Aging and Pricing Thoughts

[Annaresti Red]

Hello,

What are folks general thoughts on pricing tobaccos based on age?

I realize that many things factor into this, but I'm mostly thinking about tins that are mostly available but maybe a bit more difficult like SG FVF or something popular and available like SPC or C&D blends.

When does the price go above the fresh online tin pricing, and how much? I feel like 2 or less years shouldn't effect price much, but after 3, maybe a little? Again, i know details matter, but what are general thoughts?

 

[woodsroad]

What will the market bear?
That is your answer.
Tin prices are based on impulse sales, not reasoned debate.

 

[sablebrush52]

It’s all kind of a crapshoot. There are a few aged blends that I have bought for anywhere from a 25% to 50% mark up. These are blends that like with a decade or so of aging.
But as the results were so uneven I stopped buying aged blends from aftermarket sites.
Others are happy with their purchases.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I wouldn't pay a dime more for someone just taking up space to wait out some years. And, if it's in a jar, you'd have to be a fool to buy it to begin with, IMO. You have no idea what the person's cellar ethics are. Many on here argue that opening jars while in the aging process is ok with them, and I would NOT want any of their cellar'd stuff. All you know for certain is that you are buying a jar of brown stuff. (period)

Stop supporting this flipper subculture of pipes. They are the ones making your favorite blends hard to find. Screw 'em.

 

[Annaresti Red]

What will the market bear?
That is your answer.
Tin prices are based on impulse sales, not reasoned debate.

Of course.

And, I'm getting a general feel of what people feel that market will bear currently. We're a limited sample, but 90% of what we talk about is subjective anyhow.

I wouldn't pay a dime more for someone just taking up space to wait out some years. And, if it's in a jar, you'd have to be a fool to buy it to begin with, IMO. You have no idea what the person's cellar ethics are. Many on here argue that opening jars while in the aging process is ok with them, and I would NOT want any of their cellar'd stuff. All you know for certain is that you are buying a jar of brown stuff. (period)

Stop supporting this flipper subculture of pipes. They are the ones making your favorite blends hard to find. Screw 'em.

I do hate flippers, but I also like to buy aged tins sometime, at "reasonable" prices. It can helpme me decide if i want to cellar a bunch.

With that said, I can't stand folks buying (especially these limited) tins and then flipping them at 200% mark up.

 

[Annaresti Red]

I'll buy jars only from folks I've dealt with and trust. But you're right, buying jars is I'll advised generally. ''

My preferred way to try tobaccos is friends and clubs, but it's not always possible.

 

[didimauw]

That's a good question, one I've pondered about, watching people sell tobacco all these years. Never been able to figure it out myself. I don't buy estate pipes, and I don't buy estate tobacco.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

My pipe club would get together do these group buys and samples, but we always did the really really old tins, like from the 40's and 60's and such.

Even if you are looking for what blend will age and in what way, you're not going to have you questions answered. Let's say you like the way "Hypothetical Blend" tastes with 10 or so years. Then, the next year the blender has to use a totally different leaf or adjust the casing to keep the blend tasting the same way fresh, year after year. This happens more than you'd think, and a switch in a variable can easily make a big difference in the way something ages.
My advice (IMO) is just to set back some of what you like fresh. Stop wasting money on aged blends. Plus, keeping that secondary market going just feeds these flippers, even if you're not buying from a known flipper, keeping that market going only helps them.

 

[woodsroad]

My pipe club would get together do these group buys and samples, but we always did the really really old tins, like from the 40's and 60's and such.

Even if you are looking for what blend will age and in what way, you're not going to have you questions answered. Let's say you like the way "Hypothetical Blend" tastes with 10 or so years. Then, the next year the blender has to use a totally different leaf or adjust the casing to keep the blend tasting the same way fresh, year after year. This happens more than you'd think, and a switch in a variable can easily make a big difference in the way something ages.
My advice (IMO) is just to set back some of what you like fresh. Stop wasting money on aged blends. Plus, keeping that secondary market going just feeds these flippers, even if you're not buying from a known flipper, keeping that market going only helps them.

As someone who is approaching retirement age, I have to disagree with you utterly and completely. Aged tins (and jars from reputable sources, such as me), are worth upwards of 4x more than current retail. And if there's a good story to go with the sale, well, the sky's the limit. PM me for this week's coupon flyer. Free pipe cleaner with every tin.

 

[litup]

When it comes to resale of tins, I think it's helpful to look to people like PipeStud or sites like Tinbids for information.
PipeStud lays out what he's looking for when accepting commissions. I'd take these as the baseline for when you might expect a tin to be worth more than a regular retail tin.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I won't pay more than $5/ounce for any tobacco. Age and lack of availability doesn't encourage me to pay any more for it.

 

[LotusEater]

What will the market bear?
That is your answer.
Tin prices are based on impulse sales, not reasoned debate.

I totally agree with this. For me at least all tobacco purchases are impulse driven. I’ve paid more than I should have for the opportunity to try some discontinued or well aged stuff and I’ve got great deals on similar blends. I don’t have an algorithm I use to decide what a tin is worth and I don’t buy tobacco as an investment.

 

[Old Smokey]

I won't pay more than $5/ounce for any tobacco. Age and lack of availability doesn't encourage me to pay any more for it.

Same here. I prefer not to cellar due to the number of bowl I smoke in a day. Buy in bulk to save money.

 

[kcghost]

I've been known to pay a fairly reasonable markup for a blend that delivered a great smoke after a number of years. These blends are tinned otherwise I don't buy them. Never pay more than whatever the market price is. Once a 2-ounce tin gets to a $100 I'll pass every time. And once the tin is well out of the accepted timeline of improvement I usually pass. Buying a 40-year-old tin of something is generally foolish.

 

[jbfrady]

That's just the thing: tobacco is both product and commodity. I'm one of those people who will buy something just to resell it. Especially if I'm buying in a batch or lot that has several things that I want, along with some popular things that I'm not as interested in.

Several factors affect whether tobacco resells at a much higher rate after age. Popularity, scarcity, change in manufacturer or origin. My personal favorite blends aren't especially popular, so I count myself as lucky in that when I see them pop up with age, they're not especially marked up. And yet I'm unlucky too, because the lack of popularity keeps me from seeing them very often.

 

[Sobrbiker]

Stop supporting this flipper subculture of pipes. They are the ones making your favorite blends hard to find. Screw 'em.

 

[mortonbriar]

I have a theory that aging tobacco only improves smoking results if you age it yourself, because patience is one of the main ingredients of satisfaction.

 

[Piping Abe]

I would never purchase a tobacco from someone second hand if it is still available from the retailers. Age is worth nothing to me.

 

[Butter Side Down]

I asked the same question of a few guys who seem to sell a fair amount of stuff on here before posting some lots and got pretty uniform answers. Basically, except in a few cases, most people don't seem to be paying much if anything extra for aging. My experiences with trying to sell the few pretty well aged lots I have on here backs that up. If you're thinking of selling some stuff, I'll pass on the advice they gave me which was this. Go ahead and start off the pricing at what you "feel" like it's worth. Since it's based on feelings, it'll probably be too high. When nobody bites, lower the price. If nobody bites after that, lower the price again. Rinse, repeat. You'll find out pretty fast what it's worth in the real world. Obviously, super rare and hard to get stuff like Esoterica exists completely outside of the rules.

 

[woodsroad]

I would never purchase a tobacco from someone second hand if it is still available from the retailers. Age is worth nothing to me.

Which is why more people sell old tins on TinBids than they do here.