I've been puzzled by the difficulty of buying brands of OTC. It's easier to track down tins of Dunhill blends
than either a tin or pouches of Granger, for example. One of the chains of smoker shops has gone nearly
entirely to their house tobaccos, a kind of economy generic. You can get some OTC, but it's no selection.
Groceries and drug stores in these parts often carry no pipe tobacco at all, although they still maintain a
heavy revenue stream of cigarettes. When the smoker shops have OTC's, 14 oz tins are priced about ten dollars
higher than online or discount places. The pipes and pipe tobacco business seems to be struggling with
distribution in general. The only place I know that has a real rack of Dr. Grabow's is a big discount outfit
on I-95. Pipes shops, drug stores, Walmarts, etc., just don't carry them. Apparently, we're a niche market
that is mostly accessible online. But it's a really quirky business, with much uncertainty all around, it seems.
