Although I have been smoking in some way or form for a while now, in the past I primarily smoked house-blends of pipe tobaccos from the local tobacconist. It wasn’t until the last few years that I began exploring the vast array of tinned tobaccos available through the web. After having read some reviews, I recently purchased a tin of Presbyterian Mixture for the first time. As I smoked my first bowl, I was really enjoying it, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking about what I read in a review; that is, “these tobaccos are not what they used to be…”

Over the past few years I have noticed many pipesmokers paying big bucks for vintage tins of Dunhill, Balkan Sobranie, etc… I have also seen many references to tobacco blends when ‘back in the day’…We all know that over the last few decades, there has been a dramatic decline in pipe smoking. I doubt NASA scientists and engineers are still puffing away at their consoles while they monitor the Space Shuttle’s mission to the International Space Station as they did 40 years ago during the Apollo missions. (Have you seen the movie Apollo 13?).

All of this has left me with the impression that today’s tobaccos are becoming inferior to their yesterday’s counterparts. A classic example I come across frequently is the comparing of Dunhill produced by Orlik versus Dunhill produced by Murray’s versus Dunhill produced by Dunhill (in the 70’s). Additionally, with all of the new legislature, antismoking propaganda, tax increases, trade restrictions, etc., it seems that the availability of obtaining that ‘special leaf’ which once made each blend unique are becoming restricted to blenders. Adding the fact that I do not know anyone else of my age who smokes a pipe, I wonder what lies in the future for the art of pipesmoking.

I think a lot of that has to do with yearning for nostalgia and how great times were back then. It also has to do with the art of blending being passed down and the new blenders not blending a particular blend precisely and exactly like the previous blender. The quality is still good. It just tastes slightly different. But then of course you've got a few blends where maybe someone stepped in and cheapened the process. Thirdly, a lot of times, vintage tins sell well because the tobacco is aged and it has little to do with the quality of the same blend made today with the exception of age.

What we don't know won't hurt us. If we never smoked it 30 years ago, we don't know how it's supposed to taste. No matter what the circumstances are, if it's good, then it's good despite what others might say.

An old post addressed this, at least the pipe production end: http://brothersofbriar.forumotion.com/the-round-table-f12/what-makes-today-the-golden-age-of-pipes-t4951.htm?highlight=golden+age

Natch

Every generation throughout history has yearned for 'the Golden Age'.. I say in my utmost eloquence: Screw it, We are in the golden age... more pipes and blends and information available to more pipers than at anytime in the past.....Want Billy
Joe Bobs house blend? go to his website and order it... Looking for a half rusticated pokerbill? Google it. Wondering what the proper technique for smoking dummerflatchys folded plug? Go to a pipe board or you tube.. Want to know what Galahans rolled turds taste like? TR.com.. Bubba this IS the golden age.

Galahans rolled turds ???,,
Well anyway, a crop of tobacco is different each year depending on the variables,
Blends change due to crop quality and availability of their components.
To reproduce the exact blend year after year is a daunting task
If you buy a tin of 39 year old Galahans rolled turds for $400 I have to believe you're going to be biased and proclaim it supreme.
How in hell can anyone remember what a tobacco tasted like thirty years ago anyway,,,,,

Maybe it was Gallaghers Rolled Turds.. Lol.. Its was in a box pass a couple years back..I'm not sure what the proper name was.. But I am a Rope Smoker (I am so fluffin glad Gate isn't frequenting us as much at the moment, he'd have a field day with that ), and I'm tellin ya, that wasn't rope..lol

In my Urban & Regional Planning class I have the students read The Good Old Days - They Were Terrible! by Otto L. Bettmann (Random House, 1974). It's mostly journal and news paper cartoons (with limited editorial comments) from US newspapers between 1865 and 1918. It's great at dispelling that the "good old days" were healthy, clean, honest, and wholesome. Bettmann is the founder of the famed Bettmann Archive in New York, one of the world's great picture libraries. Great visual snippets of history.

Natch

I started smoking a pipe back in '69 and tried a variety of blends before settling on Carter Hall for my everyday smoke and Amphora Red for my "go to town" smoke because of the pleasant aroma. IMHO this is the golden age for pipe smoking because of the great variety of blends available on the internet.

One of the biggest negative I see today is the loss of so many B&M shops. I always looked forward to going into one and absorbing the wonderful smells of the various tobaccos and cigars. The other thing that has changed very much for the worse is public and governmental attitudes towards smoking.

Smokey

People have to rember that it is part of human nature to exagerate memories so that someing that was or happend slowly over the years worps to exagerated great ness. This instict is aroud for survival. Peaple needed to refect on better timesso that they would pass intoration down to younger genorations. So what soem one saze ther enot wat they use to be well its a good part of memory exageration. There is an agument that if you crack an old blend from say1960 it smoke remarkabley better than todays. (Well YA) its been aging 40 years the bitter tandims in the tobaco lefe have deterated making the flavor increase and bite mellow. Yess shure ther are some blends that did change due to new blenders but in general tobaco is not worce than it ever was. It actulay still happens to me ill be smoking a blend thinking hummm how good was that first blend i smoked in my pipe smoking life. arh seems so wonderfull in memory,
well (well the one i first smoked was Balkam riff in the wite pack) ill go to the store once a year give it a smoke even though i know it sucks smoke it then go wow that sucks.

Greetings all,

I have to respectfully disagree that this is "the golden age" of pipe tobacco. To the contrary, it's more like the "twilight years".

There is absolutely no way we have anywhere near the selection of tobaccos now than we used to. I've been smoking a pipe since 1976, and I fondly remember walking into any Sav-on or Thrifty drugstore in California, and being overwelmed by the vast selection of pipe tobaccos, both pouch and tin. An entire 50 foot aisle was devoted to them. All the OTC's were available, including several MacBaren, Balkan Sobranie, and other imported tobaccos. They also stocked every domestic cigar made, in packs and boxes. And cards of Grabow, Kaywoodie, and Medico pipes were on display. Truly tobacco paradise!

And to top it off, the same shopping center usually had a full line tobacconist, stocking his own custom blends, a walk-in humidor of handmade cigars, and a wide variety of quality pipes.

Those days are gone. Most of the tobaccos are gone, never to return. And many of the tobacco shops are gone forever.

Yes, today we have the internet to purchase tobacco and pipes (for how much longer is open to debate), and there is a decent variety of tobacco available. But it's nowhere near what it used to be. No way, no how!

Truth be told, the true "golden age" was probably the late 1930's through the early 1990's, before the anti-smoking forces took control. Back then you could smoke just about anywhere, and a good tobacco shop was in almost every town, with several shops in the larger cities. We also weren't the social outcasts we are in these times.

Those of you too young (or just now starting to smoke a pipe), don't remember those times. Trust me, it was a truly grand time to be a pipe smoker. Sorry you missed it.

But, we must soldier on, enduring the slings and arrows of the anti-smoking crowd. Find a good B&M or etailer, buy often, stock up and stack deep, for the sad reality is, these are really the "twilight years" of smoking, at least in our lifetime.

Sorry to sound so gloomy, but this is the reality of our era.

Smoke on!

CACooper