Rich’s in Portland OR

[musicman]

This past week I travelled back to Portland OR (the town I grew up in) to see my parents for the first time since this COVID stuff started. It was amazing to be back in that very green place after a year and a half straight in the Sonoran desert!

One stop (maybe more of a pilgrimage) I was wanting to make on this trip was a visit to Rich’s cigars on Alder St in downtown Portland. Growing up I went to church just down the street from Rich’s and walked by the often. The wonderful aromas emanating from the shop are a big reason I took up pipes and cigars.
I made it! Great experience, overall. An excellent selection of both pipes and tobacco. I picked up some Dorchester and a 7 yr old tin of Doblone D’oro. Also picked up a couple of oz of their house blend Va/Per, Craven’s Claw. Prices were quite reasonable although their house blends are overpriced imo (they have the house blends priced almost as high as their esoterica! I get that Oregon has high tobacco taxes but 12 bucks/oz is a little excessive.)

Overall, though, highly recommended. There aren’t too many great tobacco shops left, but Rich’s is definitely among them. And it was fantastic to finally see Mom and Dad too!

 

[morgansteele]

Great B&M. Great house blends. Insane tax obligations.

 

[Servant King]

I've got a good friend in the Mt. Tabor area. About as big a Morrissey fan as I am. I wonder what he'd be willing to snag at Rich's for me for my vinyl pressing of Your Arsenal. ? Also, I wonder if Moz would care that TAD wins out over anything in his discography. Yeah, he'd probably call me a wanker and go on eating his boiled watercress sandwich... ?

 

[mingc]

Oregon excise tax for pipe tobacco is 65% of wholesale. Even then, given Rich's pricing, I think taxes only account for a part of what they charge. I don't begrudge them their profits though. They're in a tough business and I can understand why they might want a piece of scalpers' profits. I happily bought a tin of Pelican last I was there.

 

[musicman]

Oregon excise tax for pipe tobacco is 65% of wholesale. Even then, given Rich's pricing, I think taxes only account for a part of what they charge. I don't begrudge them their profits though. They're in a tough business and I can understand why they might want a piece of scalpers' profits. I happily bought a tin of Pelican last I was there.

Yep. That seems right. And I get it too. It’s just interesting because I’ve never seen a B and M that charged more for their own bulk blends than for the stuff in tins. The Dorchester tin I bought was $14/oz and the bulk was $12/oz so I’d have to imagine a significant portion of the bulk price was mark-up. It’s right now, especially for businesses in downtown Portland, so if the blends are selling at those prices, all the power to them. Either way, I bought some because a. I was interested to try it and b. I wanted to support the establishment.

 

[sablebrush52]

The last time I was in Rich's was the early '90's. Beautiful store and I bought a ton of their blends while I was there.

 

[GCW]

Some of their house blends were crafted by none other than Steve Books. Always fun to chat with him. RIP

 

[musicman]

Update to say that the house blend I bought from Rich's, Craven's Claw, is excellent. Great, rich, VaPer smoke. Whatever blending components they used, they are well aged (it has some flavor notes that make me wonder if they used McClelland in the original blend). I will probably pick up some more of this the next time I'm in town, despite the price.

 

[mingc]

By coincidence, I just found this 2008 WSJ article about the then burgeoning popularity of pipe smoking among college students. It quotes Rich's owner Tom Moran and manager Bill Schindler quite a bit. Bill is still the manager but I haven't seen Tom the last few times I've been in the store. The Latest Thing They're Smoking in Pipes on College Campuses: Tobacco - https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123509294170728733

 

[sittingbear]

Wonderful B&M. I support them when I can.

 

[anotherbob]

And it was fantastic to finally see Mom and Dad too!

So what blends are they smoking?

 

[jonasclark]

I love Rich's, too. Enormous pipe selection. They bought half of the Bekler pipes (mostly variants on classic shapes, smooth and relief-carved) CAO still had in backstock when Cano got out of the pipe biz to focus on cigars. Only a fraction of the Beklers are on display; when I asked about, I think it was bulldogs, they went in the back/downstairs/through the magic portal, and about half an hour later, brought in something like fifteen or so examples for me to look at.

 

[Western Isles]

Just made another order by phone two days ago, and the staff at Rich's are easily some of the most professional and patient I've come across, especially given the unrest they've had there in the last year. Several months ago, I was on the line when they had to apologetically put me on hold to eject a screaming non-customer from the shop, which they said had become a regular problem.

I have relatives that settled in Oregon, and we always fly into Portland and stay a day when we go see them. I haven't been since all the troubles started, and it's sad to read about recent events there.

 

[kcghost]

Sounds like heck of a nice store!!

 

[OlJawBone]

I've got a good friend in the Mt. Tabor area. About as big a Morrissey fan as I am. I wonder what he'd be willing to snag at Rich's for me for my vinyl pressing of Your Arsenal. ? Also, I wonder if Moz would care that TAD wins out over anything in his discography. Yeah, he'd probably call me a wanker and go on eating his boiled watercress sandwich... ?

Hed fucking whine about it cause thats what he does

 

[musicman]

Just made another order by phone two days ago, and the staff at Rich's are easily some of the most professional and patient I've come across, especially given the unrest they've had there in the last year. Several months ago, I was on the line when they had to apologetically put me on hold to eject a screaming non-customer from the shop, which they said had become a regular problem.

I have relatives that settled in Oregon, and we always fly into Portland and stay a day when we go see them. I haven't been since all the troubles started, and it's sad to read about recent events there.

I was shocked by some of the changes. I didn't see much evidence of the BLM protests, but it's obvious that groups such as the Proud Boy and Antifa have been using downtown as a staging ground for their war.

The real issue, though, is a complete lack of political will in city hall to deal with the homelessness problem. My dad drove me down streets near the airport that are now lined with people living out of cars and full of trash. I am never an advocate for making homelessness illegal as some other places have, but there has to be a better answer than just letting people camp where ever, and for however long they want.

 

[OlJawBone]

I was shocked by some of the changes. I didn't see much evidence of the BLM protests, but it's obvious that groups such as the Proud Boy and Antifa have been using downtown as a staging ground for their war.

The real issue, though, is a complete lack of political will in city hall to deal with the homelessness problem. My dad drove me down streets near the airport that are now lined with people living out of cars and full of trash. I am never an advocate for making homelessness illegal as some other places have, but there has to be a better answer than just letting people camp where ever, and for however long they want.

antifa isn't a group. it just means antifascist. the people protesting police brutality come from all walks of life. the proudboys and the patriots prayer on the other hand are violent reactionary organizations who terrorize the population with actual violence.

the way to address homelessness is to stop building so many new condos and give the people a damn place to live. No other solution works. I lived in portland for years. I have nothing but compassion for those poor people who have to live outside where its rainy or snowy 280 days a year or something like that. Its a ridiculously nasty situation and ted wheeler should grow a heart and help them out. Letting them camp legally on the street doesn't make anyone's life better, and neither does arresting them for doing it.

 

[musicman]

antifa isn't a group. it just means antifascist. the people protesting police brutality come from all walks of life. the proudboys and the patriots prayer on the other hand are violent reactionary organizations who terrorize the population with actual violence.

the way to address homelessness is to stop building so many new condos and give the people a damn place to live. No other solution works. I lived in portland for years. I have nothing but compassion for those poor people who have to live outside where its rainy or snowy 280 days a year or something like that. Its a ridiculously nasty situation and ted wheeler should grow a heart and help them out. Letting them camp legally on the street doesn't make anyone's life better, and neither does arresting them for doing it.

Yes I am aware of the way that Antifa is organized (or not organized) but it made more sense for my comment to word it the way I did.

As for the rest, I generally agree with you but we probably should not be having such discussions here as they are clearly political in nature.

 

[OlJawBone]

As for the rest, I generally agree with you but we probably should not be having such discussions here as they are clearly political in nature.

Yeah ur probably right

 

[anotherbob]

Yeah ur probably right

yeah it's why I am not chiming in.