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undecagon

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 7, 2011
592
3
Chicago, IL
Just curious how P&C.com got both NYPC and SPC blends (those are the ones I've had and interested in, but further review shows they also have: A.S.P. pipe club and Sherlock Holmes pipe club blends) yet SP.com doesn't offer any of these. I have no problem ordering from P&C, and have done so a few times, but since I can't afford to do all my shopping local (taxes and whatnot), I do most of my tobacco purchasing online, and I feel the need to have some "loyalty" as I would a local shop, so since I started w/ SP.com, that's my go-to. Any insight out there?

 

chispa

Can't Leave
Sep 18, 2011
300
5
I imagine they have some agreement for exclusivity to sell the pipe club blends? I always thought the Hearth and Home series was a P&C made series but now that SP carries it maybe they'll carry the others too?
Likely P&C want to keep their exclusive deal with the pipe clubs to draw more traffic to their site.

 

judcole

Lifer
Sep 14, 2011
7,150
32,933
Detroit
I imagine they have some agreement for exclusivity to sell the pipe club blends?
I'm sure that's true.
I always thought the Hearth and Home series was a P&C made series
It is. That's their house brand. IIRC, the H&H Marquee and Legend series, as well as the bulks, are available only through P and C.
As far as the OP goes, it's fine to have a go-to, but if you make it your "go only", you may not be able to get some stuff. Not everybody sells everything.

 

romeowood

Lifer
Jan 1, 2011
1,942
155
The Interwebs
Ahoy undecagon, glad to see you're interested in the NYPC blends! They're fantastic (unrepentant plug there).

Pipes & Cigars is not only the retailer for them, they were created in co-operation with Russ Ouellette--we gave him either recipes (in the case of Jack's Shanty) or a specific blend direction (in the case of the others) and then taste-tested and tweaked the blend that the master created. It was a long, sometimes agonizing, always rewarding process that will be detailed in an upcoming article in the NASPC newsletter. Incidentally, our blends ended up being rather more expensive to produce than originally anticipated, which accounts for their slightly higher than average price point--but it is so well worth it, and they're in full 2 ounce tins, ready for the cellar.

Russ's amazing work with our club and others is really a labour of love for the hobby, and it's a real connection that makes this industry and hobby so much different than any other. While I can't speak on behalf of their number crunchers and bean counters, I do imagine that the club blends are kept as an in-house offering as much to reinforce the association with the brand as well as to help mitigate the costs associated, which are higher for these boutique products by their very nature.

But again, soooo worth it. I purchased 12% of the original run myself (and no, we don't get any freebies either!).

 
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