Company news

The 2026 edition of Smoke Signals, the annual newsletter of the Worshipful Company of Tobacco Pipe Makers & Tobacco Blenders, was published on July 1 and includes an article about the generational tobacco ban.

Written by Fran Morrison, former head of corporate communications at British American Tobacco and, before that, a presenter on Reporting Scotland, BBC Scotland’s early evening news programme, it features several quotes by me plus the results of polling commissioned by Forest last year. If you’re interested you can read it here (scroll to page 36).

I should add that I’ve written about the Worshipful Company of Tobacco Pipe Makers & Tobacco Blenders before. Founded in 1619 as a trade association ‘tasked with regulating the manufacture of clay tobacco pipes’, the company was dissolved twice before being re-formed, for a third time, in 1954 – hence its current classification as a modern livery company.

In its current guise it seems to have survived the decline of pipe-smoking and, indeed, any form of tobacco smoking, and each year it hosts a series of events to raise money for the Tobacco Pipe Makers and Tobacco Trade Benevolent Fund which then donates the money to various charities.

Over the years I’ve attended several dinners hosted by the company at various locations in the City of London (including Drapers’ Hall, above), and it’s been suggested on several occasions that I might like to join their ranks. The problem is, I’m not very clubbable and, while I’ve quite enjoyed the pomp and ceremony of the events I’ve attended, if I was to join any type of club I think I’d prefer something a bit less formal and with fewer demands on my time.

Also, I’m struggling to understand the company’s exact place in the modern world. As I wrote a few years ago, after attending another dinner:

According to their website:

Our Company is nowadays associated with all aspects of the UK tobacco trade, including leaf growers, merchants and blenders; tobacco and paper manufacturers; pipe makers; snuff blenders; cigar importers and retail tobacconists.

Nowhere does it mention e-cigarettes, alternative nicotine products or vape stores so I confess I was a bit surprised to see several guests whose employers are actively trying to eradicate smoking from society.

Among them was someone from Philip Morris (who greeted me warmly and gave me his business card), another from Juul (whose founders made the elimination of smoking one of their primary objectives), and a leading representative of the UK vaping industry.

All nice people who I was happy to say hello to, but am I the only person who found their presence at a tobacco livery dinner a bit ironic?

See: The Worshipful Company of E-Cigarette Makers and E-Liquid Blenders* (November 2021) and Masterstroke – Patti Boulaye lights up tobacco livery dinner (January 2024)

Below: from the 2026 issue of Smoke Signals, The ‘Generational Ban’ on Smoking by Fran Morrison.