So is US Pipe Smoking on the Rise... Or Decline?
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Gotta ‘gree with tha Cap’n on this’n, aye.
A radio program I listened to a few months ago had as its subject the various farming trends for Industrial Hemp, and the kinds of products that come from that.
One product they talked about for quite a while was that some people like to smoke the Industrial Hemp itself. Seems that some part of those plants is especially suited to smoking.
Industrial Hemp will in no way, shape or form make anybody high.
One wonders if some company will try out this agricultural product as a condiment part of pipe (or even roll-your-own) tobacco.
One product they talked about for quite a while was that some people like to smoke the Industrial Hemp itself. Seems that some part of those plants is especially suited to smoking.
Industrial Hemp will in no way, shape or form make anybody high.
One wonders if some company will try out this agricultural product as a condiment part of pipe (or even roll-your-own) tobacco.
Probably still growing, it would be interesting to see if a retailer like Smokingpipes.com could comment about how many new customers they've got per-year for the last few years.
At the very least we know the Internet caused a small boom, whether that has peaked is a good question.
At the very least we know the Internet caused a small boom, whether that has peaked is a good question.
I would say this is more due to the internet sales than anything. Local B&M's in any hobby are going out because its cheaper and easier to buy online and have it shipped to your door. In the case of pipe tobacco, you also have coveted blends that cant be had at the local B&M store.
What coveted blends? Those of us with, say, a stock of Stonehaven, or Penzance, or some other unicorn blend, have found it much easier to buy them from a B&M rather than a major on line dealer. The cheaper part is going to change as well, since sales taxes are now, and eventually excise taxes will be, collected on line, and then there's the probability of internet sales of tobacco being banned. People who only shop on line and never support their local businesses are slitting their own throats.
Couldn’t agree more. My recent TAD haul was about half Brick & Mortar. Honestly though the way those pipe tobacco tins sit in one close by have me thinking I’m the sole pipe smoker. Not true, I believe there are more but they buy online.
Around here, several cigar stores have flourished over the past decade. But, none of them gives much attention to pipe smoking. A couple of old-time B&M stores have the same pipes in their display cases that were there ten years ago. These observations suggest that any increase in pipe smoking is an internet phenomenon.
I can tell you I never, ever see someone smoking a pipe in public anymore. That used to be pretty common place.
I can tell you I never, ever see someone smoking a pipe in public anymore. That used to be pretty common place.
if it's a fad with hipsters buying pipes to look the part, that won't help. ton of people jumped on cigar back in 90's. but what i'm seeing is people who used to smoke cigarettes returning to tobacco, but with cigar or pipe.
Well, I get all mine from the B&M, but I see a lot of blends listed in the what are you smoking and favorite threads that I haven't been able to find when I visit the B&M locally. I recently was surprised when my favorite B&M had a nice collection of Esoterica blends, I already have the Pembroke I like and was on limited funds, but I wanted to try And So to Bed so I bought a tin figuring I can toss it in mylar and add it to the box pass if I don't like it.
PS I like it
This is only true if you live within a reasonable driving distance of a well-stocked B&M. Not all of us have the luxury of this access. And while it may be true that excise and other taxes may be collected on internet sales in the future, in many cases they currently are not. So if I do want some Stonehaven or Penzance or Black Frigate or whatever I fancy, I and many others (in what some may look at as mere "flyover states") simply do not have any other options besides online sales or overnight road trips. Some can berate Internet sales as an evil B&M killer, but I suspect employees of SPC are fans of internet sales, as am I. I shop local when I can, but I'm not going to feel bad about buying tobacco online when it's the only real option. We can argue about how the economics got us to this point, but we'd be rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. For many areas, the local B&M is a romantic notion gone with the wind, and the Internet is only one of several reasons for its demise.
Before 2009 I used to go to my local b/m quite often. Then the state of Florida instituted an 85% wholesale tax on pipe tobacco. I refused to pay that so all my tobacco purchases were done on line.
I got almost all of my Stonehaven back in 2012. At the time it was in huge demand online and I decided to seek other sources. I contacted some small mom and pops with no internet presence and bought a bunch of the stuff.
One guy sold me 12 bags of Stonehaven and offered me another 15 bags of Penzance. I no longer smoked Penzance so I told a buddy who bought it all.
Back in the summer of 2012 Samuel Gawith Best Brown, Full Virginia and St James flakes were hard to get at the major retailers. I found a few small mom and pops and was ordering all three in 5 pound lots. One guy was giving me a 10% discount for every 5 pounds. I ended up with over 40 pounds of the three and only a couple of pounds were bought at the major online guys.
There are tons of b/m's who would love to get your business. You don't have to physically go into the stores. Let your fingers do the leg work. I did all my searching in the low tax states.
I got almost all of my Stonehaven back in 2012. At the time it was in huge demand online and I decided to seek other sources. I contacted some small mom and pops with no internet presence and bought a bunch of the stuff.
One guy sold me 12 bags of Stonehaven and offered me another 15 bags of Penzance. I no longer smoked Penzance so I told a buddy who bought it all.
Back in the summer of 2012 Samuel Gawith Best Brown, Full Virginia and St James flakes were hard to get at the major retailers. I found a few small mom and pops and was ordering all three in 5 pound lots. One guy was giving me a 10% discount for every 5 pounds. I ended up with over 40 pounds of the three and only a couple of pounds were bought at the major online guys.
There are tons of b/m's who would love to get your business. You don't have to physically go into the stores. Let your fingers do the leg work. I did all my searching in the low tax states.
Right..
if I go into our B&M in town I have these options:
plumcake rolls, vanilla cream, and maybe 1 other MacBaren blend. These are $20+ per tin.
Three nuns green or orange. These are $25+ per tin.
Or an insanely old unopened tub of "Velvet"
Those are my options to smoke if I were to only buy at the local B&M.
Depends on where you live:
Ban on Internet and Mail-Order Tobacco Sales. Effective July 28, 2009, RCW 70.155. 140 makes it illegal for most tobacco products ordered or purchased by telephone, mail order, or through the Internet, to be shipped directly to consumers in Washington.
Due to the fact enforcement is focused on the retailer I can order from Germany, but not Spokane WA.
True, but then it's not really buying "local." It's just buying from a small online retailer who may charge 2x or 3x more then a medium sized retailer like SPC. I'm all for supporting independently owned businesses and paying a bit more than what I could get thru Amazon etc, but in some cases the price difference becomes economically ridiculous.
In many cases - like Minnesota - state and local sin taxes play a large role in driving B&Ms out of business. In this case, the higher prices are simply beyond the local owner's control. I'll buy 8-16 oz at Lewis Pipe when I brave the wilds of downtown Minneapolis (which is seldom), but it's not going to become my #1 online retailer.
Totally not the case. The B&M's where I've bought my Esoterica blends are 1000 or more miles from where I live. LA is a desert when it comes to pipe tobacco. I found B&M's that carried Esoterica blends, became a regular customer by phone, buying other blends whether the unicorns were not in stock, and got unicorns when they showed up.
As far as taxes go, you're betting against a trend. More and more states are sharing purchasing information, so it's only a matter of time before you get a nice letter in the mail telling you to pay up.
As someone who spent decades at a major national retailer I see the that demise of the BM store is not a tobacco thing, it is the new reality of all retail and even wholesale. The internet is here until something better comes along to replace it. The people have spoken and they no longer want to drive to crowded malls or head into town and try to find a parking spot. What makes tobacco acutely different is it is an addictive, carcinogenic product that has lost significant public and market support and is a product that is in free fall.
I completely agree. Some states already do, with an initial "one and only warning," but I suspect the tax man cometh.
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