Thank you for your response Jim. I know you're a busy man with your art work. I was a huge Middleton fan too. I was a teen in the middle and late 80s and used to love the aromas from the pouches and box's of pipe tobaccos. I would buy a few different blends and a corn cob pipe from the corner store and my buddy and I would head to the woods and smoke our pipes lol. Of course cigarettes finally took the place. But when I quit cigarettes and got into pipe smoking seriously it seems like there was more of a selection of "Codger" blends. I loved Middleton Apple, Berry Wine, and Kentucky Club Mild. Sugar Barrel was another I really liked. When I started to like the burley blends more Edgeworth had just been discontinued so there wasn't too many tubs and pouches around anymore. I started to move on from the classic American blends, especially the ones made by Lane. Jim, I used to LOVE Sir Walter Raleigh regular and when they moved to Denmark Scandinavian Tobacco Co ruined those blends. A friend gave me a 7oz tub of each blend. Velvet, Half and Half, Paladin, Sir Walter Raleigh regular, and Granger. They all have the same cut now, they all look like the same tobacco. The flavoring is nothing like the ones made in Tucker, GA. I stocked up on all those blends before they shut that plant down. Pipesandcigars had a huge sale back in 2020 I believe and I made a few big purchases. I moved on though to stronger blends.
The only Denmark versions that I have tried are Carter Hall and Prince Albert, and they were changed, too.
The importance of OTCs has greatly reduced because there are fewer pipe smokers than there used to be, and the number of places that used to carry them have shrunk to the lowest level possible. If people don't see pipe tobacco, they won't know that it exists.
Here's a list of what I remember about OTC prices from past days:
Drugstores and grocery stores the summer of 1974 when I started smoking: pouches of ERR was 25 cents, SWR was 25 cents, SWRA was 30 cents, Revelation was 30 cents, Madeira Gold was 24 cents, all Borkum Riff products were 30 cents, Mixture #79 was 40 cents, Rum and Maple was 35 cents, Middleton Apple and Cherry were 25 cents each, Amphora Red and Brown were 30 cents each, Carter Hall was 30 cents, Prince Albert was 25 cents, Skandinavik Regular and Aromatic were 35 cents a pack, Sail Green and Yellow were 32 cents a pouch, Granger was 22 cents, Flying Dutchman was 35 cents, Paladin was 28 cents, Sugar Barrel was 28 cents, Half & Half was 24 cents, Captain Black White was 35 cents. There were more than half a dozen aromatics made by Douwe Egberts at 35 cents each.
In 1975, I remember seeing a brand called Acapulco Gold. It was 35 cents, but I did not buy it. I saw it in a grocery store, and it wasn't sold there for long. I remember wondering about it, considering the name was used for an illegal substance. Does anybody else remember this tobacco?
1978: Middleton Cherry was 35 cents, Middleton Apple was 40 cents, Carter Hall was 35 cents, SWR was 35 cents, SWRA was 40 cents, 50 cents each for Skandinavik Regular and Aromatic, 60 cents for Amphora Brown and Amphora Red, Mixture #79 was 75 cents, Captain Black White was 70 cents. Borkum Riff products were 65 cents a pouch. I also noticed that the number of blends had decreased by this time at the stores.
1982 at my local Tinderbox for 50 gram tins: Three Nuns was $4, all Balkan Sobranie products were $4.50 each, Dunhill products were $4.00 each. MacBaren tins were $3.50.
1995 when I started smoking SWRA: $12 a tub. SWR was $9.95, Captain Black White was $18.95. Three Nuns in 50 gram tins was $5.00, $8.50 for 100 gram tins when you could find it. Balkan Sobranie White was $5.25 for 50 grams, $15.75 for 200 grams.
2001 in Switzerland: Three Nuns 50 gram tins was $6.45 each, Dunhill Navy Rolls was $7.50, Balkan Sobranie White was $6.50.
