I will be in London for the next week. Which pipe shops should I be sure to go to while I’m visiting the city? Are Samuel Gawith and GH&C blends readily available in London tobacconists? Thanks for your input!
London Pipe Shops
- Thread starter n_irwin
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JJ Fox on St James Street is excellent (though pricey) and has a lounge above. The other tobacconists on the street are good for cigars but have less pipe tobacco available and, in my opinion, less knowledge of pipe tobacco. There is also a little tobacconist in Covent Garden but they only sell their own blends (and specialise in snuff - worth a try if you do go there!).
In my opinion there are better tobacconists in other parts of the UK.
In my opinion there are better tobacconists in other parts of the UK.
Agree with all of the above. There's much better range online.
Segar & Snuff is the Covent Garden tobacconist. I like them. They only sell about 20 pipe tobaccos (at least a couple of those are GH), but it's a tiny shop.
Segar & Snuff is the Covent Garden tobacconist. I like them. They only sell about 20 pipe tobaccos (at least a couple of those are GH), but it's a tiny shop.
James J. Fox on St. James Street. There is also a Davidoff store a few doors away but they likely only sell their own pipe tobaccos.
I haven't been to the City yet but from what I have seen in the past with similar threads about pipe shops over there, there's not many B & Ms.
However, as pointed out, there are quite a few decent online shops outside of London, for example, in Preston (My Smoking Shop UK) and others.
On your side, though, you can get Condor, St Bruno Flake & Ready - Rubbed, Special Virginia and others in grocery stores or at newsagent stands (I think they still sell tobacco but not sure 100%).
However, as pointed out, there are quite a few decent online shops outside of London, for example, in Preston (My Smoking Shop UK) and others.
On your side, though, you can get Condor, St Bruno Flake & Ready - Rubbed, Special Virginia and others in grocery stores or at newsagent stands (I think they still sell tobacco but not sure 100%).
Davidoff does sell other tobaccos but their selection isn't as good as JJ Fox. There's also a small C Gars shop just off St James Street, but I've only ever bought cigars there so not sure on pipe tobaccos there.
and I thought one could find the Original Flake by Ogden's(today by Mc Barens)and that of B&H Special Virginia and Gold Block in almost every supermarket
You’ve also got ‘Kandies’ in leadenhall market. Smokers Paradise on Fenchurch St. If you want to visit a traditional, old fashioned tobacconist, I’d hop on a train for the short ride to Reading & pop into ‘Shave & Coster’.
Correction: it's Condor & St Bruno, for the most part.
Yeah, I'm looking into it but probably not necessary because Rachel is confirming G & H in convenience stores, etc so I would say you are correct.
I was in London recently went to JJ Fox, they didn't have a huge selection. It was cool going there for nostalgia but its nothing like it was, very cigar focused. As others have noted there is a Davidoff shop very close by as well.
I finally had some time on my last day in London to visit some shops around the city. I though I might share my experience and some photos for those who might be visiting in the future.
The first set of shops I visited were over by the Tower of London. Smoker’s Pleasure was a small shop with a decent selection of tins and pouches, mostly Peterson’s blends but also some British pouches like Condor, St Bruno’s and such.
C. Gars had a few Samuel Gawith tins, but not much else. I forgot to take pictures here. The salesman mentioned that they had an extensive selection online that could be purchased online and delivered to the store. If you planned ahead and made your purchase before traveling, this might be a good option.
Kandies had only 5 Peterson’s tins in stock and doesn’t seem to be a very good option for pipe tobacco.
Later, I stopped by a couple of stores near Buckingham Palace. James J Fox was a cool shop with lots of options and a very old school atmosphere. Lots of tin options as well as a number of GH&C bulks available. Sadly, they were out of all Germains in bulk.
I only window shopped at Davidoffs and the C. Gars location here only had cigars. But they sent me over to nearby Turmeaus, which had the best selection and best prices of all the shops I visited.
In all, I was glad to buy some tins of Cabbies Mixture and Bothy Flake as well a couple GH&C bulk blends and some Condor Ready Rubbed. But the prices were high in London, I imagine because of taxes. Tobacco was at least twice as expensive as the same blends in the US. I feel compelled to avail myself to any British forum members, if I can help you out by sending you tobacco from the US, let me know.
The first set of shops I visited were over by the Tower of London. Smoker’s Pleasure was a small shop with a decent selection of tins and pouches, mostly Peterson’s blends but also some British pouches like Condor, St Bruno’s and such.
C. Gars had a few Samuel Gawith tins, but not much else. I forgot to take pictures here. The salesman mentioned that they had an extensive selection online that could be purchased online and delivered to the store. If you planned ahead and made your purchase before traveling, this might be a good option.
Kandies had only 5 Peterson’s tins in stock and doesn’t seem to be a very good option for pipe tobacco.
Later, I stopped by a couple of stores near Buckingham Palace. James J Fox was a cool shop with lots of options and a very old school atmosphere. Lots of tin options as well as a number of GH&C bulks available. Sadly, they were out of all Germains in bulk.
I only window shopped at Davidoffs and the C. Gars location here only had cigars. But they sent me over to nearby Turmeaus, which had the best selection and best prices of all the shops I visited.
In all, I was glad to buy some tins of Cabbies Mixture and Bothy Flake as well a couple GH&C bulk blends and some Condor Ready Rubbed. But the prices were high in London, I imagine because of taxes. Tobacco was at least twice as expensive as the same blends in the US. I feel compelled to avail myself to any British forum members, if I can help you out by sending you tobacco from the US, let me know.
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Great to see that you got to so many! I used to get Germain's loose from JJ Fox pretty regularly, supply seems to have got a bit worse recently. Tobacco is very expensive in London - in other parts of the country a tin that costs £25 in London could be £18 (sometimes even a bit lower). I get G&H in my local tobacconist for about £16 for 50g. But it is still more expensive than the States.
Thanks for the kind offer of sending tobacco - I think many of us have ways and means of getting US tobacco!
Interesting to see those Wilson's of Sharrow blends, I tried some of them when they came out and thought they were pretty awful, I wonder how well they're selling. I used to love their snuffs.
JJ. Fox is the only one I know of, but there are many other locations that have the stuff, you just have to look,