I think you have to work hard at finding value, but this doesn't just mean buying top brands at some discount.
Some products intended for the budget conscious shopper are excellent, but they are usually offered in there,
at the same price level, with distinctly lesser items. A knowledgeable seamstress pointed out to me that Lee
jeans, which are definitely economy priced, have all double stitched seams, something you can find dependably
only in custom-made jeans selling for two or three hundred. Likewise, with pipes, if you know the product, you
can find sturdy, well-crafted "factory" briar pipes in the thirty-forty-fifty dollar range, if you know what you are
looking at. Then when you want to break for something in the high-level price range, you can look for a discount
on a worthy version of that. But the "bargain" is in the careful analysis of what you are buying, not just going for
a higher (or lower) priced item or name brand.
