Sulivan & Powell

[monbla256]

Having been away from pipes for many years ( the godess of that evil weed Maduro had me in her grasp till about 4 years ago) and re-organizing my "cellar" Friday, I found among my old tins of 759 another gold/black tin which was one of Sullivan & Powell's Gentlemans Mixture. I recall it as being a VERY GOOD, better than my beloved 965 or 759 English mixture from then. It was more expensive than either of the other two, this tin has a price sticker of $9.75/ 50g tin and my 965 was $6.98/50g tin. I didn't buy much back then because of the price but usually had a tin around for it's wonderfull, smooth, rich combinations of Orientals, Virginias and what tasted like Latakia, though they never said it had Latakia in it.
I went online to see how much it cost now and have found out it's no longer made, in fact there is no more Sullivan & Powell ! So I opened it up Friday night ( I bought it with the other tins back in 1982) and folks, I smoked the BEST bowl of tobacco I have EVER smoked !! It was so full, rich with the wonderfull sweetness of aged virginias in the background and the full, smoky, spice of the Orientals just dancing through and the aroma was one of HEAVEN ( most wives would hate it I'm sure )!!! I've had two more bowls since that one and it's STILL the same !! Again, it was good back in '82, it's absolutely devine now !! If Mr. Pease or McC could replicate THIS blend I would NEVER have to buy any other tobacco than THIS!!
Have any of you old farts out there smoked it? I've never seen it refered to here, by anyone. Mr. Pease, are you listening?

 

[laherb]

I know I'm not an old fart. But I have an old tin of Sullivans Original, it has been opened and the contents are dry but I'm going to rehydrate it and give it a try. It smells wonderful. That was the first time I heard of Sullivans and I can't find any info online about the company. But hopefully mine will be very tasty also. Well I know this doesn't answer your question, but I'm interested in this brand that I will most likely never see again.

ABe

 

[chris]

The Sullivan Powell shop was in Burlington Arcade off Piccadilly in London.

It was an amazing little shop but has sadly been gone for many, many years. They produced fantastic Oriental and Turkish cigarettes, some of them with an oval shape, and the most amazing nutty flavour from the Oriental tobacco. Back in the 1970s they were sold in most up market tobacconists and so were easily available.

Sullivan Powell also had a connection with Sobranie - I don't know if that included the famous pipe tobacco - but Sobranie Imperial Russian cigarettes were hand produced by two ladies upstairs in that Sullivan Powell shop. Unfortunately I only discovered that fact when I visited the shop a few weeks after the ladies had retired so I never got a chance to see them in action or thank them for their cigarettes.

As I said the shop is long gone as have so many of the London tobacconists - a great pity.

Chris

 

[laherb]

Chris, thanks for the info.

Abe

 

[glpease]

Having been away from pipes for many years ( the godess of that evil weed Maduro had me in her grasp till about 4 years ago) and re-organizing my "cellar" Friday, I found among my old tins of 759 another gold/black tin which was one of Sullivan & Powell's Gentlemans Mixture. I recall it as being a VERY GOOD, better than my beloved 965 or 759 English mixture from then. It was more expensive than either of the other two, this tin has a price sticker of $9.75/ 50g tin and my 965 was $6.98/50g tin. I didn't buy much back then because of the price but usually had a tin around for it's wonderfull, smooth, rich combinations of Orientals, Virginias and what tasted like Latakia, though they never said it had Latakia in it.
I went online to see how much it cost now and have found out it's no longer made, in fact there is no more Sullivan & Powell ! So I opened it up Friday night ( I bought it with the other tins back in 1982) and folks, I smoked the BEST bowl of tobacco I have EVER smoked !! It was so full, rich with the wonderfull sweetness of aged virginias in the background and the full, smoky, spice of the Orientals just dancing through and the aroma was one of HEAVEN ( most wives would hate it I'm sure )!!! I've had two more bowls since that one and it's STILL the same !! Again, it was good back in '82, it's absolutely devine now !! If Mr. Pease or McC could replicate THIS blend I would NEVER have to buy any other tobacco than THIS!!
Have any of you old farts out there smoked it? I've never seen it refered to here, by anyone. Mr. Pease, are you listening?

The Sullivan Powell blends were produced by Sobranie House, who actually owned the brand and the store in Burlington Arcade. After Sobranie, Gallaher continued with the Sullivan Powell blends, as well as the Sobranie blends. for several years. Gentleman's Mixture was always one of my favoured ones.

Of course, recreating old tobaccos is well nigh impossible, as after all these years of age, there's been a lot of magic happening in that tin. I think you might find some similarities in my Ashbury. It's not the same, but reminds me a little of GM when it was young. Just a thought.

 

[monbla256]

The Sullivan Powell blends were produced by Sobranie House, who actually owned the brand and the store in Burlington Arcade. After Sobranie, Gallaher continued with the Sullivan Powell blends, as well as the Sobranie blends. for several years. Gentleman's Mixture was always one of my favoured ones.

Of course, recreating old tobaccos is well nigh impossible, as after all these years of age, there's been a lot of magic happening in that tin. I think you might find some similarities in my Ashbury. It's not the same, but reminds me a little of GM when it was young. Just a thought.

Greg,
Thanks for the reply and info on Sullivan & Powell. I find your comment about recreating old blends considering all the recent "....Throwdown" contests at the pipe shows these days and the fact that folks claim they DID it !! I can understand all the chemical changes that take place with an organic substance such as a tobacco blend in a given space and time from what was originally produced. As I've found out with this one, and some others I have, time definately can be an asset in this way I'll just have to enjoy what I have and be thankfull that I have been able to experience it and let it go when it's gone I am surprised that there are not more of BoB's here who have smoked this old classic. Any body here who smoked a pipe back in the late '60s/early '70s :shock:

 

[glpease]

The Sullivan Powell blends were produced by Sobranie House, who actually owned the brand and the store in Burlington Arcade. After Sobranie, Gallaher continued with the Sullivan Powell blends, as well as the Sobranie blends. for several years. Gentleman's Mixture was always one of my favoured ones.

Of course, recreating old tobaccos is well nigh impossible, as after all these years of age, there's been a lot of magic happening in that tin. I think you might find some similarities in my Ashbury. It's not the same, but reminds me a little of GM when it was young. Just a thought.

Greg,
Thanks for the reply and info on Sullivan & Powell. I find your comment about recreating old blends considering all the recent "....Throwdown" contests at the pipe shows these days and the fact that folks claim they DID it !! I can understand all the chemical changes that take place with an organic substance such as a tobacco blend in a given space and time from what was originally produced. As I've found out with this one, and some others I have, time definately can be an asset in this way I'll just have to enjoy what I have and be thankfull that I have been able to experience it and let it go when it's gone I am surprised that there are not more of BoB's here who have smoked this old classic. Any body here who smoked a pipe back in the late '60s/early '70s :shock:

If you think of the fermentations that are going on in the tobacco, plus the various oxidation reactions that may occur, combined with the unknowns of how the tobacco has been stored over several decades, how the original tobacco was conditioned, and so on, it's actually amazing that two tins of the same ancient formula are even remotely alike. Perhaps that's a bit hyperbolic, but it's consistent with my experience, and with that of other tobacco collectors.

Consider two bottles of wine, produced from the same barrel, and stored under different conditions for a decade. These two bottles may not even be recognizable as the same wine if the conditions are different enough. Tobacco won't exhibit quite as much variation, since part of the aging of a wine depends on the gas exchange through the cork, whilst tobacco is (hopefully) in a perfectly sealed environment, but such things as hot/cold cycles can still play a significant role in what happens over the years.

I've been smoking Garfinkel's Orient Express #11 for about 30 years. The stuff was made by Sobranie House in the 1970s, prior to their sale to Gallaher's, so even when I started smoking and stockpiling it, it had been quite well aged. Over the years, I've had the luxurious opportunity to experience it's continued, though much slowed evolution, and I have to say that the stuff is still absolutely sublime, in my mind, the finest thing Sobranie ever produced. What's sometimes surprising is just how different two tins can be, and this difference can only be based on the batch or from early storage conditions, since all of what I have has been stored in the same environment from the time I got it. It's not so extreme that I'd think of two "different" tins to be different blends, but it's surprising how much variation there can be. My friend Fred has mentioned something similar with his favored Marcovitch Black and White; one tin will be good, another, fantastic.

In the past, I've created blends that are impressions of old, well aged tobaccos, and they've achieved that in varying degrees of success. Of course, what happens to them years down the road is a very different experiment. Blackpoint, for instance, was a reflection on an early tin of Sobranie 759, which a friend had just opened. (I told a little more of the story in the April 'Ask G.L. Pease' column.) Today, 'tain't nearly the same thing anymore, because of where each tobacco is on its evolutionary scale...

I've rattled on enough, here. There were a lot of great tobaccos around during the 70s that many of us didn't get an opportunity to enjoy in their youth, as we weren't pipe smokers, yet. (I started in 1980, maybe late 1979.) Every sample of GM I've had has been well aged, and I've got tins in the cellar from both Sobranie and Gallaher production. It was great stuff, for sure, especially when created under Sobranie's roof.

 

[monbla256]

.... and I've got tins in the cellar from both Sobranie and Gallaher production. It was great stuff, for sure, especially when created under Sobranie's roof.

Oh you FORTUNATE man!! I'll have to make do with my single tin and when it's gone, 'twill be the memories But there are some GOOD 'bacs out there these days, just not as many that are as NUANCED IMHO. Much more in your face and flavor forward than what I recall and favored several years ago. Styles and tastes change and folks who make products have to sell to the market that is there