Not at all. It's what you do when you need liquid capital or are moving/consolidating warehouses.
STG closes Mac Baren and Sutliff
- Thread starter eyjaygaming
- Start date
SmokingPipes.com Updates
Watch for Updates Twice a Week
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
Site Sponsors
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor
- Status
First time I've seen them do a Christmas crawl and at least three of the members here are employed by Laudasi. Strike while the iron's hot. Still more than I'll pay for Mac Baren but their Low Country tins are 20% off as well.
If that 4 1/2% margin is true, they are getting screwed by the middlemen. The tobacco, even blended, isn't all that expensive. Still, tinning, plant maintenance, shipping, advertising add to the wholesale cost, but even that, margins of less than 10%, are pretty much unheard of here, and margins are more likely to be in the 35% to 65% range.The key is what happens between field and shop is what I've heard. A pipe tobacco blender I knew once told me it cost them $40/kilo for whole leaf Latakia, that's below peanuts indeed considering how many tins can this kilo be used for (estimate using 20-35%% Lat in an English blend means 250-400x50g tins sold for $15-20).
There are so many middlemen and levies along the way that what is actually a dirt cheap product allows precious little margin for anyone once it's actually bought by a consumer. Kiosk owner in Greece told me their margin on cigarettes is 2-5% which essentially losing them money in shelf space, yet they can't afford to take cigs off the shelf because it's what generates a ton of footfall.
Frankly I'm more than happy to pay a big margin, considering I get immense enjoyment for as little as $1/smoke. I've long felt that pipe smoking is TOO enjoyable for being this cheap, I'd want pipe tobacco manufacturers to remain in business for as long as possible
So, one thing to consider is that both facilities have considerable amounts of their tobaccos stockpiled, perhaps a couple of years worth, to protect against unexpected shortages interrupting the ability to turn out their core line up. At some point the stock will get transferred to the Assens Plant, so it's possible that MacBaren and Sutliff blends will be continued with those stockpiles, or STG will "extend" them by cutting them with their own supplies, which is more probable.
In any event, changes will hopefully be subtle. If past is prologue, like when STG took over manufacturing Peter Heinrichs Curly Block, the result will be something similar to the original, but possibly with different ingredients, and while not bad, not what you were smoking.
Of the two, I will miss Sutliff more. Their bulk matches were very carefully crafted by Carl McAllister, and that care will likely get wiped out. With STG it's efficiency first. And Sutliff's stocks of matured Red aren't likely to get used to its best advantage. Good bye Cringle Flake.
I agree that it will be some time before there are any potential changes to the blends. Plenty of time to buy over the next year. Don't panic.
Having said that, I wonder if C&D should try to buy Sutliff's stock of red Virginia and Yenidje oriental.
Having said that, I wonder if C&D should try to buy Sutliff's stock of red Virginia and Yenidje oriental.
They literally ran this same sale, this very week in 2023. It just wasn’t called a Christmas crawl which I think they started much sooner this year on the branding of “Christmas crawl.
2022
2021
Buying stummels from St Claude, to then finish and mount with a stem, was standard practice with all of the British pipe makers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Toward the final decade of the 19th century you see increased evidence of greater portions of pipes being entirely made on the premises, eg BBB "own make" as opposed to just a BBB stamp.
What brought things to a head was the St Claude Carvers' strike of 1906, which crippled the British pipe trade. It was in the wake of the strike that Montague Barling announced that Barling would cease to rely on St Claude production and to wholly produce all of their pipes in London. They also established their own harvesting curing and milling operations in Algeria, as did Comoy, at that time. Other companies settled with the strikers and continued to buy a portion of their stummels from St Claude and Nuremberg.
With Dunhill setting up a pipeworks and trying to grow a place in the market, they would have had to buy stummels, just like the more established companies, while they built up a staff and the expertise.
An interesting note from the 1928 transcripts of the trial over amending the Merchandise Marks Act reveals, in testimony, that even Barling had been forced to buy some stummels because they couldn't handle the demand with the staff they had at that time. End of trial.
So the idea that Dunhill did what no other British marque was doing at that time, making all of their own pipes, is pretty farfetched, to say the least.
Anyone know who makes Newminster bulk and Erik Stokkebye? Is it Mac Baren?
I know Peter Stokkebye is made by STG but I'm curious about the two above.
I know Peter Stokkebye is made by STG but I'm curious about the two above.
Is the pipe tobacco industry dying or am I just panicking?
It just isn't that much of an interest for them big tobacco companies, I assume cigar market (both machine rolled and hand made ones) would bring more income that this time and labor intensive pipe tobacco production
So it is not dying but getting smaller. Quality pipe tobacco is almost impossible to find in Turkey, and now it will be harder.
The only one I know is Gladora.
Define "dying".
From my perspective, the patient has been in steady decline for 50 years, with a few very hopeful periods of remission here and there.
When I did a Google search, it shows a lot of tobacco shops in Istanbul.
There are no good pipe shops in Istanbul?
Mr. Pipe
Caferağa, Dr. İhsan Ünlüer Sk. No:14, 34710 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye
www.pipodepo.com
Hmm Savinelli has a shop in Istanbul?
www.piposavinelli.com
There are no good pipe shops in Istanbul?
Mr. Pipe
Caferağa, Dr. İhsan Ünlüer Sk. No:14, 34710 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye
Pipo Depo Gül kökü Pipo fiyatları Briar pipolar Golden Gate Poker pipo
Pipo Depo pipolar gül kökü pipo çeşitleri ucuz briar pipo aksesuarları 9mm pipo filtresi temizlik çubuğu | PipoDepo
Hmm Savinelli has a shop in Istanbul?
Savinelli Türkiye
Pipo da Dünya Markası Olan Savinelli ürünlerini Türkiye de Eşsiz İtalyan Tarzı Pipo ve Aksesuarlarını, Türkiye Distribütörü Olarak Hizmetinize Sunmaktayız.
www.piposavinelli.com
Like so many other things, pipe smoking is a cyclical thing. Cigars were way, way down and then 30 years ago they started coming back and now are still popular.
There will be a time when pipes come back into vogue. Heck, look at all of these kids who suck on a vape pipe... When they grow up, they may move away from that substance, but smoking a briar pipe with a fine tobacco would resonate with them quite well, I would think.
Remember when Barbara Mandrell sang, "I was country, when country wasn't cool." Well..... just bide your time and you can say you were piping when piping wasn't cool........
- Status