Tangiers Lucid Being Discontinued With Most Flavors Rolled Into A New Lower Nicotine Birquq Line

[cenlakoke]

I never smoked too many lucid flavors. The only time I did was when a buddy bought them and brought the over for me to try. So all in all, it doesn't bother me either way if it was discontinued or not. I did smoke the flavors that were available in the birquq line and thought they were great tho. The only thing I hope for is that this helps his availability efforts. Like some one before me said, it would be nice to stock up all at one time to save on shipping compared to putting in a small order here and another small one there just because not everyone has the flavors that I want. Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

[mattarios2]

I tried birquq once recently, didn't like it, gave it to a friend. I would much MUCH rather smoke noir. Never really cared for lucid so not a big deal for me. As for acclimation issues and people preferring lucid instead for less of those issues, for noir, I only buy flavors that rate average or above average for humidity resistance in the Tangiers flavor description sheets Eric makes. Anything that has rated below average (even sometimes average) usually gives me issues, or lets just say, more issues than I care to deal with.

 

With that said, those flavor sheets are AWESOME. Obviously, he knows what he is talking about especially since it is his tobacco, and following the humidity resistance guide has done me quite well.

[grock]

I LOVE Birquq, especially Foreplay on the Peach. As long as it isn't drastically different, and I still enjoy it, the changes wont bother me. On top of that, I tried Lucid once and wasn't really blown away by it. 

 

 

 

My opinion, Tangiers has some amazing products, and Eric and the company as whole do a fantastic job of keeping their customers happy. I'll put my faith in them once again...

[SpiritWolf]

It will be ok all Tangiers is good... lol what am I saying I know nothing of Tangiers.

[Sonthert]

Hello, my friends. Sorry to be so busy for sooo long. In a typical fashion, I shall address a number of points, not necessarily directed at any one person or directed specifically at one person, depending on the nature of the comments. 

 

1. About eleven months ago, in secret and without any forewarning, we switched Lucid from washed tobacco to low-nicotine tobacco. Nobody noticed. The nicotine content residue from the washing process is more significant than I had thought, and the lower nicotine base tobacco mimicked this well. The tobacco also retains the natural tobacco sugars which improves its flavor, in my humble opinion. That's why the price of Lucid went down. Name another brand of tobacco that lowers its wholesale price. I admit, getting the retailers to lower the retail price was slightly more daunting. 

 

2. The Birquq has been running at Noir-levels of nicotine and due to the nature of the base, it has a lower nicotine profile. The switch over may be largely unnoticed.

 

3. I have spent some time revamping all the flavors, testing them and making sure they all translate well or better. I assure you 

 

4. Lucid Cane Mint and Mimon notably have an odd flavor in Birquq. As such, Lucid will remain around for those two flavors. If other flavors are problems we may increase that list slightly. 

 

5. Lucid will continue to be available at the lounge in a limited capacity for pickup. Sorry for the trouble, Jess. 

 

6. I don't necessarily run this organization democratically. I do seek out people's opinions to temper my opinions, but I can't real give all the people all that they want. You can't please all the people all the time. If you were part of the data-collection, by way of a poll, participating in said poll does not constitute a warranty that your opinions will be reflected or acceded to. Everyone knows that anything in terms of naming, numbering, tobacco variations, flavors, samples, etc. are all done on .us. If you choose not to go there, then, a key conduit for dissemination of information regarding Tangiers is not available to you. After all, I voted for Obama the first time and Romney the second time. Thats how the shit goes, I Ching, adapt, evolve. 

 

7. I have warned a number of people that stonehenging coals was not a recommended practice. You may have to adapt as well. It may be required to expand your practices. I never have problems with coal and I never have to acclimate. 

 

8. 80+% of "acclimation problems" are actually because of the molasses base. Remove the molasses, remove the problem. The BBQ sauce smell? Molasses. The Soy sauce smell? Molasses. In a low-humidity environment, volatile smells (i.e. fruity flavors) are more pronounced. In humid conditions, more stable flavors are more pronounced (i.e. molasses)

 

9. A small group of people I know switched to Lucid for awhile and then switched back to Noir citing "Lucid is harder to acclimate than Noir." If you feel the reverse is true, you might want to examine why you feel that way. The acclimation variances in Noir are more noticeable, to be sure, 

 

10. Noir accounts for about 60% of Tangiers sales, Birquq for about 25% of sales, Lucid for about 15% of sales and F-Line for about 1% of sales. Yes, I know it totals to more than 100%. Rough estimates.

 

11. I love you too, Rani, but I thought we were going to keep our relationship a secret. I think by saying you dated a couple of Geminis, you let the cat out of the bag.

 

12. I feel like lower-nicotine Birquq is going to be a good threshold and entry-level tobacco. The flavors are crisper and fresher. Its a much better "contrast" to Noir. Lucid is a smaller, weaker twin to Noir. Birquq is its own thing. 

 

13. Testing looks good. Feeling good about what's going on with it and the flavors are largely being quite cooperative. I did note many months ago that Birquq flavors were good candidates for use in Lucid. This is the same logic, just turned backwards. 

 

14. This is a TENTATIVE list for those of you who like to skip to the end of the book to read the ending early:

Lucid

401 Apricot - Discontinued

402 Apple - May need something done to it

409 Melon - May be discontinued

410 Orange Soda-almost indistinguishable

411 Kashmir Cherry-Better in Birquq

419 Watermelon - More testing needed

431 Chocolate Cherry

432 Sour Grape - Fine

433 Cactus Fruit - good

434 Its Like that one Breakfast Cereal - Good

456 Tasty Peach - Good

465 Blue Gum Ball - Discontinued

469 Passionfruit -  Not tested yet

474 Lemon-Lime - Good

478 Horchata - Better in Birquq

482 Brambleberry - Discontinued. Duplicate of 682 Boysenberry, which will continue on

490 Peach Iced Tea - Significant improvement in Birquq

492 Mimon - Awful in Birquq. Will Remain as a Lucid base and flavor. Packages will change from the familiar orange face to the Birquq Green face. Otherwise, unchanged. 

494 Maraschino Cherry - Good

496 Cane Mint - Awful in Birquq. Worse than Mimon. Will remain as Lucid. See comments after mimon (#492, above)

499 Static Starlight - Not tested yet, but no problems are expected.

Birquq

638 Kashmir Peach - Being brought back

682 Boysenberry - Fine

700 Its Like That Other Breakfast Cereal - Good

701 Picnic Punch - Good

702 Little Purple Candy - No problems

Ok, the rest of Birquq is fine with the following exceptions

 

708 Rangoon Sunrise. Terrible name. Sells poorly, discontinued

709 Soursop Problematic flavor-wise. Discontinued. 

 

15. Unfortunately, we will also be raising prices slightly to account for surging prices in shipping and molasses markets. Additionally, the tobacco market is decimated. Lots of wet, early rain. The wholesale price of tobacco is expected to increase at least 25%, so to take all of those things into account, retailers will be seeing an increase of about $.75/250g wholesale. Expect prices to go up by a buck or $1.50/250g. The price spread between Birquq/F-Line and Noir/Lucid is being closed up slightly. So expect a slightly smaller increase in Birquq/F-Line prices. Real sorry about it. I've been putting the price increase off for five months. 

 

16.  Unfortunately, I haven't decided regarding the wisdom of keeping two flavors in Lucid and charging the lower Noir price for them. I may increase Cane Mint and Mimon prices to conform to the rest of Birquq prices. I may not. I have to test a few things out first. 

 

17. A small redesign in packaging is coming. Look for hologram stickers on packages to indicate its real Tangiers. It will be replacing the size stamps at the right side of the package. The price increase also reflects this increase in packaging costs. 

 

18. Some of the new, lower nicotine Birquq flavors require even less charcoal than the Lucid or the regular nicotine Birquq. They are running at half of the charcoal of the corresponding flavor in Noir. (Current Birquq takes about 3/4 of the charcoal of the corresponding Noir flavor).

 

19. Try Noir Strawberry (Not Cool Strawberry). Its new and really good. /shameless plug

 

20. The packaging lineup runs as follows:

 

Yellow: Noir

Orange: Burley

Green: Lucid/Birquq

Purple: F-Line and other special releases

 

21. The price of the Burley line will be at the same level as Noir.

 

22. The flavor testing of Burley will be resume once the switchover in Birquq occurs (and testing in that is complete)

 

23. New, exciting flavors are being tested. Bacon flavor is a distinct possibility. At least I think they're exciting.

 

24. Still working on Blueberry and Mango.  :sign0001: 

25. Still love you all, still working seven days a week, 365 days a year to make sure its right for all of you. As much as possible anyways.

 

26. Bear in mind, the more varieties we have the longer the wait times are and the worse the stocking problems are for retailers. Thats part of the practical piece of the equation which is one of the principal reasons Lucid has to hit the dirt. Its nothing personal.

 

27. I hope you will all see and embrace the Lucid-Birquq as being a better substitute for Lucid. I'm glad some people are nervous in a manner. It means you guys are concerned, you love Tangiers and you don't want your perfect moments of life with Tangiers messed up. I understand and will continue to be your dutiful advocate and try to make things that people will be able to fathom and appreciate. 

 

28. Hope this answers many of your concerns and may move you towards looking forward with anticipation to the new things we're doing. 

 

Eric

[Sonthert]

418 - Lucid Regal Flower Discontinued 

424 - Lucid Mint - Discontinued

427 - Lucid Cocoa - Discontinued

435 - Lucid Green Tea - Discontinued

448 - Lucid Tropical Punch - Probably Discontinued 

461 - Lucid Indian Summer - Testing required still

[Chreees]

Thanks for the post, Eric. After reading your explanation, I'm no longer as concerned about Lucid going away. I have no problems adapting; it's part of life. You gotta do what you gotta do to make your business as efficient as possible and allow for growth. I respect that. I think really I'm just worried about what's going to happen to Indian Sunmer and Static Starlight... If those two are made in Birquq, I think I'll live. :P By the way, I had a little party last night and set up both hookahs with Birquq- Picnic Punch and Aussie Juice. Both were huge hits with my friends. I just got the tubs out, stirred the tobacco, threw it in my Mini Phunnels not too dense but not too loose, I'd say a medium pack (I found Birquq doesn't work too well for me if I pack it as tight as I do Noir or Lucid for some reason, maybe you can shed some light on that), and threw on two coconut coals on each bowl. I know you don't like stonehenging, but I did use that method at the beginning and it worked rather well. After a while when the coals had ashed a bit, I laid them flat but kept them on the edges. Oh, and I feel I should mention I did all this while being pretty drunk. :) Anyway, point is, I didn't want you to think any of my previous posts were bitching about the changes at Tangiers Tobacco. Again, I think I was just worried as to the fate of my favorite flavors. Best of luck in these transitions, and I trust all will work out in the end.

[joytron]

It's kind of like when your lady is going in for a boob job. You tell everyone you love her just the way she is, but deep down you are excited and nervous at the prospect of new boobies.

[Travis]

It's kind of like when your lady is going in for a boob job. You tell everyone you love her just the way she is, but deep down you are excited and nervous at the prospect of new boobies.

 

I've never heard such poetry. You do have a way with words Jess.

Thanks for the info Eric. Clears things up for us and hopefully eliminates the rumors surrounding the topic.

[SundayFundaysTV]

Amen to that Jess!

[DrSmokes]

I'm super sad that Blue Gum Ball is being discontinued.  Time to buy 2 kilos of it if I can find it.

[Pavo21]

ah blue gumbal is one you are going to miss, gross. lol personal preference. atleast it will still be in noir right? 

[DrSmokes]

ah blue gumbal is one you are going to miss, gross. lol personal preference. atleast it will still be in noir right? 

I think so...I've never tried it in noir.  Doesn't matter...I just bought a bunch and will probably be sick of it by the time I'm done :P  Then I'll move on to another flavor lol

[king_lunchb0x]

wow a lot of info to take in. Price increase kinda sucks but that is just the name of the game. At this time, is lucid still being produced (except the dic flavors) until all flavors have bee tested?

[ChicagoRSX]

Hey, if this alleviates some of the backlog that exists in ordering, I'm all for it. I hate having to wait week to week to get a certain flavor back in stock.