The Changing of the Blend

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karam

Lifer
Feb 2, 2019
2,341
9,012
Basel, Switzerland
@experts here: where does Gawith stand in terms of changing their blends? I don't know how old e.g Full Virginia Flake and St James Flake are, but those of you smoking them for ages could weight in and comment if they have changed much at all.
 
Right, like saying Carter hall in a cob is like a homeless man smoking grass clippings covered in motor oil.

Right?
No no no, I've never said that. I've said many times that Carter Hall is great while mowing the yard. I may have also said that back when I would smoke a cob in public, people walking by would drop coins into my tobacco tin. And, usually when I talk about cobs, someone will walk up and say that they didn't realize that I was homeless and the police come along and beat me down, while screaming at me to stay off the trains.


But, my favorite tobacco is Habana Daydream, which tastes like a cat turd sucked through the tailpipe of a rusty old Studebaker. I also collect Hilson pipes, with not a one of them drilled all the way through, dip-stained in horse urine, and each stem comes with an extra hole in the bottom of the stem. MMm mmmm.... love me some cat turd and urine dip stains. Now, I'm off to sleep with my sister and a pig, because I'm Southern. puffy puffy
 

hawky454

Lifer
Feb 11, 2016
5,338
10,220
Austin, TX
And tinning loose approximations of fabled blends in tins with famous labels plastered on them is a disservice to those blends and a calculated manipulation of consumers
I absolutely agree with this. I would rather the blend be appreciated by its own merits but unfortunately it’s a selling technique that works. I would much rather a blender make an ode to a blend than for them to buy the rights to the tin design and sell it as something that it’s not. Most people in the know can see right through this but there are a whole lot of people that aren’t in the know.
 

karam

Lifer
Feb 2, 2019
2,341
9,012
Basel, Switzerland
Hit and miss, nice pictorial explanation! Understood.
Remember the old Gawith rope/snuff production video from the 60s/70s? They show a guy pouring flavourings by eye and say “carefully measured”. I spent nearly 15 years of my life essentially transferring exact amounts of liquids from tube to tube and had to laugh. But i was specifically referring to their blends without a lot of sauce.
 
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Hit and miss, nice pictorial explanation! Understood.
Remember the old Gawith rope/snuff production video from the 60s/70s? They show a guy pouring flavourings by eye and say “carefully measured”. I spent nearly 15 years of my life essentially transferring exact amounts of liquids from tube to tube and had to laugh. But i was specifically referring to their blends without a lot of sauce.
I think that many reported variations in FVF after the merger for a few years. I can't say, because I bought 20 pounds of this years ago, and never rebought any more. But, things like Dark Flake unscented, Curley Cut Deluxe, Bright and Burley, and some of the sliced versions of the ropes seem to be a different blend every time I order them. They are never horrible, just different. YMMV
 
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hawky454

Lifer
Feb 11, 2016
5,338
10,220
Austin, TX
Blend bashing, brand bashing... when did these non-sentient products becomes so sensitive?
Again, I could care less about brand/blend bashing I do it too.

Molts Dolce - pure garbage, just start vaping already! Seriously though, it’s shite!

What I’m talking about is the blanket statements that all modern tobacco is of poor or inferior quality. If you haven’t picked up on these statements then maybe I’m reading them all wrong. Could be true, I tend to always be in a hurry these days so I skim read through the forums when I have some free time.

Not offended at all, just don’t want new smokers thinking they are smoking shite and the only way to not get shite tobacco is to buy on the secondary market.
 
Again, I could care less about brand/blend bashing I do it too.

Molts Dolce - pure garbage, just start vaping already! Seriously though, it’s shite!

What I’m talking about is the blanket statements that all modern tobacco is of poor or inferior quality. If you haven’t picked up on these statements then maybe I’m reading them all wrong. Could be true, I tend to always be in a hurry these days so I skim read through the forums when I have some free time.

Not offended at all, just don’t want new smokers thinking they are smoking shite and the only way to not get shite tobacco is to buy on the secondary market.
Ok, I get it. I can't imagine who would say that.
But, pipe tobacco is headed for the cliff's edge, as tobacco production gets limited to fewer and fewer varieties because of the domination of corporate cigarette industry in tobacco growing and production. If someone isn't working right now to get farmers to grow a few acres of the tobaccos used exclusively in pipe blends, then who knows... swerve, swerve!!!!
 
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hawky454

Lifer
Feb 11, 2016
5,338
10,220
Austin, TX
I do that all the time with Germain's Balkan Sobranie. Gasoline infused puppy farts. I feel no remorse.
Yes, this if fun, I’m all for blend bashing. I could care less if someone dislikes something I like. If a blender could capture my own farts, and infuse that with tobacco, I’m almost certain it would be a huge hit. I was inspired by a South Park episode, I now fart in a wine glass so I can get a nice whiff of my stink properly.

I personally enjoy puppy farts! It’s not my favorite of the fart varieties but I do enjoy them from time to time. Puppy breath? I love me some puppy breath!
 

Grangerous

Lifer
Dec 8, 2020
3,251
13,104
East Coast USA
Glad you pointed this out, I imagine a lot of folks that are just starting out don’t want to hear that all pipe tobacco being produced today is horse shit, which seems to be the mantra here, especially since McClelland closed their doors

I have noticed that people seem to prefer the blend that they’ve grown accustomed to. I’ve seen people gripe about how the STG version of Erinmore Flake sucks compared to Murray’s version, I actually prefer STG’s version, well at least the stuff I was buying in 2016, Cosmic swears it’s changed since then, I wouldn’t know.

I just finished an aged tin of McClelland Red & Black which in my opinion aged very poorly, I loved it fresh. I am currently smoking through an aged tin of STG made Dunhill Flake and it is smoking up there with the finest VA’s that I’ve ever had, I prefer it to a lot of the McClelland VA’s. I’ve had the Balkan Sobranie of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, it was good, in fact it was great and it aged extremely well, I still prefer Skiff Mixture to that stuff but I started out with Skiff Mixture.

Granted I haven’t been smoking as long as some of you but I’ve been doing it for 12 years now and I’ve had plenty of the tobaccos that everyone is claiming to be the best of the best. I don’t care what anyone says, whether the leaves are hand picked or not, there are still some damn fine pipe tobaccos being produced today that give all the golden day of yore blends a run for their money and they are obviously made of quality tobacco.

Now most of my blends are 2016 and older which I believe you stated that everything after 2016 is inferior quality, personally I can’t speak to this but I’m not sure if I believe that.

I could give a damn about blend bashing, that’s fine but I think it’s a bit much to imply that everything being made today is of inferior quality to the blends you old timers smoked, seems like I read it in every other thread these days.
I have noticed that people seem to prefer the blend that they’ve grown accustomed to…”. Hawky454

☝️ this is precisely how I feel. If you get to know a blend,after initially liking it, you’ll swear by it.
 

cigrmaster

Lifer
May 26, 2012
20,249
57,280
66
Sarasota Florida
@experts here: where does Gawith stand in terms of changing their blends? I don't know how old e.g Full Virginia Flake and St James Flake are, but those of you smoking them for ages could weight in and comment if they have changed much at all.
I have heard grumblings that SG blends are being tainted because GH is using the machines that have 100 plus years of Lakeland sauce in them. Others are saying just being in the same space SG is getting tainted. I honestly don't know the absolute facts but in general where there is smoke there is fire. Except for the first release of Cabbies Mixture the rest of my Sg holdings are 2012 and older.
 
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anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,678
29,398
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
I remember the same thing happening when I smoked cigarettes with Camel Turkish Royals. They used to be noticeably more delicious and smoother than most brands. Then one day the packaging changed, and apparently the tobacco changed with it, because they started tasting like every other damn product.

Fortunately I quit shortly thereafter, so this momentus disappointment was quickly overshadowed by horrifying irritability and stress. Yay....?
the worst for me was Drum they kept the same tobacco but the papers changed. And it was kind of shocking how much difference the papers made. It was annoying to have to buy packs of Rizlas just to get a decent smoke.
Oh and I remember that with the royals.
 

anotherbob

Lifer
Mar 30, 2019
15,678
29,398
45
In the semi-rural NorthEastern USA
Unfortunately, it's absolutely true and you're all screwed.

Just kidding.

Sorta.

There are some wonderful blends being made today, which is why it's such a pisser when some blending house screws with them to save a few pennies per tin. But sources today are less varied than once they were, in and out of the US, and different harvesting methods do affect the result.

And tinning loose approximations of fabled blends in tins with famous labels plastered on them is a disservice to those blends and a calculated manipulation of consumers.

People like different things. For some McDonald's chicken fingers is haute cuisine. For others it's not even chicken.

But if McDonald's chicken fingers are your bliss, that's all that matters, to you.
it's not about better or worse when it's a matter of taste but it is a matter of wanting to get what you paid for.
 

Jimmy_Jack

Can't Leave
Jun 24, 2021
420
1,493
So I am newer to pipe smoking than many/most here, but not tobacco. While all comments regarding less crops/producers are true, I don't know if we give enough credit/acknowledgement to the seasons and crop yields/quality.

In the cigar world, and I'll focus this on Cuban cigars, its all about crop year (and what quarter of that year if I'm being honest). You can smoke a great Upmann #2 from 2019, then buy 3 boxes from the mid 2020 range because you loved that cigar and 2020 is what's available, and they will taste nothing like that great 2019 stick. There will be similarities, but not that flavor you recall being so great.

Because of this fact, people will skip over entire years of production. They will seek only boxes from a particular year, some even down to the month and factory of production. Why? Because June 2019 from the La Guito factory put out stellar cigars. A smoker/collector will go so far as to buy any box out of that factory, from that month and year. They know that crop and leaf was stellar quality.

Anyway, all that to say. If you pop a certain tin and really like it...hunt for that production run. Seek it out and buy heavy. That's they way I will proceed. I've learned throwing darts and hoping for a bullseye can get frustrating.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,625
44,836
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
So I am newer to pipe smoking than many/most here, but not tobacco. While all comments regarding less crops/producers are true, I don't know if we give enough credit/acknowledgement to the seasons and crop yields/quality.

In the cigar world, and I'll focus this on Cuban cigars, its all about crop year (and what quarter of that year if I'm being honest). You can smoke a great Upmann #2 from 2019, then buy 3 boxes from the mid 2020 range because you loved that cigar and 2020 is what's available, and they will taste nothing like that great 2019 stick. There will be similarities, but not that flavor you recall being so great.

Because of this fact, people will skip over entire years of production. They will seek only boxes from a particular year, some even down to the month and factory of production. Why? Because June 2019 from the La Guito factory put out stellar cigars. A smoker/collector will go so far as to buy any box out of that factory, from that month and year. They know that crop and leaf was stellar quality.

Anyway, all that to say. If you pop a certain tin and really like it...hunt for that production run. Seek it out and buy heavy. That's they way I will proceed. I've learned throwing darts and hoping for a bullseye can get frustrating.
The pipe tobacco trade works differently. While there are occasional "vintage" releases, sometimes "single crop" releases, most blends are formulated from crops of different years in order to retain consistency in the result. That doesn't stop some blenders from substituting components if they can't obtain their usual supplies, or they're trying to cut the cost of making a particular blend. But for the most part the effort is to deliver as similar a product as possible year after year.