Taking Advantage Of Bulk Sales

Seeing how SPC and P&C are both offering bulk sales at the moment, it makes sense to expand on some "recipes" for general tobacco types to show you how to get top quality tobacco for less. Let's look at costs for an English tobacco...
From the tobacco blend recipes thread:

-Virginia bright-cured: 31%

-Perique pressure-cured: 19%

-Latakia: 25%

-Oriental (typically, Izmir): 25%

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We can simplify this into basic recipes:
Virginia, Bright (30%/4.8oz)

https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipe-tobacco/cornell-diehl/Bright-Virginia-Ribbon/product_id/114409/bulk

https://www.pipesandcigars.com/p/blending-yellow-virginia-pipe-tobacco/1475563/#p-119414
Perique (20%/3.2oz)

https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipe-tobacco/cornell-diehl/Long-Cut-Perique/product_id/135023/bulk

https://www.pipesandcigars.com/p/blending-perique-pipe-tobacco/1473168/#p-119405
Latakia (25%/4oz)

https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipe-tobacco/cornell-diehl/Latakia/product_id/79414/bulk

https://www.pipesandcigars.com/p/blending-latakia-pipe-tobacco/1473134/#p-119403
Izmir (25%/4oz)

https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipe-tobacco/mcclelland/Blended-Turkish-Ribbon/product_id/3965/bulk

https://www.pipesandcigars.com/p/blending-blended-turkish-ribbon-pipe-tobacco/1473123/#p-119386
How cost effective is this? We can add up these costs and get $46.25 (SPC) and $41.42 (P&C) per 16oz.
For contrast, a pound of Dunhill My Mixture 965 will cost you $58.74 (SPC) and $45.44 (P&C). So that's not a huge savings, but there are more cost-effective blends, for example:
Virginia, bright (30%/4.8oz)

Dark Burley (40%/6.4oz)

https://www.pipesandcigars.com/p/blending-aaa-burley-pipe-tobacco/1473122/#p-119385

https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipe-tobacco/cornell-diehl/Burley-Ribbon-Cut/product_id/135021/bulk/

Latakia (10%/1.6oz)

Oriental (20%/3.2oz)
This is $36.57 (SPC) and $39.34 (P&C). This goes down quite a bit if you buy the blending ingredients by the pound, which would give you $30.39 (SPC) and $31.28 (P&C).
A few notes...
The "simplified" blend is more for experienced smokers who like Latakia as a condiment and not main leaf. You might also want to vary up the Burleys a bit, but I like the Dark Burley for its utterly smooth burning traits.
I use "long cut" Perique because it is both more flavorful than the pellet cut, in my unscientific and unverified opinion, and more likely to be available. Cut it up with a clean pair of scissors. You can use the pelletized version as well and it's less of a pain in the neck.
This is not intended to be some definitive statement of how to blend like a 1337 pro... it's the opposite: it's a quick guide to how to use these bulk sales to make something you would enjoy smoking for a substantial cost savings.

I've noticed several times in the past, that when P&C has a sale like this, their prices are raised in advance of the sale, so they can show "lowering" them for the "sale".

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Holy mackerel, what a brilliant business idea! I am stealing that one. I tend to order in bulk when the sales are in effect and in large amounts, since it is more fun to blend when you have pounds of delicious tobacco around.

I'm a dyi er to the extreme but I've yet smoked a blend that I thought I could do better.

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Interesting. It seems like you have this backward.
If you already like a blend and consider it exceptional, that means it is a very specialized thing.
But the average blend?
And customized to your specific tastes?
I have found a number of blends I could do better than, and more importantly, versions of mainstream blends which more appropriately fit my own needs, at far lower cost.
In addition, I have come up with a few things on my own that I like better than any options for blends of that type.
Now, I have not tried duplicating some blends because there is no need, or impossibility by lack of tools. For example, I see no reason to clone 3P or Royal Yacht (nothing can be this perfect). And in that view, I entirely understand what you are saying.
But again, that has it backwards. Just because you cannot clone all blends or any blend does not mean there is a lack of utility in rolling your own.

FVF also blends great with a smidgen of Dark Burley or Cube Cut Burley and a pinch of Perique.
What a versatile, quality tobacco blend!

You might. Then again, it's more fun the other way, and you can make adjustments to fit your personal taste.
When I found myself mixing 965 with handfuls of Burley, Virginia and Blended Turkish to make a smoke where the Latakia was more condimental, I knew I needed to just go ahead and do the full deal.
Since then, I have discovered the power of the leaf, and that while I admire blenders, oftentimes it is more economical and fun to make the homebrew variants.