I have settled in for a couple of days after my recent 2 week trip to the Russian Federation. As promised, here are my thoughts about pipe smoking in Russia.
I spent a week in Moscow and a week in Saint Petersburg. I may have only this limited data to draw upon, but, I found the pipe smoking situation in Russia to be much the same as it is in the U.S. There are not tons of tobacco shops and most are of the vape and RYO variety that you see in the States. Pipes and smoking were not the main focus of my trip. I did, however, enter every tobacco shop that I came across. I believe that I entered around 6 shops in Moscow and another 6 in St. Petersburg. A couple of these shops were not much larger than the average American suburban closet. These smaller shops usually had a wealth of cigarettes, a fair selection of RYO pouches from various parts of the world, a small assortment of cigars (sometimes one or two cubans in the mix), and either a couple of MB pipe tobaccos or none at all. They all had 2-6 basket pipes for show.
I shopped one tobacco shop in Moscow, on Arbat St. (the preeminent walking shopping district), that was closer in size to an American entertainment district shop, that had a nicer selection and a very nice proprietor. They had tins/pouches by SG, GH, MB, Peterson, Condor, and a couple of C&D. The shopkeeper had, what I would term, an amateurish knowledge of the products, but much better than one would see in the typical American vape shop. They do not appear to have a problem obtaining SG or GH tobaccos. The Peterson and “American” brands were harder for him to get. There were no bulk tobaccos here (or at any of the shops). I have quite a decent variety in my cellar so, I was only seeking to purchase U.S. ”unobtainium”. I bought some SG Night and SG Black Cherry. They did have all the usual SG tins from FVF to Squadron leader but, I luckily have pounds of all the SG products that we can (occasionally) buy stateside. I probably should have picked up some Condor, as I don’t recall ever smoking it. However, I was shopping with my wife that day and I wanted to keep the touring going, and had hopes of scoring bigger fish later in my trip.
Unfortunately, that big fish was never to strike. The one St. Petersburg shop that actually had any quality tins/pouches was the Casa Del Habano in St. Petersburg. They had about a dozen pipe tobaccos (SG, GH, and Stanwell). All of these I either had or (in the case of the Stanwells) I could easily get. Natalia, the lovely shopkeeper at the Casa Del Habanos, admittedly, knew nothing about pipe tobacco and queried me about them. (She was, as one would suspect, a Habanos expert and I will post a review of my wonderful experience there in the cigars section).
The great Russian tobacco search was not totally in vain. The Russian online site pipeshop.ru (recommended by paulie66scandinavian) has a St.Petersburg location that can be entered if an advance call is made. They have an enviable stock of many tobaccos that never see our shores. The bad news is that my wife got a serious throat infection the last few days of the trip and I ended up deleting this stop from my itinerary. I will, however, rectify this omission by placing an order with them to be sent to my Russian summer home to begin my Russian cellar. I will update on this later as well.
Russian shopping itself was very pleasurable. English is either spoken or posted to some degree and communication was not a chore. All transactions can be consummated with a finger on your iPhone. I paid with Rubles one time and with a physical credit card once. Prices were quite good. The exchange rate undoubtedly helps with this but, the tins were comparable or cheaper than US B/M (or some online sites). Food was cheap as well but, that is for another place and discussion.
I hope this illuminates a bit.
I spent a week in Moscow and a week in Saint Petersburg. I may have only this limited data to draw upon, but, I found the pipe smoking situation in Russia to be much the same as it is in the U.S. There are not tons of tobacco shops and most are of the vape and RYO variety that you see in the States. Pipes and smoking were not the main focus of my trip. I did, however, enter every tobacco shop that I came across. I believe that I entered around 6 shops in Moscow and another 6 in St. Petersburg. A couple of these shops were not much larger than the average American suburban closet. These smaller shops usually had a wealth of cigarettes, a fair selection of RYO pouches from various parts of the world, a small assortment of cigars (sometimes one or two cubans in the mix), and either a couple of MB pipe tobaccos or none at all. They all had 2-6 basket pipes for show.
I shopped one tobacco shop in Moscow, on Arbat St. (the preeminent walking shopping district), that was closer in size to an American entertainment district shop, that had a nicer selection and a very nice proprietor. They had tins/pouches by SG, GH, MB, Peterson, Condor, and a couple of C&D. The shopkeeper had, what I would term, an amateurish knowledge of the products, but much better than one would see in the typical American vape shop. They do not appear to have a problem obtaining SG or GH tobaccos. The Peterson and “American” brands were harder for him to get. There were no bulk tobaccos here (or at any of the shops). I have quite a decent variety in my cellar so, I was only seeking to purchase U.S. ”unobtainium”. I bought some SG Night and SG Black Cherry. They did have all the usual SG tins from FVF to Squadron leader but, I luckily have pounds of all the SG products that we can (occasionally) buy stateside. I probably should have picked up some Condor, as I don’t recall ever smoking it. However, I was shopping with my wife that day and I wanted to keep the touring going, and had hopes of scoring bigger fish later in my trip.
Unfortunately, that big fish was never to strike. The one St. Petersburg shop that actually had any quality tins/pouches was the Casa Del Habano in St. Petersburg. They had about a dozen pipe tobaccos (SG, GH, and Stanwell). All of these I either had or (in the case of the Stanwells) I could easily get. Natalia, the lovely shopkeeper at the Casa Del Habanos, admittedly, knew nothing about pipe tobacco and queried me about them. (She was, as one would suspect, a Habanos expert and I will post a review of my wonderful experience there in the cigars section).
The great Russian tobacco search was not totally in vain. The Russian online site pipeshop.ru (recommended by paulie66scandinavian) has a St.Petersburg location that can be entered if an advance call is made. They have an enviable stock of many tobaccos that never see our shores. The bad news is that my wife got a serious throat infection the last few days of the trip and I ended up deleting this stop from my itinerary. I will, however, rectify this omission by placing an order with them to be sent to my Russian summer home to begin my Russian cellar. I will update on this later as well.
Russian shopping itself was very pleasurable. English is either spoken or posted to some degree and communication was not a chore. All transactions can be consummated with a finger on your iPhone. I paid with Rubles one time and with a physical credit card once. Prices were quite good. The exchange rate undoubtedly helps with this but, the tins were comparable or cheaper than US B/M (or some online sites). Food was cheap as well but, that is for another place and discussion.
I hope this illuminates a bit.
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