Can anyone confirm if Sam Gawith's RB plug has been discontinued? I tried emailing G&H but got no response. I'll be saddened if this is true, it was a truly unique blend that had become a favourite.
RB plug
- Thread starter jaingorenard
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I had to look this one up. It would be a shame if it was discontinued. It looks delicious.
Interesting to see RB is noted as standing for "Red Breast" in some descriptions. Is it related at all to the old Ogden's Redbreast Flake?
Interesting to see RB is noted as standing for "Red Breast" in some descriptions. Is it related at all to the old Ogden's Redbreast Flake?
They could have delisted it as It's out of stock everywhere in the UK. Cabbies was out of stock a little while back, but now it's available at all the UK retailers. Hopefully it's the same situation with RB and it'll be back soon
Very unique tobacco. To me It tastes like gingerbread flavour Full Virginia Plug. Apparently its flavoured with something called "cheviot".
Samuel Gawith RB (Red Breast) plug is blended with dark fired Tanzanian Virginia leaf with an unique cheviot added flavour . The Virginias have natural notes of tangy ripe dark fruit, wood, spice and earth. The complex cheviot flavour marries with the natural tobacco flavours to create a deeply rich, fruity, sweet, spicy and floral taste and aroma. This medium to full strength blend burns slow, consistent and cool with wonderful tobacco flavours and no bite
Very unique tobacco. To me It tastes like gingerbread flavour Full Virginia Plug. Apparently its flavoured with something called "cheviot".
Samuel Gawith RB (Red Breast) plug is blended with dark fired Tanzanian Virginia leaf with an unique cheviot added flavour . The Virginias have natural notes of tangy ripe dark fruit, wood, spice and earth. The complex cheviot flavour marries with the natural tobacco flavours to create a deeply rich, fruity, sweet, spicy and floral taste and aroma. This medium to full strength blend burns slow, consistent and cool with wonderful tobacco flavours and no bite
It is supposed to be a replacement for Redbreast, just as Bosun's is supposed to be inspired by Bulwark.
I have no idea how closely they resemble the originals though.
RB is probably my favourite plug they make. Hopefully you find a supply bro
It's their match for this - if they made it as a flake, it would be more appreciated, maybe. I have a teeny bit of the plug left somewhere.
I have received an email response this afternoon saying RB plug has officially been discontinued. I have responded asking why. It seemed to be one of the blends least affected by changes, so maybe there was an issue with leaf supply.
I believe the issues with leaf supply oddly coincide with the change in management.
Sadly I think that may be true, and I think it may be down to trying to produce a larger supply for the US (and maybe Asian?) markets. I appreciate that all companies need to make money, and particularly in the world of tobacco that's only going to get harder.I believe the issues with leaf supply oddly coincide with the change in management.
But it is certainly depressing to see such unique blends either disappearing or the quality lessening.
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I wonder if this will happen to more of their blends that are only available in the UK. I suppose it's a much smaller market than the US, and it isn't worth the money to pay the FDA to create a new blend in the US.
Thanks for posting, it’s too bad it’s been DC’d, as I would be down to try a sheep flavored plug…
It's a line of hills in Scotland (presumably where the sheep come from?) but I've never been able to find a good explanation of what the flavouring actually is. As others have mentioned, it tastes almost exactly like ginger bread.
Blends are usually discontinued because they do not sell in large enough quantities.
But it is always the way that a year or two after a blend is discontinued, suddenly people notice and want it, when in reality it did not sell that well or we would have carried on making it. Two or three years back we decided to take a look at the sales figures of all the blends and it was seen that a few simply did not sell much at all and were not worth keeping registered and to produced and so these blends were discontinued. It was simply not viable to have so many different blends available when a few these were barely ordered.
Nothing to do with trying to produce more for one country over another. Leaf supply is leaf supply - looked at as a whole on orders for the whole world. Leaf supply depends on factors such as wars in countries, weather, shipping routes and many farmers are being encouraged into other crops....whether we continue making a product 99% of the time depends on how well it sells as leaf supply is mostly fairly consistent, although can be sourced from different places and different suppliers and of course prices change.
But it is always the way that a year or two after a blend is discontinued, suddenly people notice and want it, when in reality it did not sell that well or we would have carried on making it. Two or three years back we decided to take a look at the sales figures of all the blends and it was seen that a few simply did not sell much at all and were not worth keeping registered and to produced and so these blends were discontinued. It was simply not viable to have so many different blends available when a few these were barely ordered.
Pretty much the same blends are available worldwide as in the UK and we are working more to align this. There is very little difference. Of course different countries have different regulations as to what can be sold and what cannot.
This would be difficult blend to smoke. It has a very intense floral topping that isn't a favorite of everyone, I couldn't gag down one bowl of this.
I appreciate all this, and guessed RB might not be a great seller. However, I have bought RB plug regularly and recently, so the implication that I'm just getting annoyed because I've only just realised something that occured a while ago isn't true (though admittedly I may have been buying remaining stock). If customers were notified when blends were discontinued, then there wouldn't be a lag between the blend being discontinued and customers becoming frustrated (although I also completely appreciate that notifying customers about a blend being discontinued may not be viable for a number of reasons).
It may be only a few blends that are not available in the US, but RB plug was certainly one of them, wasn't it? And there are others (including one in particular that is another favourite, and I would be sad to see on the chopping block). Blends being unavailable in the US may well contribute to low demand compared to blends available in both the UK and US, so it's perfectly legitimate for me to worry that this may impact other blends only available in the UK.
We notify our customers of blends that are being discontinued. Our customers are our distributors for export and retail shops for the UK. How they pass that information onto their retailers and how retailers pass that information on to consumers is outside our control. Discontinuing a blend is not as simple as saying no longer available at the moment we opt to stop it, there are sell through times, often with slow sellers back stock to get rid of, registration delisting to consider and other factors.
There were no 'implications' about people getting annoyed. Just the simple fact that once something disappears from the market, there can later be a demand for it that was not there, when it was readily available.
There is far more available to the USA than to the UK and other countries. Off the top of my head the only ones not available for export are Revor Plug and currently our summer and seasonal reserves. There maybe one or two others that are only available in bulk versus pre-packed. But if a product was not historically available in the USA then it is difficult to introduce new blends due to 'grandfathering' and the FDA. Whilst America is certainly a large distributor of Gawith products we have distributors in many countries and the markets are very different. And when looking at discontinuing a product we look at the markets it sells to and implications for each market.
Historically only GH products sold well in the UK and SG barely sold at all. Export was mainly made up of SG. That is now changing and sales of SG are building in the UK and vice versa, sales of GH products are increasing for export.
There were no 'implications' about people getting annoyed. Just the simple fact that once something disappears from the market, there can later be a demand for it that was not there, when it was readily available.
There is far more available to the USA than to the UK and other countries. Off the top of my head the only ones not available for export are Revor Plug and currently our summer and seasonal reserves. There maybe one or two others that are only available in bulk versus pre-packed. But if a product was not historically available in the USA then it is difficult to introduce new blends due to 'grandfathering' and the FDA. Whilst America is certainly a large distributor of Gawith products we have distributors in many countries and the markets are very different. And when looking at discontinuing a product we look at the markets it sells to and implications for each market.
Historically only GH products sold well in the UK and SG barely sold at all. Export was mainly made up of SG. That is now changing and sales of SG are building in the UK and vice versa, sales of GH products are increasing for export.
From looking past sheep and hills, I came across “rock rose” for chevoit, and that is helianthemum.
As opposed to granny panty rose geranium.
Thanks for the response, and as I said I appreciate why it is difficult if not impossible for end customers to be notified when a blend is discontinued. I was simply trying to explain why there is a perceived lag between a blend being discontinued and customers noticing.
For example, I last bought RB plug at the very end of December 2023, and looked again 3-4 months ago to buy more (I now wish I had) and found it available. It may well have been leftover stock.
I guess I may be part of a minority who liked RB and demand may well have been low, but that's not the same as demand for something increasing after it is discontinued. It may simply appear that way from a small, vocal minority (sorry for being one of them!).
I suppose I will just have to hope that Revor sells well enough in the UK for it to continue being available.
I think Cheviot is just a varietal of helianthemum, but I have noticed you can order helianthemum essence as one of the 'Bach flower remedies' for anxiety. Maybe I will order some and see what it tastes like!