What's the Story With Wessex?

[seacaptain]

Seems like most of their Virginia flakes have been out of stock for awhile now except the Gold.
Are they heading down the McClelland path?
I hope not. My three favorite brands are (were) Dunhill, McClelland, and Wessex.
Let the rumors begin.

 

[Civil War]

Don't know, good question.

 

[cigrmaster]

Seacaptain, I believe the problems with supply is coming from Kohlhase & Kopp. Astleys are hard to get as well. I have always thought that small brands like Wessex, Astleys and Fribourg & Treyer were all headed for discontinuation eventually. All three of those have had serious supply issues over the last 6 plus years from what I have seen.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

It's not like you can have a big assembly line with a big machine that poops out an aged flake of Virginia and throws it in a tin and stamps it, and off to smokingpipes it goes... Aged Virginias are a product that requires planning, possible losses along the way, and... t...i...m...e...
Just a guess... ::

 

[jzbdano]

I have picked up a couple tins of Dark Flake and Brown Virginia Flake a couple times over the past year. I will usually add some to my cart when they are available because they don't stay in stock long.

 

[sablebrush52]

There have been shortages before. Remember the Great Wessex Campaign shortage of 2014? Codger fans were attempting suicide by leaping from their lawn chairs.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

No different with Samuel Gawith. I'd hate to be one of the big internet pipe tobacco companies right now. Go look, the cupboards are fairly bare. Must be frustrating.

 

[sablebrush52]

Yes, but there will always be Middleton's Cherry...

 

[dmcmtk]

Wessex, I can find Classic Virginia, and also Classic Virginia Green...

 

[seacaptain]

I bought a few tins of Gold Flake to cellar but I have just one tin left of Red flake, which is probably my all time favorite VA flake. I hope they become available again.

 

[npod]

I remember the Wessex scare of 2014 that Jesse talks about above. Honestly, that is when I started to take "cellaring" seriously. Since then, it's been a game of waiting for in-stock notifications only to see not-available and hour later. I think it is now a well recognized hording brand, at least for the Campaign Dark Flake.

 

[mso489]

sable', leaping from their lawn chairs indeed. I watch for your posts for a chuckle...and often good info.

 

[cerfer]

Is it a supply issue? I guess that sounds like a stupid question, but what I mean is that when I get an in-stock notice from SPC, I buy an allotment, go back, and it's gone. How many tins are we talking here? Say Wessex Burley Slice, or Solani Aged Burley. I bought both, and neither was in stock the next day.
Is it panicked buying and people are buying out 5 thousand tins as soon as they are in stock? Or are we looking at a couple hundred tins every time we get an in stock notification? What is the volume of sales for any given blend/tin?

 

[seacaptain]

3 months later and still no Wessex flakes anywhere to be found.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Just save your money and buy all you can when it hits the shelves. I bought over twenty pounds of SG recently. It'll probably be another six to nine months before SG ships againmi probably have enough now to last the rest of my life so I don't care.

 

[morgansteele]

HOOSIER, out of curiosity only, what is the breakdown in weight of what you bought?

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I recently inventoried my tins but not my bulk yet. I have over ten lb of FVF, 3 lb of the plug. Around ten pound of SJF, a pound of plug. Around 7 pound of BBF. 3 pound of Balkan Flake. If I had to, I could be reasonably happy smoking just those four blends every day..

 

[morgansteele]

Thanks! I’m always curious as to what others cellar. I added some Squadron Leader and Bothy Flake.