I Want to be a Tinderbox guy, but......

Tinderbox online is about 80/pound including shipping. If you like Captain Spice there is one online seller, I would have to find again, that sells that blend. I am shaking my head at price per ounce in the store. That is nuts.

I always wonder how they stay open. Even some of my local shops don't seem very busy these days.

Not sure if any TBs have a smoking lounge, but that would be a boon anywhere.

The Tacoma TB is not allowed to offer a smoking lounge. The bulk prices have everything to do with the insane taxation on tobacco here in Washington. Smokey Joe's in Fife just a couple miles further down the road is the place to be if you're interested in smoking indoors.

To answer your question, though... Cigars is how they stay open.

I used to get Connecticut Clubs and Flor de la Isla there. The latter being a Filipino stogie. Don't smoke stogies anymore, but I think I ran the Cons and Filipinos out of them.
Tom. Always wanted to see Washington. Now, not so sure. How do you tolerate the tobacco laws?

Fine so far. I go smoke at the bar on the reservation or order from an online retailer that ships here.
Cigarettes are outrageous, though, at $9+ per pack. Time to go back to making my own.

I think Tom must be right about the Washington State taxes. The Tinderbox.com prices are expensive but not that expensive.

Taxation kills local businesses. Wonder when the media, politicians and voters will figure that one out.

Yes, but it's a TOBACCO business, so who cares, right?

They know what taxes do to business. They just can't stop. Taxes are easy money. Let the next alderman/councilman/what ever, figure it out and try to save local economy. Most politicians line in the now with nary a thought to the consequences. Enfranchise only the property owner and behold the change!

This sadly is a sign of the times and not just related to tobacco outlets. The prices in pretty much any kind of shop can be beaten by buying product 'X' online.
Physical retail outlets have a whole raft of expenses from straight tax to business rate tax (here in the UK). On top of that you (or at least we) have ridiculous in town parking fees so it's no wonder so many businesses are folding.
I personally would much prefer to spend my money at a B&M but when I can get the very same product for considerably less outlay and without having to leave my chair then I'm afraid I am left no option.
I do not blame the B&Ms for any of this, I blame greedy governments and local councils. Small towns here in the UK nowadays have little more than 'Pound Shops', betting shops and charity shops and many boarded up businesses. This makes me very sad.
Regards,
Jay.

Taxes are easy money.

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@warren, excellent point. I can only leave this here.

The prices in pretty much any kind of shop can be beaten by buying product 'X' online.

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This is why American retail, at least, seems to be in full collapse. Why pay an extra 25-40% for the privilege of driving to a shop, when if you do not need it right away, it will show up at your door in 24-72 hours?
My neighbors with Amazon prime report delivery times sometimes under a day, and Wal-mart, JC Penney, Bed Bath and Beyond etc. are all doing ship-to-store that is 48 hours or so. SPC can get a package here in five days, and P&C can get one here in ten or eleven days. Especially if you are busy and have the luxury of planning in advance... store? why?

Tobacco taxes aren't quite that abusive in N.C., an old tobacco state, but my Tinder Box, where I bought my first pipe and tobacco, has definitely changed. I try to stop by when I have occasion to go to the mall. Last time I was there, the tinned pipe tobacco and the pipe inventories were pretty thin. The shop employee (the owner wasn't there) told me there were new orders on the way. I wasn't sure if that was his assigned happy talk, nor exactly what that meant. The cigar humidor seemed to be fully stocked, so that's the revenue stream, and yet the tobacco tins were a third or half again the prices online. The pipes were all equivalents or less than what I have -- though that happens when you accumulate pipes. Nothing tempted me. Also, I'm most loyal to my local independent shop, Pipes by George, so I go there for some bulk tobacco, pipe cleaners, and the occasional pipe. I'm smoking one from George right now, a LaRocca poker that I spotted but didn't buy (too folksy with its carved rustication) but went back to buy weeks later, and have never regretted. Tinder Box is in a tricky position along with all of the tobacco pipe industry. Mine moved to a larger space off the main mall concourse, but obviously they are working to adapt to the regs and market. They need those college boys and young business types to come in and spend thirty to a hundred or more on stogies.

The TB in Reno is one I patronized when I lived there. I didn't mind paying a few extra dollars for a tin that I could pop on site and have a bowl of. Their selection is pretty well-curated and their staff is knowledgeable. If I can't smoke at the shop, though, there's little reason to go there unless I'm just feeling like seeing a few pipes in person. They're in a tough spot indeed.

mso489: I guess cigars are going to have to save the businesses. It's the impressive thing to do.
In my day, while a member of a youth political group, it was all pipes. Borkim Riff v Balkan Sobraine v Flying Dutchman among the youth. John Dengler was about the only tobacconist, though I dated a girl that worked at H. Uppman in Downtown St. Louis. When TB hit the neighborhood we tried the cigars, but if it were a political meeting we all sat around like Holmes with a three pipe problem.

Tom - It's all insurance for fire hazards. Has anyone ever heard of a tobacconist going up in smoke?

It's much more about indoor public smoking bans and the perceived hazard of second-hand smoke than fire hazards.

In my day, while a member of a youth political group, it was all pipes.

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I wonder if this had an influence on the popularity of pipes, positive or negative. If they were associated with radicals or a particular political persuasion, then maybe everyone else just went out and scored cigars.
Personally, I think it's at least in part the disposability. With a cigar, you enjoy and toss. With a pipe, you clean, polish, order a lifetime's worth of tobacco blends, oh wait...