STG closes Mac Baren and Sutliff

[alaskanpiper]

I’ll admit, I did a bit of panic buying just in case. Worst case scenario I’m overdeep on several favorites. Goddamn what a bummer that would be!!!

Jokes aside, if true, this blows. Not just for those of us that love Sutliff/MacBeezy blends in their current forms, but for all the fun shit Sutliff would have made in the future. Including the likes of SPC/WCC/TCS in that makes it that much worse!

But most of all, it blows for the employees and their families that may be caught up in it and lose their livelihoods. And the incredible history getting flushed down the shitter.

I’ll wait to freak out until more news arrives, but it sure sounds gloomy.

 

[Terry Lennox]

The Mac Baren blends like Mixture and Dark Twist were once among the best sellers. Then they got lost in the shuffle of so many other hyped blends and the reputation of Mac Bite. The HH blends are really what saved them in terms of volume in the US. Old Dark Fired. Pure Virginia. These will end up on Tin Bids now with sellers saying "Pre STG Era!"

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Is Irish Flake the closest I can get to ODF? I'm not very resistant to nicotine, which might be my issue there.

Irish Flake and Rattrays Stirling are approximately 20% stronger than ODF, You may want to try S&G 1792 Flakes thats strong one too but a tad mellower in taste thanks to tonka bean topping

 

[woodsroad]

So are the PVC pipes in my house… What’s your point?

It’s in reply to your statement “Mylar is more stiff than plastic” It IS plastic! It’s like saying a Prius is better than a car, or Grapefruit is bigger than citrus.

 

[Terry Lennox]

I wonder if STG currently makes the small Mac Baren sized coins. I know they make the larger disks of Escudo and Davidoff Medalions. But they will need to transition the Mac Baren blends they decide to keep over to the Assens factory beginning in 2027. So some time to work on that.

 

[Pipke]

At this point it just doesn't make sense to me why STG would close down Mac Baren/Sutliff tobacco production and distribution operations in the USA. The USA is a huge market. Maybe what will happen is a consolidation of existing resources. Factories and warehouses will have to close to accomodate consolidation, but the business itself will not disappear. For example, STG could roll Sutliff and the General Cigar Company together.

 

[n_irwin]

Went ahead and bought a pound of Mocha Strips and 8 oz of Figgy Pudding. If the STG news effects those blends, I'll get to enjoy them for a bit longer before moving on to something else.

 

[woodsroad]

At this point it just doesn't make sense to me why STG would close down Mac Baren/Sutliff tobacco production and distribution operations in the USA. The USA is a huge market. Maybe what will happen is a consolidation of existing resources. Factories and warehouses will have to close to accomodate consolidation, but the business itself will not disappear. For example, STG could roll Sutliff and the General Cigar Company together.

As the pipe tobacco market continues to shrink, STG is closing down the Mac Baren and Sutliff factories because they don't need them, much as they've done with other acquisitions like Stanwell and Lane. They feel that they have sufficient manufacturing capacity at Assens. Closing plants, firing employees and consolidating the business end of things are how mergers and acquisitions save the surviving company money.

 

[craig61a]

18 pages of posts and nobody really knows what repercussions will be…

It’s in reply to your statement “Mylar is more stiff than plastic” It IS plastic! It’s like saying a Prius is better than a car, or Grapefruit is bigger than citrus.

Yes, stiffer than the aforementioned plastic bags I was referring to… That should have been obvious to even the most casual observer. I never said it wasn’t plastic.

But I guess you want to die on that hill…

 

[woodsroad]

18 pages of posts and nobody really knows what repercussions will be…

Yes, stiffer than the aforementioned plastic bags I was referring to… That should have been obvious to even the most casual observer. I never said it wasn’t plastic.

But I guess you want to die on that hill…

I find that a diet rich in fiber will alleviate symptoms of irregularity, Craig.

 

[telescopes]

Mylar is more stiff than plastic.

It’s in reply to your statement “Mylar is more stiff than plastic” It IS plastic! It’s like saying a Prius is better than a car, or Grapefruit is bigger than citrus.

While I am not a fan of adding pronouns - especially when most people can't even describe the difference between a subject and an object pronoun, let alone when to use each correctly - I believe a simple modifier could have resolved the discussion.

"Mylar is more stiff than MOST plastic.

Grammatical agreement - maybe, just maybe, it is the key to world peace, LOL.

 

[Servant King]

maybe, just maybe, it is the key to world peace

But so is a high fiber diet. Or maybe that's just what the fiber salesmen want us to think...

 

[Chasing Embers]

Grammatical agreement - maybe, just maybe, it is the key to world peace, LOL.

Seems to be the key to starting a war on here.

 

[telescopes]

Seems to be the key to starting a war on here.

LOL. You are right about that. The correct placement of where to put an apostrophe when making a singular noun possessive nearly got me banned from another forum. The allegory I was making was that although various people believe and think a certain way about some things that are actually quite simple but are rarely understood by most is something that is very common - in the case I mentioned about, the allegory was used as an example to a debate that occurred over using the word "blend" rather than "mixed".

Regardless, my initial statement is meant in good humor. I hope no one takes offense. It certainly isn't meant that way. But I agree with you: Debates over grammar can quickly get out of hand.

 

[sablebrush52]

This sort of reminds me of the difference between, "We're having Grandma for Thanksgiving dinner." and, "We're having Grandma over for Thanksgiving Dinner.

 

[jpberg]

At this point it just doesn't make sense to me why STG would close down Mac Baren/Sutliff tobacco production and distribution operations in the USA. The USA is a huge market. Maybe what will happen is a consolidation of existing resources. Factories and warehouses will have to close to accomodate consolidation, but the business itself will not disappear. For example, STG could roll Sutliff and the General Cigar Company together.

Define “huge”, relative to the overall tobacco market.
Pipe tobacco doesn’t amount to a pinch of shit, that’s why we’re seeing what we’re seeing.

 

[Pipke]

Define “huge”, relative to the overall tobacco market.
Pipe tobacco doesn’t amount to a pinch of shit, that’s why we’re seeing what we’re seeing.

We already know that what "huge" is and where pipe tobacco ranks within that hugeness. STG's big business is in cigars. But so was Mac Baren's. STG highlights on their website that they are #1 in traditional pipe tobacco sales in the World. They also laud the status of their online sales of cigars. Pipe tobacco can be profitable, even if its market share is small. Do you agree that they might want to keep that status?

 

[Chasing Embers]

The USA is a huge market

I rarely agree with JP, but huge hasn't been applicable for many years. Several B&Ms have been reported here going out of business for the past few years. The pipe tobacco industry depends on the cigarette market for tobacco and that one is in heavy decline. The largest current consumers are China and India.

 

[woodsroad]

We already know that what "huge" is and where pipe tobacco ranks within that hugeness. STG's big business is in cigars. But so was Mac Baren's. STG highlights on their website that they are #1 in traditional pipe tobacco sales in the World. They also laud the status of their online sales of cigars. Pipe tobacco can be profitable, even if its market share is small. Do you agree that they might want to keep that status?

What status?
Pipe tobacco sales are still in decline. The only way for STG to grow is to buy (and shutter) their competitors.

 

[Choatecav]

Did not read the preceding 379 posts on this matter, but is there any possibility that another company will pick up some of the favorite MacBaren blends and start producing them? Like Peterson did with some of the Dunhill classics.