Howdy folks, first post from a near-term lurker....absolutely great site/kudos to many of the posters here. Long-time cigar smoker, touched pipes on and off for about 12 years. Recently started pipe smoking with regularity as I moved into my new home over the winter, I've got a glass-paneled four-season room off my walk-out bar that I can puff away in without offending the olfactory sensibilities of other occupants. PAD/TAD quickly developed from there.
I too was caught in the great P&C Esoterica kerfuffle of 19'....I'm also eyeballing two large placed SG orders from separate retailers that haven't shipped yet and I believe UPS just 'lost' a rather minty 6139 early-proof 'Pouge' I got for a song so I'm rather salty as the kids say. In my distress and 'newness' back to pipe tobacco buying I may be off-base, but it seems like the pipe tobacco market is at least heavily reminiscent of the current bourbon market. Just like the bourbon market, in whole, there is a lot of very solid, commonly/semi-commonly available product out there......and also like bourbon the 'perceived' cream of the crop disappears within moments of touching retailers shelves. Having to establish relationships with distant B&M's, secret squirrel sub-forums to hide honey-holes, dedicated snipers buying inventory to mainly flip on the secondary market, a 1% 'super-fan' hobbyist group growing large cellars...it's a lot like navigating waters on the latest BTAC releases.
In the bourbon market, where I've bought for 15 years and live right outside KY, I'm fortunate enough to be on the inside track of most all rare/limited releases.....'back-bar'ing' away hundreds o' bottles of the good stuff over the years. In the pipe world however I'm just a stinking civilian, desperately trying to make time to even find a few tins of Squadron Leader let alone the Butera's of the world. Like an animal. Two questions for the esteemed forum:
1. What is the typical 'size' (lbs/selling units) of tobacco drops into the market from 'boutique' manufactures? I realize that Esoterica may be 'X' vs. a G&H 'X*3'....but I don't have the experience to know the relative size of market/typical inventory/release sizes in the pipe world. Does a P&C get 50 bags of Penzance...500.....5,000? Just an interesting data point.
2. Are there any major retailers that use a 'frequent buyer' or lottery-style system for the 'rare' stuff? Very common vis-a-vie the bourbon market.....unless inflating price ala' the secondary market to control demand (I'm not opposed to that) a lot of retailers on the bourbon side will use a lottery-type scheme or reserve a portion/offer to their top buyers (how I often score mine). The retailers (in the latter) don't make any more margin off 'white whales' than standard, in fact often less......and the headaches/emotions around the releases is often more painful for them than any monetary gain. Hence going to certain selling approaches to reward frequent buyers/etc.
I too was caught in the great P&C Esoterica kerfuffle of 19'....I'm also eyeballing two large placed SG orders from separate retailers that haven't shipped yet and I believe UPS just 'lost' a rather minty 6139 early-proof 'Pouge' I got for a song so I'm rather salty as the kids say. In my distress and 'newness' back to pipe tobacco buying I may be off-base, but it seems like the pipe tobacco market is at least heavily reminiscent of the current bourbon market. Just like the bourbon market, in whole, there is a lot of very solid, commonly/semi-commonly available product out there......and also like bourbon the 'perceived' cream of the crop disappears within moments of touching retailers shelves. Having to establish relationships with distant B&M's, secret squirrel sub-forums to hide honey-holes, dedicated snipers buying inventory to mainly flip on the secondary market, a 1% 'super-fan' hobbyist group growing large cellars...it's a lot like navigating waters on the latest BTAC releases.
In the bourbon market, where I've bought for 15 years and live right outside KY, I'm fortunate enough to be on the inside track of most all rare/limited releases.....'back-bar'ing' away hundreds o' bottles of the good stuff over the years. In the pipe world however I'm just a stinking civilian, desperately trying to make time to even find a few tins of Squadron Leader let alone the Butera's of the world. Like an animal. Two questions for the esteemed forum:
1. What is the typical 'size' (lbs/selling units) of tobacco drops into the market from 'boutique' manufactures? I realize that Esoterica may be 'X' vs. a G&H 'X*3'....but I don't have the experience to know the relative size of market/typical inventory/release sizes in the pipe world. Does a P&C get 50 bags of Penzance...500.....5,000? Just an interesting data point.
2. Are there any major retailers that use a 'frequent buyer' or lottery-style system for the 'rare' stuff? Very common vis-a-vie the bourbon market.....unless inflating price ala' the secondary market to control demand (I'm not opposed to that) a lot of retailers on the bourbon side will use a lottery-type scheme or reserve a portion/offer to their top buyers (how I often score mine). The retailers (in the latter) don't make any more margin off 'white whales' than standard, in fact often less......and the headaches/emotions around the releases is often more painful for them than any monetary gain. Hence going to certain selling approaches to reward frequent buyers/etc.