Why are the Originals Always Better?

[bcharles123]

Escudo, Black Parrot, Three Nuns, etc. Some of my current favorites. Why do the reviews always talk about that while good right now, not as great as back in the day? Isn't it possible that they are better now? Different AND better?
While I'm asking, this seems to be true for almost anything. The briar pipes were made from, Dunhills, craftmanship....
Vinyl vs. digital, any music (well ok modern pop sucks...), food products. People actually believe that Paleolithic man ate a perfect diet. I think he ate rancid meat and chewed on partially digestible leaves and often died of starvation, But I digress...
Isn't it possible that modern quality controls, speed of light communication, and predictable markets make for better pipe tobacco? Ever?

 

[huntertrw]

bcharles123:
With regard to pipe-tobacco blends I believe that you can not discount the key variable - the tobaccos themselves, as they vary from year-to-year. Like any crop they are subject to the variables of weather, disease, insect damage, and a whole host of others I am probably overlooking. Additives change, too, going out of production as demand drops, or as the Food and Drug Administration simply outlaws their use.
As for pipes themselves, regardless of how far technology advances, I believe that it will never replace honest-to-John craftsmanship. In my opinion machines will never be able to exercise that gut-level discernment (borne of experience, I might add) which tells that man or woman when a pipe is right versus when it needs to be tweaked, reworked, or consigned to the fireplace.

 

[mikestanley]

I smoked a fair amount of the Cope's Esucdo and find the current version pretty darned close. Three Nuns doesn't even use Perique so there really is no comparing the new with the old in my opinion. I never smoked the pre McClelland version so I can't say.
Mike S.

 

[mso489]

It's difficult to replace a blend that people grew to love and depend upon. And it's true that the leaf crop changes over time, good years, bad years, and the different constituent leaf that make up a blend. Finally, you always have to factor in the effect of memory and nostalgia. Like music or food that is entwined with particularly vivid and intense periods of our lives, tobacco memories can be enhanced greatly by the associations that go with them, improved by our filtering out unpleasant memories and expanding and improving good memories. Was that old, now unavailable blend really that good? Oh yes, it was paradise.

 

[desertpipe]

On blends that have changed manufactures, I think that not only the sources of tobacco, but also the personnel involved in the process, but also the equipment involved makes a difference in the outcome. A cook can use a recipe for my favorite fried chicken, but when the source of the chicken, flour, spices are different and they use a stainless steel pan instead of the well seasoned cast iron skillet, the outcome is not going to be the same.
Interestingly, the new batch of TAPS-VIP from D&R Tobacco is superior to the first batch they produced.

 

[huntertrw]

desertpipe:
Good points, Sir! Don't forget that the skill of the blender/chef also plays an integral part.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

People are probably right when they say that certain things were better in "the good old days".

But the only reason these things are inferior now is that the total mindshare of humanity devoted to developing it has gone down, and so the bar has been lowered.

AKA: It went out of style, so the modern equvalent is worse.
It's just a matter of picking something that is under active development by a wide enough demographic.

 

[settersbrace]

I don't care what anyone says, no one can recall exactly what some long lost tobacco blend tasted like 30-40 years ago and to rant on about how a new reincarnation of a given blend not being as good is just plain horse hockey. Yeah, if blend x had some distinctive characteristic and it's modern replacement lacks that unique leaf or topping I can see how someone could point that out. With pipes I feel as many do that it's ALL about the wood, pipes made in the first half of the 20th century afforded the luxury of being crafted from some very old briar and so goes it with the collectibility of pipes by Dunhill, Charatan, Barling, etc. there's still some excellent factory pipes out there today but if I have a $150-$250 to spend on a pipe it's going to go toward some old London wood over any modern product, hands down.

 

[tuold]

Having refurbished some 200 estate pipes and buying a few new ones over the years I'd say there are two factors affecting the difference in quality specifically of factory made pipes. One is the current availability issues of new, quality briar and the other is the "test-of-time" factor where most of the crappy pipes people bought back in the day were thrown out not long after they were new and hung onto the better examples that have come down to us.

 

[bcharles123]

Good call on the great pipes from long ago being the survivors. Makes perfectly good sense.
I have a saying at work for the complainers, "today is the new guy's good old days".

 

[cpjeffrey11]

Seeing as how I have only been smoking for about a year and a half, I have the distinct advantage of having no idea if things were better in the past. Instead I just try to enjoy what is on the market now, and hoard it like a demented pack rat. However, I will suggest that anyone claiming that rock music has somehow improved in the current market has very different taste in music from myself.

 

[warren]

It's the memories that go along with the older products. Today's music is a good analogy. A guy getting laid for the first time in his brand new, albeit used, Dodge, Ford or whatever is going to remember fondly the car, the music, everything about the experience 40 years down the road, especially how suave and accomplished he was. The girl will have changed though. Slimmer, more well built, better smelling . . . oh! And the sex will be fondly recalled as sooooo much better than it really was. Find the girl 40 years later and she'll have an entirely different recollection.

 

[desertpipe]

Warren, I treasure your input. It makes anything I might add superfluous, and my smile is becoming permanent.

 

[beefeater33]

Honestly I have no idea how tobacco blends have fared, whether they are better or worse. But I wholeheartedly believe that pipes were much better in the "good old days". I've got a few Dunnies from the 20's to the 50's that, HANDS DOWN smoke better than the newer ones. And the Vulcanite in the bits is better too.... and the Blasts on the shells, so much more tactile and aesthetic to look at. Some of the Oldies I can stare at the damn grain forever........... 8O !

So for me yea, pipes actually were better. I Collect old Winchester Model 12's too, and the oldies are superb. Just my 2 cents...... ::

 

[beastkhk]

The catch 22 is that it is the modern aspects that allow us access to all these different tobaccos and pipes which we would have been oblivious to in the "good ol days"
I tried getting into pipes years back and selection was limited, tried some OTC and hated it so much I just couldn't get into it. B&Ms even today seem more based on aromatics(and I can't blame them as it would appear that is where the market is)
It wasn't until I started surfing the web(started with cigars) that I found what I would call good pipe tobacco.
Of course, no offense to those that enjoy OTCs. I just feel that sometimes the selection that was and is held readily available does not do justice to the hobby.

 

[nsfisher]

As with most things today, increased technology seems to create a decreased quality. Life is easier than it was 100-150 yrs ago. Demand is higher in all things, whether it be pipes, tobacco, vehicles, homes, etc. It has now become a disposable world. 100 yrs ago one bought "A" pipe or two. Quality was high and the pipe was made to last. How many of us have only 1-2 pipes. I, myself, have over 120, and blend after blend after blend of baccy. Now a days, one does not put a pipe through the same rigors as they did so long ago, so the same quality is considered is considered non essential as with so many other things.

 

[seagullplayer]

One of the key characteristics of legend is time.
Taste is so subjective there is now way to quantify what is/was "better".

Its in the mind of the "beholder".
To prove this just look at some of the reviews of the current product offerings. (of anything)

One will give it a half star and just as many a four star.
Then there is the age old "people don't like change". This special segment of the population will never

agree that the change was for the better. You would think some of them would still be using outhouses given

the chance.

 

[buroak]

I cannot speak much to the tobacco blends of old, but I agree with other posters here that the briar available before mid-20th century was better than what is generally available today. The old growth briar was harvested long ago. Still, I have briar pipes produced in the second half of the 20th century and even this century. These newer pipes can and do deliver excellent smokes.

 

[brass]

I was going to argue that time is filter, and we tend to remember only the best out of the mostly mediocre pack. M
y proposed analogy was that most of the music from the 60's was forgettable. Then I pulled up the Billboard Top 100 for 1964. Then the Top 100 for 1965. Guess what. The songs on average were more diverse, more creative and better than what we hear today. Not only that, I remember and still occasionally hear almost every song that made the list 50 years ago. Folk, country, jazz, rock, R&B, Motown, even modern interpretation were all represented.
So, the good old day were better - at least for music. (I will admit cars are better engineered today - but aren't nearly as cool)

 

[buroak]

So, the good old day were better - at least for music. (I will admit cars are better engineered today - but aren't nearly as cool)

Agreed and agreed - Jethro Tull, Yes, (pre-Phil Collins ruination) Genesis, Jeep vehicles with Vigilante engines and Gladiator name plates, and etc. all make me pine after old music and cars.