Substitute for tobacco jars

[docgarr]

I work in a tobacco store, El Humidor, in Wilkes-Barre, PA. We have a new owner who is going to move the store. He was thinking of some other way of displaying our bulk tobaccos other than with tobacco jars. He had the idea of something like coffee dispensers in grocery stores where you measure out your own coffee. People would do the same with tobacco.
So have any of you seen any alternative other than tobacco jars for the display of tobaccos in tobacco shops?

 

[pstlpkr]

Hey Doc,
I haven't seen anything as satisfying or as accessible to customers as the venerable old tobacco jar.
After all you can't stick your nose in coffee dispenser.

 

[pipemaker]

coffee dispenser don't be a Philistien

 

[cortezattic]

Someone like Fifi carrying a tray would make an interesting display,

and increase customer traffic.

 

[fhb2532]

And sales!!!!!!!

 

[cortezattic]

I can hear it now... "May I light your pipe, sir?"

 

[vkimp]

That would hurt like hell But I would let her do it anyway!!!!!!!!!

 

[jcsoldit]

Haven’t seen it done and I wouldn’t do it. Tobacco shops and Hardware stores should never be over modernized because the experience of shopping them is half of the have the fun. The one on one interaction is what sets them apart from the cold national chains. Don’t give up the jars.

 

[igloo]

Iam with Jc look what happened to barber shops ,remember when barbers wore barber shirts and a young man could learn things his mother did not want him to know .

 

[flat4driven]

Hey, El Humidor is where I go! Was just there today actually. Can't wait for the new place to open.

 

[cobsandclays]

Coffee dispensers aren't airtight. How would you keep the tobacco from drying out, without turning the entire store into a humidor? (or am I missing El Humidor's sales gimmick?)

 

[unclearthur]

Old Style works best for me! I don't care for chrome and Formica .

 

[docgarr]

I'd like to thank everyone for their opinions about the issue of tobacco jars. Certainly with no viable alternative, I assume, since I am just a lowly employee, that we will keep the tobacco jars. We do have a female working at the store, but she's not Fifi.
Another issue is the store is going to have whole store humidification. Cigars are humidified at a higher humidity than pipe tobacco. I wonder what effect the higher humidification will have on the pipe tobacco.

 

[frostyforge]

I agree with Jcsoldit, part of the experience is the old fashioned atmosphere and the ineraction between the owner and the customer. something that is sadly lacking nowadays in stores

 

[jtpassmore]

not suitable for a shop but a female friend of mine gave me a small tampon tin to store tobacco when i'm out and about...

 

[cortezattic]

Doc, the only thing I ever read about humidity in this context is from The Pipe Tobacco Aging, Storage And Cellaring FAQ in an entry from James Beard on 04/29/2002

Should I keep open tobacco at a high humidity, like cigars?

With cigars, structural integrity requires a certain level of moisture. But this is not so for pipe tobacco. [...] If the humidity is comfortable for you, it should be fine for the tobacco. At the wet extreme, you wish to avoid humidity so high it encourages mold, and at the dry extreme you do not want tobacco so dry it crackles and shatters when rolled into a ball between the fingers. Between those extremes, it is basically a matter of personal preference.

I hope this helps a little, but it may need to be researched a little further.

G.L.Pease said, in 2005:

Personally, I like my tobaccos in the 10-13% moisture content range for proper smoking, or sometimes even lower. For packaging, 12-15% seems to be pretty much ideal. Many heavily cased aromatics approach 20%, which is damn near soggy.

I can't imagine how a B&M could measure the moisture content of its bulk supplies.