The handwriting is on the wall.

[ronnib]

Y'all can take this post in whatever spirit of authenticity you wish.
I just had a loong talk with Mike McNeil of McClelland Tobacco Co. In short, the FDA debacle is not looking good for us. December 31st, 2016 is the deadline for all retail sales of tobacco blends made after 2007. If you like ANY tobacco blends that were conceived after 2007, you better stock up now or forever hold your peace.
McClelland will be releasing 2016 AND 2017 Christmas Cheers in August. They will also be releasing 2 Anniversary blends, Balkan Beauty, and Holiday Spirit. When they are gone, they're gone for good. BTW, Mike asked me to post this info.
Pay heed as you see fit.

 

[sablebrush52]

Thanks Ronnib,
The post Feb 2007 blends can be sold up to 8/8/2018, though I would assume that most manufacturers will be curtailing any production of those blends months before that deadline to reduce left over stock.

 

[mikestanley]

Hopedully,"Big Cigar" will have the juice to mitigate some of this. " Big Pipe" certainly doesn't. I still think the end game is more taxes though. I'm jelly that you get to talk with Mike McNiel!

Mike S.

 

[ashdigger]

I would assume that most manufacturers will be curtailing any production of those blends months before that deadline to reduce left over stock.

Hello, Sablebush, that's the rub. My guess, purely a guess is that waiting to buy is a fools errand.

 

[pagan]

We knew it was coming, doesn't make it less painful

 

[sablebrush52]

Hello, Sablebush, that's the rub. My guess, purely a guess is that waiting to buy is a fools errand.

Hi Ash,
I agree, though it also means that there will still be opportunity to buy some of the "endangered species" for the next few months thru early 2018. Some of the lesser sellers will go the way of the dodo earlier so that manufacturers can focus on producing the high sellers in the time left. We're already seeing some of that happening.
The suit might be able to get the predicate date adjusted to match that of the cigarette manufacturers, which would move the date to 2014, but there's no assurance of that. Despite Mike McNeil's concern, other manufacturers are a bit more sanguine about the situation. We just don't know how this will shape out, but there will obviously be a large loss of choices. And, looking at the bright side, there will still be a lot of choices left. It's not like nobody was making blends before February 15th 2007.
What I'm dubious about is the ability of private parties to stock up with a view to selling out of production blends for a killing. I expect rules about selling tobacco in the US to tighten up considerably.
In any event, we all knew something was coming, though we didn't predict this. So, like many others, I bought over the past several years and am stocked. Barring some catastrophe, I'm good to go. And if I run out, well it was fun while it lasted.

 

[georged]

And, looking at the bright side, there will still be a lot of choices left. It's not like nobody was making blends before February 15th 2007.

Exactly so. To put things in perspective, in 2007 there were over 3000 blends (labelings?) available.
Even if HALF of them disappeared since then, that's still a shit-ton of tobacco.
Don't forget that the Golden Age of pipe smoking---the late 19th through the mid-20th century---existed without ever having a "blend of the month" craze among the tobacco producers. And, let's face it, a lot of the "blend of the month" stuff of the past few years was never well thought out. It was more ciger-maker-style "churn marketing" than anything else.
In fact, on my cynical days, I find myself thinking of the recent FDA thing as having a mild upside. It will afford cover to the the dabblers, amateurs, and trend followers who never really cared about pipe smoking beyond what their social group thought of it. Few of them were ever going to "stick," anyway.

 

[gloucesterman]

I suspect this issue will be tied up in the courts for the foreseeable future so it's likely there will be some stay on the implementation date but as Sable pointed out even if there isn't there will still not be an acute shortage of blends at least not under these guidelines. What he future may hold, well that's anyone's guess. Fortunately my "Go To" blends are grandfathered for the time being.

 

[balkisobrains]

Thanks, I was wondering about the Christmas Cheer(s). Also one has to wonder when his Syrian Latakia will be gone. It's like a double whammy. 3 Oaks Syrian, Wilderness, Yenidje Highlander, & Orient 996 are the ones that contain it that I like and (I think, based on my date-range specific internet searching) are all on the 8/8/18 deadline, provided that the Syrian remains available.

 

[daveinlax]

I just had a loong talk with Mike McNeil

LoL! Has anyone ever had a short talk with Mike? 8O

 

[andrew]

I'd take that pretty seriously, McClellend is one of the small mom and pop operations that are going to be affected by this. McClellend's is one of my favorite blending companies. However I a believe alot of everyone's favorites like St. James woods and Blackwoods flake and the lot have been around for a while which are my staples, and alot of peoples. Even if they can't do Christmas Cheer there's enough of their blends I think that would keep them going. I do think some companies are going to use this as a good excuse to retire though.

 

[huntertrw]

"I suspect this issue will be tied up in the courts for the foreseeable future..."
My guess is that the court system will simply refuse to hear this matter. Its implementation was approved by, and thus can only be changed by, Congress. Good luck getting them to do that! If, by some fluke of fate, the case were to be adjudicated and if (and this is a BIG if) it eventually made its way to the "Supreme" Court, do you honestly believe that its majority (as currently seated) would rule in our favor? I do not.
It seems to me that the only course which may be left to us all (and I mean ALL) is an outright refusal to roll over and comply with these onerous Deeming Regulations.

 

[georged]

LoL! Has anyone ever had a short talk with Mike? 8O

You just have to know him for a while. His determination to impart knowledge to new acquaintances is 99% just a manifestation of his generosity. He is privy to a lot of stuff that other people literally can't know, and feels an obligation to pass it on. (I'm not joking in the slightest. Mike is one of the most generous-spirited people I've ever met in my life, and I mean expressed in action, not just sympathy.)

 

[mso489]

This will stimulate a kind of gold rush to buy out some of the more recently introduced favorites. The ones in place before 2007 will still change in subtle ways with the crops and the seasons. Many of the older blends will be rediscovered and appreciated anew, and people will probably be more imaginative about mixing at home to get variations on the blends that are available. The taxing and prodding of prices upward may be more an issue than the extinction of blends. The nine dollar tin may be soon gone. Veteran pipe smokers may not smoke less, just less well. I think I can sip away at my modest stash for another five years. After that, we'll see.

 

[puffy]

There has been a tidal wave of new blends come on the market since 07 Having less selection isn't a good thing,but there will still be a lot of very good blends to choose from.This first step won't effect me a lot because I mostly smoke older blends.It's probably just the first step though in an on going war against tobacco.

 

[jmatt]

The potential death of McClelland's Christmas Cheer is the most disappointing casualty of all of this.

 

[sablebrush52]

The potential death of McClelland's Christmas Cheer is the most disappointing casualty of all of this.

It's certainly one of the most disappointing. I love Christmas Cheer.
To put it in some kind of perspective, when I started in 1971, there might have been a couple of hundred or so tinned blends around in the US and possibly a lot less from what I've been told. Most stores only stocked a few. You rarely saw English made blends, except for Dunhill and Sobranie, much less Danish or German blends. You had the OTC staples and whatever your neighborhood tobacconist dreamed up, plus a smattering of tins, and who knows what else. There may have been hundreds of proprietary tobacconists' blends around, but, with the exception of those tobacconists who did a mail order business, you didn't have any kind of access to them. It was a very different world. Most of us smoked just a few blends and were content with that.

 

[fnord]

Too true, Dave. Nobody has ever had a a short conversation with Mike McNeil. But like George said, there is nobody more passionate to teach and generous of spirit.
I took one of my son's housemates - a beginning pipe smoker - to the KC pipe show several years ago and introduced him to Mike. My young friend was immediately put under his wing and I heard the opening round of questions as I walked away: "Whaddya like?" "What don't you like?" "Ever smoked Latakia?" "Burley? Virginias?"
When we found each other an hour or so later, he'd become a lifetime, card carrying member of Team McClelland.
This latest round of federal legislation means the death knell for Christmas Cheer, Blue Mountain/Balkan Blue and several, if not most, of the Frogs, correct? If that's the case, as much as I love her, I'm not very proud of my country right now.
Fnord

 

[Chasing Embers]

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are being swept under the rug.

 

[jerwynn]

This, and all its incarnations here on our beloved Forum, leave me just profoundly sad.