Brick & Mortar House Blends & Copyright Infringement

ghostsofpompeii

Is there currently any law on the book prohibiting Brick And Mortar Tobacco Shops from putting their own name on a bulk blend from someone like Lane Limited, Sutliff, Peter Stokkebye, Cornell & Diehl, or McClelland and passing it off as a House Blend? Then in most instances upping the price. I'm sure you've tried a House Blend that tasted exactly like something you've been smoking for years. I just wonder how many different names Lane 1-Q is currently going by in different tobacco shops? Is there some loophole insisting that a handful of something additional be mixed into the blend to justify a name change? Or can they simply transfer an established bulk tobacco from a great big plastic bag in the back of the shop into a glass canister on the front counter, stick on a label, and pass it off as a House Blend?   

PappyJoe

Just about every brick & mortar I've been in has done this. I think they do it with the manufacturer's blessing.

daveinlax

Shops buy it and call it whatever they want. No shop can compete with a out of state mail order house but they arn't going to give a place to hang out.
The thing that a few guys guys are wondering about is how some of P&C Russ O's match blends are being called the names of famous English blends of old. Lapsed trademarks? A lot of noobs are fooled into thinking they are smoking  a link to the past. 

ghostsofpompeii

I'm a semi-retired musician that independently produced about ten CDs under the moniker Ghosts Of Pompeii over the course of my career and would hate to think that someone has burned or pressed my catalog of music to CD, created alternative artwork with a new title, and replaced my name with theirs. Marketing it as their compositions without me being any the wiser. And what would make it worse is if they were selling more copies at a higher price than I ever did. (LOL)

motie2

I've often wondered about the bulk menus at brick & mortar Pipe/Cigar Shops. One here in northern NJ has a pretty extensive list:

http://smokershavennj.com/pipe-tobacco/

Another I know of in northern Ohio has an even longer list. I've never thought these places were creating these blends right there at the shop. 

Since resuming pipe smoking after a more than thirty year hiatus, I found my self drawn to the big internet tobacco sources, and I especially have appreciated the P&C catalogs.  The only reason I might go to a brick & mortar would be curiosity or fellowship, although it seems the cigar folks rule the roost at such shops these days.