Squadron Leader with Perique

[peckinpahhombre]

Yeesh, people will always find something to complain about. You give them a gold brick, and they complain that it is too heavy, the wrong color, and doesn't have handles.
SP took a financial risk and provided the community with an opportunity to try an interesting blend. It sold out, and so it paid off, but it was a gamble. How can one criticize them for that? I just don't get it?

 

[davet]

Glad I got mine. If I see something I don't want, need, like or agree with, I don't buy it.Mostly though I end up buying because I convince myself I want, need, like and can't live without it

 

[mrenglish]

I missed out as well, didn't get the notification until it was too late. You win some, you miss some. If anyone has a tin they would like to sell, send me a PM. I have not been into English blends in ages but smoked the regular SL back in the day. Would love to try it with Perique.

 

[buroak]

And that's the point! I'll wait a couple of years and put my tins up on eBay for $100,000 apiece and retire.

sablebrush52, I have quoted your post without the "emoticon" because eBay trends suggest you are being more realistic than you suggest.

bought the limit 15 cellar 10 enjoy the rest

scrooge, You are confirming my intuition that this blend had very limited exposure.

Yeesh, people will always find something to complain about. You give them a gold brick, and they complain that it is too heavy, the wrong color, and doesn't have handles.
SP took a financial risk and provided the community with an opportunity to try an interesting blend. It sold out, and so it paid off, but it was a gamble. How can one criticize them for that? I just don't get it?

peckinpahhombre, Call me a complainer. I am complaining. I will not, though, concede that Smokingpipes.com really "took a financial risk" with this Squadron Leader Special Edition. A popular blend returned to its original formulation by the addition of a popular condimental tobacco is not risky. This offering by Smokingpipes.com was a clever marketing move, and for that I applaud them. At the same time I see this type of hype-inducing sales pitch as noxious, and I will respond as I am able - with my purchasing decisions.

 

[monty55]

buroak, I am sorry to say, but you are definitely in an extremely small minority with regards to your feelings about this release. And that's all I got to say about that.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

I really would like to understand where you are coming from on this, but I just don't. I am sure if they thought it would be so easy to sell 5,000 tins then they would have ordered 5,000 tins. They would be fools not to do so. But any time you tie up money in inventory you are taking a risk, and so someone needs to make a judgment call as to how much they can sell in a reasonable period of time in order to generate a reasonable return for the capital invested and the risk taken. Sometimes that judgment is on the mark, and sometimes it's not. That's just life running a retail business.
If it is such a no brainer, why don't you contact SG yourself, ante up your own cash, and order 2000 (or more) tins for your own Buroak Limited Edition. You will be our hero. Put me down for 2 tins.

 

[buroak]

peckinpahhombre, I am not sure what aspect of my perspective is so hard to understand. What I am sure of is that your astute mind (here judging by reputation) could empathize in the event that you so desired. Besides, a retailer with the presence of Smokingpipes.com is rather different to buroak, a non-retailer individual, commissioning a 2000-tin run of a particular tobacco blend.

 

[buroak]

buroak, I am sorry to say, but you are definitely in an extremely small minority with regards to your feelings about this release. And that's all I got to say about that.

monty55, I can live with that. After all, pipe smokers are an extremely small minority, and we persist.

 

[pipefish]

I will not, though, concede that Smokingpipes.com really "took a financial risk" with this Squadron Leader Special Edition. A popular blend returned to its original formulation by the addition of a popular condimental tobacco is not risky. This offering by Smokingpipes.com was a clever marketing move, and for that I applaud them. At the same time I see this type of hype-inducing sales pitch as noxious, and I will respond as I am able - with my purchasing decisions.

I agree with most of the above regarding "risk." I'm sure SP knew quite well that selling SL with Perique would be appealing. Perique is mighty good stuff, kinda like bacon. And EVERYTHING tastes better with bacon. I think that SP would sell out 2000 specially numbered tins of "Mixture 79--Special WWI Throwback Edition a.k.a. 'The Trenchfoot'" in a matter of days because....well....we like collecting shit.
No one knows if this stuff is any good, but the "special limited edition" appealed to us--great marketing. If it is good I do hope SP decides to make more so I can have a chance to try it.
If I recall SP was only charging around 10 bucks a tin, right? If so it's not like they were price gouging. I'd think that they could have sold these at 17-20 bucks a tin and they still would have sold out within days.
I'll keep shopping at SP because they're a good, reliable company--just make more SL with perique, dammit!! ::

 

[gloucesterman]

And that's the point! I'll wait a couple of years and put my tins up on eBay for $100,000 apiece and retire

A 2000 tin run almost assures this blend will appreciate in value so long as the offer isn't repeated too often. The success of this sale should encourage future offers and that will provide delights we might otherwise never have experienced. It will also, by the way, make early retirement possible for some but that might require more than a few tins. But given what they get for a 10 year old tin of Penzance these days, maybe not too many more.

 

[buroak]

pipefish, I agree with your assessment. Smokingpipes.com was definitely not price gouging. I will, however, shift my purchases to other retailers until this blend is offered again on a broader availability. For me it is the principle of the thing.

 

[decigar]

This is the norm in the cigar world. It seems like every brand has a limited edition, one and done, once a year HTF. There are even regional only releases ie Tennessee only, Texas only and Hawaii only.
Obviously there are people who love the chase more than the product. Best case its fun, worse case its obsessive compulsive and debt ridden. We can't chase everything due to time, money and availability. Well maybe Peck can =) Therefore we have to pick and choose.
There are other parallels. One is craft beer. I like a good beer but I don't consider myself a craft beer guy. All my buddies are. They check in each new beer they try on the Beer Advocate app. Craft beer is definitely regional distribution, limited run, one time only. What makes matters worse most beers cant be cellared.
There are limited edition pipes. If you think about it a commission can also be consider limited edition depending on the carver.
Limited availability marketing is in almost every hobby we enjoy.
At the end of the day it's up to you where your money goes. Personally I enjoy the chase but I enjoy sharing a bowl with my pipe friends more.

 

[buroak]

I enjoy the chase of some things in our hobby: estate pipes, out-of-production tobaccos, and old catalogs/literature. These items are inherently scarce, some more than others. The arbitrarily imposed scarcity of Squadron Leader Special Edition is what I find off-putting.

 

[monty55]

I got my ten tins! And was lucky to have 2 in sequental order. I am assuming when the shippers are getting tins out of original box they simply remove from the top, and not a column of tins. That is not good. In fact if SPC were to shrink wrap these in groups of 5 sequential ordered tins, I would have paid an extra 1.00 per tin. They should pay attention to these little details when offering a release of only 2000 tins. These things matter over time in the "Special Edition" world.

 

[monty55]

The arbitrarily imposed scarcity of Squadron Leader Special Edition is what I find off-putting

LOL, does this offend your sensibilities buroak? I still don't get it. If there are only 2000 tins, then it is hardly arbitrary, and is in fact scarce since it is now all gone. It seems to me my friend that you are just really hard headed, don't want to admit your wrong, and are pissed because you missed out.
Your first words about the OP:

shanelktown, I missed out, too

So apparently you actually tried to buy this!? Sacrilege!

 

[monty55]

buroak
I have ten tins, would it offend your sensibilities if I were to offer to sell you 1 tin, at 1.00 over cost plus shipping? would this soothe your frayed nerves?

 

[peckinpahhombre]

I think this thread should have a limited run of only 100 posts.

 

[settersbrace]

SP took a financial risk and provided the community with an opportunity to try an interesting blend. It sold out, and so it paid off, but it was a gamble. How can one criticize them for that? I just don't get it?
Hardly a risk. They understood very clearly that by hyping it up the dummies (us) we would be kicking the virtual doors in to buy a blend no one has ever smoked. I don't hold it against them but it's just business, no uneccassary risk or a gamble by any stretch. For all we know the dozen or so people who work at SG may have had a pint too many and knocked over the Perique bin and it fell into the squadron leader bin? I hope to try some if I ever get a chance and I'd bet that SG had more than 2000 labels printed so don't be surprised if it re-surfaces.

 

[vespertillio]

I'll be the 2nd, third or fourth to send out a thread request to purchase a tin if anyone has a bunch and would care to sell one (Gotta try right?)

 

[sablebrush52]

They understood very clearly that by hyping it up the dummies (us) we would be kicking the virtual doors in to buy a blend no one has ever smoked.

From the blurb that SP published, this wasn't a new idea, but a restoration to the original version, which contained perique.

I think this thread should have a limited run of only 100 posts.

How about 80?