I don't have a close B&M but whenever I go to Salt Lake City I go to a couple different places. This time I added one and they were very helpful, if not terribly knowledgeable about pipes, and bought a pouch of SWR as well as some different bulks. Their tin selection was pretty good with Sam Gawith, McC, Dunhill, Peterson and a smattering of others. The prices weren't too bad either at between $14 and $18 for a 50g or 2oz tin and my next time there I might get a couple because some were fairly uncommon.
I went to the next one, the SLC Tinder Box and they had a lot of tins in the same range and quite a few bulks including some blending Perique and lat. They were helpful and let me open the jars to get an idea of what I wanted there. Bulks were a bit pricier there but not too bad. Walked out with some pipe cleaners, bulks and some of the blending tobaccos. They also had a great selection of pipes by Arley Curtz who makes some stellar pipes for very little money.
When I finally got to the third place the budget was tapped but I could get one more thing. They had a staggering selection of tins including lots of rare stuff as well as lots of pipes and bulks. Then I saw it...a tin of Margate just begging for me to take it home. It took a while to get waited on as the only customer in the shop but I got there. I asked the price of the Margate and it didn't have one. Finally after a lot of bustling they came back with it. Now I am used to paying for the tobacco tax in SLC and it is steep but they wanted $26 before taxes for a 2 oz tin!!! Maybe I'm overreacting but I just couldn't pay the same (after sales tax) as what I paid for my last 3 tins of Esoterica put together when the other tins maxed out at $18 for the same size. Needless to say they were less than happy/kind when I put it back.
I love patronizing B&Ms and will go to that one again but it can be a little discouraging to get a nasty surprise like that.
I went to the next one, the SLC Tinder Box and they had a lot of tins in the same range and quite a few bulks including some blending Perique and lat. They were helpful and let me open the jars to get an idea of what I wanted there. Bulks were a bit pricier there but not too bad. Walked out with some pipe cleaners, bulks and some of the blending tobaccos. They also had a great selection of pipes by Arley Curtz who makes some stellar pipes for very little money.
When I finally got to the third place the budget was tapped but I could get one more thing. They had a staggering selection of tins including lots of rare stuff as well as lots of pipes and bulks. Then I saw it...a tin of Margate just begging for me to take it home. It took a while to get waited on as the only customer in the shop but I got there. I asked the price of the Margate and it didn't have one. Finally after a lot of bustling they came back with it. Now I am used to paying for the tobacco tax in SLC and it is steep but they wanted $26 before taxes for a 2 oz tin!!! Maybe I'm overreacting but I just couldn't pay the same (after sales tax) as what I paid for my last 3 tins of Esoterica put together when the other tins maxed out at $18 for the same size. Needless to say they were less than happy/kind when I put it back.
I love patronizing B&Ms and will go to that one again but it can be a little discouraging to get a nasty surprise like that.
