STG closes Mac Baren and Sutliff

[karam]

Don't worry about me buying endless amounts of things I've never tried. I really like Mac Baren's Virginia No. 1.

I appreciate your advice though, truly. Especially as a new smoker, it's important not to panic too much. That being said, I think I'd be silly to not try to get at least some of the tobacco I already know and love, and maybe try a few new things as well.

Don’t be afraid to go fairly big on things you really like. The biggest problem is as I said above, storing a blend and having it change to something you don’t like quite as much aged. Still better than just not having any access.

Edit: going to say something unexpected, as I don’t like their blends much: I trust C&D right now more than other manufacturers. I prefer the more heavily cased European blends, but don’t consider C&D inferior, just different.

 

[Sobrbiker]

The Last of How It Was

View attachment 347696

So if I get 5lbs now it won’t be a tidy mylar’d brick?

 

[Alejo R.]

In the meantime, cannabis has gone from illegal/prohibited to a third of a trillion dollar market. (projected to be half a trillion by 2030)

Because society's rule makers are only interested in people's health, of course, not money.

Nicotine is the most dangerous drug for governments, because it is the only one that no matter how much you consume, it does not make you stupid.

 

[Piping Abe]

Nicotine is the most dangerous drug for governments, because it is the only one that no matter how much you consume, it does not make you stupid.

Wait.. aren’t you a member here?

 

[Alejo R.]

Not sure what your point is here, maybe you can clarify? The pipe tobacco market is shrinking because of greatly reduced retail market demand. The pot business is booming because people want to get stoned. Neither one is healthy, but the demise of Mac Baren et al doesn't have that much to do with the government. I haven't heard of anyone quitting pipe smoking because of taxes or regulations. Not that I'm a fan of either.

The use of tobacco in all its forms is reduced by the stupid prohibitions and abusive taxes that are imposed on it. Both things are government issues, political decisions. People smoke less because it is increasingly difficult to do so outside the home and there are even restrictions designed so that you cannot smoke in your own home. There are countries that have decided that those born after a certain date will not be allowed to buy tobacco. At the same time, every time you buy tobacco, the state keeps an ever-larger portion of the money. If you don't find it curious that the States are increasingly tightening the rules on tobacco while increasingly liberalizing cannabis, I don't know.
It should be noted that the studies that indicated that tobacco causes cancer took 60 years of research. Since until a few years ago saying that one smoked cannabis could land you in jail, there are no long-term studies that ensure that smoking cannabis does not also cause cancer, but this does not stop the States from liberalizing and commercializing it.
I say this because there are certain studies that indicate that the mere act of putting smoke into the lungs is harmful regardless of what is smoked.

 

[Alejo R.]

Wait.. aren’t you a member here?

What I am saying is that tobacco, although addictive and harmful, does not make you stupid, nor does it weaken your mental abilities. Many great thinkers have been smokers. Any other drug, including alcohol (forgive the license to call it a drug) reaches a point where you cease to be a functional human being.
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I find it curious that it is the only drug (again excuse me) that is so actively persecuted by the States.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Many great thinkers have been smokers.

A lot of them were on hallucinogens, cocaine, and marijuana.

 

[PipeIT]

Nice try, STG HR

STG HR, you’re joking like he’s from HR over at STG…

I only wanted to know, it’s nice to have someone from Mac Baren here is all. And there are many professionals in the business here, that we know by name and their positions.

PipesMagazine is this biggest pipe forum in the world, with many professional businesses as sponsors and members.

It’s not like the professionals around here are in secret…

I’m not sure I ever recall anyone from Mac Baren here before.

 

[lithicus]

Don’t be afraid to go fairly big on things you really like. The biggest problem is as I said above, storing a blend and having it change to something you don’t like quite as much aged. Still better than just not having any access.

Edit: going to say something unexpected, as I don’t like their blends much: I trust C&D right now more than other manufacturers. I prefer the more heavily cased European blends, but don’t consider C&D inferior, just different.

I do appreciate this advice. Nothing in my cellar is much more than a year old at this point. So, I can see why you should stick to things you really like. And my cellar being so small, I'd be surprised if I had more than a year or two worth of tobacco at this point. I'm not in danger yet

Anyway, I digress. Didn't mean to distract from the thread. Thanks again everyone for all the information contained in this thread.

 

[Pipke]

What I am saying is that tobacco, although addictive and harmful, does not make you stupid, nor does it weaken your mental abilities.

Nicotine is a "smart drug."

Edited to stay on topic - I am watching the TAD discussion, waiting to see heaps of Mac Baren and Sutliff products, and their progeny.

 

[Michigan_Bill]

Caffeine

 

[fireground_piper]

STG HR, you’re joking like he’s from HR over at STG…

I only wanted to know, it’s nice to have someone from Mac Baren here is all. And there are many professionals in the business here, that we know by name and their positions.

PipesMagazine is this biggest pipe forum in the world, with many professional businesses as sponsors and members.

It’s not like the professionals around here are in secret…

I’m not sure I ever recall anyone from Mac Baren here before.

The joke was that YOU were STG HR trying to find out who the poster was.

The poster would be crazy to post his personal business all over the place. If the company I worked for was just bought out 6 months ago, and now that company is in the early stages of a very large staff reduction and "efficiency" exercising, you'd have to be a fool to bring any unwarranted attention to yourself. Even if you are guaranteed to have your position removed either way, you would have to be crazy to give any potential reason for your large, corporate employer to not give you some form of severance.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Caffeine

Had to give that one up. Raised my blood pressure to very unhealthy levels and contributed to a T wave inversion in my heart rhythm.

I am watching the TAD discussion, waiting to see heaps of Mac Baren and Sutliff products,

Many never post on there like my recently received 10 pounds of Blend 307.

 

[Sobrbiker]

I tried everything first and then after a few years, now know what I want to actually smoke and can smoke all day, every day.

I’m right at the two year mark, and slowing paring it down to such. I’ve got couple/few I can go to anytime, but still leery of going very deep as my tastes are still evolving.
Sutliff’s Match Elizabethan (or Victorian as Laudisi sells it) is one I’ll be grabbing a pound of every now and again until it’s no more.

 

[Pipke]

Many never post on there like my recently received 10 pounds of Blend 307.

Really? Where do you live?

 

[Chasing Embers]

Really? Where do you live?

Nope

 

[sablebrush52]

If you don't find it curious that the States are increasingly tightening the rules on tobacco while increasingly liberalizing cannabis, I don't know.

There's a lot more to it than that. Prohibition of cannabis was a dud. The only thing it did was make criminal cartels very, very wealthy. Sort of like Prohibition of alcohol in the 1920's. There's something about "forbidden fruit" that is irresistible to people.
Since prohibition doesn't work, making cannabis legal opens it up to the same treatment that tobacco is getting, death by a thousand cuts. Making smoking tobacco socially unacceptable has gone a long way to eradicating the practice.
As the health risks of smoking boo become better documented, the same program of making it socially repellent, combined with death by a thousand cuts, will have the same effect.
This apples and oranges fable that government loves boo while hating tobacco is just that, a fable. Prohibition didn't work. It had the opposite effect. Time for a different approach.

 

[mspadoni]

Haven't really tried any MB blends. Sutliff yes. Time to stock up on some Molto dolce..

 

[craig61a]

Five pound bags are a different kind of animal.

I recall reading nearly 30 years ago, of all places Cigar Aficionado, that the large bags are made of a type of plastic that is not as permeable as regular plastic bags. Supposedly the contents will stay fresh for up to 5 years.

Not that I would leave it sit around in a bag for 5 years.

Mylar is more stiff than plastic.

 

[woodsroad]

What I am saying is that tobacco, although addictive and harmful, does not make you stupid, nor does it weaken your mental abilities. Many great thinkers have been smokers. Any other drug, including alcohol (forgive the license to call it a drug) reaches a point where you cease to be a functional human being.
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I find it curious that it is the only drug (again excuse me) that is so actively persecuted by the States.

I guess the dogged pursuit of the cocaine trade doesn’t measure up?