A Curious Consequence of FDA Tobacco Product Requirements

[deluxestogie]

Since 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required that manufacturers of tobacco products submit a detailed composition list of each distinct tobacco product, say Pipe Blend A and Pipe Blend B. The submission process requires that the registrant provide the information at least 90 days in advance of introducing a new product, say Pipe Blend C.

Twenty years ago, I used to order custom blends from Craig Tarler, who owned Cornell & Diehl (C&D). None of their non-aromatic blends at that time contained any noticeable quantities of humectants (e.g. propylene glycol). In fact, their website provided instructions on how to properly re-moisten their tobacco, if it became too dry. Since those days, a marketeering conglomerate purchased the business, along with rights to all their many, many pipe blends. Today, I find that even my favorite blends from the good old days are adulterated with humectants that burn my palate when I smoke them.

The thought occurred to me the other day that perhaps I could request a special, multi-pound batch of Plantation Evening (my favorite of all their blends) that contained nothing but tobacco—no humectants and preservatives. After a frustratingly slow "conversation" with a tech support person on the "chat" line of their website, all I learned was a short list of additives included in their FDA submission. I could only assume that the answer to my one and only question was, "No!"

This evening, I re-read the 23-page FDA guidance on ingredients submissions for pipe tobacco.* The FDA requirements mean that today's C&D cannot legally sell me a pipe blend without the chemical additives, unless they go to the time ($$$) and expense ($$$) of submitting yet another ingredients application 90 days in advance of the sale.

*https://www.fda.gov/files/tobacco p...ngredients-in-Tobacco-Products-(_Revised).pdf

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I... I... I think I'm having deja vu.

 

[Knucklehead]

I... I... I think I'm having deja vu.

They changed the Matrix. Was it the same black cat?

 

[deluxestogie]

If you regard tobacco manufacturers as essentially evil and deceptive, rather than following the very same production and marketing practices as manufacturers of fashion clothing, packaged foods or children's toys, then the FDA intentions are good. But I do seem to recall at least scores of product recalls (ex post facto prevention) of those latter products this year, for every one tobacco related recall. Infant seats that kill. Treadmills that kill. Foods that kill. Driver's side air bags that kill. Cars that explode while parked in the garage. Electrical power lines that trigger massive, lethal wildfires.

Categorical perception modifies our estimation of intent.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I think my deja vu came from this post:

Post in thread 'Pure Tobacco Pipe Blends You Can Make' https://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/pure-tobacco-pipe-blends-you-can-make.3926/post-132665

 

[deluxestogie]

Wow! That was a half-decade ago. You have a good memory. That was around the time frame when I discovered that all of my other beloved, commercial pipe tobaccos of yesteryear (Rattray's, Dunhill, etc.) had become unsmokable. Red Rapparee, Black Malory, Highland Targe, Nightcap, Early Morning Pipe. All altered to improve shelf-life and reduce microbial growth, while remaining invitingly squishy to the unsuspecting smoker. C&D stood alone. For decades, I had seldom encountered a gooey pipe with non-combustible sludge collecting in the bottom of the bowl. Now, the only path to a happy bowl of pipe tobacco is to blend my own.

Last spring, smokingpipes.com put a number of its less common pipe tobacco brands on sale. Having never tried them, I purchased 2 different non-aromatic blends of Kramer's, and 3 different blends of Hogarth & Gawith. One of the latter was so vile that I passed it on to my son as a joke. (Coal miners in England used to chew it in the late 19th century. It probably tasted better to them than the coal dust. To me, it smelled like industrial lubricant, and made my pipe stink for months afterwards.) Most of each of the other purchases are still sitting in their bags, having been sampled only once—and that initial tasting only after having left their bags open to dry for days ahead of the first try. I truly cannot understand how this stuff continues to sell, although the thread started by Hogarth & Gawith suggests that it may not.

Bob

 

[Hazen]

Since 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required that manufacturers of tobacco products submit a detailed composition list of each distinct tobacco product, say Pipe Blend A and Pipe Blend B. The submission process requires that the registrant provide the information at least 90 days in advance of introducing a new product, say Pipe Blend C.

Twenty years ago, I used to order custom blends from Craig Tarler, who owned Cornell & Diehl (C&D). None of their non-aromatic blends at that time contained any noticeable quantities of humectants (e.g. propylene glycol). In fact, their website provided instructions on how to properly re-moisten their tobacco, if it became too dry. Since those days, a marketeering conglomerate purchased the business, along with rights to all their many, many pipe blends. Today, I find that even my favorite blends from the good old days are adulterated with humectants that burn my palate when I smoke them.

The thought occurred to me the other day that perhaps I could request a special, multi-pound batch of Plantation Evening (my favorite of all their blends) that contained nothing but tobacco—no humectants and preservatives. After a frustratingly slow "conversation" with a tech support person on the "chat" line of their website, all I learned was a short list of additives included in their FDA submission. I could only assume that the answer to my one and only question was, "No!"

This evening, I re-read the 23-page FDA guidance on ingredients submissions for pipe tobacco.* The FDA requirements mean that today's C&D cannot legally sell me a pipe blend without the chemical additives, unless they go to the time ($$$) and expense ($$$) of submitting yet another ingredients application 90 days in advance of the sale.

*https://www.fda.gov/files/tobacco products/published/Listing-of-Ingredients-in-Tobacco-Products-(_Revised).pdf

Bob

Yup it’s a sad world we’re living in. We grow blueberries in Maine, I make sure to get mine out of the field . Because everything that goes through the freezer is “washed” per usda regulation. It used to be a chlorine solution but now they have switched to a hydrogen peroxide. It’s the same for all our food from organic vegetables to prime steak. Absolutely ridiculous

 

[gawithhoggarth]

Wow! That was a half-decade ago. You have a good memory. That was around the time frame when I discovered that all of my other beloved, commercial pipe tobaccos of yesteryear (Rattray's, Dunhill, etc.) had become unsmokable. Red Rapparee, Black Malory, Highland Targe, Nightcap, Early Morning Pipe. All altered to improve shelf-life and reduce microbial growth, while remaining invitingly squishy to the unsuspecting smoker. C&D stood alone. For decades, I had seldom encountered a gooey pipe with non-combustible sludge collecting in the bottom of the bowl. Now, the only path to a happy bowl of pipe tobacco is to blend my own.

Last spring, smokingpipes.com put a number of its less common pipe tobacco brands on sale. Having never tried them, I purchased 2 different non-aromatic blends of Kramer's, and 3 different blends of Hogarth & Gawith. One of the latter was so vile that I passed it on to my son as a joke. (Coal miners in England used to chew it in the late 19th century. It probably tasted better to them than the coal dust. To me, it smelled like industrial lubricant, and made my pipe stink for months afterwards.) Most of each of the other purchases are still sitting in their bags, having been sampled only once—and that initial tasting only after having left their bags open to dry for days ahead of the first try. I truly cannot understand how this stuff continues to sell, although the thread started by Hogarth & Gawith suggests that it may not.

Bob

It's Gawith and Hoggarth and sells very well and has done for 200+ years!
We cannot keep up with demand for twist tobacco, mostly to the states but also tin UK and Europe.

 

[loui loui]

Is it really propylene glycol in pipe tobacco?
When I vaped I sometimes burned the liquid (propylene glycol) by mistake and it tasted horrible, like burned plastic. I can't believe they have propylene glycol in the tobacco.

 

[Chumco]

PG is used in a lot of the cheaper OTC type of blends, I think, but I am not sure that is is in the "better" stuff. It certainly doesn't keep them from drying out unlike something like Carter Hall or Prince Albert which I have left in an open pouch for around a year and it is perfectly smokeable and not crispy.

One of the latter was so vile that I passed it on to my son as a joke. (Coal miners in England used to chew it in the late 19th century. It probably tasted better to them than the coal dust. To me, it smelled like industrial lubricant, and made my pipe stink for months afterwards.)

I am interested in what you tried, though if I were to guess by your description it might have been their black rope which is cooked in olive oil and tastes like the char you scrape off of a grill's grate (in a good way (to some)). I'll post a link below to a video on how they are or at least used to be made. Either way, Gawith & Hoggarth is my favourite brand and I love pretty much every flake of theirs I've tried, including the divisive lakeland ones.

After this year's grow I was going to ask if anyone here knew what kind of leaf they used since thir blends taste like a different kind of leaf from anything else, but that is a thread for a different time.

This video is about their ropes and snuff:

 

[deluxestogie]

Bob

EDIT: none of these is pure tobacco
EDIT2: I'm not sure why the GawithHoggarth lady chose to resurrect this forgotten thread.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I'm not worried about PG. You can buy it at the baking store. It's in all kinds of food, etc. I just don't like what it does to tobacco. I think a way to understand is to take whole leaf and smoke it with and without. I am willing to bet most everyone would taste test and choose the without. Maybe I'm wrong. I think glycerin actually has something to offer at times and I think the taste test in that case would have more mixed results. Regardless, I take umbrage with these particular regulations--I just want the freedom to choose--and buying and growing whole leaf are my best options. No judgement to Gawith, I would rather smoke their stuff than almost anything else. Props to Germain as well. And it's not their fault, but that's vacation tobacco when I feel like spending tons of money. That's not daily smoking, at least for a Canadian.

 

[JOE1977]

I luv G&H along with SG. I have always felt that C&D used very little humectant in their stuff compared to others.
I'm not super sensitive to it, but prefer it not to be there and be as pure as can be.

 

[deluxestogie]

Twenty years ago, C&D tinned tobacco blends would dry out, once you opened the tin. Their website advised customers to simply flick a few drops of water off their fingertips, into the can, when needed. Once Craig Tarler's personal business (C&D) was sold to a corporate investor, humectants began to appear in all their products. Craig, before his death, actually told me the exact recipes of a number of the C&D blends, while assisting me in preparing my very first, personal blend (Pearl of Shibam). Duplicating those old C&D blends with whole leaf ends up being the same blends. Purchasing those blends now from C&D, the "same" blends are squishy with humectants—and not inviting.

I will admit that most consumers expect perpetually squishy.

Bob

 

[Chumco]

Eh, I don't know about those last two blends. I've had DVC and I can't stand cavendish from anybody, so that was a bust for me.

And, yup, black twist is the sliced version of their black rope. I believe the guy who worked in the cigar shop where I used to live said he fired some up while working one day and the people upstairs came down because they thought the carpet had caught fire.

Talking about black rope makes me want to try it again.

 

[deluxestogie]

I can't stand cavendish from anybody

Once you cook your own Cavendish from whole leaf, no chemicals, you will change your mind. Every variety is a new delight.

Bob

 

[AceFour]

I am a fan of DVC and many G&H blends. May attempt at making my own ropes this year.

Personally gut feeling on C&D is uses a lot of PG after the moldy tin controversy years ago and agree something has changed since the change of hands with the blends. Not sure if is PG usage or other factors. I have no insight.

FDA has mishandled information and regs and reach ever since they claimed all tobacco products. They didn't have clue what they were saying and sending agents to observe how a pipe was made and what materials used at a highly respected artisan pipe maker pretty much proves it.