Some British Tobaccos from the Rare Old Days (by Falconeer) Introduction When I was a new young pipe smoker in the mid 1960s there was an incredible choice of tobaccos available from most newsagent/tobacconists. Additionally if one headed to a “real” tobacconists such as Finlay's or House of Bewley's there were many many more varieties to choose from, not to mention the Private Blends these outlets would stock or make up for regular customers. Obviously as one individual my experience is limited as I have never attempted to work my way through the whole gamut, but I have smoked all the tobaccos I list and offer some comments thereon. To put these comments in context I will start this article with an overview of Scottish/British Society and its mores at the time I came onto the pipe smoking scene, as the world has changed beyond recognition since those “Rare Ould Days” and many of the concepts I took as the absolute norm at the time will mean little to younger readers or students. 1950s and 1960s Scotland – Part 1 It is truly said that “The Past is a different country and they do things differently there.” I was a boy in the 1950s and a teenager in the 1960s when the world really was a very different place both in the physical sense and in the sense of its cultural norms. And these cultural norms were mainly governed by a complex series of unwritten rules, which somehow could be recognised understood and followed. In films the 1950s are presented as a grim time beset with shortages; society then is always described by historical revisionists now as rigidly stratified, authoritarian class conscious, oppressive towards all minorities including women and a fairly austere place. It is always now said to be a time of “grim Satanic Mills” where working men were kept in their place, forced to endure terrible conditions, routinely exploited and cast off when no longer required. Films portraying the period always show the time in grainy black and white only turning to colour somewhere around 1967 when the “Brave New World” supposedly began to come into existence. Actually it wasn't quite like that any more than “The Brave New World” which replaced it is now Utopia. There indeed was rationing of food and many commodities until the early 1950s; we lived in world which ran on coal and the evidence of this was all around in our cities – until it's buildings were sandblasted in the middle 1970s for example I thought my native Edinburgh was built from black sandstone when in fact it was golden. Our houses were more basic – double glazing central heating, fitted kitchens, fitted carpets, washing machines fridges and freezers were unknown to us. The living room in any house would be the only room to have a fire; in the country cooking and baking was usually done over a Raeburn range running on a mixture of coal, coke and logs while in the town piped coal gas was the norm. Women were expected to give up work ( even career jobs ) on marriage and become full time “housewives” concentrating on bringing up children, cooking cleaning shopping washing ironing and generally caring for their families full time. In the streets there were a lot of uniforms to be seen – beat policemen, electricity and gas meter readers ( who walked about carrying a leather bag full of money taken from these meters, all day without fear of being robbed ) Council Rent Collectors, National Servicemen on leave, Regular Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen, Prison Officers going to and from work and indeed American Servicemen posted to bases in Britain. As children we contributed to the uniformed look – even children attending local authority schools routinely wore school uniform – being keen to join the Cubs, Boy Scouts, Lifeboys or Boys' Brigade at the earliest possible age. For a kid growing up, this was a safe environment where we could be turned loose to play outdoors all day, wander as we chose building “gang huts” and dens in woods, by rivers and in old bomb shelters. Both in town and country we wandered for miles unsupervised for crime genuinely was low and any adult with the name of being “funny” was watched by neighbours. The supermarket had yet to be invented, shopping was done in local shops where assistants served the shopper from behind a counter, weighed and wrapped the purchases in brown paper or bagged up biscuits, loose tea, sugar etc. 1950s and 1960s Scotland Part 2 Society was more class conscious then than it is now; the way a person spoke, behaved and dressed and the job he held defined his or her class in a thousand subtle ways; sociologists however make the mistake of thinking that there was little social mobility in this era or deliberately misread the facts. The latest studies produced at the beginning of 2010 in fact now suggest that at this time there was in fact a much greater degree of social mobility than exists now. People who had survived the war found themselves in a ( albeit slowly initially until the late 50s when an ordinary working man found himself able to purchase a brand new car ) growing economy where unemployment was low, education to university level was free and opportunities for promotion actually abounded. Any man born into the lower working classes in the 1910s and 1920s, by working hard, getting vocational or army qualifications who really wanted to could progress to at least middle and possibly upper middle class status, and a management job. As people had aspirations and a 'respect' ethic it was seen as perfectly normal/ admirable even to wish to better oneself. In Auld Scots, Scotland was a “douce and perjink” sort of place – nowadays it would be described as having been a “buttoned up society.” People by and large did not draw attention to themselves if they could help it and “gettin' yersel' talked aboot” was a fate to be avoided. In Scotland, the mark of a Gentleman was the knowledge of how to behave properly and to know what was appropriate whatever the circumstances; and here the “unwritten rules” came in. Self display, conspicuous consumption, flashy clothes, vulgar jewellery, excessively bright clothing, too loud speech and a myriad of other small things showed that the person was “common.” Reading the right newspapers, attending the right church and voting conservative secretly on the other hand were marks that the person had “made it.” It was too of course a smoking world – both sexes smoked and smoking was permitted just about everywhere. For example in the large department stores in the major cities on each sales floor there was an area with leather armchairs and sofas with pedestal ashtrays for men to sit and smoke (appropriate tobaccos or cigarettes of course) while their wives shopped. My mother used to even recall how when she was in hospital for a breast cancer operation that the Consultant would come round with his “firm” on his rounds, pause at the bedside of an interesting or unusual case, select a cigarette from his gold cigarette case and light it up prior to lecturing his students on the case. At times he would offer the patient a cigarette. Class applied to smoking as it did to everything else. Wills' “Woodbines” small size plain strong cigarettes, often known as “gaspers” were the working man's choice of smoke as was the “Stonehaven” cutty pipe, as a “nose warmer” was called in Scotland, filled with strong usually plug tobacco. Oddly enough “Capstan” cigarettes, both medium and full strength were seen as a working class smoke, whereas Senior Service and Players were not – those unwritten rules again. The “Cutty Pipe” really reigned supreme amongst working men until the late 1960s when the first “classless” pipe – The Falcon – became widely available. Prior to that, middle class and professional men who wore suits to work often proclaimed their respectability with a standard size, always straight never bent, billiard or apple shaped pipe in their outside breast pockets – usually again oddly enough with a heavily oxidised green or brown stem on show. Bent pipes were seen as a sign of affectation and were only really smoked by students, artists and theatrical people – it would be the 1970s before I saw one being smoked in the street by an ordinary man. Most men of all classes would only then own one pipe for everyday use and possibly one “good” one for Sundays or special occasions. Many pipe smokers did not only smoke pipes ( in fact few smoked them exclusively ) as knowing what was appropriate to smoke when and where was considered important. The middle classes tended to place their womenfolk more on a pedestal and only milder tobaccos were considered appropriate to smoke in “mixed company.” In saloon bars however women were not permitted at that time and any tobacco could be chewed or smoked therein. “Empire Blends” and the British Empire When I was born much of the world was still coloured pink in atlases and on maps and of course pink was the colour used to denote the British Empire and Colonial Possessions. India had been given away just after the Second World War but the process of returning the Empire to its indigenous peoples would not be completed until the end of the 1960s. Though the Empire was coming to the end of its 300 year existence, it still featured much in the day to day lives of the British People – many many Britons had emigrated to the colonies, and many many more had served in far flung parts of the Empire in the Colonial Police Forces, regiments and Civil Service. The empire was structured to channel wealth and products back to the Mother Country; imports from the Colonies were lightly taxed under the “Empire Preference Scheme,” and products from the colonies were also sold more cheaply to the public than those imported from elsewhere. Tea, wool, coffee, beef, hardwoods and tobacco were but some of the products encompassed by this scheme. Most tobaccos available on sale for ordinary pipe smokers offered an “Empire Blend” variant – using mainly Rhodesian tobacco instead of American Virginia. Such tobaccos were usually slightly harsher and the cardboard packets were not overwrapped with cellophane, as were the mainstream products. Most British Tobaccos were coyly described as a “Blend of Virginia and other Fine Tobaccos,” were marked “sold subject to evaporation” and offered in a very moist form – probably to enhance the manufacturers profits, water being cheaper than tobacco leaf. Concluding Remarks Obviously in the space available I can give no more than an outline of the those times, which really continued pretty much unchanged in Scotland until the mid 1970s, but I hope this helps place any comments I offer on tobaccos listed below in context. Finally it should be noted that the British Tobacco market was dominated totally by Imperial Tobacco. I use the trade names associated with the tobaccos I list – but “badge engineering” was routinely practised by Imperial and some tobaccos were at different times allocated to a different firm, for example when I bought it “Rich Dark Honeydew” was being put out under the Gallagher label but prior to this it appeared under other manufacturers’ banners. John Player Tobaccos Medium, Gold Leaf, Tawny, No Name, Whiskey Flake, Whiskey Ready Rubbed, Airman Mixture ( a light Balkan/Oriental colour mixture which would disappear by the mid 1960s.) The above were mild/medium strength fairly bland blends suitable for smoking in “mixed company.” The only new Player's blend to be launched in the period under discussion was Sherwood Flake, which came out in the mid 1960s but disappeared by the early 1980s. Sherwood had a much more pronounced room note, making it more suitable for smoking outdoors or in masculine company at work or in a saloon bar. W.D. & H.O. Wills Tobaccos Capstan and Cut Golden Bar were Wills main brands – again mild/medium strength bland blends suitable for smoking in “mixed company.” Bulwark was a much more robust offering aimed more at working men, suitable for outdoor smoking or in a saloon bar. Bell's/ Mitchell's 3 Nuns, 3 Nuns Empire Blend – mild/medium Virginia and Perique blend, fairly bland, suitable for smoking in “mixed company” Ogden's of Liverpool St. Bruno Flake, St. Bruno Ready Rubbed, St Bruno Empire Flake – classic British tobaccos of medium strength and mild room note – acceptable just about anywhere though the Empire variety was a few pence cheaper and slightly more pungent. St. Julien Mixture – a light ribbon cut tobacco advertised a suitable for either smoking in a pipe or as RYO cigarettes – always an aroma like wet socks. Aintree Flake, Aintree Mixture – another long running British Classic with a more pronounced nose than St Bruno and a somewhat sharper taste in its flake form, the mixture was milder and acceptable just about everywhere. Gold Block – mixture of Virginia and Burley, mild with subtle nutty aroma. In its original form the cut was Negrohead. Acceptable anywhere at any time. Walnut Bar, Walnut Flake – a strong tobacco with a powerful nose – definitely one for the outdoors or the saloon bar. Rich Dark Honeydew ( later put out under the Gallagher label ) - a medium strength dark tobacco with just a hint of black chocolate to its taste. Probably best outdoors or in masculine company. Tam O' Shanter – a strong tobacco for the outdoors or in the saloon bar. Old Gold – a mild to medium blend with a taste like licking pennies! Inoffensive, mildish tobacco acceptable everywhere. Briar Rose – another mild/medium fairly bland tobacco, but acceptable everywhere. Amphora – offered in a plain and an aromatic version; mild to medium in strength with a subtle aroma to the aromatic making both acceptable in any company. Digger Flake, Digger Shag – medium to strong tobaccos for outdoors or in the saloon bar. Murray's Erinmore Flake – medium strength British classic with quite a pronounced nose. Just about acceptable in mixed company but not ideal. Erinmore Mixture – though the same name a very very different tobacco from the flake – mixture was a colour mixture with a tendency to smoke hot and on the thin side, but with little by way of room note - acceptable everywhere. Gallagher Condor Sliced (until the mid 1960s) then Long Cut, Condor Ready Rubbed, Condor Bar, Condor Twist (actually a chewing tobacco, but often smoked as well) – the Condor family of tobaccos was definitely for the working man on the shop floor, the outdoors or in the saloon bar; strongly flavoured and with a strong room note! Talisman came out in the 1970s but was withdrawn when Condor Light was introduced around the 1980s and was basically similar to Condor original but not so strong. Rich Dark Honeydew – see entry under Ogden's of Liverpool. Four Square ( Churchman's ???) Offered a range of tobaccos similar to those put out by Players and none would have been out of place in “mixed company.” John Cotton As with Four Square above Sobranie Always regarded as a more upmarket label than almost any other, with the exception possibly of Dunhill – Sobranie’s blends included Sobranie Balkan, Virginia No 10, Virginia Flake and one other who's number escapes my memory but it came in a black tin with gold lettering and artwork – possibly Sobranie 659? All Sobranie tobaccos would have been acceptable in most companies. Alternatives to Sobranie Balkans were, Baby's Bottom, Barney's Punchbowle, Rubicon, Parson's Pleasure and Presbyterian Mixture. John Sinclair John Sinclair Flake was effectively a superior version of St Bruno Flake and was acceptable just about everywhere. Cope's Cope's Escudo was billed as 100% pure tobacco with no additives. A bland tasting medium Virginia in the style of Players Medium but some pipe smokers found it produced a dry mouth and left an aspirin like after-taste. Could be smoked anywhere without causing offence. House of Craven Offered Craven Mixture and Craven Aromatic, both mild to medium Virginia type blends. The aromatic was subtle and similar to Amphora. Both could be smoked anywhere. Benson and Hedges This old established label famous until then for its cigarettes and cigars began offering Mellow Virginia Flake, Mellow Virginia Ready Rubbed, Rich Virginia Flake and Rich Virginia Ready Rubbed in the early 1970s. These were essentially sweet Virginias with a honeyed taste and nose; the “Rich” offered a slightly fuller flavour and strength. B&H's tobaccos were acceptable in all companies. Sadly the “Rich” option was dropped in the 1980s. Co-operative Society Tobaccos Revor Plug – a strongly flavoured strong tobacco with a pronounced room note. Smoked by working men mainly – suitable for outdoors, factory floors and saloon bars. Mahogany – the co-op's version of St Bruno but as the room note was more pronounced and not to everyone's taste some discretion could be required by anyone choosing this tobacco as to where to smoke it. Centurion Mix – a medium strength tobacco, fairly unremarkable in most aspects. Could have been smoked in most contexts but limited appeal, as it was an “own brand.” Plug Tobaccos not already mentioned Warlock, Warhorse, Bulwark – all fairly strong tobaccos and definitely for the outdoors or the saloon bar. Other Once -common Brands I have had to include this classification, as I simply cannot remember who made these tobaccos! Exmoor Hunt – a medium strength mixture, on the dark side similar to Rich Dark Honeydew but with a sharper taste. A very middle class English tobacco. Highland Sliced -”The size of a Threepenny, the strength of a Handshake” said the advert. A very strong handshake it would have been! Suitable for the outdoors, the factory floor and the saloon bar. Mick McQuade – again a tobacco for the outdoors, the factory or the saloon bar. Conspicuous by their absence from this list are the Dunhill tobaccos – for the simple reason that I have never tried them!