Thoughts On STG

[cosmicfolklore]

Im out of the loop, whats STP? Or was that a STG typo?

Sorry, yes, a typo. My bad. And, thank you for letting me know.

 

[sablebrush52]

I'm guessing you knew Richard Taylor? I knew and worked with his late Son. I remember him telling me his Dad was involved in creating that killer TRON glow. I was blown away because I always loved that effect.

Sure I knew Richard. I also painted matte paintings for a couple of commercials for which his company created the visual effects. Richard came to fame through his use of backlit compositing on a 7 Up campaign in the 70’s when he worked at Robert Abel and Associates. I lost touch with him after he moved into games.

 

[HeavyLeadBelly]

Im out of the loop, whats STP? Or was that a STG typo?

Well Stone Temple Pilots of course. You know, the grunge band from the 90s known for their love of pipe tobacco!

 

[Chasing Embers]

That's what they sell. Just stuff for the widest audience.

Like every other brand.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Sge was a good loyal employee but having only a high school diploma and no real office tech skills, she was disposable.

Wow, than you're just as much a part of the problem. College degrees don't make you any less disposable nor any more qualified than actual experience. Some of the most inept managers I've had to train loved waving their college credentials but were fundamentally useless in an office environment.

 

[HeavyLeadBelly]

Wow, than you're just as much a part of the problem. College degrees don't make you any less disposable nor any more qualified than actual experience. Some of the most inept managers I've had to train loved waving their college credentials but were fundamentally useless in an office environment.

I’m not part of the problem bud. This employee was given multiple trainings to learn core office skills that the firm needed her to be proficient in and she was failing at them. It wasn’t a surprise she was let go because that’s what companies do. If you want to be gainfully employed you need to acquire the knowledge and skills to be successful whether it be a degree or how to keep your body healthy to work jobs in the trades or manual labor that don’t require them. I’ve worked both manual labor jobs as well as office jobs and I’m quite proud of what I’ve accomplished in my career and education and neither you or anyone else is going to diminish that.

You’ve never walked a step in my shoes so be careful about the assumptions you make.

 

[woodsroad]

C&D and GLP for me.

Hate to say it but a lot if the American micro blenders also use leaf from Sutliff so I wonder if their blends will suffer. Thinking of places like LJP, WCC, Wilke, Country Squire and how they’ll be affected.

This cry of "What will XXX do once Sutliff is gone?" is ill founded. Sutliff/Mac Baren didn't grow or cure tobacco. They bought it. Pick up a copy of The Tobacco Reporter, or any other trade publication. It has ads for wholesale tobacco suppliers, the people behind the curtain who supply the pipe tobacco companies that we are familiar with. There may be minimums that are far larger than what a small blender can handle, but that where middlemen and brokers come in. Believe me, if there is product to be moved, and money to be made, someone will do it.

 

[Peter Turbo]

This cry of "What will XXX do once Sutliff is gone?" is ill founded. Sutliff/Mac Baren didn't grow or cure tobacco. They bought it. Pick up a copy of The Tobacco Reporter, or any other trade publication. It has ads for wholesale tobacco suppliers, the people behind the curtain who supply the pipe tobacco companies that we are familiar with. There may be minimums that are far larger than what a small blender can handle, but that where middlemen and brokers come in. Believe me, if there is product to be moved, and money to be made, someone will do it.

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Good to know, I'll check this out for sure.

I'm aware Sutliff and MacBaren aren't farmers, lol, I was mostly referring to an interview with Stephen Willett (the owner of LJP) who mentioned Sutliff will prepare leaf (whatever that may be) specifically for their blends. If Sutliff is cutting back or closing up shop I'm wondering how that will impact the quality of certain blends that use said leaf.

 

[woodsroad]

I agree, the employer does set the standards for his or her operation. The employee chooses to work there or not. If they choose to work there then they meet the standards set or they are let go.

In regard to feelings and my point of view of a job being all about me, yeah you’re damn right it is. I don’t know when the last time you were out in the work force but today’s environment demands that a person engage in self preservation. The social contract between labor and capitol is severely frayed and those people who give 100 percent loyalty to a company are foolish to do so.

In 2008 I got laid off after years of being a loyal employee, working long hours without days off because I was committed to the firm I worked for. Almost everyone was. The owners told all of us that if we worked hard the company would ensure we were taken care of when times got tough. Well when times got rough I spent a day helping my colleagues pack up their offices as they were let go until it was just me and my boss and my boss helping me pack up my office.

Later on a few years down the road after completing my graduate studies after pivoting my career during the Great Recession I was managing a department spread across a number of locations when the firm I worked for merged with a larger law firm. One of the employees who worked for me was concerned she was going to lose her job and I told her that if she was worried she might want to look into finding work elsewhere. Sge was a good loyal employee but having only a high school diploma and no real office tech skills, she was disposable. Eventually she decided to stay telling me that since she had been a loyal employee for over a decade they would take care of her. Two months later the new firm canned her (I had no input on her termination, she got a phone call from St. Louis and was escorted out on a day I had off. It wasn’t a great situation and she wasn’t the only one to be let go).

In the modern world a person has to look out for themselves and make sure the work they put in to their job is quality. Everyone is expendable and the only loyalty companies have towards anyone is to ownership and the shareholders. Loyalty to a company is about as outdated as the dinosaurs.

There are reasons that I no longer work as an employee. One is that I got laid off from that job in 2007, but the other is that whether I had a job today or tomorrow was out of my control. I've worked 1099 in varying amounts since I left college, but after I was laid off from my full time gig of twenty years, I swore that I would never take an employee position ever again. I'm in charge of my time, my future and my income now, good, bad or indifferent.

 

[fireground_piper]

There are reasons that I no longer work as an employee. One is that I got laid off from that job in 2007, but the other is that whether I had a job today or tomorrow was out of my control. I've worked 1099 in varying amounts since I left college, but after I was laid off from my full time gig of twenty years, I swore that I would never take an employee position ever again. I'm in charge of my time, my future and my income now, good, bad or indifferent.

A growing problem though is it's becoming incredibly more risky for companies to hire 1099. Federal and state level agencies are absolutely killing organizations who hire 1099.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Remember all the threads that used to trash Sutliff blends?

 

[Peterson314]

This thread stresses me out. I'm going to set my Sutliff on fire.

 

[sablebrush52]

Remember all the threads that used to trash Sutliff blends?

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Sure do, and what was hilarious is that the people writing them would go on to extol some other blend, under another label, that Sutliff had blended. Most of the complainants were poseurs.

I also remember when C&D was considered a joke here, "250 variations of the same blend" was a common comment.

Times change. History rewrites itself, belonging to the survivors.

 

[woodsroad]

This thread stresses me out. I'm going to set my Sutliff on fire.

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How are you printing your round labels? They look great!

 

[Peterson314]

How are you printing your round labels? They look great!

Thanks!!!

Source Images
This was a lot easier when Cellar Labels (community.cellarlabels.com) was active. The site has been "down for maintenance" for about a year now. Hope doesn't spring eternal for a revival. One user at Badger and Blade dumped his stash here, and it's better than nothing:

Labels

I've taken to putting my tobacco into mason jars and have made labels for several types. I'm including these here in case anyone needs a label. I have placed the text name of the label above each label so that a label can be searched for rather than having to run through numerous pages at...

www.badgerandblade.com

I also like playing around in Photoshop, and I make some of my own cellar labels just to do it. I uploaded a bunch to the Cellar Labels community. As a sampling, I recently made Rouxgaroux from their Sold Out photo, and I've made all of my Country Squire labels.





Printing
I use a regular Inkjet printer, but I print on sticky photo label paper. I use this product and have no complaints. It's fantastic:

Photo Sticker Paper (Glossy) - 8.5" x 11" - 100 Sheets

The LD Glossy Photo Sticker Paper is great for printing stickers with your inkjet printer! You get 100 sheets of 8.5 X 11 inch of sticker photo paper at a very affordable price. So many creative possibilities, so little time! ** Water Resistant. Not Waterproof, so Not Recommended for Outdoor...

www.ldproducts.com

Cutting
I print and cut using a cutting program by Silhouette. It's a competitor to Cricut. My wife won it in a crafting raffle many years ago, and it's been a favorite toy ever since. I print 12 labels on a sheet, and then I load the paper into the Silhouette. You load the paper into the cutter, then the cutter keys off of the black registration marks in the corners. It can then cut circles (or whatever other shape you design) where they should be.

I've attached a sheet so you can see my labels, and how hopeful I am for a special package from Santa.

 

[eljimmy]

 

[Elric]

Well Stone Temple Pilots of course. You know, the grunge band from the 90s known for their love of pipe tobacco!

Tobacco Type Thing was a favorite.

 

[Pipke]

Arango, Bengal Slices, and Hearth and Home. And I'm worried they're going to screw up Lane again like after they closed the Tucker plant.

Isn't Arango Pipe Company owned by STG?

 

[Peterson314]

Isn't Arango Pipe Company owned by STG?

I imagine STG will look at their entire portfolio.

 

[sablebrush52]

Isn't Arango Pipe Company owned by STG?

I've found nothing to indicate that Arango is owned by STG. If anyone has a link that shows otherwise, please post it.