Smoker’s Pride Whiskey

[Briar Lee]

The threatened tax increase has given me a great excuse to stock my stash of pipe tobaccos (Ozark Americans put fruit jars in cellars, never tobacco), and one bag of my new order contained 12 ounces of Smoker’s Pride Whiskey, made by Lane, only $13.99. That’s cheap, but you can combine orders and reduce the price to a dollar an ounce, which is ridiculously cheap.

Missouri is supposed to impose a 10% excise tax on all tobacco products but cigarettes at 17 cents a pack. Wonder if those online sellers pay it? I keep my purchases about $100 at a time, in case they don’t.

Governor Parson is a 1973 Wheatland High school graduate and I’m not mad at Mike. But he can collect his tobacco tax locally, you know?

I received eight bags, six pounds, of premium value pipe tobaccos for just over a hundred dollars. The first batch is cavendish, vanilla, cherry, and whiskey and I opened the Smoker’s Pride Whiskey bag first, because I don’t currently have any.

Oh, my, God, this smells good!

This has a wonderful smell of rich chocolate, old whiskey, vanilla and raisins and tobacco when you open the bag. The smell fills the room.

The mixture has several different kinds of tobacco evident, some crumbles and flakes but primarily this is a crimp or ribbon cut. It packs and lights easily.

This stuff is absolutely delicious to smoke. It burns cool, mild, and delivers flavors of whiskey, chocolate, vanilla, and raisins. It’s not overly sweet, but it’s not sour. The only reason anybody wouldn’t say they liked it was if they knew it only cost about a dollar an ounce.

I’m buying another eight bags of this before they run out.

I have an old fruit cellar down at the farm, but I keep my tobacco stash out of sight in my office. There’s plenty of drawers to fill.

I want to live to smoke all my tobacco, but if I don’t it should sell really well at the sale.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I love this Ozarkanian enthusiasm that you have... for this... tobacco.
Nice office. Keep 'em coming.

 

[That Guy]

The threatened tax increase has given me a great excuse to stock my stash of pipe tobaccos (Ozark Americans put fruit jars in cellars, never tobacco), and one bag of my new order contained 12 ounces of Smoker’s Pride Whiskey, made by Lane, only $13.99. That’s cheap, but you can combine orders and reduce the price to a dollar an ounce, which is ridiculously cheap.

Missouri is supposed to impose a 10% excise tax on all tobacco products but cigarettes at 17 cents a pack. Wonder if those online sellers pay it? I keep my purchases about $100 at a time, in case they don’t.

Governor Parson is a 1973 Wheatland High school graduate and I’m not mad at Mike. But he can collect his tobacco tax locally, you know?

I received eight bags, six pounds, of premium value pipe tobaccos for just over a hundred dollars. The first batch is cavendish, vanilla, cherry, and whiskey and I opened the Smoker’s Pride Whiskey bag first, because I don’t currently have any.

Oh, my, God, this smells good!

This has a wonderful smell of rich chocolate, old whiskey, vanilla and raisins and tobacco when you open the bag. The smell fills the room.

The mixture has several different kinds of tobacco evident, some crumbles and flakes but primarily this is a crimp or ribbon cut. It packs and lights easily.

This stuff is absolutely delicious to smoke. It burns cool, mild, and delivers flavors of whiskey, chocolate, vanilla, and raisins. It’s not overly sweet, but it’s not sour. The only reason anybody wouldn’t say they liked it was if they knew it only cost about a dollar an ounce.

I’m buying another eight bags of this before they run out.

I have an old fruit cellar down at the farm, but I keep my tobacco stash out of sight in my office. There’s plenty of drawers to fill.

I want to live to smoke all my tobacco, but if I don’t it should sell really well at the sale.
View attachment 100189View attachment 100184View attachment 100185View attachment 100187View attachment 100188

One day I'll be manly enough to give one of these budget blends a try lol so far the normal big name OTC blends haven't agreed with me. Im not really a burley or aromatic fan so that shuts the door on alot of these value blends. Unfortunately I don't know any other pipe smokers in my area who might have these already. I'll just have to man up lol

 

[mso489]

Maybe I'm just a rube, but some bag tobacco is every bit as good as the premium tins. Right now I have D&R Two Timer and OHM Red with Turkish on hand, and they don't disappoint. You make this blend sound delicious.

 

[Briar Lee]

I’ve learned a lot about the gentle art of pipe smoking over the years, and one bit of trivia is that Captain Black White is supposed to be one of, if not the best selling premium OTC blends. It’s made by Lane, and Lane 1-Q is a huge seller in bulk at about two dollars an ounce.

As I understand the cured leaf auction prices, every American raised leaf except the specialty stuff like Perique and Connecticut shade is about two dollars or less a pound.

The current tax on pipe tobacco is $2.83 a pound, and ordinary leaf costs less.

At $16 a pound, Lane is more than doubling the tax and leaf costs plus leaving some room for the resellers to profit.

They’d certainly rather sell $32 a pound Q-1 or even better Captain Black in little pouches at six dollars an ounce, nearly $100 a pound. Little two ounce cans of Cult Blood Red Moon sell for $15, which is $120 a pound.

But you know, that Lane can’t sell any bad tasting tobacco in a bag with their name on it.

Somebody named Dream Castle makes Super Value premium value pipe tobacco, and it’s actually priced about a quarter more an ounce.

If it costs more it’s better, right?

Super Value Natural Cavendish has a sweet, nutty Burley taste with notes of chocolate and raisins but no whiskey.

Competition improves the blend. It always has and always will.

 

[Ahi Ka]

I thought supervalue was made by Sutliff. Their chocolate blend is outstanding. It has a hint of cinnamon to it. I used to mix it with a nutty burley like ps312 as a working smoke when I was spending the day behind a wheelbarrow

 

[lawdawg]

Love the pipes on your credenza! I would love to smoke at my office, but I am confident it would not be well-received by the older attorneys here. Perhaps one day, when I'm the most senior attorney, I'll bring in a few pipes to set on the credenza and smoke when the desire arises.

One day I'll be manly enough to give one of these budget blends a try lol so far the normal big name OTC blends haven't agreed with me. Im not really a burley or aromatic fan so that shuts the door on alot of these value blends. Unfortunately I don't know any other pipe smokers in my area who might have these already. I'll just have to man up lol

Russ Oulette has blended some great matches of famous OTC blends, but using top quality leaf. I have a tub of both Chatham Manor (Carter Hall match) and Chestnut (match for the discontinued Walnut) and they are great blends. If you wanted to try a premium take on these old OTC favorites, Russ's matches are a good way to go, but they are both burley based, so they may not be up your alley at all.

 

[Briar Lee]

I thought supervalue was made by Sutliff. Their chocolate blend is outstanding. It has a hint of cinnamon to it. I used to mix it with a nutty burley like ps312 as a working smoke when I was spending the day behind a wheelbarrow

It might be made by Sutliff.

Scandinavian owns Lane.

Sutliff may own Dream Castle.

If you haven’t downloaded a great free book about tobacco, try this link to Tobaccoland, written about a century ago.

Tobaccoland

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this...

books.google.com

Avery didn’t mention propylene glycol but the tobacco manufacturers then likely used real sugar, molasses and neutral grain spirits, to accomplish the same thing.

But all the grades of leaf a manufacturer uses today are exactly the same as then.

All the sweeteners and flavorings if not the same, are tastier and better.

I doubt the inflation adjusted price of leaf to make pipe tobacco today has risen for any popular grade of tobacco. In fact, higher yields, imported leaf, and less demand make the leaf used to make the cost of leaf less in constant dollars, today.

UPS just brought me another 10 pounds of tobacco, in two orders, an assortment of premium priced value blends and some samplers of English bulk blends.

Here’s a half pound of no doubt tasty Admiral’s Blend, from Dream Castle. It cost $8 as part of a deal for another 9 ounce bag of something else.

It’s probably better and considering inflation cheaper than 100 years ago.

 

[Grangerous]

Taking Ray’s @ray47 advice on a simple, tasty burley/Va blend I tried Smoker’s Pride Rich Taste (Red Bag) and found I enjoy it. — Wouldn’t you know it? It’s now discontinued as a value bag. It’s now being marketed only as 1.5 ounce pouches or a six pack of those. Trying to get fancy I guess.

 

[--dante--]

One day I'll be manly enough to give one of these budget blends a try lol so far the normal big name OTC blends haven't agreed with me. Im not really a burley or aromatic fan so that shuts the door on alot of these value blends. Unfortunately I don't know any other pipe smokers in my area who might have these already. I'll just have to man up lol

Give the Daughters and Ryan blends a try if you haven't already. They have a number of great blends that folks on these forums speak highly of, but nonetheless are considered 'budget' and are commonly available at your roadside discount tobacco shops (or online). Don't be deterred by their appearance of being a RYO tobacco -- it's quality tobacco and good blends.

 

[Briar Lee]

Taking Ray’s @ray47 advice on a simple, tasty burley/Va blend I tried Smoker’s Pride Rich Taste (Red Bag) and found I enjoy it. — Wouldn’t you know it? It’s now discontinued as a value bag. It’s now being marketed only as 1.5 ounce pouches or a six pack of those. Trying to get fancy I guess.

The other 9 ounce bag I bought for $9 along with Admiral’s Choice was made by Lane, makers of Smoker’s Pride, and called Virginia Gold.

All these premium value blends smell good, burn slow, light easy, taste great and have a great room note. After 500 years of using the tobacco the first Europeans found Native Americans using, there’s really not anything more to be done to learn how to blend and sell it, that’s not already been done long ago.

A dollar an ounce today is the least price in America a pipe smoker can buy bagged value premium pipe tobacco with 18 cents an ounce federal taxes.

If the tax goes up to $3.06 an ounce, this will still be available. But a pound will surely cost more than four times a dollar an ounce.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I was going to say that your information was way out of date, STG owns Lane Blends, and MacBaren owns Sutliff. The only remaining US owned pipe tobacco companies are D&R and C&D. But, D&R was recently bought out by a rather shady company. And, there hasn't been a tobacco auction in over six years. Other than that

But all the grades of leaf a manufacturer uses today are exactly the same as then.

Ehhhhhhh... I'll stop there, ha ha. It's just hard not to correct this stuff.

But, you are right that these blends are pretty good. I don't do the aromatic stuff, but I do occasionally enjoy the quality Virginia and Turkish blends of the OHM line. I just don't taught them much. It's like singing the praises of white bread and bologney sandwiches to bunch of connoisseurs of fine dining.

Are you retired? fixed income? Defense attorney? Just curious.

 

[Briar Lee]

I was going to say that your information was way out of date, STG owns Lane Blends, and MacBaren owns Sutliff. The only remaining US owned pipe tobacco companies are D&R and C&D. But, D&R was recently bought out by a rather shady company. And, there hasn't been a tobacco auction in over six years. Other than that

Ehhhhhhh... I'll stop there, ha ha. It's just hard not to correct this stuff.

But, you are right that these blends are pretty good. I don't do the aromatic stuff, but I do occasionally enjoy the quality Virginia and Turkish blends of the OHM line. I just don't taught them much. It's like singing the praises of white bread and bologney sandwiches to bunch of connoisseurs of fine dining.

Are you retired? fixed income? Defense attorney? Just curious.

I’m having too much fun and have too many rental homes and a farm to support, to retire.

Lawyering is as addictive as farming. It usually pays better.

There are a bunch of different USDA grades of leaf raised, most all the same end product as a century ago. There are even a few auctions. The last USDA price information:

—-

Types of Tobacco & Avg. Price/lb.* – Flue Cured $1.87
– Fire Cured $2.72
– Burley $1.89
– Maryland $1.89
– Dark Air Cured $2.42
– Pennsylvania Seedleaf $3.37
• Type of tobacco production varies geographically • Tobacco is normally sold by the pound AND
under contract
– BUT auctions are still around

—-

I’m sort of a cheapskate.

But I smoke Lee pipes because they are just simply the best ever made to keep one lit most of the day, in a portable size.

The men 75 years ago that paid $10 for a pipe when that $10 would buy well over ten times what it does today weren’t chumps. They would bring Dunhill money today if Lee still made them as well, and of as high grade briar.

My father died young at age 52 in 1971 of a misdiagnosed swallowing of a chicken bone. He died of infection, ten days after he’d unknowingly swallowed a bone at lunch, that lodged in his esophagus.

I was 13 and my mother was 45.

We sold his herd of Holstein milk cows and his hogs, and that winter when propane went up to 31 cents a gallon, I watched Mama blow out the pilot lights on the central gas furnace, because we couldn’t figure out how to shut them off.

Thank God for thermocouples.

We never were poor, but the issue was in doubt the winter of 1971.

As things turned out, my mother rented out the land, she got to keep her entire schoolteacher’s check, and I can afford all the $15 little cans of tobacco today I want.

This tax increase gives me a reason to lay back about 25 pounds of tobacco, in case times ever get hard again, you know?

I’m a bit more particular about English blends than aromatics. My assistants would not approve of the aroma of Latakia much, but outside I love the stuff, not in one of my good Lee pipes, but in other pipes, like my meerschaums.

I’m going to have a good stash of English put back when I determine which $32 a pound blend I like the best.

 

[WVOldFart]

The Virginia Gold tobaccos are quite good. The Virginia Gold Vanilla and Virginia Gold Black Cavendish are always close at hand for me. The Black Cavendish is great for mixing. I smoke all kinds of tobacco and these are just as good as any of them.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

You're a good sport, Briarlee. Thanks for the reply.

Yeh, every year these last few years Mrs Cosmic and I have sat down and weighed the current rising land prices around our agricultural plots to what we would make continuing to farm them. It's an American Dream trap. You think, 'if I push yields, acquire more land, work harder, squeeze in one more crop...' but that means spending more money on all ends... so even less money is made.
And, with new residential construction going up on all sides of us in all plots, cost of just holding the land goes up. Plus, a few fellow farmers have lost their land to evil developers working with the corrupt politicians using eminent domain to build shopping centers. And, despite what people think, they give you money and then take it away. It is out and out theft. You're damned if you keep farming, damned with zoning and higher property taxes if we just try to sit on the land, and damned by the family if we sell. The idea was to have a working farm for the kids to take over, but it is turning into more of a curse.
Hell, the notion of just selling it all except the cabin on Mt Mitchell for a few million, paying off all debt, and just moving into the shack in NC becomes more appealing each harvest. Plus, a lot less paperwork.

Anyways... I ramble...

 

[didimauw]

Great review and nice office set up! I'm halfway tempted to try some of this. I like inexpensive tobacco, and I like the people that smoke it even more! I enjoy your stories Briar Lee. Keep em coming!

 

[Toast]

I think posts like this ought to have government health warnings for non-US readers. Warning. May induce rage, envy, or immigration.

 

[Briar Lee]

It is beyond my contemplation that I’m a land millionaire.

Yet in my office I occasionally see young Amish and Mennonite couples, as fresh as brand new roses, with forty acre homesteads their parents paid over $400,000 for to some other old Dutch farmer.

That forty acres might graze 20 cows and if all the stars lined up perfectly, they might gross $15,000 a year from selling 20 feeder calves, maybe.

So they raise produce instead, and sell it.

They sort of keep the fat black cattle as pets, the way my folks kept chickens long after our family sold eggs.

In my lifetime, tobacco farmers in Platte County Missouri raised Platte County burley used for cheap cigars, about three or four acres at most, and maybe they got three or four tons to auction at $4,000 per ton.

Yet the labor involved in traditional tobacco is staggering. The families just about had to all swap work doing it.

My father died in early September 1971 and about the third day of October I opened the mail box on the rural route and there was a check made payable to my mother, for me, for $60 social security survivor’s benefits. Adjust that for inflation and it would be $300 today.

All the OTC brands were 25 cents a pouch then, and sack tobacco 15 cents.

A 16 ounce can of Prince Albert was over two dollars, and although I had two dollars I didn’t dare spend that much on tobacco, especially not since my stash was always in danger of discovery and destruction my my mother.

But as Scarlett O’Ohara said in the turnip patch, with God as my witness neither me or my kin will ever go without good pipe tobacco ever again.

As many preservatives as they add to the cheap stuff, fifty years from now my grandkids will probably smoke up the last of my Smoker’s Pride Whiskey.

I’ve got cubbyholes all over Daddy’s milk barn for stashing tobacco that should work as well today as they did in 1971.

 

[Dave4211]

You're a good sport, Briarlee. Thanks for the reply.

Yeh, every year these last few years Mrs Cosmic and I have sat down and weighed the current rising land prices around our agricultural plots to what we would make continuing to farm them. It's an American Dream trap. You think, 'if I push yields, acquire more land, work harder, squeeze in one more crop...' but that means spending more money on all ends... so even less money is made.
And, with new residential construction going up on all sides of us in all plots, cost of just holding the land goes up. Plus, a few fellow farmers have lost their land to evil developers working with the corrupt politicians using eminent domain to build shopping centers. And, despite what people think, they give you money and then take it away. It is out and out theft. You're damned if you keep farming, damned with zoning and higher property taxes if we just try to sit on the land, and damned by the family if we sell. The idea was to have a working farm for the kids to take over, but it is turning into more of a curse.
Hell, the notion of just selling it all except the cabin on Mt Mitchell for a few million, paying off all debt, and just moving into the shack in NC becomes more appealing each harvest. Plus, a lot less paperwork.

Anyways... I ramble...

I've been thinking about getting into farming. Some friends of mine run a big dairy farm in Mississippi. It got me to thinking.

Here's what I believe:

If you can make a decent living with the land you've got, and if you're happy, then keep on farming. Keep on growing, expanding, whatever. But, it has to pay for your existence.

That shack in NC and a few million dollars? From an artistic standpoint, I'd sell out in a heartbeat and move on up the mountain.

There's old ghosts up yonder. I've spent a lot of nights lost in those hills, on my way to somewhere, and the mountains just drew me in and kept me there. I sat around lonesome campfires and drank warm beer and sang songs to old ghosts.

Most people don't get to do that.

So, the mountains are home. They're really old.

If I had good land, in Alabama or anyplace else, I'd probably farm it til the money was gone. That's just how I am.

As it is, we're up here in Tennessee, farming a rock. It's a piece of ground that got subdivided when somebody's farm got sold off, I imagine. It ain't really good land. But, we have trees, and I've started some stuff growing. It's a start.

My friends in Mississippi are out in all directions. Dairy farming, beef cattle, branded milk and ice cream. I can't remember what all. They opened a little store to sell beef. I think they've done some stuff with hogs.

If you're willing to work 24 hours a day, you might keep the lights turned on.

For me, my whole life, it's been feast or famine. It's been 22 hour days and 35 hour days or nothing for months on end.

Working for other men, I have never had any stability or success. Never.

Hell, farming would be alright.

The politics of it is what I don't understand. If they zone you out and starve you out, I guess you'll go up the mountain.

The community you leave behind will take the loss.

You've got a home in old mountains.

I looked at some of your work. It's damn good work.

Y'all gonna' be alright.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I've been thinking about getting into farming. Some friends of mine run a big dairy farm in Mississippi. It got me to thinking.

Here's what I believe:

If you can make a decent living with the land you've got, and if you're happy, then keep on farming. Keep on growing, expanding, whatever. But, it has to pay for your existence.

That shack in NC and a few million dollars? From an artistic standpoint, I'd sell out in a heartbeat and move on up the mountain.

There's old ghosts up yonder. I've spent a lot of nights lost in those hills, on my way to somewhere, and the mountains just drew me in and kept me there. I sat around lonesome campfires and drank warm beer and sang songs to old ghosts.

Most people don't get to do that.

So, the mountains are home. They're really old.

If I had good land, in Alabama or anyplace else, I'd probably farm it til the money was gone. That's just how I am.

As it is, we're up here in Tennessee, farming a rock. It's a piece of ground that got subdivided when somebody's farm got sold off, I imagine. It ain't really good land. But, we have trees, and I've started some stuff growing. It's a start.

My friends in Mississippi are out in all directions. Dairy farming, beef cattle, branded milk and ice cream. I can't remember what all. They opened a little store to sell beef. I think they've done some stuff with hogs.

If you're willing to work 24 hours a day, you might keep the lights turned on.

For me, my whole life, it's been feast or famine. It's been 22 hour days and 35 hour days or nothing for months on end.

Working for other men, I have never had any stability or success. Never.

Hell, farming would be alright.

The politics of it is what I don't understand. If they zone you out and starve you out, I guess you'll go up the mountain.

The community you leave behind will take the loss.

You've got a home in old mountains.

I looked at some of your work. It's damn good work.

Y'all gonna' be alright.

Thanks,
Yeh, farming is definitely not a good way to get rich. It’s all about pushing yields, balancing the weather, and gambling on prices. Add in the BS of rising land prices and greedy SOBs looking for ways to use your land away from you. Here, it just takes a salesman with a plan to get the county to trigger ED (eminent domain). Everyone wants a fuckin’ Starbucks. My family has owned the deed to most of what I farm for several generations now, but owning a deed doesn’t mean you don’t have to keep paying for it. Add in machine costs, with some crops you have labor, and then seed, fertilizer, etc…. work your ass off for a measly 20 grand for a year’s work.
Everyone I know in my cooperative has another job to live on.

I could go on and on. But, then when your out there at 5AM and your pulling irrigation lines down the tram and you see an eagle or a deer walk up…. The sun rising, warm cup of coffee…. the smell of diesel and wet soil… working for pennies doesn't seem so bad.