As many of you know, there was a rumor that Sutliff (acquired by MacBaren, who was acquired by STG) may shutdown it’s US factory and outsource those jobs to Europe. This would follow a trend of outsourcing like STG-Lane leaving Georgia and Middleton outsourcing to Puerto Rico, This would mean the last large pipe tobacco manufacturer in the US would be shutting down if true.
Due to these rumors myself and other custom blend retailers suddenly found our Sutliff-sourced supply chain completely sold out. I’m still currently putting out releases for supplies I’ve already purchased, but one should probably expect delays soon in our ability to restock things.
Sutliff not only manufactures tobacco in America, but is also an importer of private SKUs we need. Even Sleepy Dragon is 3% Sutliff-sourced. Without further ado, here is the list of things that might be affected.
Banana Bread
Burley Morning Pipe
Byronic Hiro (cancelled)
Chocko Leone
Dark Fired Cherry
Dr. Silence
Dread Knight
English Villain
Goblin Mixture
Hand of Gotz
Handsome Stranger
Mycroft
Myrkwood
Night Mare
Noble Aztec
Notorious
Oriental Affair
Peaty Hunt
Quarter Cask
Red Line
Samsun and Delilah
Showtime
Sleepy Dragon
Spaghetti Western
Spicy Chai
Stampede Kek (cancelled)
Study in Scarlet
Western Trilogy
Zen Garden
Even though Stampede Kek is cancelled, I have 1 year supply of this unique kake left. Version two of Stampede is great with better compressed kakes.
Currently, I have received no official communication confirming or denying these rumors. So I really have nothing to tell you other than take your pipe club to your local congressman’s office to tell them you don’t want those jobs outsourced overseas. Tobacco manufacturing in Virginia is a cultural heritage that we shouldn’t throw away lightly in the name of ruthless efficiency and plutonomy capitalism.
Cheers,
Ken