Could Not Believe It....

addamsruspipe · Jul 4, 2018

So yesterday I was up north on assignment and ended up with some paperwork I needed to do. So I swung into the B&M up there, bought a bag of tobacco to pay my dues and lit up my pipe. Now this is one that I consider a full tobacconist. They have a cabinet of tins, a shelf of bulks and a pretty decent selection of new pipes. In addition to a humidor for cigars. Now I know that the store has been in business for about 30 years, and the gentlemen behind the counter married into the family about 20 years ago and acts as the manager. So while I was not thinking about it I would assume a certain level of knowledge and expertise. Well I am in the lounge area enjoying some Old Dark Fired, when I notice 3 young(twenties) men come in. I overhear the conversation and the manager and the young men are talking about how their uncle/grandfather/father smoked pipes and they could always remember the aroma even now years later. Very nostalgic, I always enjoy it when I hear that kind of thing. Then the manager proceeds to blow my mind. He proceeds to tell them that cigarette smokers are in it for the nicotine, pipe smokers for the aroma and cigar smokers for the flavor. He then expounds on how pipe smokers really enjoy the aromas of different blends but if you want flavors you have to go to cigars. I just wanted to get up and slap him over the head. But as I was deep into enjoying only the aroma my Old Dark Fired I just gave him a evil glare and went back to work.

smittyd · Jul 4, 2018

It's unfortunate that someone in the position to expand a new renovated hobby ruins it by trying to upsell his most expensive product.

mso489 · Jul 4, 2018

Possible explanations: The manager is just a cigar guy and that's how he steers people; the manager knows his profit is mainly on cigars and wants these youngsters to spend their hard-earned money on that, since pipes are much more cost effective; the manager was turned off by something about these "kids," as apparently you were, and wanted to skin them for their fun money. I have great restraint about ever interjecting comment when someone else is making a sale, unless it is an outright scam. In this case, the young customers need to learn what a sales pitch is and how to evaluate it. If it had been one youngster, I might have engaged him in some pipe talk after he ended his discussion with the manager, and maybe rekindled his possible interest in pipes, but with a group of young'uns, I might not bother. They have their own dynamic going and don't need me trying to supervise. As an afterthought, it may be that the manager did himself out of selling a few pipes, which would have likely exceeded his cigar sales, unless he's banking on repeat business. If this hunch is correct, he may have lost money, in which case, good.

sablebrush52 · Jul 4, 2018

Somehow I'm not surprised. There's a lot more money to be made in cigars than in pipes. Perhaps the manager is a cigar smoker and not a pipe smoker. Or maybe he just doesn't know how to smoke pipe. I love a good cigar, but when it come to a range of flavors, nothing compares, even remotely, to the range of flavors available to pipe smokers.

mrenglish · Jul 4, 2018

Aroma? If my tobacco did not taste good, I would not smoke it.
It does sound like he is pushing his cigar side of things. It takes a lot of work to build up a pipe business and most places do not want to do that. We have a shop here, it was the mecca for pipe enthusiasts. Sold to a new owner and they just gave up on tinned tobacco. They still have a good selection of pipes but the tobacco side has dropped to just bulks, they used to have a couple hundred facings of tins. The main reason, the new owner claimed, was because the tins just sat there and did not move.

sablebrush52 · Jul 4, 2018

It does sound like he is pushing his cigar side of things. It takes a lot of work to build up a pipe business and most places do not want to do that. We have a shop here, it was the mecca for pipe enthusiasts. Sold to a new owner and they just gave up on tinned tobacco. They still have a good selection of pipes but the tobacco side has dropped to just bulks, they used to have a couple hundred facings of tins. The main reason, the new owner claimed, was because the tins just sat there and did not move.

Exact same story with the B&M that I used to patronize. And to tell the truth, the tinned tobaccos didn't sell. They were covered with dust. When I heard that they were selling off the tins, I went in a bought a lot of very well aged, as in 5 to 20 years of age, pipe tobacco at discount.

mrenglish · Jul 4, 2018

It takes work to get to know the blends well enough to create the market. If a business does not have someone who smokes a pipe and a interest in the hobby, the tins will just sit.

btp79 · Jul 4, 2018

You can find that in any specialty shop. Gun/Outdoor sporting goods shops are another venue where you'll find the employee's may have considerable knowledge in one specific area, but the rest of their "advice" is at best wrong, and often dangerous.

perdurabo · Jul 4, 2018

What A Dingus. I've smoked some cigars and some pretty damn good ones as a matter of fact. But everytime I light up a Cigar, I secretly wish I was smoking a pipe. The flavor from a cigar is monochromatic. Carter Hall has more changes in flavor than a cigar.
Not knocking cigar smokers, you like'em smoke'em. But the B&M manager needs to up sell his cigars to the cigar aficionados.

brian64 · Jul 4, 2018

He then expounds on how pipe smokers really enjoy the aromas of different blends but if you want flavors you have to go to cigars.

Enjoying the aroma is a key aspect of enjoying the flavor imo. I don't see why anyone would view these as mutually exclusive.

bnichols23 · Jul 4, 2018

Sad, true, but TBH not completely surprising. Profit margin. Says it all.

danielplainview · Jul 4, 2018

I would proceed to tell him if you want flavor, smoke a pipe.
I can’t tell the difference between a gas station cigar and a $40 stick.

Chasing Embers · Jul 4, 2018

If tobacco does finally fall, the niche market, pipes, will likely be the first to go. Cigars will follow, then cigarettes. The tobacconist likely sees the decaying market, and is pushing his most sold product albeit misinformed. I get flavor from cigars, pipes, chew, and even nasal snuff.

cosmicfolklore · Jul 4, 2018

That was your que to step up and join the conversation by disagreeing, and explaining. How did it go? Did you correct the guy?

mikethompson · Jul 4, 2018

When I first walked into a local B&M with some friends, I asked where the pipe tobacco was. The two buddies I was with bought pipes on a whim, and I had a MM hardwood cob with me. He disinterestedly waved his hand at some pouches and told us to pick one. He had no advice to offer. We ended up getting a pouch of Amphora. My two friends hated it and their pipes.
I think this happens quite a bit, and people get turned off pipes before they ever get turned on.

wyfbane · Jul 4, 2018

Up until I retired out of the Army, when Jeff (the owner) wasn't around, many of the employees of the Tinderbox in Tacoma would just step aside and let me sell pipes and tobaccos... from the customer side of the counter of course. With the exception of Elizabeth, none of the other employees were super well versed on smoking pipes and I was flush with all the great topics we had discussed on this forum.
Sometimes you just need to step forward and take the reins.

addamsruspipe · Jul 4, 2018

Just finished doing the fireworks for the kids. So just got back on the computer. Some very interesting thoughts on this. I certainly do agree that the guy was pushing the cigar agenda which for the money probably makes sense to him. Of course the fact that the shop had 200+ new pipes for sale and pretty decent supply of pipe tobacco, makes it a bit strange. I think that if he had been younger and newer to pipe smoking I would have said something to him. But as I know how long he has been working there and that he has a short fuse I chose to not say anything to him. If the young men in question had come into the smoking area I would have mentioned to them my thoughts on what he had said.

Could Not Believe It....

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