Drops
- Thread starter St. David Pipes
- Start date
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I purposely stay away from unicorns, special releases, and "drops". I just try to make favorites with easily available tobaccos.
Could you explain what, eactly ,you're referring to? Companies don't send product on a continuous basis, partly because we're just one market that they serve, and maybe not the biggest one anymore. Shipments go out in rotation, so every now and then tobacco from a particular blender, or a brand name from the many IP's owned by a conglomerate, show up. The on line store stocks it and somethimes offers an alert that brand "whatis" is in stock. That's pretty much how the trade works.
I think he’s talking about things like Rouxgaroux. It’ll be on this day at this time, do your best and good luck. That, opposed to random in-stock alerts.
Correct me if I’m wrong, OP.
In the case of Rougaroux, Ernie makes as much as he thinks will sell, based on past sales. It's an incredibly labor intensive blend to make, and he's a one man band, so producing it continuously isn't possible. Therefore he limits it to two releases a year, with plenty of notice for interested parties, and he limits the amount any one person can buy so more people can get some. Altogether, that's about as fair as he can make it under the circumstances.
With unicorn blends like the Esotericas, I long ago stopped buying from on line stores. Rather, I became a steady client with a few stores that stocked it when there was a drop, and I was able to buy it at retail when it was available, and over the years, stocked enough for myself and for my friends that I don't need to think about it ever again.
I've recommended that people do the same, and those that did were able to buy what they wanted with little to no fuss.
That purchasing unicorns has become such a circus isn't the fault of the stores, it's the fault of the buyers, who created the circus.
I have no position in this, nor do I have any issue with Ernie. I was merely explaining what you didn’t seem to understand and using Rouxgaroux as an example.
Yeah this is where I'm at too. I actually avoid the special releases because I want to always have what I like available. Saves me headache, heartache, and wallet-ache (temporarily).
It didn't occur to me that you were doing otherwise. But for the OP, if this is indeed the sort of thing to which he's referring, it may be helpful to him to know that there are alternatives.
Entirely. It’s the state of affairs. I enjoy some of those blends that are impossible to find, but there are so many quality blends that are also readily available, I won’t lose much sleep.
I just don't get the complaint. It's pretty easy to ignore. It's like complaining about a genre of music someone is listening to some where over there and you can't even hear it unless you go to that club. It always seems to carry this idea of somehow pulling one over on the customer.
I’m assuming this is another expression of frustration with the small batch and special edition releases. It’s a fair enough position to take… I’m not sure there’s another way for some of these blends to make it to market, but I do wish that some of them made it to regular production. There are probably reasons why this isn’t the case, and I don’t know them, so I’ll buy the ones that sound good when they get announced. It is kind of annoying, but it’s become part of most “niche” market product sales.
there is also a recuring gripping about rare blends made with rare small batch ingredients. Where the choice is never get to try it or small batch. Personally I like that rarer and less commercial leaf are there to be sampled for interested parties.
Doesn't make any difference one way or the other. If it sounds good, I'll get it. If not, won't get it. If all sold out, too bad.
I think some of it is maybe not knowing if the limited-ness of the release is artificial (they make less than they could to drive up a demand and therefore profit) or is due to "real" factors/limits (supply, time, resources, etc.). I get why people are annoyed at the former but that's the reality of business. If you are sure that a company is doing that and don't like it, don't support them. If you're annoyed at the former then you've got to wrestle with that feeling (entitlement or otherwise).
I get not understanding it, or even not wanting to participate in this activity; however, I do not think one should look at is as a moral issue to be assigned judgement . Any business that decides how they wish to sell their wares has not done a wrong, well as long as their business practices follow applicable laws. Their strategies may be misguided or poorly thought out and, if so, the market will speak and they will loose sales and/or the company will have to close up shop.
As a consumer we always have a choice. We either value a companies efforts as presented and decide to make a purchase, or we do not and decide to vote with our wallets by refraining from making said purchase. My advise is to make a personal value call on potential transactions and if you do believe that the sale of said items are not of sufficient value to pass.
Yes, the drops that the online retailers do at midnight. Smoking pipes just had one last month. Their web site crashed and was insane. They hype it up a day or two before and then place it on their website and once midnight arrives then you can purchase said tin of tobacco. There’s no need for this. It’s all marketing hype. Thanks.
Thanks for commenting. It’s still wrong to me and many others who I discussed it with. But , I do appreciate the reply. Keep Smokey ol’ boy!
It may be midnight on the East Coast, but that drop is 9:00 elsewhere. It has to be sold at some point—I’m not sure if there’s a time that would make that much of a difference. Making people aware that something is going on sale at a certain date or time isn’t necessarily hype. It’s useful information. If demand exceeds supply there is often a feeding frenzy, but if you don’t want to miss out on something you enjoy, you jump in. If it doesn’t mean that much to you, you can skip it. If the servers didn’t crash, would you still be bothered?