Tobacconist shops

I can remember their smell

no i don't remember any of those growing up.
sounds quite a niche market, not for the masses.
i guess they were in more affluent areas perhaps.
the only one like that which i saw when i was working was on high holborn, near chancery lane, opposite grays inn rd.
i can imagine it's the sort of place the well-heeled men from the legal and insurance world might use.
in my childhood world tobacco products, which were mostly cigarettes, were sold in newsagents.

There are still Tabacs abroad but we have mostly stopped smoking though I notice shops selling vapes, mostly to the young.

I remember them,i hate the smell of smoke and the stench of clothing WHEN people could smoke in pubs/clubs.

I can remember going into a tobacconist's shop when I was a teenager, to buy some cigar's as a Christmas present for my dad who never quite gave up smoking though it was, latterly, a pipe. Tabacs are useful on the Continent for many things apart from tobacco products. In Spain they helpfully sell stamps.

Where I grew up there was a tobacconist in town with a statue of a native Indian standing outside, must have been a brand of tobacco or cigarettes,I loved the sweet smell which I assume was pipe tobacco.

Yes and for those if us who enjoy a good cigar from time to time it's a real loss.

welbeck

no i don't remember any of those growing up.
sounds quite a niche market, not for the masses.
i guess they were in more affluent areas perhaps.
the only one like that which i saw when i was working was on high holborn, near chancery lane, opposite grays inn rd.
i can imagine it's the sort of place the well-heeled men from the legal and insurance world might use.
in my childhood world tobacco products, which were mostly cigarettes, were sold in newsagents.

I lived in a very working class Welsh town , so I dont think it was just in affluent arears.

Yes I clearly remember them as a child. My Dad and grandpa were both pipe smokers and I always loved the smell of their tobacco burning. I passed an elderly man in the park recently puffing on his pipe and the smell sent me back to my childhood.

welbeck they weren’t just found in affluent areas. I was born in the 50’s in small industrial town which was far from affluent and there was a tobacconist shop on the main st selling pipe tobacco, cigarettes, cigars, pipes, lighters etc.

Anyone else have their hair curled with pipe cleaners?

Yes I remember the tobacconist shop in the town where I grew up. The shop, its contents and the lovely smell of tobacco were just as described by the OP. As an adult and married, I used to go to another tobacconist shop with my husband. His father smoked a pipe and we occasionally gave him an unusual pipe for his birthday or Christmas present. We would also buy his favourite tobacco. I don't think the shops were a niche market as I remember them being in most of the places I've visited or lived. They started to disappear once the danger to health from smoking become widely known.

Yes, I remember them!

My father smoked a pipe, I think there was a tobacco called Holborn? and of course, St Bruno.

There’s a wonderful old tobacconists shop in Nottingham in one of the arcades. I’m not sure if it’s still there ( haven’t been into places like that since the pandemic started). I have a photo somewhere that I took of it because it was so lovely. I still like the smell of Clan tobacco on the rare occasion that I get a whiff of it. Totally different to the stale smell of cigarettes. It was only after I stopped smoking that I realised how vile that was.

House of Bewlay had tobacconist shops in many towns and on some larger railway stations. The chain closed in the 1980s.

When I was 18 I used to go into a tobacconist in Altrincham to buy presents for my Dad and embellishments for my umbrella (tassels). hugs

Yes, I remember them, and the woody, sweet smell of tobacco. There was a particular one in Westminster, selling all those things and pipes. Don’t know if it’s still there. My Dad smoked Old Holborn.

Callistemon21

My father smoked a pipe, I think there was a tobacco called Holborn? and of course, St Bruno

Yes, my Dad smoked both those brands. They were already shredded ready to fill the pipe. He also used another brand which came in small black solid blocks about the size of a box of matches. It had to be ground down manually by cutting off slices and rubbing it in the palms of your hands till it shredded down.

There is a small one in Carmarthen. Part of the shop sells whisky etc. The other part, pipes and tobacco. It is interesting to peruse the window and the smell is very evocative od the 50s -60s.

Yes I remember them well, a friend of my parents had one, the name Meesons springs to mind. I used to go in there to buy Balkan Sobranie black cigarettes when I was going through my jazz club phase.

I remember them, and I don’t think they were just in affluent areas. My father smoked a pipe now and then and when siblings and I had saved enough pocket money we’d buy him a little tin of Cope’s Escudo tobacco for Christmas.,

The other thing he often joked that he’d like for 🎄when we were small was a bottle of brandy, so once I was actually earning I was very happy to give him a bottle of Remy Martin. 🙂

I remember them as well 62Granny a big display of unusual pipes as well as the tobacco and cigarettes. It was quite the norm then as well to buy cigarette lighters as birthday and Christmas gifts.
I loved the smell of pipe tobacco

There was Donkin’s in Durham Market Place - about where WHSmith is now. I think it was Mrs Donkin who ran it and her daughter, younger than me, went to my school.

welbeck

no i don't remember any of those growing up.
sounds quite a niche market, not for the masses.
i guess they were in more affluent areas perhaps.
the only one like that which i saw when i was working was on high holborn, near chancery lane, opposite grays inn rd.
i can imagine it's the sort of place the well-heeled men from the legal and insurance world might use.
in my childhood world tobacco products, which were mostly cigarettes, were sold in newsagents.

Not a niche market at all! I live in a working class town and there was several of these in the town. I recall they were always very small establishments, one in particular only being as wide as the actual doorway and only a few yards deep.

There is a tobacconist in Stratford upon Avon - used to be Lands but now Havana House. They sold absolutely everything to do with smoking - and also a very large range of walking sticks!

In our village there was one. My dad was a pipe smoker, he smoked a particular brand that didn’t seem as popular as some, but had a pleasant smell. We used to go in with Mum once a week or so to buy “an ounce of ….please”.

As OP said, the smell of the shop was lovely. They also sold walking sticks and shooting sticks.

At Christmas we would get small cigars for Dad’s present, Hamlet or Wills Whiffs.

Oh, and another thing. The lady who worked in there was very attractive, nice lipstick and dark permed hair, ((this was the late 50’s/early 60’s). To me, as a little girl, she was a dead ringer for the Queen 👑.

She always addressed Mum by her name, “Good afternoon Mrs ….”. with a lovely smile.

Oh, happy memories, although I detest smoking now.