British Pipe Smoking community to keep the tobacco trade open. It's also possible that the global supply problems are having an effect on some of this. Frankly, it's hard to know what's going on because there is no Pipe Tobacco News website or something, we just have to guess.
I am an optimist, however, so maybe the UK will strike a trade deal with the US and we can get our hands on some of the those US brands I keep hearing about.
I am an optimist, however, so maybe the UK will strike a trade deal with the US and we can get our hands on some of the those US brands I keep hearing about.
You just keep your hands off our American brands! Ya'll did your Brexit deal, now go sit in the corner and think about what you've done.
If you damn yanks are gonna steal all our Germains', then we're gonna come for your Cornell & Dielh. 1776 be damned!
What I'm really struggling to understand is why they've managed it this way. If you're withdrawing from a market why not saturate it first? Then announce it properly & make several years' worth of sales in a month or so. I'm probably missing something, but it just seems incredibly dumb to me.
Please do? No really; please come and take all the C&D.
Honestly, I'll just pick another blend. I like Rattray's. But if they are gone, ok. There are enough blends out there to meet my needs, and some wants.
I've got more than enough Rattray's stashed away. Sounds like it's gone the way of Comoy's cask blends.
I doubt K&K had a lot of control over the process. They make a lot of blends under a lot of labels, and they have a scheduled production rotation. The Brexit guillotine probably dropped at a time when they weren't going to be tinning and shipping Rattray's because they were servicing other parts of their market.