The Golden Age Of Pipe Smoking

[RudyH]

We're living in the Golden Age Of Pipe Smoking now. Fewer smokers competing for raw materials like briar. Excellent materials. Excellent history of refinements to pipe design in recent decades. Precision machinery for making good pipes. Good craftsmen dedicated to doing good work. Competitive environment that favors the buyer. High quality standards within the industry. Excellent selection of pipes and tobaccos that's so good that it fosters the hobby of collecting. And demand for quality pipes and tobaccos from smokers.

Let's savor the times.

 

[AcesAndEights]

I tend to agree. Crazy number of blends to choose from. Even cheap-ish pipes seem to smoke well. Those that do partake make up a great community. I’m enjoying the heck out of this hobby.
That’s right, I said heck.

 

[jpberg]

We're living in the Golden Age Of Pipe Smoking now. Fewer smokers competing for raw materials like briar. Excellent materials. Excellent history of refinements to pipe design in recent decades. Precision machinery for making good pipes. Good craftsmen dedicated to doing good work. Competitive environment that favors the buyer. High quality standards within the industry. Excellent selection of pipes and tobaccos that's so good that it fosters the hobby of collecting. And demand for quality pipes and tobaccos from smokers.

Let's savor the times.

This has got to be comedy. Tobacco availability has never, ever been as bad as it currently is, and it will only get worse.

 

[JOHN72]

I think the golden age would be in the 60's and 70's, no? You bought tobacco, but you didn't keep kilos in the cupboards. Now tobacco is worth more than the mortgage on the house. I think that now is the time of despair, of the seller and the desperation of the consumer. The same thing is happening with distillates. Every year they go up, it is a miracle that you can still buy alcoholic beverages through the big internet platforms, for example Amazon. It is only a personal opinion.

 

[cigrmaster]

We're living in the Golden Age Of Pipe Smoking now. Fewer smokers competing for raw materials like briar. Excellent materials. Excellent history of refinements to pipe design in recent decades. Precision machinery for making good pipes. Good craftsmen dedicated to doing good work. Competitive environment that favors the buyer. High quality standards within the industry. Excellent selection of pipes and tobaccos that's so good that it fosters the hobby of collecting. And demand for quality pipes and tobaccos from smokers.

Let's savor the times.

 

[cigrmaster]

I believe the Golden age ended around 2013. Back then when you found a favorite not named Esoterica or Samuel Gawith you could buy all you wanted. Even with Samuel Gawith if you hit the small mom and pops you could still load up on as many bulk pounds as you wanted. Tins were tougher to get. I was buying SG flakes like Best Brown, Full Virginia and St James in 5 pound lots for 55 a pound and some with a 10% discount.

My favorite flakes would go in and out of stock, but when they were in, I could buy all I wanted. I bought plenty of lots of 25-100 tins at a time and was also able to get discounts on 100 tin lots.

Also back then the blends didn't change like they have now. Limits on the popular flakes are a total pain in the ass and I made sure I bought all I wanted back then as I knew limits were coming. I also made sure that blends I loved I loaded up on as some were discontinued.

I would not agree these are the golden ages if you are looking to build large cellars with lots of tins.

 

[jpberg]

The golden age ended sometime in the nineties (one could argue much earlier) when UK houses could no longer sell tobacco directly to those of us in the states.
I don’t remember exactly what year it was when I got the typewritten letter from Greens giving me the news, but yeah, that was the year.
Not to mention that was the same era that prices went through the roof for UK smokers.

 

[AcesAndEights]

Ok, ok. We young pups don’t know what we’re talking about. I’m old enough to admit that.
Damn kids….

 

[AcesAndEights]

The OP shoulda put “YMMV”. That woulda fixed it!

 

[chopper]

Golden Age? Not here in Nanny State Australia where a 50g tin of baccy is now $140aud.

 

[jpberg]

And about the briar, the selection today is shit compared to even ten years ago, so all in all, a big no.

 

[jpberg]

Golden Age? Not here in Nanny State Australia where a 50g tin of baccy is now $140aud.

Yeah. I mean things have never been worse for pipe smokers. WTF is the OP on about?

 

[chopper]

Yeah. I mean things have never been worse for pipe smokers. WTF is the OP on about?

He's just enjoying himself I guess and he no doubt lives in the U.S. where tobacco prices are still rather reasonable. [Stock up while you're still able my antipodean friends. It's only a matter of time before they target pipe baccy. They got a slush fund to maintain {that they're calling 'foreign aid'}]

 

[Searock Fan]

I don't have precise statistics, but I can tell you that in my almost 60 years of pipe smoking I have watched the price of tobacco go up, but not as fast as inflation. Pound for pound it's a bargain compared to 50 years ago. What I've also noticed, and is more disturbing to me, is that the quality of that tobacco has definitely gone down.

 

[chopper]

And about the briar, the selection today is shit compared to even ten years ago, so all in all, a big no.

An interesting point.

A few years back a 100+yo German tobacconist closed who must have had thousands of NOS briars [new old stock] A professional pipe merchant bought all the NOS that he sold on ebay.
I bought many 60yo-100+yo briars, mostly French and German made.
The biggest difference that I've noticed between these antique pipes and todays offerings is a big difference in weight [And craftmanship come to think of it - every single one of these old briars takes a pipe cleaner to the bowl]
The old briar is so light by comparison.

A mate and I were discussing this recently.
My theory is that when they first discovered the suitability of briar for pipes, it would make sense that the oldest and largest root balls [or whatever they're called] were the most prized.
The briar from younger root balls must be heavier than from the older ones.

That's just speculation on my part so if anyone knows better then please do share.

 

[Michigan_Bill]

I’m sure that the more seasoned pipe smokers among us are quite accurate in their recollections and what you are all saying makes perfect sense. But as a newbie I am grateful to have so many choices. I’m glad for the enjoyment the pipe affords, and grateful especially for such a fine company to share it all with!

 

[Chasing Embers]

Long gone. Many blends, blenders, and carvers fallen by the wayside due to legislation, quality of once highly regarded manufacturers has significantly dropped. Companies borrowing famous brand names and supplying inferior products. Fewer places to enjoy smoking. The 1930s through the late 1990s was a smoker's paradise and now we're trudging through the beginning of the end times.

 

[Searock Fan]

An interesting point.

A few years back a 100+yo German tobacconist closed who must have had thousands of NOS briars [new old stock] A professional pipe merchant bought all the NOS that he sold on ebay.
I bought many 60yo-100+yo briars, mostly French and German made.
The biggest difference that I've noticed between these antique pipes and todays offerings is a big difference in weight [And craftmanship come to think of it - every single one of these old briars takes a pipe cleaner to the bowl]
The old briar is so light by comparison.

A mate and I were discussing this recently.
My theory is that when they first discovered the suitability of briar for pipes, it would make sense that the oldest and largest root balls [or whatever they're called] were the most prized.
The briar from younger root balls must be heavier than from the older ones.

That's just speculation on my part so if anyone knows better then please do share.

Back in the early 80s I bought from the owner of a shop in Murfreesboro, TN, his stock of old 1960s Hardcastle pipes. Don't remember why he wanted to sell them out. I think there were about a hundred, all smooths, medium size and standard English shapes. I peddled these over that next couple years and remember that just about every time I ran into someone who had bought one from me, they always told me what a great pipe it was and how well it smoked. I don't know if this was because the pipes were so old or if the owners were just being nice. Who can say?

 

[chopper]

A favourite blender amongst pipe smokers was McClellands.
If I got the story right; the owners, who were close to retirement age anyway, decided to close shop because they could no longer source tobacco of the level of quality that they were used to buying in the past.

Can't help but admire their integrity, a rare quality in todays world of commerce.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Back in the early 80s I bought from the owner of a shop in Murfreesboro, TN, his stock of old 1960s Hardcastle pipes. Don't remember why he wanted to sell them out. I think there were about a hundred, all smooths, medium size and standard English shapes. I peddled these over that next couple years and remember that just about every time I ran into someone who had bought one from me, they always told me what a great pipe it was and how well it smoked. I don't know if this was because the pipes were so old or if the owners were just being nice. Who can say?

Between '46 and '67 they were a Dunhill subsidiary. I've had one and they are great pipes.