I found that while the thread pounced on a company that many people have built large cellars from turned the topic about a price increase on a small brand, and basically two blends into how good other companies are in comparison. I ran my original post past a good friend and respected poster on this forum. His advice was to leave out my experiences with other companies and obvious reasons why it’s a smart to cellar what you can, due to the large increases in tobacco prices we’re going to see in the years to come. Well some are going back in.
@tedswearingen No offense but you did hijack a thread about another company raising its price and a lengthy post of how SP does business. I’ve done business with SP 3 times and twice they were screwed up. That’s why you’ll not get my business. Explain away if you want but on one of the occasions, my CC was charged, I got an email days later saying you were out of one single item and when I called was told “I’d have to add another item to my order or be charged shipping or could cancel the order all together.” So that’s what I did. That’s how I found your customer service, nothing compared to my P&C experiences.
@4noggins No offense but you also jumped in a thread about another company raising its prices with an advertisement for your own. On your site you still list items that are out of stock, since this really has come down to Stonehaven and Penzance, you only have tins of Penzance and no Stonehaven bags on the site. I do give you a nice comment at the end of this post. But if you’re going to advertise on the thread I’d like to know if you’re getting Stonehaven bags, and Penzance bags or tins. I don’t think an online store should be announcing availability or prices on the forum or in a thread, especially one like this.
Many of the people here invest in tobacco and are top posters. If you cellar tobacco in large quantities you’re investing. Some have more than they could smoke in a lifetime. They’re sharp business man, know that anyone can die in a moment and have their estate detailed for their family on the value of their possessions, pipes and tobacco included.
I broke down my feelings on what happens to those single blends. I feel it’s accurate and those who are inside buying and flipping are opportunists, I’m not fond of them but that’s a choice in the way they want to do business. I have not even sampled Stonehaven let alone seen it for sale other than consignment dealers or Ebay. I did buy some Penzance having sampled it from a friend, found it not for my pallet, but a good investment. That with a dozen other blends I know are good investments for both ageing for personal use and sale years from now.
I have three cabinets. One for those which is my rotation including samples, a second for those I’m ageing for rotation. The last is for tobacco, most are blends I do smoke. These are an investment against both the increase in price and financial investment. That is the definition of investing. I’m doing the same thing on a far smaller scale than those here with hundreds of pounds in their cellar. I’ve done the same thing with other commodities. If you look at the percentage increase in value of tobacco in general and specific blends across the board in just the last few years it’s a no brainer. With future taxes from the bottom up that the industry is going to see in the next few years… I’m not going to turn this into an apocalyptic post. But certain blends due to age (already seen), availability now or in the future (already seen), tobacco has a huge return on investment. Not to mention pipe collections. To think otherwise is naïve.
P&C has been a great company to deal with all around and will continue to give them my business. SP screwed up 2 out of the 3 orders I placed with them, so they’ll not get my business. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Rich and 4noggins, especially with International buyers. I’ve yet to purchase from him for price reasons, but he has some shop blends that are on my “must try list.” He does however sell consignment tins that both the seller and his company profit from. But I’ve no intention of holding that against him, it’s a business.
Craig
