Tobacco Shop/Lounge Etiquette

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hitman

Lurker
Aug 3, 2014
17
0
I am fortunate to have a couple of good tobacco brick and mortars within reasonable distance of my home near Kansas City. What is the etiquette for making use of smoking lounges? I purchase a tin and a couple of ounces of bulk tobacco before filing a pipe and enjoying a bowl or two. A purchase equivalent to a couple of premium cigars seem reasonable to me, but I don't want to be the equivalent of the guy tipping 5% for very good service at a nice establishment.
Thoughts?
-Don

 
Mar 30, 2014
2,853
78
wv
A purchase of a tin or few oz of Bulk should be fine. If you're a regular, you don't really need to buy something every time. I do but I'm like a kid in a candy store at the pipe shop.

 

khartman

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 6, 2015
129
6
I have a shop just down the road from me and they almost seem disappointed if I stop in to buy something (butane, pipe or tobacco) and I don't sit around with everyone. They've told me a couple times to come by and just hangout. I'd try and talk with one of the workers, but I would imagine if they're used to seeing you, they'd be fine with you sitting in a couple times and just hangout.

 

papipeguy

Lifer
Jul 31, 2010
15,778
35
Bethlehem, Pa.
I always buy something at a new B&M that let's me hang out. I can usually find something of interest in tins and cigars that I feel good about my time there. I think that going in a place and staying for an hour and not buying anything is rude if you're new to the place. Besides, there are always people to talk to and sharing a pipe from a new tin is a great ice breaker.

 

tarheel1

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 16, 2014
936
2
In Abilene there is a shop that also has a coffee shop section. I have always bought drinks at a min. I also bought tobacco and cigars on occasion as well as a few pipes. Unfortunately I no longer live there and nothing close. I have to drive 45 min and there are two cigar stores. One has a free pungent with beer into. The other charges a monthly fee for their lounge. I have not been back sincenter I started back with the pipe. I will figure it out next time I visit.

 

phred

Lifer
Dec 11, 2012
1,754
4
I usually try to "pay the rent" in some way - I've bought several pipes at my local B&M, a couple of tins and some bulk blends, so I'm probably okay for a while, but I'll usually pick up at least a little something each time - a bundle of pipe cleaners, some Zippo fluid, a pipe nail, etc.

 

buroak

Lifer
Jul 29, 2014
1,867
14
hitman, I occasionally make my way to Fidel's in Westport. I will buy a couple ounces of their bulk blends and smoke a bowl or two. No one seems to take umbrage. Actually, the clerk in that part of the shop seems to appreciate the opportunity to chat with a fellow pipeman.

 

condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
7,993
26,606
New York
We had a really nice B&M in the 70s on the East Side run by two brothers. It sold cigars and some pipes and tobaccos and was a fun place to pass an hour or so. My local doctor would go there as would the local priest and rabbi. They let you keep booze in your humidor lockers and didn't care if you had a few drinks whilst you smoked your pipes or cigars. They then got a much bigger and fancier place up the street with a barbers shop, coffee bar with $10 expresso's and a rule that you could only smoke cigars purchased in the store and no pipes at the same time the price of humidor lockers sky rocketed from $600 a year to some crazy figure. I stopped going by the place as did most of the old faces. I don't mind people making money but it struck me as an awful waste of all the good will these two had accumulated in the area. Sometimes smaller is so much better as opposed to an army of pushy 'dolly birds' trying to sell you expensive expresso coffees!

 

voorhees

Lifer
May 30, 2012
3,834
937
Gonadistan
If someone buys a few ounces or a tin, I say he should be able smoke. Some guys walk into the shop I work at smoking already.

 

dochudson

Lifer
May 11, 2012
1,635
12
If it was my first time I would buy at least a tin or a couple of cigars.. during paying I would say something "do you mind if a new uses your lounge?"

 
I think that there is an unwritten obligation to buy something, but how much? I would think that a tin of tobacco, a few oz of bulk, or a handful of cleaners would do. I've never ever been told that I had to buy something, but it's just an unwritten obligation. If you want your place to hang out, patronize them and keep them in business. The owner would never raise an eyebrow, but one of us holding court in the smoking room might just wink and ask which tin you bought. Heck, on some days, I'll pick up a basket of chicken or some baked goods from down the road and spring it on the guys. The cool thing is that sometimes, me or someone else will buy a tin, pop it, and set it out for people to try, especially if it's a new blend. Then, for the next few days people will smoke out of it while solving the world's problems. It's just a part of what makes a B&M a family.

 

daveinlax

Charter Member
May 5, 2009
1,989
2,651
WISCONSIN
I think that there is an unwritten obligation to buy something, but how much?

In my years of working on the road I've hung out at a lot of shops and I always figured roughly $10 to $15 bucks in merch for an hour or so of butt time. The place I've hanging out at the last few weeks is very comfortable so I usually buy 2 Ashton whites and hang out for over an hour. 8O

 

stapf

Lurker
Jan 22, 2015
24
1
My local charges a fee for use of the lounge. It is only a dollar or there is a monthly membership fee that allows off shop hours access to the lounge. Even as a member I feel bad if I don't buy something when I hit the lounge. I try to at least buy a pack of cleaners even when I don't need them. I do buy most of my pipes there so they get a good score from me every few months.

 

iamn8

Lifer
Sep 8, 2014
4,248
14
Moody, AL
The Briary here in Birmingham, I have more difficulty with the etiquette of making a purchase and leaving. It is a black hole of comfort and conversation from which not even light can escape. I never go there unless I plan on buying something and with a den and leather seating, a TV, and a wrap around porch with rocking chairs, if they didn't want people to stay and sit and smoke, they really blew it in their design and decoration. I think when it comes to smoke shops, the only "etiquette" is never bring your own tobacco when they're thrilled to allow sampling. If they weren't looking for sit n stay customers, they wouldn't have built a B&M.

 
iamn8!!! Ha ha, the Skip magnet. He draws you into engaging conversation that you feel like it's rude to leave. Ha ha ha!! I know exactly what you mean. Lora and I have a system. When I go to The Briary on a day that I can't hang out for long, I tell Lora to call me at a certain time, so that I can answer and tell Skip, "Oh, there's an emergency, I have to go." This is only when I can't afford to stay long. Otherwise, John and Skip and I will rattle on well past closing time.

 

freakiefrog

Part of the Furniture Now
Dec 26, 2012
745
2
Mississippi
Our local B&M has a place that they just let people sit and smoke. No need to buy just come in bring your cigars or pipe and stoke the coals. Ours will even give you a bowl on the house of their house blended tobacco when you come in just pick you one load your bowl and warm the briar. They keep a coffee pot going and complimentary matches, pipe cleaners and pipe nails are everywhere. Plus cigar cutters and lighters or punches. Our B&M here in Jackson is a great place the lounge has a tv and chess set, both are normally going leather chairs. There is always open tins of tobacco they set out to try, its a really awesome place.
As for etiquette just ask no harm in asking.

 

layinpipe

Lifer
Feb 28, 2014
1,025
8
Pretty much what everyone else has said rings true. I know pretty much every single employee at my local b&m hangout and consider most of them to be personal friends that i would hang out with outside of the shop. One of the assistant managers and i swap pipe tobacco for good cigars, with him providing the cigars, lol. I just gifted him an unopened tin of McB Lat Flake and some stonehaven and have gifted him a ton of tobacco in the past with no expectation of anything in return. Lucky for me, he's an awesome and generous guy as well, so i always get to try the latest releases and rare cigars thanks to him. Hell, sailorjeremy restorred and gifted him a nice pipe (i think it was a parker or hardcastle) because that's the nature of the guys and gals that frequent the shop, wonderful folks. I suspect that is how it is (or how it should be) elsewhere at b&m's. I will say that there is one in my area that i refuse to visit or buy anything at all from, because the guy that owns and runs it is a real Richard, if you catch my drift. Not helpful and acts like you are bothering him at the first question or inquiry directed his way. No thanks.
Anyways, if you are a regular buy a tin or two and all the routine pipe supplies every few visits and contribute to the positive and welcoming environment that the b&m should foster, and you should be just fine. Buying a pipe and/or box of cigars every once in a while doesn't hurt either.

 

mirain

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jan 5, 2011
193
7
I had a local shop where I used to live. That was when I smoked cigars exclusively so it wasn't a problem purchasing a stick and sitting. When I transitioned to pipe smoking things changed. I'd buy the occasional pipe but it was mostly a tin or some bulk tobacco, pipe cleaners or butane. After a while though I didn't need pipe supplies so I'd buy a stick for someone else in the lounge. Not only did it keep the owners happy that I was supporting the store, it also made some fortunate, fellow smoker surprised.

 

iamn8

Lifer
Sep 8, 2014
4,248
14
Moody, AL
Lol cosmic that's a good idea!! I went by yesterday to just buy a single tin. I pulled into the parking area quite quickly then parleyed that inertia into walking inside with force and purpose, grabbed the tin, paid, and ran out. That's my "act in a hurry, be in a hurry" method of escaping from The Briarys great gravitational pull, forward motion must remain constant, else you be sucked in and trapped without a rope, or a cell phone call.

 
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