Pipes And Cigars .Com

[hfearly]

Roth, I hear what you are saying, but it doesn't really make sense to me. The theory would have to be that if, as a non-US person, you aren't buying from P&C then you will buy from some domestic tobacco retail operation owned by (or affiliated with) STB in your home country. First, at least in the case of Canada, I don't believe STB owns any pipe tobacco retail operation in Canada.

My local B&M is completely stocked by a single STG rep. I.e., all their pipe and roll your own is provided by STG.

 

[dlattim]

I'm not sure why this is such a big deal. There are plenty of places to order tobacco from at a fair price. I'm not concerned in the least.

 

[numbersix]

I'm not sure why this is such a big deal. There are plenty of places to order tobacco from at a fair price. I'm not concerned in the least.

I think only because it's a popular site for us here. My only other concern is when a smaller company is swallowed up by a larger one, it often portends bad things.

 

[cigrmaster]

Thanks Kevin for the official word. Time will tell if this is a good thing or not. One thing they should think about doing is setting up an email notification system when things are out of stock like SP does.
I personally think that Scott Bendett the former owner is a genius for selling out now. He probably got top dollar and who knows where this business will go once the tax increases hit.

 

[dragonslayer]

You got it Harris. Sometimes people forget that it’s a business. This will crush B&M’s and smaller internet companies. They can’t afford to buy the qualities to offer a competitive price so you’re going to see most just drop out. Will be interesting to see who's left in 2015. Falls under the monopoly laws though…hmmm

 

[4noggins]

What monopoly??? Because they bought a pipe and pipe tobacco company???
Rich

 

[rondyr]

Eh, I dunno. I'll give them a shot and see how it pans out.
I do feel sorry for the employees though, severance pay or not. Losing a job is never an easy thing to deal with, and even more so in such a crappy economy. Hopefully they'll bounce back quickly.

 

[hfearly]

Since I'm not directly involved in shipping, I'm not in the loop on the international shipping, but I will find out what I can.

Scott has said that Hearth & Home will still be available at Habana Premium.

I will do my best to keep you informed as things develop.
Russ

I filled my online shopping cart last night with lots of goodies and when I was ready to check out and pay I got the "we can't ship these products to Canada" error message. Seriously, still no "international" shipping over to Canada?! In this day and age? Boy ....!
Any updates on whether this will be available at all in the future, or do I really have to take all my business elsewhere?

 

[pruss]

hfearly, I look forward to the response to your query, but every piper I know who was buying from P&C has converted entirely to 4Noggins or SP.
-- Pat

 

[hfearly]

Pat, it's a shame since delicious blends like H&H and the Seattle Pipe Club blends are exclusive to P&C, and they pretty much exclusive to the domestic market now. Almost like reverse-capitalism...
I have to say though that I'm quite a loyal customer when the service and price is right. Once I'm gone, it's going to be very hard to get my business back and I can imagine that many others in our pipe community have quite a similar mindset.
I can only shake my head in disbelief that a company would so willingly give up a big chunk of the market to competitors. Even if international sales were suspended during the take-over through CI, you'd think that the sales department would bend over backwards to get international shipping back up and running as fast as possible to prevent migration of customers to competitors. It's been almost half a year now and P&C is keeping awfully quiet about the issue. Makes you wonder if they have some kind of "behind the scenes" agreements that divided up domestic and international markets among the US online retailers ...

 

[blendtobac]

Actually, it's only been four months now that we've been here in Pennsylvania. The reasons for not shipping internationally are complicated, but that doesn't mean that the discussion is closed. We'll continue looking at the situation, and if a strategy can be worked out that makes sense, it may change.
Russ

 

[bigboi]

It is a shame that Washington Residents can't get their own Seattle Pipe Club tobacco from P & C. I hope discussions are not closed in shipping to WA. I would love to order from P & C.

 

[wyfbane]

It isn't corporate policy that precludes shipment to WA. It is state law. The kind gov't caretakers in Olympia, who clearly know what is best for us and will wipe our little toushies for us so long as we give them enough taxes have declared it a felony to ship tobacco into WA.
Not that I am judging.

 

[tarak]

I keep wanting to try doing business here, but I swear every time I look at something there its out of stock. Hopefully it's part part of the transition in the move and will get better. I've put together a shopping cart there multiple times, but then I'll hit some key thing that is out of stock, and I end up going elsewhere with my business.
I did throw a H&H tobacco on my last SPC order, which I'm excited to try. It seems highly regarded.