Thanks to everyone who came out to our June Smoker! We had over a dozen members attend again this time, despite the fact that June weather wasn’t kind to us — it got to be quite chilly! (Fortunately, the heater was working so we were toasty warm in no time.)
Our next smoker will be on Wednesday, July 3rd at 7:30pm at The Raq. (You’d think we were inside!) See you there.
Local pipemaker and DTPC member Michael Parks has asked us to post about an event at his workshop this Wednesday, May 22nd, from 6-9pm. It’s a pipe night with the smokers from Victory Cigars and there will even be a special “pipe cake” made from a local bakery, Cakes and Coffee.
Location: 17 Durham St., Bowmanville
Mike’s Cell: 905-244-0591
June Smoker
It was great to see so many members out for our Spring Opener — there were 14 of us there despite the threat of rain and cool-ish weather. We lit up the night with pipes and it was nice to catch up with some of our oldest members (that would be Gord, “The General”) and longest-standing (that would be Paul) and meet some new faces as well (that’s a shout-out to Jack).
Our next smoker will be on Wednesday, June 5th at 7:30pm at The Raq. For those who have never yet been there — it’s on the second floor and their patio is completely enclosed by four walls so the worst of the wind is kept out.
Retiring the Google Group
In an effort to simplify and consolidate the multifaceted means of communicating online, the Google Group will be retired effective May 31st. For social communications I would like to direct you to our Facebook Group instead.
Our Google Group members have been consolidated with our standard “Smoker Alert” mailing list and news of upcoming smokers will be sent out as “Newsletters”, of which this is the first. Rest assured you can expect to receive no more than 1 or 2 per month. If you wish to opt out of these newsletters follow the link below and you can still visit the official DTPC website for news of the next smoker or visit the aforementioned Facebook group.
We’re half-way through April and we’re only getting the occasional snow squall–so clearly it’s time for us to dust off the briars, huff into our tobacco jars (to get the humidity back up), and note the location of our parkas (just in case) for the 2013 Season Opening Smoker. We’ve seen an uptick on the number of people emailing about looking forward to the next meeting — and we’re up to 176 people on this list now — so let us get ready to rejoice together by unleashing great gales of tobacco smoke into the Toronto night sky on Wednesday, May 8th @ 7:30 pm.*
Location
The Raq
739 Queen St. West, 2nd Floor (near Tecumseh, a block west of Bathurst)
www.theraq.ca
In Other News
We have fancy new logo and a completely redesigned website. See them at Downtown Toronto Pipe Club website and be sure to check out the swag in our online store while you’re there. (A small percentage from every purchase goes to the club to help pay for cool events, such the BBQ we had last year.)
Brothers in briar,
DTPC
* We’re not weather forecasters. It may be too frigid, or pouring rain, or even snowing again… so be prepared for us to go to Plan B: The Following Wednesday if weather does not permit.
On our way back from the 2012 Chicago Pipe Show we made an unintentional stop at the one of most eclectic pipes shops on the planet, Paul’s Pipe Shop in downtown Flint, Michigan. If you ever go, be sure to make time to go through the pipe museum on the top floor.
A few of us made the trip down to the 2012 Chicago Pipe Show–a mandatory trip for any Pipesman. While there is an abundance of new and estate pipes, the amount of tobacco is also a strong reason to attend. Most of the major carvers from around the world make an appearance which allows commoners the rare opportunity to handle their wares. Most of the artisan pipes were sold pre-show hence the abundance of pictures one of my personal favorites, Castello. Enjoy!
I was very pleased to pick up a special present (to myself) this past week. It was the first pipe I’ve ever had commissioned, and I asked none other than DTPC member and pipe maker Michael Parks to create it.
Since we both go hunting together in the fall, I thought it fitting to ask for a grouse-themed pipe. I wanted to give him the artistic license to create something without too many constraints, so the only ones I provided were that it wouldn’t be too literal (e.g. a pipe shaped like a grouse) and it would be on the smaller side so it could be smoked while hunting.
The images below show the pipe from the initial planning through to the final product. Some highlights:
Mike has done a really amazing job on the blast, creating a craggy ring grain that is just fantastic and wonderful to hold.
If this is your first time here, welcome!
Return visitors may have noticed that we have a entirely new logo and new site. Yes, we’ve done away with the old, ugly and horribly out-of-date web site. And the content.
We’ll be updating with more stuff (including meeting updates) in the future, so stay tuned.
We’re famous! Toronto Star reporter Curtis Rush came out to one of our meetings and wrote about our humble club in the January 7th edition.
The following history was first posted in the Ottawa Pipe Club e-group by Restingpipes and is posted here because I thought it was a great read, and very interesting. Please be sure to read the author’s notes at the end! -ed.
Happy New Year pipers! I hope you are all enjoying your pipes and tobaccos.
Lately I’ve noticed the hand wringing for old blends starting again. Usually it’s about the venerable old blends that are owned by Big Tobacco, though many of the posters appear not to know that. Dunhill blends are the latest example and seem to be a perpetual worry. It’s a rare week lately when one of the pipe boards doesn’t have a thread with a new rumour of pending Dunhill blend loss. It’s old news. The posters often lament Alfred Dunhill Ltd cold modern ways and contrast these with the picture of Alfred Dunhill (himself) selling pipes and tobaccos on a table in front of his wrecked London shop that was demolished by German bombs in WWII. Then someone will voice worries about the pipes. After all if the tobaccos are threatened how long can it be before the company stops making pipes? It’s all very touching but it bears no resemblance to reality.
Reality? The real Dunhill blends disappeared 26 years ago and Dunhill pipes are made by a different corporation than the tobaccos. The tins look the same but that’s the extent of it. What you’re seeing is an effect of modern brand management. The Dunhill tobacco brands themselves have value because we (the buyer) accept that they must be Dunhill tobaccos. We believe the tins. It’s a good trick. But the brands, like the tins, are really just shells that will exist for only as long as they are profitable to their owner. The tin contents are increasingly distorted copies of the Dunhill blends. The contents of the modern tins weren’t made by Alfred Dunhill Ltd. Alfred Dunhill Ltd doesn’t own the Dunhill tobacco brand anymore and hasn’t since 1967. It’s old news.
Semantics? Maybe. But how much change must the actual tobaccos undergo before we stop believing that they’re Dunhill’s? What if they were made in rural China, Japan, or even Denmark with (of course) different tobaccos? These countries have very different tobacco traditions than England and it’s beyond credibility to expect the blends to remain true if manufacturing was moved to one of them and used different tobacco components.
I know. None of this diminishes the worry of loss if you like them, whatever they are. So who does control them?
The Dunhill tobacco brands and blends (pipe tobacco, cigarettes, and cigars) are owned and controlled by BAT – British American Tobacco. BAT is a huge multinational that owns and controls many tobacco brands and it is based in England. Alfred Dunhill Limited (including the pipe making part of the business) is owned by Richemont. Richemont is a large Swiss corporation that specializes in luxury goods. BAT and Richemont are completely separate corporations. Any similarities in behaviour may exist only because they are both responding to declining demand for all things related to pipes.
Ok, but one hopes the ‘blend lie’ is a white one. Did BAT buy the Dunhill tobacco brands from Alfred Dunhill Ltd? Is the chain of ownership short enough that the blends might be close to the originals? Nope.
Carreras International bought a controlling interest in Alfred Dunhill Ltd in 1967. Carreras left manufacturing of the Dunhill blends with the Dunhill factory. Carreras already owned Murray Sons & Company and all their blends (since 1953). Murray’s tobacco plant too – Whitehall Tobacco Works – continued under Carreras. The corporate owner may have changed to Carreras but the manufacturing location and people making the tobacco didn’t. There was blend continuity. Carreras was a blend-friendly owner. Then in 1972 Rothman’s bought Carreras; enter the modern era in brand management. In 1981 Rothman’s moved Dunhill blend manufacturing to Murray Sons & Company in Belfast. Rothmans consolidated manufacturing for all of their pipe tobacco brands into Murray’s. That broke the blend continuity chain for Dunhill tobaccos. Different people and different tobaccos were used for the first time, but not the last, in making Dunhill tobaccos.
In 1993 Rothmans diversified their holdings into two broad categories – luxury goods and tobacco. While the luxury-good-tobacco association worked well in the 80′s (remember life style ads?) tobacco was coming under attack in the 90′s. Rothman’s spun off the luxury goods part of the company as Richemont in 1993. Dunhill pipes and the Alfred Dunhill brands went with Richemont. Dunhill tobaccos stayed with Rothmans in their core tobacco business. In 1999 BAT bought Rothman’s International and starting in 2004 improved the brand profitability by optimizing their manufacturing plants. In 2005 Whitehall Tobacco Works, Murray Sons & Co manufacturing plant was closed and sold. BAT outsourced manufacturing of all their pipe tobacco blends to Orlik in Denmark.
Blend availability is confusing when judged by what online sellers are offering. Synjeco’s in Switzerland doesn’t have some of the blends that are still available from sellers in Germany. One can’t conclude that the blends aren’t being manufactured anymore only that some aren’t sold in some regions. BAT is very selective about where they market and sell which blends. You can see this for yourself by visiting their ingredient reporting site (follow the ‘What’s in my brand’ selection on the left):
http://www.bat-ingredients.com/
Are they still Dunhill pipe tobaccos? They’re a faint copy. But BAT will continue this charade until they’re no longer profitable.
