R.I.P. Storytellers Pipe

[Spavilla]

I received this today....

“After considerable thought and prayers, we have decided to close the doors of The Story Teller's Pipe. Many factors played a part in our decision. One of the more significant factors is the number of states that recently enacted legislation requiring out-of-state retailers and distributors to be registered with, and to collect and remit sales tax to, these states in order to sell tobacco products to residents of their states beginning January 1, 2021. In addition, California recently joined Massachusetts by enacting legislation prohibiting the sale of any flavored tobacco product to residents of the state and Virginia recently introduced similar legislation that is expected to pass. Complying with these state tax requirements will place a burden on small "mom & pop" online pipe/tobacco retailers, and would change the nature of the fun, retirement business we envisioned and developed with The Story Teller's Pipe.”​

They are having a going out of business sale. Sorry to see one of the good guys bite the dust. This is the unfortunately the future of all mom & pop tobacco retailers. Soon it will all be “a place in time”.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I received this today....

​

“After considerable thought and prayers, we have decided to close the doors of The Story Teller's Pipe. Many factors played a part in our decision. One of the more significant factors is the number of states that recently enacted legislation requiring out-of-state retailers and distributors to be registered with, and to collect and remit sales tax to, these states in order to sell tobacco products to residents of their states beginning January 1, 2021. In addition, California recently joined Massachusetts by enacting legislation prohibiting the sale of any flavored tobacco product to residents of the state and Virginia recently introduced similar legislation that is expected to pass. Complying with these state tax requirements will place a burden on small "mom & pop" online pipe/tobacco retailers, and would change the nature of the fun, retirement business we envisioned and developed with The Story Teller's Pipe.”​

They are having a going out of business sale. Sorry to see one of the good guys bite the dust. This is the unfortunately the future of all mom & pop tobacco retailers. Soon it will all be “a place in time”.

I saw the same. I ordered from them from time to time. Nice folks, excellent service.

 

[Jwebb90]

Sorry to see him him go as well. For those who are interested he still has some of the SG blends in stock.

 

[fightnhampster]

I hate to see this sort of thing.

 

[kcghost]

Yeah, it's a bummer but it is the Sword of Damocles we all live under.

 

[Jaylotw]

I just discovered them a few months ago when a member here tipped me off to them. Really great service, I was really pleased with the selection and mom and pop feel. I’m beyond sad that they’re gone.

it’s pretty common I feel for us to somewhat guard these smaller shops, since they often have stock of harder to find blends, and I wonder if that kept more people from using and ordering from Storytellers.

I know that I wanted to keep the place close to the vest, so to speak, since he had a lot of harder to find blends in stock regularly and avoided the stampede of hoarders for the most part...and I feel a tinge of guilt for that.

I know the email states that it’s regulatory concerns that are forcing him to shut the doors, but I can only guess that if business was steadier, perhaps he’d have incentive to deal with the quagmire of regs and taxes and stay open. I don’t know....it’s just sad.

Although my budget was closed off to anymore tobacco/pipe orders until spring, I did drop some money on GLP on his site. Dramatic, I know, but I felt like a vulture, pecking at a beloved family dog, road killed in the street.

 

[verporchting]

Got that email last night and it broke my heart. They are both really nice folks and I greatly enjoyed visiting with them on the phone. Pity about the business but we all get it. This is going to become more common I’m afraid. Doesn’t suck any less.

Last call folks. If your cellar isn’t complete you’d best get on it.

 

[strave19]

Saw it last night too and felt bad. I always liked chatting with Michelle when I would call to place an order. I avoid phone orders like the plague but I always actually enjoyed calling them.


Warning: Wall of text/BS!!!

I’m sure the regulatory environment was a big factor. I also think these types of shops are getting killed by the big 3 online sellers (SP, PC, TP). The small shops barely get any of the unobtainium/limited releases. The only way they can get more from the distributor is to move more of the readily attainable stuff. When I called once for some CRF, they said that they got about 5 tins of it and were pissed. They only got 5-10 of the barrel aged sutliff as well. It has to be frustrating to struggle to move stock of C&D, GLP, Vauen, Dan, Cult, etc, and when you finally get a hot ticket item, you can only net a few hundred bucks at best... the big retailers can move enough volume to make it work, the little guys can’t. I suspect the little guys will rely more and more on in-house blends as a way to move some product with a decent margin. Those who can’t get a following with their house-blends will keep disappearing. Laudisi Dist. taking over Gawith is another example. They’ve got an in-demand brand that they can ration out to the little guys as a reward for moving Savanelli and Peterson pipes, and C&D/GLP tobacco. In the end they don’t get enough volume to move the needle.

Maybe I’m cynical. Maybe I’m talking out of my ass. I certainly don’t know as much about the inner workings of the industry as a lot of folks. But this is the sense that I have gathered.

I just feel bad for the little guys, and as a consumer I’d like to think/wish we could help keep these guys around. Pipe tobacco certainly isn’t the only industry feeling this pressure...

 

[sablebrush52]

I don't know about Massachusetts, but pipe tobacco is explicitly excluded from the ban on flavored products. The ban seems to be aimed toward vaping.

 

[sablebrush52]

This is the unfortunately the future of all mom & pop tobacco retailers. Soon it will all be “a place in time”.

Well, I hope not, because it's likely that all non face to face sales of tobacco will eventually be banned. This will leave B&M's as the only viable source.

 

[dochowl]

This blows. they were great to deal with. Sad to see them go.

 

[spicy_boiii]

I don't know about Massachusetts, but pipe tobacco is explicitly excluded from the ban on flavored products. The ban seems to be aimed toward vaping.

Exactly. But I'm not calling BS on storytellers as their explanation is their own, and they have a point about the changing of the times.

I try not to be political, but the practice of certain states, such as my California, bullying retailers out of state to collect taxes is real nonsense in my opinion.

Anyways, I had an awesome experience with Storytellers and purchased alot of tobacco through their shop. They also called me when they got Esoterica and Germain stuff in. Sad to see them go.

 

[DonutLuvr]

Sad to see them go. I’ve ordered from them several times within the last year. The small sample of pipe tobacco and a few cleaners they included on each order was always a nice touch.

 

[jerseysam]

Storytellers Pipe was the bee knees in terms of stock and selection on tobaccos like Silems and Dan. I bought routinely from them and will absolutely miss them being part of the landscape.

As my own two cents, I believe their decision is less driven by one or two specific regulations and more that the tobacco reselling market flatly requires a hefty overhead and bandwidth investment....and chasing that down just wasn't the owners vision of an enjoyable later-in-life business. I can totally dig that....I can't imagine who would want to jump into the pipe tobacco game unless they were either a large retailer or a smaller custom blender/shop with cigars in the mix for revenue diversification.

I hate to say it, but almost the entirety of my time buying from Storytellers I was wondering how long they would stay in the game. The put a lot of time into great service, had a little forum community on their website, fair prices.....at the end of the day pulling out a reasonable margin/return on basically a pure pipe tobacco focus, while dealing with all the tobacco regulation realities....man that is a tall order. As said, will miss them for all my Silems, Dan, and Aylesbury fixes.

 

[Worknman]

They were one of the only shops I managed to scored some Wessex Dark Flake from not too long ago. Hate to see them go

 

[sablebrush52]

I try not to be political, but the practice of certain states, such as my California, bullying retailers out of state to collect taxes is real nonsense in my opinion.

Of course it baloney. Online sellers of all types are obliged to collect sales tax as the result of a SCOTUS decision.

 

[creole]

Of course it baloney. Online sellers of all types are obliged to collect sales tax as the result of a SCOTUS decision.

I don’t believe that federal law requires out of state sellers to collect sales taxes. It merely allows states to force the sellers to collect the tax.

 

[anotherbob]

glad this is about a store and not a person.

 

[oldgeezersmoker]

I don’t believe that federal law requires out of state sellers to collect sales taxes. It merely allows states to force the sellers to collect the tax.

Exactly. In Tennessee, out of state sellers are only required to collect sales taxes if they do over $500 k in total sales to Tennessee in a calendar year. Pipes and Cigars (because they are consolidated with Cigars International) hits that mark, as does JR. They charge me state sales tax, as they should. Smoking Pipes, CupoJoes, Mars., etc don’t charge me sales tax because they don’t hit that state specific dollar volume.

Nothing in the Supreme Court decision REQUIRES a state to collect sales taxes on out of state sales. The decision allowed them to do so. And in Tennessee, for reasons unique to us, the use tax is essentially an unenforceable dead letter.

 

[Merton]

I don't know about Massachusetts, but pipe tobacco is explicitly excluded from the ban on flavored products. The ban seems to be aimed toward vaping.

Sadly, pipe tobacco is explicitly included in Massachusetts