Update on the STG Closure Of Sutliff and Mac Baren

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Yeah, the prices for tobacco in the UK are shocking if you're not used to it. Every year they add on extra taxes. I think we'll see a £20 carton of 20 cigarettes within the next 4 years, which is mental. They love shit like that over here in nanny state central. They've already brought in a sugar tax which is added to any food/drink that goes over a certain level. They keep talking about bringing in unit pricing for alcohol which will put up the cost even more. It's all in the name of public health, of course. Nothing to do with raising more in tax. Definitely not.

Seemingly UK has adopted all this crap from Scandinavia Countries

 

[buroak]

Sometimes an acquired company is to be quickly stripped of its assets to realize a quick profit and remove the competitor. Maybe even entice some of the acquired customers to another product from their line. Staying profitable requires agility very often.

I do not disagree with that statement in general terms. In this case, though, I don’t think “grow or perish” applies. From what I have read here and elsewhere, STG are casting off too many products, distribution deals, and retail outlets that were sufficiently profitable for Mac Baren/Sutliff to keep them before the STG takeover.

I am sure STG will, as they have already begun to do, bandy about all kinds of business consultant buzzwords to convince us this for our good: rationalize production, find efficiencies, and streamline customer interface/experience…

The only customer they likely truly care about pleasing is the shareholder. Mac Baren was privately owned. I do not see it as merely coincidental that most of us like them better than the publicly-traded STG.

 

[buroak]

Not just counting, categorizing, and controlling, but fear and war mongering too. They get their way by leveraging people's most thoughtless instincts - pride, fear, greed, envy, wrath, sloth...

And now you have rolled that old bucket of sunshine, Reinhold Niebuhr, into this.

 

[Pipke]

And now you have rolled that old bucket of sunshine, Reinhold Niebuhr, into this.

Never heard of him

 

[Servant King]

There isn't a soul that'll stand up to it in Washington.

Fixed that for you, no charge!

 

[woodsroad]

I do not disagree with that statement in general terms. In this case, though, I don’t think “grow or perish” applies. From what I have read here and elsewhere, STG are casting off too many products, distribution deals, and retail outlets that were sufficiently profitable for Mac Baren/Sutliff to keep them before the STG takeover.

I am sure STG will, as they have already begun to do, bandy about all kinds of business consultant buzzwords to convince us this for our good: rationalize production, find efficiencies, and streamline customer interface/experience…

The only customer they likely truly care about pleasing is the shareholder. Mac Baren was privately owned. I do not see it as merely coincidental that most of us like them better than the publicly-traded STG.

I've never cared for any of the Mac Baren products, and have none in my cellar. Sutliff is another story, as their products ran the gamut, including several exceedingly well executed blends that we devised when Standard Tobacco was alive. As for corporate mentality, I believe that if Mac Baren had paid closer attention to the bottom line, and diversified their offereings they wouldn't have sold out to STG. Maybe they would have gone public, who knows? But they did fail to adequately expand as far as the market would allow. Buying Sutliff, and gaining an etail outlet was a good move, but by the time they got Per Jensen there to breath some excitement into it, it was too late.

 

[SMOKER110]

If you have heard Reinhold Niebur preach you would not forget the name.

 

[sablebrush52]

If you have heard Reinhold Niebur preach you would not forget the name.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Something like that?

 

[sablebrush52]

I do not disagree with that statement in general terms. In this case, though, I don’t think “grow or perish” applies. From what I have read here and elsewhere, STG are casting off too many products, distribution deals, and retail outlets that were sufficiently profitable for Mac Baren/Sutliff to keep them before the STG takeover.

I am sure STG will, as they have already begun to do, bandy about all kinds of business consultant buzzwords to convince us this for our good: rationalize production, find efficiencies, and streamline customer interface/experience…

The only customer they likely truly care about pleasing is the shareholder. Mac Baren was privately owned. I do not see it as merely coincidental that most of us like them better than the publicly-traded STG.

I'm not sure that privately owned VS publicly traded is the crux of the problem here. The family didn't want to keep the business, which is why it was sold. That it was sold to a passionless robot of a corporation is another matter.

Regardless, I hate to see pipe smokers' options further thinned, despite my not being a big fan of Mac Baren, or STG, though I did in the past stock some products that were excellent, like Doblone d'Oro. If my recent purchase is any kind of indicator, in the six ensuing years since my last order, their quality has fallen off a cliff. Not entirely surprising in the case of St Bruno...

Denmark has always been the place where British blends go to die...

Their Viking heritage aside, Danish blenders treat British blends like they're virginal spinsters, producing balless, hairless, lobotimized versions.

STG won't make any of it any better.

For me, Sutliff is the far greater loss. Carl McAllister's excellent series of match blends were an excellent value and pretty damned good. Sutliff's aged red Virginia releases were excellent. A lot of other blenders rely on their inventory. Compared to the potential of STG's mediocre maw swallowing up Sutliff, Mac Baren feels like a blip.

You're correct in surmising that the only official beneficiary, and not much of one at that, are the shareholders. The biggest beneficiaries are "C" suite.

It's a done deal.

 

[MisterBadger]

...and it gets worse.

In the meantime we have a serious black market for cigarettes and an out of control vaping habit amongst kids, if you can imagine that.

- Same in UK. The idiots in Parliament never saw it coming.

 

[Pipke]

If you have heard Reinhold Niebur preach you would not forget the name.

I looked him up. He's not a Catholic. I don't hold it against him tho...

 

[Elric]

Returning to the automotive metaphor, this whole situation reminds me of the Roger Smith era of GM. No enthusiasts in the mix so they produced a bunch of identical milquetoast vehicles guided by the bean counters. In this case, I'd be surprised if anyone in STG upper management has ever smoked a pipe.

 

[woodsroad]

I'm not sure that privately owned VS publicly traded is the crux of the problem here. The family didn't want to keep the business, which is why it was sold. That it was sold to a passionless robot of a corporation is another matter.

Regardless, I hate to see pipe smokers' options further thinned, despite my not being a big fan of Mac Baren, or STG, though I did in the past stock some products that were excellent, like Doblone d'Oro. If my recent purchase is any kind of indicator, in the six ensuing years since my last order, their quality has fallen off a cliff. Not entirely surprising in the case of St Bruno...

Denmark has always been the place where British blends go to die...

Their Viking heritage aside, Danish blenders treat British blends like they're virginal spinsters, producing balless, hairless, lobotimized versions.

STG won't make any of it any better.

For me, Sutliff is the far greater loss. Carl McAllister's excellent series of match blends were an excellent value and pretty damned good. Sutliff's aged red Virginia releases were excellent. A lot of other blenders rely on their inventory. Compared to the potential of STG's mediocre maw swallowing up Sutliff, Mac Baren feels like a blip.

You're correct in surmising that the only official beneficiary, and not much of one at that, are the shareholders. The biggest beneficiaries are "C" suite.

It's a done deal.

The Danes have a strong culture of collectivism. For thousands of years, they have maintained what is essentially a monoculture, where everyone looks alike, speaks the same language, shares some essential DNA and understands the importance of circling the wagons. Individuality and individual exceptionalism is frowned upon. So it’s no surprise that Danish blendings reflect that culture. Some call it catering to the lowest common denominator, while some praise it as a manifestation of unit cohesion. Either way, STG is the tobacco equivalent of Muzak.

 

[sablebrush52]

The Danes have a strong culture of collectivism. For thousands of years, they have maintained what is essentially a monoculture, where everyone looks alike, speaks the same language, shares some essential DNA and understands the importance of circling the wagons. Individuality and individual exceptionalism is frowned upon. So it’s no surprise that Danish blendings reflect that culture. Some call it catering to the lowest common denominator, while some praise it as a manifestation of unit cohesion. Either way, STG is the tobacco equivalent of Muzak.

What did Muzak do to you that you should ever insult it so?

 

[sardonicus87]

Or maybe it's all just a communication issue?

 

[Sobrbiker]

I’m not thrilled about what’s going on, but I’ve gotta say: y’all have some serious STG issues…

 

[Chasing Embers]

y’all have some serious STG issues…

"Not I", said the fly.

 

[Sobrbiker]

"Not I", said the fly.

View attachment 351551

Not to mention bales of 507C/307

 

[Chasing Embers]

Not to mention bales of 507C/307

I actually have never bought 507, but I have 307 in spades!

 

[Sobrbiker]

I actually have never bought 507, but I have 307 in spades!

My bad, I thought I’d seen you post the 5lb blocks of Virginia Slices…