What Will Be The Most Sought-After Sutliff Blends 5 Years From Now?
- Thread starter Mike N
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I agree. Though it will be one no one thought of that will be the big one.
I’m going to disagree with you on this. The goopers weren’t my choices, but the match blends, Cringle Flakes, and blending components were pretty damned good by today’s standards.
Most of today’s blends don’t hold a candle to what we were smoking decades ago.
But very few of us smoked those blends and are satisfied with today’s products.
If either Sutliff or Mac Barens were actually gold mines, they wouldn't have had to sell out to begin with. And, since I started smoking pipes Sutliff has acted as if it is trying everything to stay afloat, from giving tons of tins away at pipe shows, and CEOs coming and going like a revolving door, moving into the retail side a bit, being sold to Mac B, and then this. Obviously, if they were blends that made money, non of that would have been going on.
My biggest criticism of them has always been that proprietary casing that they use. It wasn't terrible, just always there. They had a couple things that I liked, but even those, I won't be heart broken to lose them.
I went to The Briary yesterday and tried a few bulk aromatics, just to touch base with aros again, and was reminded of why I do not smoke them.
As a side note, I asked if Skip would be considering C&D blends since the majority of the tobaccos that he carries is either Sutliff or Mac Barens, and was told emphatically that he would not. I already barely go there anymore because I mostly smoke C&D now.
If C&D went out, and if my cellar empty, I would probably just not smoke pipes. But, luckily enough I don't have to worry.
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Haha. Some ladder-climber in middle management made a bet with the higher ups that he could increase sales by 50% by year end.
I disagree that Sutliff won't be missed or had mediocre blends. From the perspective of smokers who gather in pipe thread forums, it might seem true that Sutliff blends were not always up to snuff, but for millions of pipe smokers who don't meet up on forums, these blends were their stock and trade. By choice - It's what they liked, not just knew. It would be presumptive to think they just didn't know better. We will never really know until it's over just how much Sutliff contributed to other pipe tobacco manufacturers. Special arrangements, kept secret may exists with companies no one even suspects - but the evidence will suggests that it did when Sutliff is gone.
I think when someone says that So and So wasn't great, they mean that they didn't like their products. And, that is fair. I don't like Chevrolet. Doesn't mean that someone doesn't like them.
The weird thing is that people would say that because Chevy makes parts for Ford, you can't say that you hate Chevy's, but that is stupid. Especially if one likes Toyotas.
Very well could just be corporate shit talk. But, everything we've heard seems to track.
Dunhills did not go away.
McClellands; it is 5200, the Froggy blends, Dark Star, the Christmas Cheers and every now and then someone mentions another one. But, these consistently come up.
That is a fair enough statement. I am referring to the crowd who typically pile on a brand blindly because they are following the will o' the wisp of group think. There are many Sutliff blends I do not care for - but to castigate all of Sutliff that way - so blindly - all in the name of whatever their "group" tends to do is like the folks who use to say McCelland blends were all ketchup, etc. I should have written less hastily and said more precisely, "Sutliff is not a mediocre brand and only makes mediocre blends." My real point is that five years from now, the very same people who piled on Sutliff in the past will be bidding for old tins of their tobacco on Tinbids.
They got the money to do those things.
C&D is pretty much the brand I guess I am going to smoke.
I don't understand who you mean "they" to be, nor what things you mean. The point I was making was that if Sutliff product was actually selling, meaning if people are/were buying it, and they were making money, or had a monetary value at all, then they wouldn't be an add on bonus prize in a corporate take over. They sold out to Mac Baron, for some reason... anyways, they must not be the gold mine that you suggested.
For me, I really like their 1849, EGR, and I can smoke Molto Dolce sometimes, and maybe one other. They are like the pretty girl in a room full of knock outs. I like them, but there is so much more in this room.
I don't think any of these bulk blends rank in the league with McCLelland 5100 Red Cake.
All I would say is: think twice before speculating on bulk blends with only reselling in mind. If you smoke it then by all means stock up.
All I would say is: think twice before speculating on bulk blends with only reselling in mind. If you smoke it then by all means stock up.
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Sutliff hasn't been an independent company since the late 1960's and that was another case of an owner retiring out and selling the company. They were owned by Altadis, a branch of Imperial Tobacco when they were bought by Mac Baren, and that had to do with a change in Imperial's corporate planning. Sutliff didn't fit into their plans. So they must have had some value or Mac baren wouldn't have bought them.
Sutliff acted to me like they had money to burn. Which to me says the products probably were doing a.o.k. but management chose to spend that surplus on things that I have no idea what the return for them was.
I think they certainly are. Just because they haven't utilized it properly doesn't mean the products and names don't have untapped value. The issue isn't the market or the product but being able to adapt to the market.
And the knock outs for some reason really like old men with beards and other assorted freaks. I just want to say I think you hit the nail on the head for blends I don't smoke. They're good to great often but I just like the other ones that much more.